Ghostly Wedding (A Harper Harlow Mystery Book 17) Page 18

  “Not okay.” Peter vehemently shook his head. “It wasn’t what I wanted. I thought maybe it was what Penny wanted, though. I thought maybe she wanted that because it would be easier on both of us ... and it would’ve been easier. Even though I was twenty-one, I was still a child in most respects.”

  “When did you realize that Lila hadn’t sent Penny away, that something more nefarious had happened?”

  Jared could only follow one side of the conversation, but he recognized Harper was making real progress. Instead of inserting his own questions, he moved behind her and began to rub her shoulders, allowing her to get to the heart of matters in her own time. Whatever information she came up with would help his cause when the warrant came through and it was time to question Denise.

  “It was months, although I was growing increasingly frustrated,” Peter admitted. “I knew Penny would find a way to contact me if she could. At first I wrote it off as Lila not allowing her access to a phone, but I watched Lila in that time. She seemed legitimately upset to me ... and then broken.”

  “It was when you realized she was broken that things shifted for you,” Harper surmised.

  “Pretty much,” he acknowledged. “When Lila broke, I did, too. I wanted to go to her, tell her I was the father of the baby, and beg her forgiveness. I thought we could come up with a plan together, and yet I knew deep down it was already too late.

  “I didn’t go to her like I should have back then because I was afraid,” he continued. “Months after the fact, I knew it was too late to do anything. I thought maybe she would tell the police and somehow I would get blamed even though I had nothing to do with it. Instead of being a man that day, I was a coward.

  “I quit my job at the pizzeria and spent the next few months living in a bottle. I’m not proud of the way I reacted. It was ridiculous, and nothing a man would do. Denise contacted me during that time. She’d returned, said she had a baby, and thought we could bond. I blew her off.

  “I didn’t see her again until a year after that. Cami was already walking by then. Denise seemed surprised when she saw me in the park one day and she lit up. It wasn’t her that I gravitated to, though.”

  The pressure in Harper’s chest grew as she realized what he was saying. “It was Cami.”

  “Do you think I knew on some level that she was mine? Do you think that’s why I allowed this to happen?”

  Harper was caught off guard by the question. “I don’t think you allowed this to happen,” she countered. “I don’t think this was your fault.”

  “If I’d come forward at the start, when Penny first got pregnant, there’s a chance she never would’ve been alone that day. We could’ve found a way to be together forever.”

  “Or Denise could’ve completely lost her mind because you cut off all contact and tried to kill all three of you at some point,” Harper pointed out. “It doesn’t sound like she’s very stable.”

  “No, and that bothers me, too.” Peter shook his head and looked away from the house. “I told myself I was falling in love with Denise when we first started dating. Penny was clearly gone and I was looking for something to focus on, a way to become a better man.

  “Say what you want about what Denise did — and it was awful — but dating her and spending time with Cami forced me to grow up,” he continued. “I stopped drinking and started thinking. I was completely ecstatic whenever Cami was around. I didn’t really feel anything for Denise. I know that in hindsight. I convinced myself I did, though. I told myself that some of that love I was feeling for Cami belonged to Denise.”

  “So you married her,” Harper prodded.

  “I did. I married her and became Cami’s father.”

  “Did you adopt her?”

  “No. Denise said it wasn’t necessary, that since we were married Cami would automatically go to me if something happened to her. I know now that’s not necessarily true, but I believed her at the time. All I cared about was Cami.”

  Harper licked her lips and debated where she wanted to go next with the conversation. There was really only one place to go. “When did you realize you wanted out of the marriage?”

  “Technically, I never did. That was Denise. When we first got married, she was pleasant and sweet and seemed to understand that I was still in love with Penny. After a few years, though, she started getting bitter about it.

  “She would push me, fight with me every chance she got, and demand that I tell her I loved her. I did. I told her what she wanted to hear. It was never enough, though.”

  “That’s because you didn’t feel it in your heart,” Harper offered. “Telling someone you love them and that person actually feeling loved are two different things. You didn’t love Denise, so you couldn’t give her the emotional support she wanted. At some point she must’ve realized that you were incapable of loving her the way she wanted.”

  Peter nodded. “She was the one who asked for the divorce. I was surprised, and yet I wasn’t upset at the prospect. I still loved Penny. I knew I always would. I’d moved beyond the numbness I felt for those initial years, though, and I’d come to the conclusion that something was lacking in my life.

  “Don’t get me wrong, I loved Cami beyond imagination, but I was indifferent to Denise,” he continued. “We didn’t even share a bedroom the last year of our marriage. I always conveniently fell asleep on the couch because it was easier than sharing a bed with her and feeling the hate radiating from her side.”

  “Did she give you grief when you wanted to share custody of Cami?”

  “No, and I thought there might be a fight there,” Peter admitted. “I always asked about Cami’s father. She never wanted to talk about him. She said that he didn’t want anything to do with her once getting her pregnant, and since I desperately needed someone to hold onto, I was fine allowing him to fall by the wayside.

