Ghostly Graves: A Harper Harlow and Maddie Graves Mystery

by Hart, Lily Harper

  “And what is it really, Clyde?” the woman challenged.

  For his part, Clyde merely offered up a benign smile. “This is Sarah. She’s not really mad. She just likes a good fight because then that means we can make up tonight.”

  “Keep telling yourself that,” Sarah growled.

  “Ignore here.” Clyde offered up a haphazard wave. “She’s a cranky old goat, but I love her. I didn’t think she needed the cleanse because she’ll always be the most beautiful woman in the world to me. She thinks otherwise, though, and much like you, I want my wife to have everything her heart desires.”

  Sarah rolled her eyes so hard Maddie was convinced she might topple over. “You think you’re so smooth.” Despite the edge to her tone, Sarah managed a smile as she turned her attention to the order sheet Clyde was filling out. “Giggle Gray and Silly Slate are an awesome combination. They hold up well in the wash, too, and there will be a lot of washing.” She turned her full attention to Maddie. “Is this your first baby?”

  Still leery, Maddie nodded. “Yeah. We’re excited ... and a little nervous.”

  “A lot nervous,” Nick countered, rubbing his hands over Maddie’s shoulders. “It’s a big change for us.”

  “Well, you’re clearly up to it.” Sarah was matter-of-fact.

  “How do you know that?” Nick was honestly curious.

  “We’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve learned how to read people. Plus, we have six ragamuffins of our own. I know how this works better than most. You’ll be fine.” She looked Maddie and Nick up and down a second time. “The kid is probably going to be gorgeous. You’ve got that going for you.”

  Maddie blushed furiously. “Thank you.”

  “A couple of ours look like they’ve been run over a few times,” Clyde offered. “Thankfully they’re kind and smart.”

  Maddie had no idea what to say to that so she opted to refrain from commenting.

  “Go back to Dr. Morton,” Nick instructed. “We feel invested because we were there when his body was discovered. Do you think he was a good doctor? Could a disgruntled client be responsible in your opinion?”

  Sarah held out her hands. “Anything is possible. As far as I’m concerned, he’s a good doctor. I’m actually a little disappointed because I was just thinking my neck could use a cleanse, too. Now I’m going to have to find somebody new.”

  “Your neck is fine,” Clyde insisted. “I love your neck.”

  “My neck looks like a rooster gobbler,” Sarah shot back. “It’s your fault, too, because all your offspring sucked the elasticity from my skin.”

  Maddie pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. It was obvious, despite their loud mouths and occasionally harsh words, that Sarah and Clyde loved each other beyond reason. It was nice to witness.

  “As I was saying, he was a good doctor,” Sarah volunteered, turning back. “I don’t know why anybody would want to hurt him. I hope they find out who did it, though. This is a safe town, quiet. We get the occasional ruckus here, usually caused by that ghost hunter, but it keeps the town lively. I would hate to think Whisper Cove isn’t a safe place.”

  Maddie nodded in agreement. “It’s a beautiful town. I hope it stays that way.”

  “You and me both. Now, let’s get to your registry. It’s a lot more fun to pick out things than you might imagine. Live a little while you’re wandering around. Think big. Oh, and have fun. Your lives are about to change, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be fun.”

  And that, Maddie realized, was exactly the sort of thing she wanted to hear. “Let’s have some fun, Nicky.”

  He took her hand and squeezed it. “I always have fun with you. Lead the way.”

  JARED FOUND HARPER AT THE CEMETERY, just as the text she sent him suggested, and she looked to be in a foul mood when he tracked her down.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “How do you know something is wrong?” Harper challenged, her brow furrowed and her eyes dark.

  “Just call it a wild guess.” Jared leaned in and kissed her, although she seemed to reciprocate out of habit rather than excitement. “Seriously, what’s wrong?”

  “Luther called us down here,” she replied. “You know who he is, right?”

  Jared nodded as he brushed a strand of flyaway hair out of her face. “The owner of the cemetery. I know who he is.”

