Ghostly Wedding (A Harper Harlow Mystery Book 17) Read online

  “And you think it looked like she hit him on purpose, right?”

  “I don’t see how it could be an accident.”

  “Right.” Jared rubbed his chin and glanced at his partner. “Maybe there’s more to this than we originally thought.”

  “I was just thinking the same thing,” Mel agreed. “Thanks, guys. That should be all we need. I’m looking forward to seeing your father again real soon, Jessica. I think we’re going to have a nice discussion.”

  Jessica scowled. “I helped, didn’t I?”

  “Not without prodding.”

  “I still helped.”

  “I’ll be sure to mention that to your father.”

  And, with that, the conversation was over. Mel and Jared had a new direction to look, and it was one neither of them were expecting.

  3

  Three

  Jared was tired when he got home. All he wanted was to order pizza and eat it in bed with Harper. Unfortunately, that wasn’t in the cards, because when he walked through the front door, the noise level in the kitchen told him it was a full house.

  “There he is.” Shawn lifted the beer he was drinking at one of the kitchen stools and toasted Jared. “We were wondering if you were going to make it.”

  Harper looked up from her spot behind the counter, where she and Zander appeared to be arguing over cooking techniques. “Zander and I are making fajitas.”

  “Fun.” Jared hoped he sounded more enthusiastic than he felt.

  “I’ve decided that Harper needs to learn to cook,” Zander volunteered. “I won’t always be around to feed the two of you.”

  “Are you moving?” Jared asked with faux brightness as he padded to the kitchen. The first thing he did was swoop Harper into his arms and give her a smacking kiss. The second thing he did was move to the refrigerator and grab a beer. “May I suggest California? I think you would love it there.”

  “Ha, ha.” Zander studied Jared for a long beat. “You look tired. Was your day really that bad?”

  It was rare that Zander showed any interest in Jared’s emotions, and the fact that he was expressing what looked to be genuine concern now wasn’t lost on Jared.

  “It was just a long day.” Jared cracked open his beer and regarded Harper’s earnest face. Rather than drink, he put the bottle on the counter and pulled her into his arms. “I love you.”

  His greeting surprised her. “I love you, too.” She rubbed her hands over his back, confused, and met Shawn’s curious stare over his shoulder. “Did something happen? Are you okay?”

  He managed a smile when he pulled back. “I’m okay. I have you, right? How could I not be okay?”

  “You don’t act like you’re okay.”

  “I’m just ... really tired.”

  That much was obvious. Harper chewed on her bottom lip, debating, and then leaned close. “Do you want me to kick them out? I can finish the fajitas and pretend I did it all by myself if you want.”

  That earned an outright chuckle and he pulled her in for another hug. “I’m good.” He recognized that was legitimately true. Sure, when he first headed home, all he wanted was his future wife and a quiet atmosphere, but now that he was inside, amongst those closest to him, he realized he needed family above all else, not just Harper.

  “Are you sure?” Harper ran her finger down his cheek. “I’m willing to do filthy things in the bedroom to cheer you up and everything.”

  He brightened. “How about we save that for dessert?”

  “That sounds like a plan.” She pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth and then moved back to the other side of the counter so she could work with Zander. “Do you want to tell us what happened?”

  “It’s okay if you don’t,” Shawn offered. “From the sound of it, the entire thing was incredibly sad.”

  “And messy,” Zander added. “Don’t forget messy.”

  “Let’s not talk about that part, huh?” Jared suggested. “As for what happened, it’s pretty much a nightmare. We still don’t know who he is.”

  Harper was taken aback. “What?” The mere thought broke her heart. “You’ll find out who he is eventually, right?”

  “We’re hopeful. It’s not like it was fifty years ago. We have ways to track down his identity. They just might take some time.”

  “Is that what’s bothering you?”

  “Only partially. There’s ... other stuff.”

  “I’m almost afraid to ask.”