  “I have to wonder, if I’d pushed back then, would the truth have come out?” he said. “How much of this is my fault?”

  “Very little,” Harper replied, firm. “You didn’t do everything right. I’m not going to pretend you did. A twenty-one-year-old with a seventeen-year-old is kind of iffy. I understand she was old enough to consent, but most parents would be upset with that age difference. You clearly loved her, though.”

  “To this day.”

  “You should’ve forced the issue with Lila,” Harper added. “I’ve had a chance to talk to her over the past few days. She’s a lovely woman who is hurting over the death of her daughter. She knows Penny is gone. Cami isn’t, though, and she’s Lila’s blood.”

  Peter nodded in agreement. “That’s what I wanted. Lila needed to know about Cami. I made the mistake of telling Denise I was going to track down Lila and tell her the truth, though, and that’s why she came after me.”

  “I figured.” Harper let loose a heavy sigh. “How did you find out the truth? That’s the piece of the puzzle that’s missing.”

  “Cami got me one of those DNA kits that you register online for Christmas last year,” he replied. “We had a lot of fun going over the results, tracing them back. She wanted one for herself.

  “She’s known since she was about ten that I wasn’t her biological father,” he continued. “I told her that didn’t mean anything, that I couldn’t love her any more even if she was biologically related to me. She understood and took the test.

  “We did it at my house, kind of a project thing. She was going to do a paper on it for her biology homework. We ran it through my email, though, so I was the one who got the results. I looked even though I told her I would wait. I was honestly curious.”

  “You thought you might be able to uncover ties to her biological father,” Harper mused. “You wanted to make sure there wasn’t something upsetting there waiting for her to discover.”

  “I always thought her biological father was some sort of heinous deadbeat and I wanted to make sure he wasn’t serving time in prison or something,” he acknowledged. “I don’t know how Cami would’ve deal
t with having a biological father who killed people. I also wasn’t sure I wanted her finding him in case he somehow became more important than me.”

  “She would’ve loved you forever no matter what,” Harper reassured him. “You loved her completely.”

  “I did, and always will.” His smile was rueful. “Imagine my surprise when I read the results and found out I was her biological father.”

  “Did you think there might’ve been an error?”

  “I did. I thought it was laziness. We have the same last name. I sent it in from my account. I thought they were trying to pull a fast one, so I had Cami do another test and we sent it in to a different company. Guess what I found.”

  “You were Cami’s father.”

  “Yes, and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was only one way that was possible,” he said. “I sat up all night wondering why she did it, how she did it. I tried to come up with a scenario where Penny was still alive and somehow she’d given Denise our baby, but I knew that wasn’t possible. It wasn’t in her.”

  “You realized she was dead.”

  “I always knew she was dead, at least after those first few months where I deluded myself into thinking Lila had set all of this up. She would’ve come back. She wouldn’t have tortured her mother this way, or me. I just assumed the baby was gone, too.”

  “She wasn’t, though. You raised her. You loved her.”

  “Denise loved her, too,” Peter insisted. “I know it sounds weird for me to say that, but she was a good mother. She gave it her all with Cami and they’re very close. They love each other.”

  “You still told Denise you were going to tell Lila the truth,” Harper surmised. “You confronted her.”

  “I did, and she denied it. She said the DNA results were a mistake and claimed that it was an error. I told her I ran them twice, two different companies, and I told her that I knew what she’d done.”

  “Did she tell you what happened to Penny?”

  “She lied and said Penny gave her Cami and ran away because she didn’t love me, wanted to live a life on the road. I told her that wasn’t true, that I didn’t believe it, and then said I was going to the police after talking to Lila.

  “I didn’t do the right thing right after Penny disappeared. I was bound and determined to do the right thing this time.”

  “You did,” Harper encouraged him. “You did the right thing.”

  “And I paid the ultimate price.” His gaze was sorrowful as it landed on Harper. “What price is Cami going to pay now?”

  Harper opted for honesty. “I don’t know. Denise is going to have to pay for what she’s done. Cami won’t be alone, though. Lila will be a wonderful grandmother. She’ll make sure Cami has someone to talk to, a professional to help them work through this. I bet she even lets Cami see Denise if she wants, although Cami is going to be angry going forward.”

  “And I won’t be there to help her.”

  “You won’t,” Harper agreed. “You raised her right, though. You did what needed to be done, even at the end. Cami won’t forget that.” She hesitated and then continued. “And once Denise is in custody and Cami knows the truth, I’ll make sure you’re reunited with Penny. Wherever you go together, you can be assured that Cami will be taken care of. I’ll make sure of it.”

  “Thank you.” Peter hung his head. “All of this hurts so much.”

  “It will get better.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because there’s no other choice.”

  17

  Seventeen

  “You’re going to have to come with us, Heart,” Jared said as he watched Mel retrieve the warrant from one of the courthouse clerks. “You have the bulk of the details and can call her on it when she starts lying.”

  Harper nodded in understanding as she stared off into the distance. They had their answers. This was what she’d been waiting for. Yet she was undeniably sad.

