Ghostly Deceits (A Harper Harlow Mystery Book 3) (19 page)
Read Ghostly Deceits (A Harper Harlow Mystery Book 3) Online
Authors: Lily Harper Hart
Trask ground the tip of the knife into Harper’s neck in a circular motion. “Don’t tell me what to do! I’m in charge here.”
Harper briefly pressed her eyes shut so she could gain control of her panic and when she flipped her lids open again she saw Jared watching her. For some reason she was more worried about him – how he would react should something happen to her – rather than her own plight. It was a sobering thought.
“What do you want, Trask?” Jared asked, his voice cracking. “There’s no way out of this. Too many people know what you’ve done. Are you going to kill all of us?”
“I am,” Trask confirmed.
Jared stilled. “And how do you think you’re going to get away with that?”
“I have the solution in the basement,” Trask answered. “I’m going to kill you and blame it on my missing brother. He was jealous of the Stokes family, you see. He always has been. They banned him from the property years ago because he was a thief.
“That will leave Janet and I to save the family legacy,” he continued. “We’ll build the Stokes family back to what it should’ve been all along. Of course we won’t have an heir, but we can always adopt a ward down the line.”
“There’s no money, you idiot,” Josh snapped. “We’re not hiding money from you. Where do you think you’re going to find money to run this place?”
“I’m sure something fortuitous will happen,” Trask replied blandly.
“They already have money socked away,” Harper interjected, the rest of the puzzle slipping into place. “They’ve been hoarding money for years. That’s why Janet was so upset when you put her on an allowance and sold most of her things.
“It wasn’t that she didn’t want to give back her purchases – although I’m sure that chafed – but she really didn’t want to lose access to the money she’s been putting aside for herself,” she continued. “Janet is a survivor, and once she realized she was never going to convince Linden to fall in love with her, she had to come up with a backup plan.
“Think about it,” Harper prodded. “In the back of her head Janet always knew there was a chance Linden would come to his senses and give her the boot. She had no real standing in this house or family without an heir.”
“That does make sense,” Josh mused. “When I looked at the books I couldn’t believe how much money she burned through over the years.”
“That’s because she didn’t burn through it all,” Jared said. “Still, you could’ve left after the financial collapse and no one would’ve been the wiser, Janet. Why stay?”
“The house,” Harper answered. “She’s always been infatuated with the house.”
“It’s my house,” Janet said. “It’s going to stay my house. We’ll blame your murders on Hal, I’ll go through a very public mourning period, and then we’ll right this sinking ship.”
“It’s a great plan,” Harper said.
“I know.”
“There’s only one problem,” Harper said. “We’ve been in touch with a Whisper Cove police detective and one of my business associates and they’re aware of what’s going on out here. They know Hal is dead so you can’t use him as a scapegoat.”
Trask stilled, surprised. “How?”
“I told them.”
“How do you know?”
Harper smiled at Alice. It seemed her big secret was about to be everyone’s saving grace. “Because I can see and talk to ghosts.”
“What?” Trask was flabbergasted. “That’s not a thing. No one believes that.”
“Everyone in Whisper Cove believes that,” Jared challenged. “You don’t have a play here.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m going to let her go,” Trask snapped, grabbing Harper’s hair and giving it a vicious yank as he turned her. “I want to see you when I kill you.”
Jared moved quickly. He knew he was out of time. He grabbed the knife before Trask could slash it against Harper’s throat. Jared didn’t have a good angle, but he put up one heck of a fight as he worked to protect his blonde.
Harper took advantage of the situation and slammed her knee in Trask’s groin, taking him by surprise. When he didn’t relinquish the knife she sank her teeth into the soft flesh next to his wrist, causing him to yowl in pain.
He dropped the knife and it clattered to the floor. Harper kicked it away with her free foot while Jared slammed his fist into Trask’s face, causing the older man to buckle to his knees.
“Don’t ever touch her again!” Jared yelled, pounding his fist into Trask’s face a second time. “I will kill you if you ever try and touch her again!”
“I think he gets it, man,” Josh said, appearing at Jared’s side and placing a hand on his shoulder to stop him from hitting Trask a third time. “He won’t touch her again. I promise.”
Jared regained his senses and turned to find Harper watching him. He took two steps and grabbed her, dragging her into his arms as he buried his face in her flaxen hair. “I thought I was going to lose you there for a second.”
“That can never happen,” Harper said, returning the embrace. “I don’t like to lose and we haven’t solved the case of the hopping soap yet.”
Jared weakly chuckled, although the laughter shifted to a sob as he tightened his arms around Harper’s back. “Don’t scare me like that again.”
“Ugh, I think I’m going to throw up,” Janet said, rolling her eyes from her spot next to Linden. She didn’t make a move to flee or fight. She seemed resigned.
“Just for the record, I would like to point out I had a bad feeling when we walked into this room,” Harper said. “I told you and no one listened to me.”
Jared leaned back his head, incredulous. “Really? You’re going to bring that up now?”
“I told you I like to win.”
“I’m going to … hug the crap out of you and then kill you,” Jared said, pulling her back against his chest. “You’re going to be the death of me, Heart.”
“But what a way to go,” Josh teased.
J
ared woke
to the sound of chirping birds the next morning, shifting his eyes to the window and smiling when he saw the sun peeking through. It had been so long since he saw it, he almost forgot what it looked like. Then memories of Harper’s ordeal flooded his mind and he turned, worried he would discover her side of the bed empty. Instead he found her Skyping with Zander.
