Ghostly Camping (A Harper Harlow Mystery Book 16)

by Lily Harper Hart

  “Holly Horton,” she repeated.

  “Am I supposed to know who that is?”

  “It’s the other ghost.”

  He was taken aback. “How can you possibly know that?”

  “I had another dream.” She shifted again to stare into his eyes. “I remembered it just now. She was sad — like really sad — and angry about almost everything. She said she didn’t live around here.”

  “Okay.” His mind was already working. “Did she tell you where she lived? There might be more than one Holly Horton out there.”

  “No.” Harper slowly shook her head. “She was difficult to talk with because she was bitter. She talked in circles a bit, warned me that I would be in danger if I stayed. She wouldn’t stay on one particular subject very long.”

  “Hold up.” Jared cupped the back of her head, changing the angle so she had no choice but to look directly into his eyes. “She said you’re in danger?”

  “Yes, but that’s not the important part of the dream.”

  “Um, yes it is.” He was adamant. “If you’re in danger, we’re leaving early.”

  “Um ... no.” Harper wasn’t in the mood for a fight, but she would put her foot down if it became necessary. “This is the last day we’re here and I feel as if we’re close. I don’t want to leave before we solve this.”

  “That’s all well and good, but satisfaction in an investigation well solved is not worth your life. I think we should go.”

  “No.”

  “Harper ... .”

  “Jared.” She mocked his tone perfectly, arching an eyebrow.

  Even though he was deadly serious, he couldn’t swallow his laughter. “I don’t want to put you at risk.”

  “Then I guess you’re going to need to stick close to me, huh?”

  He let loose a sigh, one of those long-suffering ones only a man resigned to his fate, a man who loved with his whole heart and accepted the woman he’d chosen to share his life with without any qualms, could muster. “Oh, I’m going to stick close to you,” he said finally. “I’m going to stick so close you’re going to be sick of me.”

  “I’m pretty sure that’s impossible.”

  “Let’s hope so.” Jared stroked the back of her head. “Well, if we’re going to figure out who this Holly Horton is, we should probably get up. I need to call Mel and ask him to run her name. Is there anything else you can tell me?”

  Harper searched her memory. “She said she grew up on a farm. She didn’t say where, but I’m convinced it was Michigan. She said she had dreams to run away to Chicago when she graduated, but she got pregnant instead.”

  “That’s something. Do you know how many children she had?”

  “I think only one, a daughter. She said she tried to instill a competitive spirit in her daughter because she thought it would help her excel. Then she said it didn’t work, that she wished she hadn’t done it. I don’t know why she felt that way, though. She didn’t say.”

  Jared pursed his lips, his mind busy. “Maybe Holly wanted her daughter to be competitive so she would get away. If Holly had a dream that died when she got pregnant, maybe she was determined to make sure her daughter achieved the dream.”

  “I guess that’s possible. Heck, it makes sense. I got the feeling that Holly blamed her daughter, though. It made me … uncomfortable.”

  Jared offered up a sympathetic tsking sound. “Do you think Holly abused her daughter?”

  Harper hesitated. She wanted to say no, but she honestly couldn’t be certain. “I think it’s possible she said some horrible things to her daughter. If you’re asking about physical abuse, I don’t know. Mental abuse, though? I think it’s possible.”

  Jared studied her strong profile. “You didn’t like her.”

  “No.”

  “Do you feel guilty about that?”

  “I don’t think so. I mean ... I always want to help the dead, people who have been trapped on this side, but she doesn’t have a lot of rooting value in my book. When she talks about her daughter, it’s not with love. It’s like a responsibility or something.”

  “And you don’t understand that,” he mused.

  “If we ever have a daughter, I think we’re the sort of people who will cherish her. Holly isn’t that way. It was a job. She did her job. She found no joy in it, though.”