  “Well, he’s being a real jerk wad. He’s threatening to litigate the contract we signed with him and end the tours.”

  “Can he do that?”

  “I don’t know. I guess it depends on the judge. He’s being a tool, though. He was making noise last night about how much he hates it when we’re in the cemetery but that’s not unusual for him. He tracks us down at least once a month to tell us the same thing. He likes the money too much to back out, though.”

  “Until now.” Jared wasn’t sure what she expected him to do. He could hardly wade into the matter in an official capacity and throw his weight around. It wasn’t right. “What does Zander say?”

  “He’s over talking to him right now.” Harper let loose a vague gesture that seemingly indicated the east side of the cemetery. “He thinks that Luther is just talking to hear himself talk, but I’m not so sure.”

  “You think Luther might actually try to bar you from the property.”

  “Technically it’s private property.”

  “Yes, but there are rules for cemeteries,” Jared insisted. “He can’t just suddenly bar people from coming in, hold dead relatives as hostages or something. That’s not how it works.”

  “He can still make my life difficult. I’ll have to go to court to get him to hold up his end of the contract, and what good is that going to do me when it runs out in two years? What am I going to do then?”

  Jared didn’t have answers for her. “I don’t know. Um ... maybe I can talk to him.” Even as he made the suggestion, he knew it was the wrong move. Thankfully, Harper had already come to that conclusion herself.

  “Absolutely not.” She vehemently shook her head. “You can’t swoop in and fix this for me. That’s not why I asked for you to come.”

  “Why did you ask for me to come?”

  “Because I need this.” She slipped into his arms and rested her head against his chest. “I don’t like whining, but I need some comfort.”

  “Oh, well, I’m good at comfort.” He held her tight and kissed her forehead, his mind busy. If Luther wanted to be a jerk, he could ruin Harper’s entire business model. They were hardly in danger of losing their home, but Harper was the sort of woman who insisted on contributing. That wasn’t going to suddenly change out of the blue. “There have to be other cemeteries,” he said finally. “Sure, they’re not in Whisper Cove, but I bet another cemetery owner would jump at the chance for the same agreement.”

  “I know. I just want to wallow for a few minutes. I’ll figure something out.”

  “Okay.” He kissed her forehead. “Do you want an update while you wallow or is this one of those things that should be silent?”

  “I want an update.”

  Jared told her about his morning, which was lame by most investigation standards. When he was finished, she seemed intrigued.

  “Just how cute was Pammy?”

  Jared pulled back far enough to extend a warning finger. “Don’t even.”

  She studied him a beat longer, her lips curved into a sneer, and then shrugged. “Do you believe him when he says he wasn’t involved with Pammy during his marriage? She seems like a likely reason for a marriage to break up.”

  “She does,” Jared agreed. “I believe him, though. I don’t think he cheated on Cady. She was difficult and likely emasculated him. It took time for him to get up the guts to leave. What he doesn’t realize is Pammy is going to do the same thing to him that Cady did. She’s only going to play sweet and innocent until she’s certain she has him where she wants him.”

  “You don’t think Cady is capable of killing Morton, though, do you?”


  Jared hesitated and then shook his head. “I think it’s unlikely. She’s not very big and her chest strikes me as something that would be a hindrance in a physical fight.”

  “Not a fan, huh?”

  He smirked. “Let’s just say I think you have the perfect body — today, tomorrow, and forever — and leave it at that. What Darren says makes sense. She knew there was something wrong with the marriage and tried to adjust her outside appearance to compensate when it was what was inside that was the problem.”

  “That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a patient.”

  “No, and that’s what we’ll focus on next ... as soon as you’re done wallowing.”

  “I can be done,” she offered. “It’s not your job to hold my hand when I’m being petulant.”

  “I happen to enjoy holding your hand ... and the rest of you.” He hugged her again. “Five more minutes of wallowing and then I have to go back to work.”

  “That sounds like a plan.”

