Ghostly Camping (A Harper Harlow Mystery Book 16)

by Lily Harper Hart

  Harper slid her eyes to Jared. “I’m guessing he’s going to go for a big opening.”

  “Me, too.” Jared tapped the side of her platter. “Eat. You need to make sure you’re all fueled up for what’s to come.”

  “Speaking of that, I think we should come up with a plan,” Shawn interjected.

  “What sort of plan?” Zander daintily held up a rib and made a face. “Could they have come up with something a little messier?”

  “Probably not,” Harper replied on a laugh as she bit into one of her ribs. She knew from the way the bone hit her cheek that she probably had sauce all over her face. She’d never been happier to be free of makeup. “They’re really good, though.”

  “Really good,” Jared agreed, using a napkin to dab at Harper’s cheek. He seemed to be having a great time. “What sort of plan are you talking about, Shawn?”

  “Just a plan as to how we’re going to handle this,” Shawn replied, unwrapping a freshly grilled ear of corn. “My understanding is that we’re to treat it as a competition. Teams work separately and together to overcome certain obstacles. Obviously we’re our own team.”

  “Obviously,” Harper agreed. “I don’t know that we can plan anything out. I mean ... it’s going to be all new to us.”

  “It is,” Shawn agreed. “I think we should have a central meeting place in case we get separated, though.”

  “Oh, I agree,” Harper said as she reached for her corn. She’d given up trying to keep her face clean. “I think, if anybody gets separated from the group, the rule should be that we meet up back here.”

  Jared balked. “I would prefer nobody get separated from the group.”

  “I think we would all prefer that,” Harper said. “The thing is, we can’t guarantee it. We can only do the best that we can to stick together. It’s always best to have a backup plan and this is ours.”

  “Fair enough. I still don’t want you and Zander wandering off together.” He was stern. “You could get lost.”

  “Hey!” Zander’s eyes flashed. “I’ll have you know that I’m an excellent navigator.”

  Jared didn’t bother to hide his eye roll. “You very well may be, but it’s important that you guys don’t go wandering off in the woods. My one concern about this entire thing is that nobody is familiar with the surroundings up here. In woods this deep, it’s easy to get turned around. If you do somehow get lost, don’t keep moving. Sit down exactly where you are and call out.”

  “Why is he looking at me when he says that?” Zander challenged Harper. “He’s acting as if it’s a foregone conclusion that I’m the one who will be lost when it could just as easily be him. Heck, it will most likely be you, Harp. You’re blonde.”

  Harper shot him a dirty look. “I have a better sense of direction than you.”

  “She does,” Jared agreed. “You both could get lost, though. Shawn and I could get lost as well.” Even as he said the words, he didn’t look as if he believed them. “I just want you to remember what I said. If you think you’re lost, don’t keep wandering around. You could end up heading in the wrong direction and then things will turn ugly.”

  “I promise we won’t get lost,” Harper said, polishing off the last bit of food. “Wow. I didn’t realize how hungry I was. That was really good.”

  Jared grinned as he moved his napkin to her cheek. “You are so stinking cute. Is it any wonder that I fell in love with you right from the start?”

  Harper held out her hands. “Absolutely not.”

  He gave her a soft kiss, lifting his chin when he felt a set of eyes on him. He wasn’t surprised to find Becky watching him, a wistful look on her face, from the next table. “Now I know how a zoo animal feels,” he lamented.

  Harper shifted so she could see what he was looking at and grinned. “I think it’s kind of funny.”

  “Just for the record, I wouldn’t think it was funny if she was a dude and fixated on you.”

  “I know. I can’t explain it. I have to get my kicks somewhere, though.”

  “Fair enough.” He gave her another kiss, opened his mouth to say something more, and then cocked his head as an ear-splitting scream sounded in the distance. One look at Harris, who looked just about as pleased as one man could given the circumstances, told Jared all he needed to know. “I guess that’s our cue.”

