“That’s good enough for me.” Jared grinned as he went back to gazing into Harper’s eyes. “Do you want me to tell you a little more about how much I love you?”
Harper matched his smile. “Always.”
“And here we go,” Zander muttered. “Prepare to lose your lunch, kids. They’re about to get ridiculously gross.”
15
Fifteen
Jared pulled Nick aside outside the deli when they were finished eating lunch.
“I know this isn’t your idea of a fun time,” he started.
Nick thought about messing with the other detective but there was really no need. “It’s fine.” He waved off Jared’s next statement. “I know I did a lot of whining about having to be with them, but it’s not terrible. It’s just ... .”
“Ridiculous and over-the-top?”
“I was going to say loud, but it’s those things, too.”
Jared grinned. “Zander is work. I would never say otherwise. He’s part of the package with Harper though, so you’re going to have to suck it up because Maddie clearly is enjoying bonding with Harper.”
“She is,” Nick agreed, thoughtful. “I didn’t realize she was lacking something in her life until now.”
Confused, Jared held out his hands. “What is it you think she’s lacking?”
“Someone to talk to about all this ghost stuff.”
“You talk to her.”
“I do, but it’s not the same. You must realize that. Harper is just as excited to talk to Maddie as Maddie is to talk to her. Whenever they get a free second they’re exchanging stories.”
“I have noticed that,” Jared acknowledged.
“Harper has a lot of questions about the pregnancy, too. Just FYI. I think she’s using our situation as a parallel for what she sees in your future.”
Jared was taken aback. “We’ve talked about kids. They’re down the road, though. We’re not having them anytime soon.”
“Technically that’s how Maddie and I were looking at things. A baby wasn’t on the menu for at least a few years.”
“Then I guess it was a surprise.”
“It was and I’m not sorry about it. A baby is just another adventure for us. I think Maddie is going to be the best mother in the world.”
“How do you think you’ll be as a father?”
“I think I’ll be a good father. There will be a learning curve, of course, but I’m already an uncle. Maddie’s best friend and my brother just had a baby together. I’m not a total novice.”
“I kind of will be when it’s my time.” Jared’s smile was sheepish.
“You’ll be fine.” Nick was certain of that. “Since you’ve trained yourself to put up with Zander, you’re already ahead of the game. As for watching them, I’m fine with it. Maddie isn’t going to stop until we get answers on Morton.”
“Is that because she knew him?”
“Partially, but the truth is, once Maddie finds a mystery to sink her teeth into she won’t let it go.”
“That might be a difficult trend to continue once there’s a baby in the mix.”
“Probably,” Nick agreed. “Something tells me she’ll still find her fair share of trouble. I can’t worry about that, though. I took her on knowing what she was and could do. Nothing will ever change the way I love her. I don’t want to change her.”
“I kind of want to change Harper,” Jared said, taking Nick by surprise. “Actually, not really. I don’t want to change her. If I could change Zander, though, I would be a happy man.”
Nick recognized bluster when he heard it. He was familiar thanks to his partner Dale Kreskin. He understood that Jared was all talk. “You wouldn’t change him.”
“I would. The dude climbs in my bed once a week and I wake up to him and Harper giggling. It used to be more often, but I put my foot down.”
Nick didn’t bother to hide his smirk. “You talk big, but you love him. I’m willing to bet a hundred bucks that you pretend to be asleep whenever Zander and Harper start giggling in your bed.”
“That’s a defense mechanism so I don’t have to talk to him.”
“That’s love,” Nick countered, firm. “You listen because you’re delighted at the way he makes Harper laugh. The conversations, while silly, are important to them. That means they’ve become important to you.”
“How can you possibly know that?”
“It’s the same way between Maddie and Christy, although nobody is jumping in our bed but us. Christy is louder than Maddie, more brash. She helps bring Maddie out of her shell.”
“Maddie doesn’t seem to have much of a shell to me,” Jared argued. “She seems to know exactly what she wants and isn’t afraid to work to get it.”
“That’s a good way to describe her now,” Nick conceded. “She wasn’t always so brave, though. She spent years hiding in the shadows because she was afraid of people seeing her for what she really was.”
“She doesn’t have to do that now.”
“No, and she’s growing in strength every day.” Nick smiled as he watched Harper and Maddie emerge from the deli, both of them laughing. “She’s a miracle.”
“Oh, geez.” Jared rolled his eyes. “Now I know what Harper and I must sound like to Zander. No wonder he’s always complaining.”
“Zander complains because that’s part of his persona,” Nick countered. “He likes being the center of attention and he specifically enjoys messing with you.”
“He definitely enjoys messing with me. It’s been that way from the beginning.”
“You enjoy messing with him, too. That’s a brother thing.”
Jared opened his mouth to argue with the statement and then snapped it shut, considering. “I don’t think of him as a brother,” he said finally.
“No? Be honest.”
“I think of him as a brother-in-law.” That was the comparison Jared was most comfortable with. “He’s Harper’s brother.”
“Either way, he’s family. You’ve come to grips with that.”
