"You said first off,' a few seconds ago," Jared said. "What's second off?"

"Oh, that," Harper muttered. "We have a problem."

"I can't wait to hear this," Jared said.

"I found another ghost."

"Okay," Jared said, unruffled. "Is it an old one like Alice, or a new one?"

"Oh, it's a new one," Harper said. "It's a very new one. In fact, I have a feeling it's so new we haven't discovered the body yet."

Jared realized what she was saying. "I'm not going to like this, am I?"

"Probably not."

"Just tell me," Jared said, resigned.

JARED'S FACE was unreadable when he opened the library door again five minutes later. Josh trudged into the room, his gaze bouncing between Harper and Jared as he tried to get a handle on the situation.

"Do you want to let me in on the big secret?" Josh asked.

"We need you to tell us about the acting troupe," Jared said. "We ... um ... need to talk to Hal Baker."

"The guy running the troupe?" Josh asked, confused. "That's who you're talking about, right? He was the first guy to die."

"He was," Jared confirmed. "We talked to him after his body was discovered that first night. He seems like a good guy. Harper wants to hire him for one of her cemetery tours and we need to talk to him."

Josh was doubtful. "Are you going to look me in the eye and tell me Harper pulled you in that room because she wants to talk to Hal and you need my help finding him?"

"She also wanted to grope me when you weren't looking," Jared replied, smoothly sidestepping Harper's slap and smirking when she growled out her distaste for the conversational shift. "She's got busy hands. I personally don't mind them, but she's desperate for people to think she's a good girl. That's her deep, dark, and terrible secret."

"You know I don't believe that, right?" Josh asked.

"I know you're suspicious by nature and it's unnecessary," Jared answered. "I'm going to split the difference with you, though, because we really do need some help. I need to talk to Hal. It's very important. Did he have a room?"

"He stayed in the old servants' quarters," Josh answered. "The house has a bas.e.m.e.nt level that has been renovated with staff rooms. Some of our staff stays here during seasonal months because it's mostly made up of teenagers. They stay in those rooms.

"When we decided to have the mystery troupe come for a visit, my dad figured we could rent out more rooms if the actors stayed in the bas.e.m.e.nt," he continued. "The rooms are okay but not great. Hal and the other actors weren't thrilled with their accommodations, but it is what it is."

"We need to go down there," Jared said.

"Tell me why," Josh prodded.

"I ... ." Jared broke off, frustration evident as he glanced at Harper. "We have reason to believe something may have happened to Hal. I need to find him to make sure that's not the case."

Josh was surprised. "What could've happened to him?"

"We're not sure."

"Do you think he got lost in the storm or something?" Josh asked, refusing to acquiesce to Jared's demands without good reason. "Do you think he's ill?"

"I can't answer that right this second," Jared responded. "We need to see Hal's room. After that, well, we'll see what happens. Right now, though, it really is important that we see his room."

"And what if I demand an answer now?" Josh pressed.

"Then we'll find it on our own," Jared shot back. "I'm not playing a game here. We need to find Hal."

"Fine," Josh said, giving in. "You guys owe me an explanation for this later, though. I'm not joking."

"We'll take it under advis.e.m.e.nt," Jared said, holding out his hand to Harper. "Come on. We'll figure this out."

Josh was dying to know what "out" they were trying to figure, but he let it go for now. He couldn't push them too far before Jared started pushing back, and he wasn't sure if he was up to dealing with that.

"THIS ROOM ISN'T SO bad," Jared said, glancing around the bas.e.m.e.nt abode. "I mean the view isn't great, but I don't see that there's anything to complain about when you've been hired to do a job."

"That's easy for him to say," Hal said, making a face as Jared poked through his things. "I heard you guys got one of the best rooms in the joint. Of course he's happy. He gets you and a great view. Who wouldn't be happy with that?"

Harper forced her face to remain neutral as she scanned Hal's s.p.a.ce. The room was empty. She didn't expect to find him slumped on the ground or dead in his bed, but she was hopeful some sort of clue remained. Unfortunately, she couldn't ask Hal where to look because Josh insisted on visiting the room with them.

"We need to talk to some of the other people from the troupe," Harper said, keeping her voice low and neutral. "We have to find out when they spoke to him last."

"That's a good idea." Jared poked his head through the open doorway and glanced down both directions of the narrow hallway before he called out to someone. "Hey, can you come over here, please?"

Harper tilted her head to the side as she waited for a young woman to step into the room. She was pretty almost ridiculously so and she didn't appear bothered by Jared's request.

"Did you need something?" the woman asked.

"My name is Jared Monroe. I'm a police officer. What's your name?"

"Cara Sanders."

"Cara, you're a member of the mystery troupe, right?" Jared asked.

Cara nodded, flashing Jared a flirty smile as Harper rolled her eyes and bit her tongue to keep herself from saying something mean. "I'm going to win an Oscar one day," she said. "I'm going to be rich and famous. The mystery troupe is just my first stop."

"Congratulations," Jared said, completely uninterested in her future plans. "We need some information about Hal."

"What about him?" Cara asked, making a face. "He's been a pain in the a.s.s since we got here. He thinks we're being mistreated because our rooms are in the bas.e.m.e.nt, but these are a lot nicer rooms than we've had in other places we've stayed so I don't know what his deal is."

"She's always been a stuck up pain in the keister," Hal groused. "She thinks she's going to be an actress, but she can barely convince herself she's smart enough to cross the road without parental supervision, so I don't know how she thinks she's going to be an actress when you need powerful persuasion skills to pull off that job."

Harper snickered, catching herself before she let loose with a full laugh and pasted a serious look on her face when Josh's gaze landed on her.

