Harper barked out a laugh, genuinely amused ... and then a hint of movement caught her attention at the edge of her vision field. She jerked her head to the right and sucked in a breath when she found the ghost she was looking for. “Holly?”
“You found her?” Zander threw up his hands. “Hallelujah. I was getting sick of trying to come up with witty conversation to distract you.”
Harper didn’t respond to her friend and instead focused on the ghost. “I’ve been looking for you.”
“So I see.” Holly narrowed her eyes and stared at the spot over Harper’s shoulder. “You’re missing a member of your crew.”
“He’s back at the campground. He’s making calls to see if your body was ever discovered up here.”
“I could’ve answered that question for you.”
“Well, you’re not exactly easy to track down,” Harper pointed out. “You hide in the shadows ... or take off before I can ask questions. We needed to tap other sources just in case.”
“My body is still here,” Holly offered. “It’s in the same place as I died. Er, well, actually I’ve been moved once, although only a few feet.”
“Do you know where your body is?”
She nodded. “You’ve walked past it a good five times since you’ve been here. You haven’t as much as looked at me when passing, though.”
Harper shifted uncomfortably. “Are you saying you’ve been hidden in plain sight?”
“Not plain sight. Simply close to the main trails. I thought for sure someone would discover me. Now that seems unlikely.”
Rather than wallow with Holly, Harper opted to remain upbeat. “I can ensure that you’re given a proper burial if you lead me to your body. You say it’s close. It shouldn’t take long. Show me.”
Holly held Harper’s gaze for a long beat. “What will you do when you find me?”
“Call the medical examiner. You’ll be taken to the lab, a cause of death will be determined, and then you’ll be released to your family. I’m sure they’ll want to take you home and give you the respect you deserve.”
Holly snorted, amused despite herself. “Is that what you think will happen?”
“Do you think something else will happen?”
“Probably. Maybe. Most likely. Who knows?” She held out her hands. “I didn’t expect this to happen when I came here. Obviously I’m bad at figuring things out.”
“None of us can know what’s going to happen,” Harper supplied. “We still have to do what’s right. I think, deep down, you know that.”
“I guess.” Sadness permeated Holly’s ethereal being and then she nodded. “Follow me. I’m not far away. As far as final resting places go, it’s not so bad.”
“That’s something, at least.” Harper nodded toward Shawn and he moved to fall into step behind her. Zander took up position directly next to his best friend. Together, they were ready to stand as human shields if need be.
The walk only took five minutes, and when they landed at the quiet bend in the trail, Harper found she was already looking around for a spot that would suggest a body had been disposed of.
“Where are we supposed to be looking?” Shawn asked in a low voice.
“I don’t know.” Harper turned her attention back to Holly. “Can you be a little more specific?”
Holly extended her finger toward a fern-covered hill. “Over there?”
Harper stared in that direction for a beat and then moved to climb the hill. Once she stood at the top, her gaze immediately drifted to a fallen log on the ground. There was nothing else to focus on. Harper stared for a beat and then opened her mouth to ask Holly for more information. That’s when she saw it.
On the far end of the log, almost completely shrouded by shadows and moss, three painted fingernails poked out. They were pink, the paint chipped in some places, but very obviously not a natural-occurring color in this particular location.
Harper let out a breath. “We found her.”
“Great,” Shawn intoned. “Now what?”
18
Eighteen
Jared was starting to get antsy when his phone finally rang.
“It’s about time.” His greeting came off sharper than he anticipated, but it was too late to pull the words back once they’d escaped.
“I love you, too,” Mel drawled. If he was annoyed by his partner’s short temper, he didn’t show it. “It took me longer to get the head detective on the phone up there than I anticipated. Do you want to know why?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “I’ll tell you why. The head detective is also the only patrol officer they have for a thirty-mile stretch.”
“In other words ... there’s so little action up here that nobody has proper training,” Jared surmised.
“Pretty much,” Mel agreed. “Once I did get him on the phone, he was friendly. He also seemed confused. When I mentioned this campground, he told me about the body that was found the other day. When I explained I was asking about another potential body, he denied it.”
“So, she’s still here,” Jared mused, rubbing the back of his neck. “That doesn’t really surprise me. I would think bodies are either found right away up here or never found at all.”
“Maybe not never,” Mel countered. “I’m guessing that hikers have found bodies before. Maybe kids playing around in the woods. No female body has been discovered in the area surrounding that campground in more than ten years, though. Are you certain the ghost is fresh?”
“Harper is.”
“And you?”
“I have to defer to Harper on this. I can’t see ghosts. She says that Holly is dressed in clothing that suggests she died recently. She didn’t expand on it a lot, but she’s the expert.”
“Fair enough.” Mel let loose a sigh. “I’m pretty sure I tracked down the Holly you’re looking for. She lived in the Midland area — actually on a farm between Bay City and Midland but close enough — and has been