  “Rain was there.” Jared blurted it out, and upon reflection, he wondered if it was the wisest move. “She was with a group of friends. They witnessed the accident.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Harper wiped her hands on a towel and abandoned Zander to the cooking. “I suppose she mentioned that I’ve been having coffee with her twice a week.”

  Jared’s eyebrows practically flew off his forehead. “She did not mention that.”

  “Oh.” Color flooded Harper’s cheeks. “Well, I have.”

  Jared wasn’t sure how to respond. “You’re an adult,” he said finally. “You’re allowed to do whatever you want to do.”

  “I think it’s more complicated than that given what happened.” Harper searched for the right words. “I haven’t forgotten that she could’ve ruined your career, or how badly the accusation hurt you. It’s just ... .”

  Jared sipped his beer and waited. He didn’t have the energy to react with anger. In truth, he knew exactly what Harper was going to say and he didn’t necessarily disagree with her.

  “I think she’s trying,” Harper explained. “I think she’s giving it a really good effort. I don’t agree with what she’s done — and she knows that — but if we don’t give her the opportunity to get better, then it’s like sending a message that she’s only going to be one thing her entire life. I don’t want to send that message because then she has nothing to work toward.”

  “I happen to agree with you.”

  “You do?”

  “Yes. I don’t want Rain’s entire future decided because she made a mistake when she was a teenager. That doesn’t mean I’m comfortable with her.”

  “No, I don’t blame you.”

  “I made sure Mel was with me when I questioned her. It was actually your father who pointed me in her direction. He said he didn’t witness anything but the kids did.”

  “Did you know the other kids?”

  “No, but Mel did. He said one of them was the daughter of some guy who works in the clerk’s office. Jessica Something-or-Other.”

  “Jessica Tate.”

  “That’s her. She was giving us lip until Mel threatened to go to her parents.”

  “Ah, that old standby.” Zander let loose a nostalgic smile. “He used to threaten our classmates with the same thing when we were in high school.”

  “Yes, it was delightful,” Harper agreed. “Everyone was afraid to invite us anywhere in case Mel showed up looking for Zander.”

  “It’s no wonder you two were always alone,” Shawn noted. “Nobody wanted to hang out with Mel.”

  “Pretty much,” Zander agreed as he used a spatula on the fajita ingredients. “There’s no way it was me because I’m a freaking delight.”

  Harper smirked as she ran her hands through Jared’s hair. His mood wasn’t exactly light, but it was better than when he’d first walked through the door. “Could they tell you anything?”

  “Actually, they had some very important information.”

  Harper waited for him to expand. When he didn’t, she prodded him. “And what information is that?”

  “See, I kind of don’t want to tell you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because we’re getting married in a few days and I want you focused on the wedding.”

  “Why would this information have me focusing elsewhere?” Even as she asked the question, Harper knew the answer. “It wasn’t an accident.”

  “It wasn’t?” Zander jerked up his chin. “Are you saying someone hit that man on purpose?”

&nb
sp; “That’s what it looks like.” Jared took another sip of his beer and sighed. “According to the kids, a woman was driving the car. They couldn’t make out her features. All they know is that she was blond and sped up when she saw our victim in the crosswalk. Apparently she had to aim to the left to hit him.”

  “Oh, wow.” Harper felt mildly sick to her stomach. “Why?”

  “We don’t know. We don’t know who the dead guy is. We’ve got feelers out to the hotels, but you know how they are when it comes to guest privacy. We’re trying to come up with a sketch to send to them because we can’t exactly send a photo of a dead body.”

  “Definitely not,” Zander agreed. “That would be tacky.”

  “Yes, because that’s what I’m worried about,” Jared drawled. “I hate being tacky.”

  Harper moved her hands to his shoulders and rubbed. “What’s your next step?”

  “The medical examiner is sending in a blood sample for DNA comparison. The system is pretty big these days. Even if we don’t find our guy, we might find a relative.”

