Ghostly Deceits (A Harper Harlow Mystery Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

other, their backs propped against the pillows, and studied him. “How did you know I wasn’t sleeping?”
    “You make little cooing noises when you’re asleep,” Zander answered. “It’s very cute.”
    “I don’t coo when I’m asleep.” Jared glanced at Harper for help. “Tell him I don’t coo.”
    “It’s more of a whirring sound,” Harper said. “It lulls me to sleep now. I love it.”
    “Well, I guess I can live with that,” Jared muttered. “How much longer until we can hop in the shower and get moving?”
    “Ten minutes.”
    “Fine,” Jared said. “Wake me when you’re done talking about my nipples.”

Four
    “ T his place is beautiful ,” Jared said a few hours later, slowing his truck so he could take in the breathtaking Stokes Hotel as he coasted onto the driveway. The grandiose estate was four stories high, square in design with gargoyles sitting at each corner, and highlighted by gray stones that allowed the building to cut an imposing figure against the Lake St. Clair backdrop. “I can’t believe this place. I had no idea it would be like this.”
    “Haven’t you ever been here before?” Harper asked, smiling as she watched Jared’s reaction. He’d taken the entire trip in stride – including riding the ferry – but he couldn’t mask his youthful exuberance. He really was excited. That made Harper happy and determined to make sure he had a good time.
    “Josh told me about it when we were at college, but I guess I never understood what he was saying,” Jared replied. “He said he grew up in a big house on an island. I was picturing a beach house for some reason. This place is a mansion. Heck, this place is four mansions.”
    “It’s amazing,” Harper agreed. “Zander and I used to come here from time to time when we were teenagers. He loved the art museum and I loved the water. We always used to stare at this place – it wasn’t always a hotel like it is now – and dream about what it would be like to be rich enough to own a place this big.
    “Zander’s fantasy involved muscular pool boys and mine involved the world’s biggest library,” she continued. “We figured the house was big enough for us to live together and still get everything we both wanted.”
    “When did it become a hotel?” Jared asked, turning his attention back to the road so he didn’t inadvertently careen off the cobblestone driveway. “Josh didn’t really talk about much of that.”
    “It was a big deal on the news a few years ago,” Harper hedged. “I … well … the news reports said that the Stokes family was in financial trouble and the state was going to take the land so they had no choice but to turn it into a hotel.
    “I guess they were hit hard by the economic downturn in the early part of the century and they lost a lot of the money they had put away and never fully recovered,” she continued. “This is all gossip, mind you, but I believe there was also talk of the Stokes family losing more money in the bank collapse which came a few years after that.”
    “That’s too bad,” Jared said, pulling into the parking lot on the east side of the building. “I’ll bet it was cool to live in a house that has forty bedrooms. That makes hide and seek fun.”
    “I think it sounds like overkill,” Harper replied. “When Zander and I used to come out here we envisioned ourselves in stocking feet sliding across hardwood and marble floors and never running out of new places to investigate. We were kind of geeks.”
    “I think you guys are wonderful,” Jared said, meaning every word. “Go on.”
    “Anyway, when we started really talking about it, though, the idea of a house this big seemed lonely,” Harper said. “It’s very ostentatious and gorgeous, but I think a home should feel cozy. You should feel comfortable in the space. How could you ever get comfortable in something this big?”
    “That’s a good point,” Jared said. “What does your dream house look