  “Oh, if we ever have a daughter, I’m going to spoil the crap out of her,” Jared enthused, causing Harper to laugh. “I hope she has blonde hair and blue eyes like her mommy. I’m going to get her a dog ... and take her camping ... and teach her how to ride a bike ... and explain how her Uncle Zander is full of crap.”

  That had Harper laughing. “I see you’ve given this some thought.”

  “I have,” Jared agreed. “I’ve given it a lot of thought. We’re going to make constant fun of Uncle Zander.”

  “Well, that’s something to focus on later,” Harper said. “For now, we need to find Holly. I can’t shake the feeling that she’s the key to this case.”

  “Then we’ll find her.” Jared was matter-of-fact. “Just remember, you’re sticking with me like glue today. I don’t want any murderous surprises. If we could go a few months without your life being in danger, I would greatly appreciate it.”

  Harper couldn’t help but agree with the sentiment. “Word.” She held out her fist to bump his and got a huge grin. “What?”

  “The big kids seal it with a kiss.”

  “Well, I guess I need to accept my position as one of the big kids, huh?”

  “That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

  SHAWN AND ZANDER MET HARPER AND JARED in front of the pavilion an hour later. Harper hadn’t bothered with her hair, instead pulling it back in a loose bun while still wet. It would look ridiculous once it dried, but she was beyond caring.

  “We were starting to think you guys were going to sleep the entire day away,” Shawn teased as they hopped into the food line. “I was trying to convince Zander to do the same thing, but he insisted you guys would eventually show up.”

  “Turns out Zander was right,” Jared noted. “It had to happen eventually.”

  “Hey, it happens all the time,” Zander shot back. “In fact, I’m right more often than the rest of you combined.”

  “And here I thought you were going to say that you were right more often than you were wrong,” Jared offered. “I had a comeback planned and everything.”

  “I’m too smart for you.” Zander lightly tapped Jared’s temple. “Eventually you’ll come to realize that I’m the brains of this operation.”

  “Does that make me the looks?” Jared queried dryly.

  “No, I’m the brains and the looks.”

  Jared snorted. “Well, at least nobody can say you have an overinflated ego.”

  “Exactly.” Zander’s grin was wide. “So, what’s the plan for the day?” He turned serious as he started dishing scrambled eggs onto his plate. “I mean ... do we have a plan yet?”

  “We do,” Jared confirmed, forcing a smile when Becky slid past him. The young woman made a point to press her hands to his back and offer an apologetic smile, as if invading his territory was some sort of accident. Jared knew better. “Let’s wait until we sit down, though.”

  Becky hovered close to the head of the line as the foursome filled up their plates. Jared was hopeful she would buy a hint and join another table, but instead she was all smiles as they pointed themselves toward a picnic table at the outskirts of the pavilion.

  “Is everybody ready to solve a murder?” she asked brightly, holding back long enough to see where Jared would sit before claiming her seat, which was directly on his left. “It’s a beautiful day, huh?”

  Harper risked a glance at Jared and found a muscle working in his jaw. He was clearly close to careening over the edge of his patience and exploding. Harper wanted to head that off if at all possible.

  “It is a beautiful day,” she enthused, hoping to take the onus of the conversation off her fiancé. “In
fact, we were just talking about that.”

  “About what?” Becky asked blankly.

  “The weather.”

  “We were talking about the weather?” Zander made a face that would’ve been humorous under different circumstances. “Were we saying anything good?”

  Harper shot him a quelling look. She was in no mood to put up with his shenanigans. “We were talking about the logistics of you guys running a business up here.” Since they had to put up with Becky for the duration of their meal, Harper decided she might as well mine more information out of the girl. “My understanding is that the summer season is short on this side of the bridge.”

  “Technically I think the summer season is the same everywhere,” Becky argued. “It starts in June and ends in September.”

  Harper blinked several times in rapid succession, internally debating if Becky was messing with her. Ultimately, she decided the girl was simply slow on the uptake ... at least this morning. “No, what I meant was — weather-wise — the summer season is likely to be short. It probably won’t really start in earnest until mid-June and it will end in early September.”