  8

  Eight

  Because he wanted to help — and he figured Harper moving her tours to another cemetery would mean less time for them to spend together — Jared suggested a group meeting with Luther to see if they could smooth out some of the frayed edges currently causing Harper’s wallow-fest. He only made the decision after giving it serious thought, taking the time to text Mel to tell him it would be a bit before he returned to the department.

  Jared couldn’t remember offhand if he’d ever been inside the cemetery office. It looked pretty much how he pictured it — although there wasn’t a lot of that going on — and he pasted on a friendly smile as they walked through the door.

  Zander was already sitting in the chair across from Luther’s desk and the two men looked to be in a heated argument.

  “Luther is in a mood,” a female voice volunteered from the right, drawing their attention.

  Harper flashed a smile for the woman’s benefit. “Hey, Barbara.” She gestured toward Jared. “I don’t know if you two have ever met. This is Jared Monroe.”

  “Your fiancé,” Barbara said. “I’m aware who he is. There were quite a few whispers around town when you joined the police department.” She extended her hand. “There was a race to see who could nab the first date with you. Nobody had Harper in the pool.”

  Jared took her hand. “There was a pool?”

  Barbara nodded solemnly. “I didn’t place my bet until I saw you. People kept saying you looked like a male model, but I didn’t believe it. Given the options in Whisper Cove, that could mean almost anything. Then Lexie over there pointed you out to me at lunch one day. That’s when I settled on Jayla Hunter closing the deal.”

  Harper scowled. “Barbara is Luther’s wife,” she volunteered in a surly voice that had Jared raising an eyebrow. “Lexie is the secretary. She’s like some random third cousin to Zander, too, although I’ve never been sure how that works.”

  “Me either.” Barbara’s smile never wavered as she looked Jared up and down. “You’re even better looking in person than I thought you would be from afar. You know how you see celebrities on television and you just know they’re not going to be as good looking in person? You’re the exact opposite.”

  Discomfort rolled over Jared in a long, slow wave. “Um ... who is Jayla Hunter?” he asked finally.

  “Nobody,” Harper replied automatically.

  “Oh, she’s this girl who looks like a model, just like you,” Barbara volunteered. “She has the same coloring and everything. She’s a gorgeous little thing. She’s got legs that go on for miles and cheekbones that could cut glass. She’s nineteen now, I think. I remember there was talk that she was too young for you when you first arrived, but she was eighteen, so it was all good.”

  Jared flicked his eyes to Harper to see what she thought of the conversation and found overt fury reflected back. Thankfully the annoyance was directed at Barbara rather than him. “Well, I think things worked out how they were supposed to.” He slipped his arm around Harper’s shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “I ended up exactly where I was always supposed to be.”

  “Yeah, there was talk about that, too,” Barbara continued, not missing a beat. “People thought Harper had somehow cast a spell on you or something.”

  “Now wait just a second.” All traces of mirth fled as Jared straightened. “There was no spell. I love Harper.”

  Barbara stared at him for an extended beat and then broke out in a huge grin. “You’re as feisty as they say, too. I’m just messing with you.” She waved her hand. “People said you were completely devoted to Harper, which is something I’m happy to see because I’ve always thought she was the cream of the crop in this town, and I wanted to see how you would react.

  “Mel plays euchre tournaments with us once a month and he goes on and on about how sickening he finds you two because you gush all over one another,” she continued. “Those were his words, not mine, by the way. I happen to like a good gusher. Luther over there has never gushed a day in his life.”

  Jared let out a breath and risked a glance at Harper. He was relieved to find all the ire she’d clearly carried into the building was rapidly evaporating. “Oh, well ... does that mean this Jayla person is made up?”

  “Nope.” Barbara shook her head. “There really was a pool and people thought you would end up with her. Then she came out as a lesbian or some such thing. It was right after you started dating Harper and there was talk she turned because of that. I told people that’s not how it works. They wouldn’t listen to me, though.”

