Free Ghostly Issues (A Harper Harlow Mystery Book 2) by Lily Harper Hart

driveway in the direction of a riverfront cabin. “That sucks.”
    Harper forced a smile. Eric wasn’t her first choice of scouting partners – mostly because his crush was becoming increasingly distracting and she was desperate to find a way to force him to look elsewhere for a love interest without hurting his feelings – but Zander was stuck in the office doing spreadsheets and she was still leery about taking Molly out on too many assignments. “He seemed upset,” she explained. “I’m hoping he’ll come around when he settles into his new reality a little more. Unfortunately, if he doesn’t want help, I can’t force him to show up and talk to me.”
    “You’d think he’d want to talk to you,” Eric said. “You’re the only one around who he can talk to. That pretty much makes you his best friend right now. Or … at least it should.”
    “He’s at that age where you think you know everything and the realization that you actually know nothing is a blow.”
    “I guess. You’d still think he would be nicer to his best shot of moving on to a better place,” Eric said. “So, um … how did things go with Jared?”
    Harper internally cringed at the question. “They were fine.”
    “Fine?”
    “Fine,” Harper repeated. She cleared her throat and decided to change the subject before she had to listen to another diatribe about Jared being a douchebag. “Eric, what do you think about Molly?”
    Eric stiffened. “What do you mean?”
    Harper realized the reason behind the shift in his demeanor right away. “I’m not going to pressure you to date her,” she said, her voice soft. “I think Zander is doing that enough for everybody. I want to know what you think about how she’s been acting since her ordeal.”
    “Oh,” Eric said, exhaling heavily. “I don’t know what to think about that.” He followed Harper as she circled to the side of the cottage. “What are we doing here again?”
    “The cottage is up for sale and it’s a great parcel,” Harper replied. “Unfortunately strange things keep happening and the real estate agent is convinced it’s haunted. I’m trying to ascertain if that’s true before we quote her a price on clearing it.”
    “Do you think she’s making it up?”
    “I think sometimes people see things that aren’t there,” Harper replied. “I want to make sure that something is really haunting this place before we talk about a plan of action. If there is something here, we should be able to find it pretty quickly. It’s a small place – only three bedrooms – and since it’s close to the river, there’s no basement.”
    “That makes sense,” Eric said. “It’s good you brought me along in case things get dangerous.”
    Harper bit her tongue to keep from laughing. Eric was a good guy – a whiz with the computer equipment – but he’d never been in the thick of things when a ghost got out of hand. “I agree. So, back to Molly … .”
    “Oh, right,” Eric said. “I don’t know what to think about her right now. Ever since it happened she’s been … unpredictable.”
    “You see her more than I do,” Harper reminded him. “Be specific.”
    “You’re not going to fire her, are you?” Eric asked, his face earnest. “She’s young and she says stupid things, but … I don’t want you to fire her.”
    Harper was floored. “Do you really think I would fire her because she’s going through a rough time after being drugged, kidnapped, and almost killed?”
    “No,” Eric replied hurriedly. “It’s just … she’s sad, and I’m worried you think that’s going to get in the way of her doing her job. It won’t. She needs a little more time and then she’ll get over it.”
    Harper stilled. “What do you mean she’s sad?”
    “Haven’t you looked at her recently?”
    “I look at her every chance I get,” Harper replied. “I’m worried sick about her. I don’t want to push her, so I sit there and stare at her and try to think of ways