  “Are you listening to me?” Jared asked in a gentle voice.

  “What?” Harper plastered a smile on her face as she turned back to him. “Of course. How can you believe I wouldn’t listen to you?”

  “Because you seem lost in your own little world.”

  “I was just ... thinking,” Harper replied. “Did you email a photo of Denise to the nurse like you said you were going to?”

  “I did. Sheila Bishop confirmed it. She said the woman was clearly older now, but she recognized the face.”

  “So, that’s another confirmation.”

  Jared arched an eyebrow. “Did you think it wouldn’t be?”

  “No. I knew the story was right. I just ... feel really sick about it.”

  Jared’s sigh was long and drawn out as he pulled her to him for a hug. “You didn’t think we were going to find Penny alive, did you?” he asked in a low voice.

  “Of course not.” Even as she said it, tears pricked the back of her eyes. “I knew she was dead from the start. I just ... can’t help feeling for Cami.”

  Jared ran his hands up and down her back, unaware that a despondent ghost watched their interaction from a few feet away. “Cami has a tough road ahead of her. She’s going to hear a lot of things about her mother this afternoon that are going to break her heart. I happen to believe she’s strong enough to overcome those things, though.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “I’ve met her. She’s mouthy ... and sad ... but strong, too. She stood up for her father and demanded we find answers.”

  “She’s not going to like the answers we found.”

  “No, but she’s not coming out of this situation without a support system. She’s going to have Lila.”

  “Have you called her yet?”

  “No.”

  “Good. I think I should go with you when you tell her. I mean ... I talked to her for a long time. I want to make sure she’s okay when she finally hears the truth about what happened to her daughter.”

  “I think that will be a nice way to wrap up the day. Then we’ll eat our leftover Chinese and you’ll tell Zander you don’t want to be separated from me for the evening. I’ve decided this whole ‘not seeing the bride before the wedding’ thing is nonsense.”

  That was enough to draw a laugh out of Harper, however hollow. “You’ll never get that past Zander.”

  “Just watch me. I’m better than you think I am.”

  “If you say so.”

  The couple turned their attention to the driveway as Mel trudged toward them. He looked resigned.

  “Are we ready?” Jared asked as he pulled away from Harper.

  “We are,” Mel confirmed, his eyes drifting to Zander. “If you’re coming in with us, you have to be quiet. I mean ... don’t say a word. There’s nothing funny about this situation.”

  Zander nodded his head. “I get it. There’s definitely nothing funny about this situation.”

  “Stick close to Harper,” Jared instructed.

  “Do you think Denise is going to jump on her or something?” Zander queried, his eyebrows drawn together.

  “No, but I think this is going to be hard for her. I can’t be there the way I would like. That means you need to be her rock today.”

  Zander offered up a mock salute. “It will be an honor and a privilege to stand in your stead.”

  Jared stared at him for a beat, blinking, and then chuckled. “I don’t even know what to say to you sometimes. You’re so ... .”

  “Handsome?”

  “I was going to say weird.”

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

  MEL AND JARED TOOK THE LEAD, Mel holding up the warrant as Jared knocked on the door. On the other side of the threshold, it was easy to make out an ongoing argument between mother and daughter.

  “I don’t understand,” Cami groused. “Why are you keeping them out there?”

  “They’re being ridiculous,” Denise replied. “They should be focusing on solving your father�
�s murder. Instead they’re here giving us grief. I’m not going to dignify that sort of response with cooperation.”

  “But—”

  “No, Cami.” Denise was firm. “I’ve got this under control. You should go to your room and look over that binder. Whatever you want to do for you father, we’ll do ... within reason.”

  “Your idea of reason and mine are pretty different. You want to do things on the cheap.”

  “I want to make sure your father is mourned in the appropriate manner. Excuse me if I don’t want to go broke doing it.”

  “Whatever.” Cami was morose. “You’re bugging me.”

  “Right back at you.”

  Jared knocked again. This time he called out before Cami could wander too far away. “We’re not simply going to go away, Denise. We have the warrant you instructed us to get. We’ll be coming through this door one way or another.”

  Cami’s tone was pitched when she spoke again. “What are they talking about, Mom? What warrant?”

  “They’re trying to persecute me,” Denise replied. “What did I tell you about standing here? Go to your room.”

  Jared decided to try one more time. He didn’t want Cami hurt in the process of their entry, which meant it would be better for everybody involved if she was the one who opened the door. “Cami, we know who killed your father. We need to talk to your mother about things. It’s best if this is carried out in a civilized manner.”

  The sound of scuffling feet on the other side of the door had Jared’s hand hovering over his service weapon. Before he could draw it, though, the locking mechanism clicked and the door swung open. Cami, her hair disheveled, was breathless on the other side.

  “Who killed my father?” she demanded.

  “First things first,” Mel said as he strode through the door, extending a warning finger at Denise before she could flee into the next room. “Don’t. This is over. Anything you do to draw things out will hurt Cami. Is that what you want?”

  “Of course not,” Denise sputtered. “Everything I’ve ever done has been for her.”