“I don’t particularly like that word,” Harris argued, pushing his way through the gathering crowd so he could get a gander at what was happening. “What is this? The first discovery is supposed to be made at the way station. Who screwed up?”
Harper had to press her lips together to keep from laughing. Harris’ reaction was surreal given the circumstances. He obviously hadn’t come to grips with the fact that a real death had landed in the middle of his mystery event. When reality finally set in, she didn’t think it would be pretty.
“We’re not sure if anybody screwed up, sir.” Leo squared his shoulders and popped his hips. “I’m Detective Leonardo Portman. You can call me Leo, though, because I hate my given name. You wouldn’t believe how many Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles jokes I heard when I was a kid.”
Harper had to duck her head and bury it in Shawn’s shoulder to keep from laughing. There was nothing funny about the situation and yet Leo couldn’t seem to stop himself from acting like a showman.
Shawn appeared to be having the same problem because he stroked her head and looked down, using her hair to hide his own smile.
“Oh, nice,” Zander commented, wrinkling his nose. “Now half my country wants to defect to Germany.”
Shawn made a face. “What does that even mean?”
Jared made a shushing noise and fixed his full attention on Harris. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but one of your participants has been killed.”
“Yes, Julie,” Harris agreed. “She was supposed to have a fake machete to the forehead and be sprawled out in front of the way station with satanic runes spread out behind her. We got these really cool fake luminaries to light the entire area.”
“Oh, she’s over there,” Jenny offered, drawing Harper’s attention. The ghost hunter hadn’t even seen the other woman arrive. “We checked out all the clues. The scene was very authentic, gruesome.” She gave Harris the A-OK sign with her fingers. “It was much more believable than this scene.”
Harris smiled. “Thank you, my dear.”
Jared found he was irritated by the turn of events. “I don’t want to bring everybody down ... .”
“But you will,” Zander offered.
Jared pretended he hadn’t heard the dig. “This is a real death, not a simulation.”
“What?” Harris’ expression was incredulous as he moved closer to Leslie’s body. “Oh, well, this is just ridiculous.” He shuffled a few steps forward and planted his hands on his hips. “Hellooo! This is my event. You can’t just add your fake murder to things. I’m going to have to ask you to get up.”
Harper slapped her hand over her mouth to stifle a noise she feared would sound like a giggle and turned her wide eyes to Jared. He looked positively furious.
“Mr. Turnball, this isn’t a joke ... or a bit,” Jared stressed, his eyes flashing with annoyance. He was officially at the end of his rope. “Mrs. Duncan is dead. If I had to guess, she’s been dead for a few hours at least.”
Leo looked interested. “How do you know?”
“It’s the state of her body,” Jared shot back. “You called the medical examiner, right?”
“I did. He’ll be here in five hours.”
Jared’s eyebrows practically flew off his forehead. “Five hours? Why on earth is it taking so long?”
“They’re over in Allenville. That’s several hours away.”
“Why would ... ?” Jared trailed off. “Oh, right. You have one medical examiner for the entire area.”
“Technically we have three medical examiners for the entire Upper Peninsula,” Leo corrected. “There’s been talk about adding a fourth. This might just push us over the edge.”
He seemed mildly excited at the prospect, something that irritated Jared to no end. “Good luck.” He rolled his eyes until they landed on an incoming figure. It was Sam, and he looked confused by the scene.
“Did I miss something?” he asked, glancing around. His gaze never landed on his dead wife. He simply glossed right over her.
“Um ... .” Jared took an involuntary step forward, unsure what to say. He recognized he needed to ease Sam into his new reality, but things were happening in such a weird fashion he had no idea how to do it.
“Your wife is dead,” Harris announced, causing Harper’s heart to skip a beat. “Apparently she was out here ... doing something ... and tripped and fell. I’m sorry for your loss. You signed a release upon participation, though, that you wouldn’t sue. Don’t forget that.”
“Holy ... .” Shawn’s mouth dropped open.
“What do you mean she’s dead?” Sam looked more puzzled then upset as he moved closer, his eyes finally going to the body on the ground. He looked completely dumbfounded by what he saw. “I ... don’t understand.”
“She’s dead,” Harris replied dully, matter-of-fact. “She fell, right?” He looked to Jared for confirmation rather than Leo. Harris wasn’t exactly on top of things and yet even he understood Leo was a virtual void of information, Harper mused.
“We’re not sure what happened,” Jared stressed. “We need to wait for the medical examiner to arrive, and as you’ve already heard, that’s going to take some time.”
“I don’t understand.” Sam’s expression was completely blank. He didn’t drop to his knees to cry over his wife’s body, or even lash out at law enforcement for playing some horrendous trick on him. Those were both reactions Harper had seen a time or two. He also didn’t go catatonic and refuse to acknowledge what was right in front of him, which was also something Harper had witnessed. Sam, however, barely reacted at all. “When did this happen?”
“We were going to ask you that,” Jared replied. Sam’s strange demeanor wasn’t lost on him either. “Would you care to tell us where you were this evening?”
“Where do you think I’ve been?” Sam finally showed an emotion. Unfortunately, it was annoyance. He appeared frustrated Jared would dare question him in the wake of his wife’s death. Harper
