Blue Dahlia

search on my ancestry. There’s a man in Memphis whose name’s come up. Mitchell Carnegie. Dr. Mitchell Carnegie,” she added. “He taught at the university in Charlotte, moved here a couple of years ago. I believe he taught at the University of Memphis for a semester or two and may still give the occasional lecture. Primarily, he writes books. Biographies and so on. He’s touted as an expert family historian.”
    “Sounds like he might be our man.” Stella spread a little Brie on a cracker for herself. “Having someone who knows what he’s doing should be better than us fumbling around.”
    “That would depend,” Logan put in, “on how he feels about ghosts.”
    “I’m going to make an appointment to see him.” Stella lifted her wineglass. “Then I guess we’ll find out.”

eighteen

    THOUGH HE FELT LIKE HE WAS TAKING HIS LIFE IN his hands, Harper followed instructions and tracked Hayley down at the checkout counter. She was perched on a stool, a garden of container pots and flats around her, ringing out the last customers. Her shirt—smock? tunic? he didn’t know what the hell you called maternity-type clothes—was a bright, bold red.
    Funny, it was the color that brought her to mind for him. Vivid, sexy red. Those spiky bangs made her eyes seem enormous, and there were big silver hoops in her ears that peeked and swung through her hair when she moved.
    With the high counter blocking the target area, you could hardly tell she was pregnant. Except her eyes looked tired, he thought. And her face was a little puffy—maybe weight gain, maybe lack of sleep. Either way, he didn’t figure it was the sort of thing he should mention. The fact was, everything and anything that came out of his mouth these days, at least when he was around her, was the wrong thing.
    He didn’t expect their next encounter to go well either. But he’d promised to throw himself on the sword for the cause.
    He waited until she’d finished with the customers and, girding his loins, he approached the counter.
    “Hey.”
    She looked at him, and he couldn’t say her expression was particularly welcoming. “Hey. What’re you doing out of your cave?”
    “Finished up for the day. Actually my mother just called. She asked if I’d drive you on home when I finished.”
    “Well, I’m not finished,” she said testily. “There are at least two more customers wandering around, and Saturday’s my night to close out.”
    It wasn’t the tone she’d used to chat up the customers, he noted. He was beginning to think it was the tone she reserved just for him. “Yeah, but she said she needed you at home for something as soon as you could, and to have Bill and Larry finish up and close out.”
    “What does she want? Why didn’t she call me?”
    “I don’t know. I’m just the messenger.” And he knew what often happened to the messenger. “I told Larry, and he’s helping the last couple of stragglers. So he’s on it.”
    She started to lever herself off the stool, and though his hands itched to help her, he imagined she’d chomp them off at the wrists. “I can walk.”
    “Come on. Jesus.” He jammed his hands in his pockets and gave her scowl for scowl. “Why do you want to put me on the spot like that? If I let you walk, my mama’s going to come down on me like five tons of bricks. And after she’s done flattening me, she’ll ream you. Let’s just go.”
    “Fine.” The truth was, she didn’t know why she was feeling so mean and spiteful, and tired and achy. She was terrified something was wrong with her or with the baby, despite all the doctor’s assurances to the contrary.
    The baby would be born sick or deformed, because she’d ...
    She didn’t know what, but it would be her fault.
    She snatched her purse and did her best to sail by Harper and out the door.
    “I’ve got another half hour on the clock,” she complained and wrenched open the door of his car. “I don’t know what she could want that couldn’t wait a half hour.”
    “I don’t know either.”
    “She hasn’t seen that genealogy guy yet.”
    He got in, started the car. “Nope. She’ll get to it when she gets to it.”
    “You don’t seem all that interested, anyway. How come you don’t come around when we have our meetings about the Harper Bride?”
    “I guess I will, when I can think of something to say about it.”
    She smelled vivid, too, especially closed up in the car with him like this. Vivid and sexy, and it made him