  “Harris says the diehards will be willing to put up with colder nights,” Becky explained. “That means the tickets we sell in May will be a little cheaper than the ones in the dead of summer, but the ones in the fall will be just as expensive because we’ll be able to tie the camp to Halloween.”

  “Right.” Harper nodded in understanding. “That actually makes sense.”

  “Harris says he even wants to put together a Friday the 13th-themed weekend event right around Halloween to really creep people out. He wants to hire someone to pretend to be Jason and chase camp counselors all over the place. We’re going to give him a real machete and everything.”

  “That doesn’t sound unsafe at all,” Jared muttered under his breath.

  “Did you say something?” Becky asked hopefully.

  Jared cleared his throat, ignoring the pointed look Harper shot in his direction. “I said that particular plan sounds unsafe,” he replied. “I mean ... a bunch of screaming people in the woods and a guy running around with a machete? What could possibly go wrong in that scenario?”

  “Right?” Becky’s smile was broad. “I told him it was a great idea.” She was quiet for a beat. “Wait ... were you being sarcastic? I’ve never been all that great picking up on sarcasm.”

  “Me neither,” Zander enthused, matching Jared’s smirk. “I’ve never understood people who use sarcasm as a weapon.”

  Harper jabbed a warning finger in his direction. “Don’t.”

  Becky’s face was blank. “Don’t what?”

  “Just ignore Zander,” Harper instructed. “He’s difficult to be around before he has his morning jolt of caffeine.”

  “Look who is talking,” Zander muttered.

  Harper kept her focus on Becky. “How long have you guys been working on the property up here? I don’t think Harris mentioned that.”

  “Oh, um ... .” Becky tapped her bottom lip and tilted her head back and forth, reminding Harper of a young girl debating between chocolate and strawberry ice cream. “I guess we made the agreement about six months ago. That was the dead of winter, though. He came to the house right after to tell me the news and then explained how he wanted me to help him.”

  “Right. Obviously you guys couldn’t have done anything when there was still snow on the ground. That probably has you coming out here in March, right?”

  “Oh, I wish.” Becky laughed as if it was the most absurd idea she had ever heard. “There’s still a mountain of snow up here in March. We didn’t get down here until the last week of April.”

  Harper did the math in her head. “That means that you guys put everything together in less than two months.”

  “Pretty much. The hope is that we will be able to work all summer and improve what we already have. Then next spring, we’ll expand. We need to have a really good Halloween season this year for that to happen, though.”

  “Well, here’s hoping.” Harper lifted her soda as if toasting Becky and then focused on her breakfast. Her mind was busy, but she found she was having trouble settling on a certain path.

  Rather than engage in further conversation with Becky, Zander opted to focus on Jared. “So, where did we land on the plan for today?”

  “We’re going to solve a murder,” Becky offered helpfully.

  “Of course we are,” Zander agreed, offering Becky a saucy wink. “I just meant us as a group. We like to have a plan when it comes to solving an investigation ... whether fake or not.”

  “Oh, right.” Becky continued smiling in such a manner that Zander had to briefly wonder if she was stoned. “I bet you’re always the leader when it comes to solving mysteries,” she said to Jared. “You’re the smartest, right?”

  “I’m the smartest,” Zander corrected.

  “Don’t listen to him,” Jared shot back. “I’m the smartest.”

  “No, I’m the smartest,” Harper corrected. “I’m the one in charge when it’s time to solve a case. They’re just my sidekicks.”

  “Hey!” Zander jabbed a finger in his best friend’s direction, legitimately miffed.

  Harper ignored him. “Right now we’re going to focus on our breakfast. After that, we’re going to focus on the case.”

  “The case we invited you to solve, right?” Becky pressed.