“And you think that will make me a good father?”
“I think you’re going to be an excellent father.”
“I think you’re going to be an excellent father, too.”
The men stared at each other and offered foolish grins as the women joined them.
“Why do you look so happy?” Harper queried, suddenly suspicious. “Whatever you’re planning, we’re still heading back to the cemetery. There’s no stopping us.”
“It’s fine.” Jared shook his head and focused on her. He loved the obstinate tilt of her chin. “I have no problem with you going back to the cemetery.”
“Since when?”
“Since we need answers. You need to hit up the ghost for them. I’m going to hit up the nurse.”
“Because you think she has secrets?” Maddie prodded.
“I think she knows the doctor’s secrets,” Jared clarified. “If he was killed for one of those secrets, that means she could have the answers we’re looking for.”
“Well, good luck.” Maddie’s expression was unnaturally bright. “Personally, I think you have a better shot of getting answers out of the secretary than we do the ghost because he’s such a pain, but I’m all for solving this one. Nick and I still have some shopping to do.”
“Yeah, speaking of that, we’re not leaving Whisper Cove without enough clothes to get us through the first three months,” Nick said. “I’m making that a hard and fast rule.”
“I’ve got it.” Maddie held up her hands. “Clothes are the easy part. We’ve already done the hard part.”
“Personally, I don’t think making Spot was hard at all.”
Maddie snickered. “Not that. The crib. Everything from here on out is gravy.”
Nick could only hope that was true.
MORTON’S OFFICE LOOKED VASTLY DIFFERENT when Jared and Mel entered through the front door. Both men were taken aback as they glanced at the boxes stacked in front of the desk and the sheets of paper s
trewn across the floor.
In the middle of the mess was Janice, her hair swept back from her face. She was so intent on what she was doing she hadn’t even heard the men enter.
“Taking a trip?” Jared asked, causing her shoulders to jolt.
“What?” Janice’s face was completely devoid of color when she lifted her puffy and red-rimmed eyes.
Mel had an even tone that had served him well when interviewing suspects and witnesses over the course of his career. He utilized it now. “What are you doing?”
“I’m ... organizing,” Janet said finally, her voice raspy from tears. “Is that allowed? Are you going to haul me in for organizing?”
“It looks like you’re doing more than that.” Jared folded his arms across his chest and regarded her. “I think it’s best that you tell us what’s going on.”
Janice’s voice turned shrill. “Who says anything is going on? I have to organize this office. Jeff is dead. He’s gone. That means this office will be put out to pasture any day now and I have to find another job. I mean ... do you really think I’m going to get paid now that he’s gone?”
Jared hunkered down so he was at an even level with the distraught woman, snagging one of the errant sheets of paper from the ground and scanning it. To him, it looked like a normal billing document. If there was something wrong, he wouldn’t even know how to identify it.
“I think we should start over,” he said in a gentle tone. “You’re obviously upset.”
“My boss is dead and I don’t have a job,” Janice snapped. “Of course I’m upset.”
Jared didn’t allow her tone to dissuade him. “What happened, Janice?”
“I just told you! My boss is dead!” She was practically screeching now.
“Okay, we need to get a grip here,” Mel noted. Gently, he reached down and hooked his hands under Janice’s arms. “Let’s move over to the chairs, shall we?”
“What if I don’t want to move over to the chairs?”
“We’re not going to give you a choice,” Mel replied. “This way, please.” He led her to the chairs in the reception area and motioned for her to sit.
While he was doing that, Jared retrieved a bottle of water from the small refrigerator that was located against the wall and brought it to her. “Take a drink,” he instructed as he cracked the bottle for her. “When you’re done doing that, take a breath. Then we’ll go from there.”
“Nothing is wrong.” Janice reluctantly accepted the bottle and took a small sip. Then, before saying another word, she took a long guzzle. “I mean, I didn’t do anything. I don’t know why you guys are even here.”
“We want to talk to you,” Mel replied. “We feel that you know more about Dr. Morton’s life than you’ve been letting on. We’re not here to give you a hard time about it,” he added hurriedly. “We understand you two were close and it would feel like betraying him to talk, but we need help if we expect to find his killer.”
Rather than respond, Janice continued to drink her water.
“It’s time to be honest, Janice,” Jared pressed. “We know you were in a relationship with Morton. You can deny it all you want, but we know it’s true. It would be best if you’d just own up to it because, from there, we can move on relatively quickly.”
Janice’s eyes darkened as she lowered the bottle. “And how do you know this?”
“You told us.”
“I did not.”
“The way you reacted told us,” Jared clarified. “Honestly, we don’t have any intention of getting you in trouble with the hospital. That’s not why we’re here. All we care about is hearing the truth from you. The rest of it is unimportant.”
“Unimportant?” Janice practically spat out the word. “Unimportant? Are you saying I’m unimportant?”
Jared was caught off guard by her response. “Of course not. I’m just saying that tattling to the hospital is unimportant. We have no intention of doing that, so there’s no reason to be fearful.”