  “Yup.” Harper grabbed her platter and stood, her eyes going wide as the others gathered in the pavilion scattered. “The game is afoot.”

  “Let’s see how it plays out.”

  JARED TOOK THE LEAD AS THEY HEADED INTO the woods. The other teams had raced off, eager to be at the forefront. Harper’s crew decided that slow and steady was the better option ... especially since the idea of running headlong into unfamiliar woods with darkness threatening to overtake them was the most likely way to incur an injury.

  “Where do you think they’ll start things?” Shawn asked, his hand linked with Zander’s as they followed directly behind Jared and Harper.

  “The cemetery,” Zander automatically answered. “Everything starts in a cemetery in movies.”

  Harper hesitated and then shook her head. “No, that doesn’t feel right.” Her sense of direction wasn’t great under normal circumstances, but she was fairly certain the scream hadn’t come from the direction of the cemetery. “I think they’re over by that abandoned building, the one they said was used for campground workers, like, twenty years ago.”

  Jared nodded in agreement. “That makes sense to me given where the scream originated from. The good news is that the trail heading out there is pretty well marked. We should be able to find it without a lot of difficulty.”

  Harper nodded, her eyes trained on the ground directly in front of them. “I know it’s not keeping with the nature theme or anything, but they might want to consider getting some of those solar lights to illuminate the trails out here. If someone falls they could be sued.”

  “That’s a good idea.” Jared gripped her hand tighter as he slowed his pace. “I’m trying to remember. I think the old barn was over that way, so that means the building we’re looking for is to the east, right?”

  Harper shook her head. “We need to go that way.” She pointed down the opposite trail. “That’s where the scream came from.”

  Jared didn’t look convinced. “I think it was more that way.” He turned to Shawn for confirmation. “What do you think?”

  Shawn hesitated and then nodded. “I agree with Jared.”

  “I told you,” Zander noted when Harper made a face. “Germany and France are going to join together and screw this up.”

  “Do I even want to know what he’s talking about?” Jared groused.

  “Probably not,” Harper replied. “The thing is, I’m almost positive the scream came from over there. I know I’m just a lowly female with no directional sense, but I think we need to go that way.”

  Jared rolled his eyes. “Oh, don’t turn this into a male-versus-female thing. I’m not saying you’re wrong. It’s just ... I don’t think you’re right.”

  “Oh, well, thank you for the clarification.” Harper prepared herself to mount another argument, but whatever she was going to say died on her lips when another scream reverberated through the air, this one much closer than the last. “Ha!” She jabbed a finger into Jared’s ribs. “I told you it was that way.”

  Jared was chagrined as she started down the trail. “I think whoever is screaming moved.”

  “No, I was right all along.” Harper was adamant as she crested a hill and came face-to-face with one of the young women she’d seen hanging around the pavilion earlier. It was obviously one of the actresses. “You’re going to have to worship me as the directions queen later tonight.”

  Despite his embarrassment, Jared snickered. “I think that can be arranged. In fact ... .” He trailed off when he got a better look at the young woman. She was white as a sheet.

  “She’s either really good at her job or genuinely frightened,” Shawn offered after
a beat.

  “I was just thinking the same thing.” Jared took a step toward her, holding up his hands in a placating manner so as not to frighten her. “Are you okay? Is something wrong?”

  The woman, her lower lip trembling, extended a finger and pointed toward what Jared had missed on his initial assessment. “She’s dead.”

  “Isn’t that part of the game?” Zander asked, confused.

  Rather than answer, Harper moved closer to the body on the ground, her mouth dropping open when she got a better look. “I don’t think this is part of the game.” She was breathless. “In fact, I think this is something else entirely.”

  Jared moved closer to her, staring hard. “Is that ... ?”

  “Leslie,” Harper confirmed. “I’m pretty sure she’s really dead.”

  7

  Seven

  Jared checked Leslie himself — there was always a chance she was part of the show after all — but it was obvious she was dead. He ordered the others who had gathered around the body to stand back and then called 911. He was calm and collected as he explained the situation and then agreed to take control of the scene until responding officers were on-site.