“I can’t believe you solved a case without me,” Zander said, his pout pronounced. He was in bed, too. “I feel so neglected, Harp. When are you coming home?”
“I don’t know,” Harper answered. “We have to talk to the police again today and fill out reports. I’m sorry you feel neglected, but we’ll be home as soon as we can. It just might not be today. I’m sorry.”
“That sucks,” Zander muttered.
“We’re coming home today,” Jared announced, rolling so he was next to Harper and rested his head against her shoulder. He smiled at Zander. “I wouldn’t dream of keeping you two apart for another night.”
“Are you sure?” Harper asked, relief and hope washing over her. “What about the police?”
“We told them most of what we knew last night,” Jared replied, leaning up so he could kiss Harper’s cheek. She was soft and warm, which told him she hadn’t been awake for very long. “If they have more questions, they know where to find us.”
“Did Janet and Trask admit what they did?” Zander asked.
“Janet did,” Jared replied. “She doesn’t seem to think she did anything wrong, which is dumbfounding. Trask, however, is obviously going for an insanity defense. He claims we’re making up everything and he has no idea what we’re talking about.”
“Did they find Hal’s body?”
“It was in the basement,” Harper said. “Alice showed me and I showed the police.”
“What about Alice?” Zander asked. “Is she going on her own, or does she need our help?”
“She’s asked for some time to watch Linden and Josh adjust to their new life,” Harper answered. “I have a feeling she’s going to let go on her own, but if she’s still here in six months she wants us to help her move on.”
“And Hal?”
“He’s gone as far as I can tell,” Harper said. “I never saw him again. He might’ve let go before we found his body. The body also might’ve been a catalyst for him to stay. I just don’t know.”
“He was a douche anyway,” Zander said. “Maybe he’s off hanging out with Archibald.”
Harper giggled, the sound warming Jared’s heart. “They would be quite the pair,” she said.
“What does that mean for Linden and Josh?” Zander asked. “Are they going to keep the hotel open?”
“They’re going to have some financial options once they find out where Janet stashed her money, but neither one of them want to go back to the life they were living before the financial crisis,” Jared answered. “I think they’re going to leave the hotel open, and even implement some of Harper’s ideas. They’ve even made noise about hiring you guys to run haunted tours in the fall.”
“They have?” Harper was surprised.
“They have,” Jared confirmed. “I think it’s just a way for Josh to hit on you some more, but who am I to argue when my girlfriend and one of my best friends have success on the brain?”
“You don’t have to worry about him flirting,” Harper said. “I’m pretty happy with my current boyfriend.”
“That’s good,” Jared whispered. “He’s pretty happy with you, too.”
“Ugh. Don’t make me throw up,” Zander said. “If you do it in front of me I’m going to throw up.”
“You’re such a joy sometimes,” Jared deadpanned.
“I’m anxious for you guys to come home,” Zander said. “Not only do I miss you, Harp, but I find I miss Jared, too. It’s very upsetting.”
“Why is that upsetting?” Jared asked.
“You stole my Harper and now you’re stealing my heart,” Zander teased. “I don’t know why it’s upsetting. It just is. I was lonely this week. I think that means I need to get a boyfriend.”
“I miss you, too,” Harper said, grinning. “We’ll be home this afternoon. If you’re good, maybe we can beg Jared to grill steaks. We never did get our surf and turf last night.”
“I forgot about that,” Jared said. “Maybe we can convince Josh to supply us with steaks and lobster tails before we go? I think that’s the least he could do since we told him the truth about his mother … and got him and his father away from Janet and Trask.”
“That’s a great idea,” Harper enthused, grinning.
“Speaking of great ideas, we have exactly one hour before breakfast and I want to spend it in the bathtub,” Jared said, reaching for the phone. “Say goodbye to Zander.”
“Wait a second,” Zander protested. “We’ve only been on the phone for five minutes. I need more time with Harper if you don’t want me to go insane.”
“And you’ll have her for as long as you want very soon,” Jared said. “I want to enjoy the last two hours of our vacation, and I can’t do that if we have an audience.”
“You’re such a pig,” Zander said, making a face. “I can’t believe I missed you.”
“That makes two of us,” Jared said. “Say goodbye, Zander.”
“Goodbye, Zander,” Zander deadpanned, although his smile was impish. “I’ll see you guys soon.”
Jared disconnected the phone and tossed it on the other side of the bed as he rolled on top of Harper. “Now that it’s just the two of us, we have to discuss how frightened I was last night,” he said. “I think you’re going to need to make me feel better before breakfast. Otherwise I might cry or something.”
Harper laughed. “How good are we talking here?”
“Very good,” Jared said, nuzzling his face against her cheek for a moment. “I was really scared, and now I want to be really happy.” He was playing a game, but the words came from a place of total honesty. “I don’t want to be that scared ever again.”
“That makes two of us,” Harper said, rubbing Jared’s shoulders. “We’re okay, though. Not only are we okay, but we have the world’s biggest bathtub at our disposal … and Josh sent up eight bars of soap before we went to sleep last night.”
“I guess we’d better get on that,” Jared said, kissing the tip of Harper’s nose and climbing out of bed. “Let’s finish our vacation in style, Heart. Then we can go home and be really happy.”
“That sounds like the perfect way to spend a day to me.”
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