  “That could take time, though.”

  “It could.”

  “Too much time.”

  Jared furrowed his brow, confused, and then grinned when he realized what she was really worried about. “There is nothing that will keep me from marrying you.”

  “I know.” Harper hated how defensive she sounded. “I wasn’t saying that I thought you would willingly leave me at the altar or anything.”

  “That will never happen,” he promised, pulling her to him. “There’s nothing I want more in this world than to be your husband.”

  “What about a lazy Sunday in bed? We’re talking no clothes but a fresh jar of chocolate sauce.”

  He barked out a laugh, love for her washing over him. “As lovely as that sounds — and we’re totally going to spend a day doing just that in the winter when we’re snowed in — I want to marry you even more.”

  “Wow. You’ve got it bad.” Harper twined her arms around his neck and leaned in to kiss him. “I guess it’s good that I’ve got it bad, too.”

  Their lips locked as they melted into one another, everything else forgotten. They were so lost in their own little world that they forgot Shawn and Zander were even there ... right up until Zander used the sink sprayer on them.

  “No!”

  Harper made a sputtering noise as she pulled back from Jared and murdered her best friend with a single glare. “Do you want me to kill you?”

  Zander was blasé. “It’s going to be hard for you to catch me and carry out that threat with your pants around your ankles, you dirty pervert.”

  “You’re asking for it,” Jared threatened. “I’m going to beat you with that spatula if you’re not careful.”

  “I’m all atwitter,” Zander drawled, causing Harper to choke on a laugh as she pushed her wet hair away from her face. “Seriously, though, what are you going to do if this case isn’t solved before the wedding?”

  “Mel is capable of solving a case on his own. My time off is written in stone. There’s absolutely nothing that is going to derail this wedding, including you, Zander.”

  “I have no intention of derailing this wedding,” Zander promised. “Not because I like you or anything, but because we’ve turned Harper’s old room into an office. She can’t have it back.”

  “Oh, it’s good to know where I rank in the pecking order,” Harper noted.

  “I would totally move you into the house over Zander,” Shawn offered. “Just say the word and I’ll order twin beds.”

  “Ha, ha.” Zander made a face and then went back to his food preparations. “Harp, you’re supposed to be learning how to cook so you can feed your man. Occasionally you’re going to have to be the one to shut him up with food.”

  “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that,” Harper countered. “I’ve decided to shut him up with sex and order takeout. I think I’ll be better at that combination than any other.”

  “Oh, that’s exactly what I want to hear,” Jared cooed, smacking a kiss against her lips. “You really do know the way to my heart.”

  “Absolutely,” Harper agreed. “Tacos and kisses.”

  Jared’s grin was so wide it practically swallowed his entire face. “Ah, it’s good to be loved.”

  AFTER DINNER, ZANDER AND SHAWN lingered long enough to help with the dishes. Zander would’ve stayed longer, but Shawn practically forced him out. When it was just the two of them, Harper enticed Jared into the bedroom with the promise of a massage ... and then she actually delivered.

  “Oh, wow.” He made a groaning noise, his face buried in the sheets, as Harper dug into his lower back and went to town on his tense muscles. “You have no idea how good that feels.”

  “Sure I do. You give me massages all the time. I figured it was my turn for a change.”

  “You give me massages.”

  “Nowhere near as often as you give me massages.”

  “Yeah, but I like giving you massages. You make these incredible noises.”

  “Kind of like you just did?”

  “I think somehow my reaction to the noises you make is more visceral.”

  “Get back to me in thirty minutes and we’ll compare notes.”

  Jared made a sound like a cat in heat, causing Harper to smile. She was glad he was relaxing. He clearly needed it. She moved her hands to his shoulder blades, laughing when he made another goofy sound.

  “Clearly I’ve been neglecting you,” she noted. “I guess I’ll have to make it up to you once we’re married, maybe even on our honeymoon.”