  “Jayla is a lesbian?” Harper was legitimately shocked. “I must’ve missed that.”

  “Yeah, she’s dating the Donahue girl, the blonde with the big ... smile.” Barbara beamed even wider. “Now all the guys in town are competing to see if they can date both of them. They don’t understand how it works either.”

  “Clearly not,” Harper said dryly, shaking her head. “We’re actually here to see Luther. It’s come to my attention that he wants to kick us out of the cemetery.”

  Barbara let loose one of those sighs that can only be mustered if you’ve been married for a really long time ... or it at least feels that way. “Yeah, he’s being a real pill. He says that you guys have found too many fresh bodies for him to be comfortable with you hanging around. I told him it wasn’t your fault that you found the bodies. It was just dumb luck. He won’t listen to me, though.”

  That was not what Harper wanted to hear. Despite Barbara’s rather odd sense of humor, she’d always liked the woman and preferred it when she could conduct all of her cemetery business through the wife rather than the husband. “We signed a contract,” she hedged.

  “I know and I mentioned that to him.” Barbara held out her hands and shrugged. “He doesn’t seem to care. He’s all worked up today. I don’t know that dealing with Zander has improved his mood.”

  “I can see that,” Jared muttered, earning a stern look from Harper. “What? Zander is a lot to deal with when you’re not in a bad mood.”

  “Ain’t that the truth?” Barbara grinned. “The boy is a pain, but I absolutely love him. He hasn’t backed down for a second even though Luther is trying to bulldoze over him.”

  Harper didn’t know whether she should take that as a good or bad sign. “Well, maybe I should go over there.”

  “Good luck.” Barbara held up her hands when Harper looked at her. “You’re going to need it. Luther is being a real jackass today. It would be nice if you could talk him down, but I don’t see it happening.”

  “We’ll do our best,” Jared promised, putting his hand to the small of Harper’s back as Barbara retreated into her office. “She seems ... unique,” he whispered.

  “She’s not so bad. She just likes messing with people. I should’ve remembered that when she brought up Jayla. I thought she was just being rude, but she really does love testing people to see how they’ll react. She once hit on my father right in front of my mother about two weeks after they officially separated.
It was at a party.”

  “How did your mother react?” Jared found he was legitimately curious. Harper’s parents were a constant source of amusement and torment in their lives. Right now, they were making a go of their marriage again, and it wasn’t always a comfortable arrangement.

  “She said she was fine, even encouraged it. Luther obviously was in on the joke because he didn’t say a word and just sat on the sidelines watching. He almost looked excited when he thought Barbara might actually get my father to go outside with her. My mother was calm ... right up until she accidentally tipped the punch bowl over on Barbara’s new shoes.”

  Jared arched an eyebrow. “Accidentally?”

  “That’s what she said. You know my mother, though.”

  “I do, and that definitely wasn’t an accident.”

  “Nope.” Harper pressed her lips together and squared her shoulders before approaching Luther and Zander. Neither one of them had looked up since the office door had opened to allow Harper and Jared entrance. She didn’t take it as a good sign. “How are things?” she asked tentatively.

  “Not good,” Zander replied grimly. “Luther says he’s going to contact a lawyer and have the contract dissolved.”

  Harper was already aware of the threat but having it repeated did nothing for her mood. “Do you really think that’s wise, Luther?” she prodded. “I mean ... that’s going to eat up money for both of us and cause hurt feelings.”

  “My feelings are already hurt,” Luther shot back. “You found a dead body on your tour last night. Again. How many does that make? I’m guessing about fifty.”

  “I believe it’s been two,” Harper corrected, sliding into one of the open chairs across from him. She was determined to keep her temper in check so things didn’t get out of hand. “I understand that finding bodies isn’t good for business ... .” She trailed off, unsure where she wanted to go with the conversation.

  “I don’t see how finding dead bodies would hurt the business at all,” Jared countered, drawing Luther’s attention to him. “I mean ... it’s a cemetery. Dead bodies go along with the territory.”