worried Jason is going to steal your woman?”
Jared scowled. “No. I trust Harper.”
“I didn’t ask if you were worried Harper would cheat on you,” Mel said. “For the record, though, she would never do that. I asked if you were worried Jason would steal her.”
“I’m not worried about that,” Jared said. “Harper and I are happy. We’re … good. There’s no reason to create a problem when one doesn’t exist. That’s what leads to relationship problems.”
“I’m so glad you’ve gotten the jealousy out of your system,” Mel said. “As for our morning, I found Sarah Littleton, who was Rosie’s friend at Kennedy’s office, and she’s waiting for us at her apartment.”
“Let’s do it,” Jared said. “Harper is insisting on looking for Rosie’s ghost today, and it’s making me a little nervous.”
Mel frowned. He was well aware of Harper’s abilities, although he couldn’t decide whether he believed the rumors or not. He knew there was something different about her – special even – but he was so pragmatic his mind revolted at the mere thought of accepting the supernatural. “Are you worried she’ll stumble upon Rosie’s ghost and be upset?”
“I’m worried she’ll stumble upon Rosie’s ghost and go looking for a killer,” Jared clarified. “I’d rather beat her to the punch this time. Let’s go.”
S ARAH Littleton offered Mel and Jared coffee in her small apartment kitchen before joining them at the table.
“I’m not sure what I can tell you.”
“Your boss said you and Rosie spent time together outside of work,” Jared said. “We need to know her regular routine.”
“She didn’t really have a routine that I know of,” Sarah replied, twirling a strand of hair around her finger as she nervously fidgeted. “We weren’t really all that close. I mean … we went out to the bar on the weekends, but that was mostly because we were both looking to find someone to settle down with.”
“And you went out together because of that?” Jared asked.
Sarah nodded. “Most of my real friends are married and Rosie had the same problem,” she explained. “I wasn’t nearly as picky as she was, but she had an easier time of finding men … at least at first.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“She could find men fine,” Sarah replied. “She’d hook them in and set up a first date without breaking a sweat. Every single time she would find something wrong with them, though.”
“Like what?” Mel asked.
“Most of the time it had to do with money,” Sarah said. “Rosie knew how expensive shoes were … and cars … and suits. She would always say things like ‘he’s wearing a two-hundred-dollar suit, but he’s got on ten-dollar shoes.’ I never paid much attention to that stuff because I’m more into looks and muscles, but she was really interested.”
“It sounds as if she was obsessed with money,” Jared prodded, ignoring the “looks and muscles” comment as best he could. “Was she dating anyone specific these past couple of weeks or months?”
“She never dated anyone more than a few times,” Sarah answered. “She would either find something wrong with them or they would find something wrong with her. She would always lie and say they didn’t dump her, though, but I knew she wasn’t telling the truth.”
“How did you know that?”
“Because when she found someone she liked she would go all out and kind of … um … follow them around.” Sarah was uncomfortable with her admission. “She wasn’t a stalker or anything, don’t get me wrong, but she’d make sure she always knew what they were doing.”
“I can’t imagine that went over well,” Jared said.
“It didn’t,” Sarah confirmed. “A couple guys caught her and called her crazy. Other guys dumped her because they thought she was obsessed with money. One guy caught her going through his wallet. He thought she was stealing, but she told him she was just running his