  He chuckled. “Is that your way of trying to weasel information out of me on our honeymoon? You did agree to let me pick out the spot if I’m not mistaken.”

  “I did, but only because we couldn’t agree on a location. We kept jumping around.”

  “We sort of agreed on New Orleans, and then agreed it was better to save that for a winter trip.”

  “True. I was all for a tropical location until you reminded me it’s hurricane season.”

  “I guess that means we’re not going anywhere tropical.”

  “Nope. I decided on something else.”

  “Are you going to give me a hint?”

  “Nope.”

  Harper ceased her rubbing. “Are you sure?”

  Jared made a protesting sound. “Oh, that’s cruel and unusual. Do you have any idea how much my muscles hurt? It’s been a really long day. Talking to Rain always makes me feel uncomfortable.”

  And because she felt guilty about keeping her coffee dates with the teenager a secret, Harper went back to rubbing him. That didn’t stop her from issuing a petulant sigh, though. “Fine. Keep your secrets.”

  “I’m not keeping the secret from you.”

  Harper’s forehead wrinkled. “If not from me, then who?”

  “Who do you think?”

  It took her a moment to realize who he was referring to. “No way? You can’t be keeping it from Zander.”

  “Oh, but I am.”

  “Why? Are you afraid he’ll make fun of your choice?”

  “Actually, I did wonder about that. I don’t really care if he makes fun of my choice as long as he doesn’t show up on our honeymoon.”

  Harper stilled. “He wouldn’t,” she scoffed. Even as she said it, she wondered if she was correct. “I mean ... he probably wouldn’t.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Jared took her by surprise when he quickly rolled to his back, using his hands on her hips to keep her steady. When he landed how he wanted, they were face to face and she was sitting on his stomach. “This is an interesting situation, huh?”

  “It would be more interesting if we could celebrate where we were going on our honeymoon.”

  He regarded her with speculative eyes. “It’s not that I don’t trust you.”

  “But?”

  “I don’t trust you to keep your mouth shut around Zander.”

  “That’s a horrible thing to say about
your future wife.”

  His grin was flirty as he pulled himself to a sitting position and tugged her close. “My wife. Do you have any idea how excited I am to call you that?”

  “I’m kind of excited, too,” she admitted, running her fingers through his hair as she rubbed her nose against his. “There’s a few things we need to talk about, though.”

  “Uh-oh.” His hope for a romantic evening seemed to be slipping from his grasp. “I would really prefer avoiding a serious conversation this evening.”

  “I’m right there with you, but I think we kind of need to talk about it.”

  “You’re not dumping me this close to the wedding, are you?”

  “That’s not funny.” She shifted so her bottom rested between his legs and her thighs wrapped around his waist. “I’m never going to want anyone but you. As for marriage? I didn’t know if it would be in the cards for me. I come with a lot of baggage.”

  “You’re worth every suitcase.”

  She snickered. “I knew when I met you that marriage was in the cards as long as we always made an effort to communicate. We fit. We’ve always fit. I don’t know how it happened but ... you don’t ever have to worry about me wanting a life that doesn’t include you.”

  Her earnest nature touched his heart. “Right back at you.” The kiss he offered her was soft. “If you don’t want to talk about that, what do you want to talk about? If it’s about Zander singing at the reception, I refuse to revisit that topic. It’s not happening.”

  Harper’s giggle was light and fluffy. “Not that. It’s something else.”

  “Tell me.”

  “It’s ... your name.”

  “Jared? I didn’t know you disliked my name.”

  “Not that name.”

  “Ah, you mean Monroe. You don’t want to take my last name.”

  “I do, but I’m a little worried about the business.”

  “GHI? I don’t understand.”

  “Harper Harlow is a known commodity. Harper Monroe isn’t.”

  “Oh, right.” Was he disappointed? He couldn’t say. He didn’t want to stamp his name on her to prove she was his. He was a bit more enlightened than that. Still, there was a small pang he couldn’t identify.