"When was the last time you saw Hal?" Jared asked.

"Well, let me think," Cara said, winding a hank of hair around her finger as she leaned in closer to Jared and gave him a clear view down her top. Harper wanted to rip her hair out of her head and choke her with it. "It was yesterday," she said finally. "He was downstairs for dinner. I saw him in the dining room and then I didn't see him after that."

"Aren't the troupe actors supposed to stay out of sight after their make-believe deaths?" Harper asked. "Doesn't it ruin the mystique if they're sighted by the mystery solvers?"

"You would think that, but not really," Cara said, never moving her eyes from Jared's handsome face. "The people who come to these things take the games very seriously, but they also can manage to separate real life from fiction. Most of them don't care if we have dinner in the same area they do as long as we don't jerk them out of the game."

"Did Hal say anything to you yesterday about where he might be going after dinner?" Jared asked.

"Not that I recall," Cara replied.

"And you haven't seen him since, right?" Josh asked.

Cara shook her head. "I didn't even realize I hadn't seen him until you mentioned it," she said. "It's kind of strange. He usually checks in with us several times a day."

"Well, thank you," Jared said. "If you think of anything else, we'll be around."

"Is Hal in some kind of trouble?" Cara asked.

"Like she cares," Hal muttered, crossing his ghostly arms over his chest.

"He's not in trouble," Jared replied. "We're just trying to find him. It's important."

"Well, I hope you find him them," Cara said, moving toward the door. "By the way, if you're looking for someone to share dinner with tonight, I'm available."

Josh chuckled while Harper made a disgusted face.

"Thank you for the offer," Jared said. "I have dinner plans with my favorite blonde, though."

Cara wrinkled her nose and glanced at Harper. "Do you mean her?"

"I do."

"Did I mention I'm going to be a famous actress one day?" Cara pressed. "You should really get in with me now because you'll be kicking yourself if you don't when I'm rich and famous."

"That's ... an interesting offer," Jared said. "I happen to adore my blonde, though. I think I'm going to stick with her."

"It's your loss," Cara said, Jared's esteem diminishing in her eyes. She turned her attention to Josh. "You own this place, right? That must mean you're rich. Do you want to have dinner later?"

Josh kept his face even despite the surreal nature of the question. "I think I'm going to stick with the blonde, too."

"Suit yourself," Cara said, annoyed as she strode toward the door. "I guess there's no accounting for taste."

"She should know," Hal muttered.

"I know, right?" Harper said. She realized too late that she'd responded to Hal's dig in front of Josh.

"You know what?" Josh asked.

Harper's face drained of color as she struggled for something anything really that would fix the situation. "I ... ."

"Heart, it's okay," Jared said quietly.

"What is going on?" Josh asked. He was on the verge of exploding. "Someone had better tell me what the big deal is right now or I'm going to a.s.sume Harper is a cyborg with a radio planted in her head."

"I'm not a cyborg," Harper said.

"Thanks," Josh said dryly. "I never would've figured that one out on my own."

"I can, however, see and talk to ghosts," Harper said, rolling her neck until it cracked as she braced herself for Josh's imminent meltdown. "Hal is dead. He's standing right next to me. He can't remember where his body is. We need to find it and then make sure the other guests are safe because you have a murderer on the loose."

Josh's mouth dropped open as he took Harper's admission in.

"Wow, I feel so much better," Harper said.

"I don't think that guy does," Hal said, waving an invisible hand in Josh's face. "In fact, if I didn't know better, I would think he's about to pa.s.s out."

SEVENTEEN.

I t was as if all the oxygen had been sucked out of the room.

"Can you repeat that?" Josh said, finally finding his voice after what felt like eons of uncomfortable silence. "I think I may have misheard you ... or had a stroke."

"I'm pretty sure you didn't mishear me," Harper countered. "If you need time to wrap your head around all of this, though, I understand. For the record and for those with wax buildup in their ears I can see and talk to ghosts."

"But ... ." Josh broke off and glanced at Jared. "Did you talk her into doing this so I would learn my lesson about prying?"

"No." Jared's face was unreadable as he kept his eyes on Josh and reached out for Harper's hand. "Come here, Heart."

Harper took Jared's proffered support and moved closer to him. She understood what he was doing building a protective wall around her with his mere presence but she was hopeful it wouldn't be necessary.

"This has to be a joke," Josh said, shaking his head. "You're messing with me."

"I'm not messing with you," Jared said. "Harper can see and talk to ghosts. It's true."

"And you believe this?" Josh looked as if he was thirty seconds away from calling the men with the straightjackets to haul Harper and Jared off to a padded room. "You believe she can talk to ghosts? Forgive me if I find that a little hard to believe."

"I understand this is probably difficult for you," Harper said. "Jared wanted to tell you the truth from the beginning, but I was the reticent one. I wanted one weekend of peace and quiet without people looking at me like I'm crazy ... just like you're doing now."

"I'm sorry if you think that's how I'm looking at you, but ... well, I might be looking at you a little bit that way," Josh conceded. "It's just ... that is the most ludicrous thing I've ever heard. Jared, you're a police officer. How can you believe that pile of c.r.a.p?"

"Because it's the truth," Jared replied evenly.

"Are you pretending to believe it because she gives you s.e.x?" Josh pressed. "I mean, I guess that makes sense in the grand scheme of things. She is hot."

Jared scowled. "I'm not pretending to believe it. I honestly do believe it. Harper is gifted."

"But ... that's just ... you can't possibly ... this is unbelievable." Josh couldn't grasp a coherent thought to anchor himself with.