“Oh, I don’t care about that.” Janice let loose a dismissive wave. “That’s honestly the last thing I care about.”
“Then what is it?”
“He lied to me,” she replied simply.
“Who?”
“Jeff. Who else?”
Jared was genuinely baffled. “What did he lie to you about?”
“All of it. All of this. What he was doing. What he planned to do. All of it was a big, fat lie.”
Jared and Mel exchanged wary looks. The anger Janice had been operating under only moments before had completely disappeared. Now she was defeated, her shoulders slumping. She was almost pitiable.
“Let’s start from the beginning,” Mel suggested, sliding into the chair next to Janice and adopting a fatherly demeanor. “How long were you and Morton involved?”
“Not all that long.” Janice plucked at the knits on her pants and sighed. “I knew him from our days at the hospital. He was a brilliant doctor and all the nurses were in love with him. He would only date a certain type, though.”
“And what type is that?”
“Blonde. Perfect. Model looks.”
Jared thought of Maddie. Nick had mentioned that Maddie never dated the doctor. He couldn’t help but wonder if an attempt had been made at some point. It hardly mattered now, but it sounded like Maddie was just his type.
“When he asked me to move to his practice with him, I was shocked,” Janice explained. “I thought he would take one of the blondes. We’d all heard what he had planned and everybody wanted to be the one selected. I applied, although I was doubtful he would choose me.”
“Because you weren’t his type?”
“Pretty much.” Janice switched the bottle to her other hand, nervous energy on full display. “Listen, I’m never going to be a model like those other women. I’m okay with that. When he asked me, it was a point of pride for a different reason. I figured he was impressed with my work and that’s why I got the job.
“Once we got over here and started setting up the office, he let a few things slip,” she continued. “He always planned on opening his own practice but he had to do it faster than he envisioned because he got in trouble with the hospital board.”
“We’re talking Detroit Mercy Hospital, right?”
“Yeah. They have fraternization rules but are lax on them for the most part unless somebody is a real problem.”
Realization washed over Jared. “Morton was a problem.”
“He didn’t think so. I’m not sure I believed he was either. I mean ... he flirted with nurses and patients. He slept with some here or there. He never coerced them, though. All they had to do was say no. It’s not like he was a rapist.”
“What was he like?”
“He just knows what he likes in bed and goes after it.” Janice’s brown eyes were wide and plaintive. “I thought he was a good man.”
“But something has happened to change your mind,” Mel surmised. “You still haven’t told us when you started dating.”
“It was about six months ago. We were talking one day — he liked to tell me about his dates, whether they went well or not — and laughing because he picked some idiot girl. He called her brainless and said he wished he could find someone who he could talk to.
“I made a joke that he never had a problem talking to me,” she continued. “He agreed and then, out of nowhere, he asked me out to dinner. We went, had a good time, and the relationship bloomed from there.”
“How often did you see each other?”
“Once a week, sometimes not even that. I thought it was because he was always so busy with work but now ... .” She gestured toward the files on the ground.
“Now what?” Jared prodded.
“I thought it was a fluke when I saw it,” she admitted, her lower lip trembling. “I thought there had to be some mistake. I’m in charge of the billing for the office most of the time, but Jeff helped on that front more often than other doctors I know.”
“He was hidi
ng funds,” Jared surmised.
Janice shook her head. “The opposite. He was writing off bills.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I didn’t either. I only noticed because I was looking through the files for unhappy clients before and I saw the notation for the deferred payment on one of the files. I started digging, and I found a pattern.”
“And what pattern is that?”
“A lot of the women who got deferred payments were young and pretty, like model pretty. Not all of them, but a few I noticed Jeff flirting with were definitely on the list.”
A sick feeling settled in Jared’s gut. “All blond?”
“No, he branched out there.” Janice’s lips twisted into a sneer. “They were all patients who he showed a special interest in. I questioned him about it a few times, but he always got angry when I did.”
“And you stopped questioning him after,” Mel said.
“No, we started dating after.”
“Oh.” Mel flicked his eyes to Jared. “I think I know where this is going.”
“I checked his phone records after I put together the list of deferred patients.” Janice slumped down in her chair, dejected. “He had regular calls with all of them. Once or twice a month. Like clockwork.”
“He traded sex for surgery,” Jared said. “That’s what you’re saying.”
“I don’t have proof, but it’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“He was holding the surgery over these women’s heads,” Mel deduced. “If they moved on, refused to cater to his whims, he threatened to bring the bills back.”
“And that might be difficult for a woman who moved on to a new relationship, or decided to get married,” Jared added. “Which would be a pretty good motive for murder.”
“You think one of these women killed him,” Janice said. “I ... well ... that makes sense. He was using and abusing them.”
“And you,” Mel said gently.
“I didn’t kill him,” Janice said. “I swear I didn’t kill him. I didn’t even know this was happening until this afternoon. I put it all together.”
Jared glanced at the box of files. “Are they all in there?”
Ghostly Graves: A Harper Harlow and Maddie Graves Mystery Page 16