  For a moment — only a split-second really — Harper wondered if Harris had sent Becky over with ulterior motives. Then she pushed the notion out of her head. Even if Harris had told Becky to make sure they were engaged in the game, it didn’t matter. She was simply doing her job. Harper couldn’t blame her for being overly enthusiastic. That’s what they paid her to do.

  “Absolutely.” Harper flashed her most trustworthy smile. “You can count on us to follow through on this to the end.”

  She’d never meant anything more.

  17

  Seventeen

  “The first order of business is finding Holly’s body,” Harper announced when the foursome regrouped on the other side of the bathrooms.

  “How do you know her body hasn’t been discovered?” Shawn queried, genuinely curious. “I mean ... isn’t it possible someone accidentally stumbled across her already? Maybe they didn’t have a name to go with the body or something.”

  Harper opened her mouth to argue and then slid her eyes to Jared. “Can you find that out?”

  He hesitated and then nodded. “I can at least try. I’m going to have to spend some time on the phone, though.”

  Harper waited expectantly. When he didn’t immediately pull his phone out of his pocket, she offered up a small series of “hurry up” motions with her hands.

  Jared cracked a smile. “You could ask nicely.”

  She straightened, appropriately chastised. “I’m sorry. You’re right. Will you please call and find out about a potential body being found in close proximity here?”

  “I will, but I won’t be able to wander into the woods if I make that call. I need to wait here. This is the only place in the immediate vicinity where I get a reliable cell signal.”

  Harper hesitated. She hadn’t considered that. “Okay, well ... you and Shawn can stay here and wait for the information, and Zander and I will head into the woods.”

  Jared immediately started shaking his head. “That is not going to happen.”

  “Why not?”

  “You know why.”

  Harper did know why. That didn’t mean she wasn’t willing to argue the point. “We’ll be out in the open. Somebody would have to be stupid to take us on.”

  “I can count on two hands the number of times you two have gotten in trouble when you were supposed to be out in the open and safe,” Jared argued. “I would prefer we stay together.”

  Harper understood his fear. However, she couldn’t acquiesce to it. “I need to go out looking for Holly. I think the best place to start is where I first saw her yesterday, the woods
by the fake body dump.

  “If Harris is suspicious about what we have planned, we can kill two birds with one stone,” she continued. “We can go back to the scene of the crime looking for clues and search for Holly at the same time.”

  Jared worked his jaw. Her argument made sense. That didn’t mean he was keen to be separated from her. “See, I get what you’re saying — and I actually agree with it on principle — but I can’t just let you wander into the woods when we have a killer on the loose.”

  “Zander and I are perfectly capable of taking care of each other,” Harper supplied.

  “Not always. I happen to remember a time or two when I had to swoop in at the last second and play the hero.”

  Harper made a face. “I’ll have you know that I’m a self-rescuing princess.”

  Jared fought the urge to smile ... and lost. “I know that. I’m not saying you’re not strong or resilient. You’re not familiar with this area, though. We have no idea who is doing what ... or why, for that matter. You’re not even sure what you’re looking for.”

  “That’s why we have to look.” Harper refused to back down. “You said it yourself this morning. We only have a limited amount of time before this ends. If we don’t discover our murderer today, then we won’t have a chance to solve it at all.”

  Jared ran his tongue over his teeth, debating, and then held up his hands in a placating manner. “Fine. We need to solve this. We’re both going to struggle if we have to walk away without answers. I’m still not okay with you and Zander wandering around the woods alone.”

  “I’m pretty sure there’s an insult buried in there,” Zander muttered, rolling his eyes. “Thankfully he didn’t include a dig about my hair. For that reason alone, he can live.”

  Annoyed, Jared pinned him with a quelling look. “Not an insult. Concern. I don’t want anything happening to either of you.”

  “Aw, you almost sounded sincere,” Zander cooed. “That was very sweet.”

  “I could change my mind and be ready to sacrifice you,” Jared warned, flicking his eyes back to Harper. “We need to come up with a compromise. An hour ago you were promising to stick close to me no matter what. You’re already going back on that promise.”