  Harper knelt close to the body but didn’t get too close. Life with Jared had taught her a thing or two about crime scenes. This one seemed odd to her.

  “Was she stabbed?” Shawn asked, hunkering down next to Harper. He was paler than normal and seemed shocked by the turn of events. “Is that why there’s so much blood up here?” He gestured toward his own body for emphasis, highlighting the spot between his neck and shoulder.

  “I’m not sure.” Harper glanced toward Jared, who studied the body with a cool eye from a few feet away. He seemed lost in thought. “I’ve never seen a wound exactly like this one.”

  “How can you even say what sort of wound it is?” Zander challenged. “There’s too much blood.”

  “There’s a lot of blood,” Harper agreed, rolling back on her haunches so she could study the tree line. Technically she wasn’t looking for anything specific, maybe a flash of color or errant footprint, but it was too dark to make much out.

  “Anything?” Zander asked when she’d finished studying the area. “Is her ghost here?”

  Shawn brightened considerably. “Oh, right. You can see ghosts. What does she say?”

  Harper didn’t know if she should laugh or cry. Murder always made her twitchy. In this particular instance, though, there were too many questions to form an opinion. “Her ghost isn’t here.”

  “Oh, no.” Shawn made a face. “That sucks. It would be easier if she could just tell us what happened.”

  “It doesn’t always work like that.” Harper was rueful. “A lot of the time ghosts don’t spring up for hours, or even days in some instances. Very often they’re confused as to what happened to them. Death is often jarring.”

  “You’ve worked with ghosts to solve cases before, though,” Shawn pointed out. “How does it work?”

  Zander rolled his eyes. “Oh, now you’re interested in what we do for a living.”

  Shawn scowled at him. “I’ve always been interested. Don’t be a pain. It’s just ... I never really thought about it. I guess I had a specific picture in my head when you guys went out to solve a murder. I didn’t really think about how the pieces fit together.”

  Harper shot him a reassuring look. “It’s okay. You couldn’t know. I guarantee whenever Zander relates stories about what we do that he’s the star.”

  “Pfft.” Zander folded his arms over his chest and lifted his chin. “I am the star of our little tag team and you know it.”

  Harper ignored her friend and kept her focus on Shawn. “Some ghosts do remember what happened to them right from the start. Not everybody comes back as a ghost, though. I’ve found that those who had a particularly traumatic death are more likely to return, but that’s not a hard and fast rule.

  “Some people just let go,” she continued. “Some people don’t want to hold on to the cruelty surrounding their death. Still others cling to the life they left behind because they’re not ready to say goodbye to loved ones, or they simply don’t realize they’ve died.”

  “Wow.” Shawn was perplexed. “That’s really sad. What happens to the ghosts then?”

  Harper held out her hands. “Sometimes they watch over their loved ones, serve as a guardian angel of sorts. Other times they turn themselves into pesky poltergeists and wreak havoc on those they’ve left behind.

  “Like, there was this one time when a guy we knew died, Harold Dobkins.” She looked to Zander with a half-smile. “He was known as the town jerk.”

  “He was a total cranky-pants,” Zander agreed. “When you went to his house on Halloween, he would steal candy from your bag rather than hand any out.”

  Shawn was amused despite the situation. “He sounds ... lovely.”

  “He was mean,” Harper corrected. “He yelled at his wife all the time, said horrible things to her, and was generally just a miserable cuss. Nobody missed him when he was dead.”

  “And he stayed behind?”

  Harper nodded. “He did, just to torture his wife. He was very upset, when less than a year after his death, his wife met another man and moved him into the house they used to share. If it had been anyone else, it would’ve turned into a scandal. Since Harold was such a pill, though, nobody begrudged his wife a little happiness ... except Harold.”

  Shawn was enthralled with the story. “What did he do?”

  “At first he started by knocking things off shelves,” Harper explained. “Technically I think he discovered he could move things through a fluke of nature. He was happy when he figured it out, though, and broke things left and right.

  “His wife couldn’t figure out what was happening, although she was fearful and called us. It didn’t take more than a few minutes to track Harold down in the attic,” she continued. “When I asked him what his deal was, he expressed the opinion that his wife was his property and the house belonged to him. He didn’t think anybody deserved happiness, especially since he was so miserable.”

  “And what did you do?”

  “We forced him over.” Harper’s grin broadened for an instant, and then she remembered the body on the ground and sobered. “He didn’t stay because he loved his wife. He didn’t want to remain close to his family. All he wanted to do was torture people. That happens more often than you might expect.”

  “That just makes me inexplicably sad,” Shawn noted, his eyes drifting toward the trees, to where flashlights bounced to signify more people were incoming. “I guess I’ve always hoped there was something better on the other side for everybody.”

  “Oh, there is,” Harper reassured him, squeezing his hand as she straightened. “Have faith. This is only one life. There’s another one out there waiting for us when all is said and done.”

  JARED MET THE INCOMING POLICE OFFICERS at the edge of the clearing, introducing himself before gesturing toward the body.

  “She’s a member of our group.”

  Leo Portman, the head detective for the Evergreen Shores Police Department, nodded in greeting. His expression as he eyed the body was one of fear more than determination, though. “I see. How did she die?”

  Jared studied the detective for a long beat and then shook his head. He had a sinking feeling that the Evergreen Shores Police Department didn’t deal with a lot of murders. That would make things more difficult. “I don’t know. I haven’t gotten that close. Once we ascertained that she was really dead — and not just part of the show — I ordered everyone to stand back and not touch anything. I figured you would want to bring in your own people and take over.”

  “Right.” Leo rubbed his cheek, bafflement joining disgust in the depths of his eyes. “Um ... maybe you could give me a hint or something. You’re a police detective, right?”

  “In Whisper Cove,” Jared agreed, darting a quick look toward Harper. She was obviously listening to the conversation, and she looked as worried
as Jared felt. “If I may ask ... um ... when was the last time you guys dealt with a homicide?”

  Leo puffed out his chest. “A year ago. I was the one who closed it. Delores Jenkins smacked her husband over the head with a cast-iron skillet because she found out he’d been gambling with their retirement money.”

  “Uh-huh. Did she try to cover her tracks?”

  “No. She just sat in a chair and waited for us to come to her. She never denied what was done.”

  “I see, well ... this will be different.” Jared tried to force a smile for the other detective’s benefit. “I do know that this individual was here with her husband.”

  “Do you know a name?” Leo asked, digging in his pocket for his notebook. “I guess we should start with that.”

  Jared looked to Harper for an answer.

  “Leslie Duncan,” Harper replied automatically. “Her husband’s name is Sam. I’m not sure if that’s short for anything.”

  “I don’t see how much shorter the name Sam can get,” Leo replied blankly.

  Harper swallowed hard. “Um ... I meant that Sam might be short for Samuel or something.”

  “Oh, right.” He nodded. “What’s your particular involvement in this case, ma’am?”

  Jared swooped in before Harper could answer. “She’s my fiancée. We’re here as a group.” He gestured toward Zander and Shawn, too. “This was supposed to be a vacation of sorts. We’re serving as testers for the new campground event they have planned.”

  “That would be the murder-mystery thing, right?” Leo queried. “We hear it’s supposed to be like Friday the 13th or something, with fake murders and monstrous killers running around.” He leaned closer to Jared and continued in a conspiratorial whisper. “Most of the folks who live in these parts aren’t happy about it, but they don’t want a development going in here either so we’re just sitting back and watching at this point.”

  “I don’t know that the event had anything to do with this,” Jared cautioned, although his mind was already spinning with possibilities. “Has anybody made their concerns regarding the murder-mystery events public? I mean ... is anybody really upset?”