The Mystery of Chad Harris: Fate Delivers Us, Chapter Three
 
 

" Hey, you guys, don’t play so much around the BBQ grill. People want to be able to eat their food.", Grace yelled out the back door as she saw Reese and Miguel getting dangerously close to the grill with their football.

" Grace, this was a terrific idea.", Eve said. " Everyone has been sort of tense lately, and this BBQ is just the thing to get us into the spring mood. Even if it’s almost summer."

" I know. Sam’s been working overtime on that Crystal murder." Grace noticed how Eve’s face changed when Crystal’s name was mentioned. " Eve, is there something wrong?"

" Wrong? What would be wrong?"

" I don’t know. When I mentioned t hat singer’s death, you got a strange look on your face."

" It was nothing. I was….thinking about a patient."

" Oh. You such a devoted doctor, Eve. I hope your patients know how lucky they are."

" Not as lucky as I am to have you for a friend."

Grace hugged Eve, " Awe, you know I feel the same. Now,  I’m going to get this iced tea out to the guys, while you finish cutting the veggies for the grill."

Eve watched Grace leave the kitchen, and go outside, to where Sam, and TC were fussing over the grill. Eve stopped her cutting to think about Grace, and then, Crystal. They were both the only friends Eve ever had in her life. While she completely loved Grace, there was a time when she and Crystal were just as tight, if not tighter, because of all the secrets that Crystal knew about her life. When Crystal had left her, all those years ago, she had vowed never really to allow someone to be that close to her again. Then, she met Grace. Grace fit her ‘new life’. Grace had shown her so much about life, even with her innocence, and Eve knew that she was blessed. If the truth about her and Crystal had been revealed, she would have lost everything. So, while she wasn’t happy about Crystal’s death, it was the first piece of luck Eve had had in awhile, since that bitch Ivy and her pictures.

Eve saw Grace coming back to the house, and began work again on the vegetables.

" I’m telling you, our husbands, and this cooking. They act like it’s nuclear science- BBQ’ing. Cavemen did it…so, it must not be  that hard."

" Sshh. Grace. You’ll hurt their feelings.", Eve said, and they both laughed.
 

" Well, Samuel, if I do say so myself, that’s one mean spread we’re cooking today."

" TC, I gotta agree. You got some prime choices of meat today. We are going to eat well. Well, that was the last baste for awhile, let’s give the meat time to cook."

Sam and TC went to sit down, and drink their tea.

" Sam, how’s the Crystal murder going?"

" Slow, TC. I still don’t know who or why she was killed. We’ve been looking up her old acquaintances."

" I thought she hadn’t been in the U.S. in 20 years. "

" She hadn’t. But, we found she had a minor criminal record, and we’ve been running through the computer, all the folks she used to hang out with before she left the country."

" I hope you get some answers."

" Me too."

TC is about to say something, when he sees someone. " Well, do my eyes deceive me?"
TC gets out of his chair to walk over to the man. " You got my message."

The man hugs TC and then Sam. " Yeah, TC, I got your message. We’ve got to talk." He was holding a big dish, and a caramel colored woman came by. " Honey. We’ve got to get these inside to Grace. Hi TC. Sam."

" Hey Maggie.", they nearly said in unison. The man and woman went inside and did the hellos with Eve and Grace. While the woman stayed inside, the man came out with a glass of ice.

" Sam, your wife said she had some of her iced tea ready."

" She sure does."

" You know, I think Grace is the only Northener that I know that serves sweetened iced tea. It’s prevalent in the South, but, I rarely if ever find it up North. Maggie and her family, serve it, of course, but, they’re from Georgia. "

" Grace just made it for me the first time like that, all those years ago, after the fire, and, she’s never changed."

" Well, it’s just as delicious as ever.", the man says after taking a big gulp.

" So, George, tell me what you’re doing here.", Sam asks.

" Well, my friend TC here, left me a message at home in D.C., saying he wanted to see me. I had just finished a long case, and Maggie had some time coming, and of course my Mom wanted to see the grandkids, so, we decided to spend a few weeks here." Turning to TC, " What was so important? The email was pretty serious sounding."

" I think I have a case for you."

" Chad.", Sam says.

TC nods., " Chad."

" Anyone wanna clue Ol’ George in on what a ‘Chad’ is?"

As if on cue, Chad entered the Bennett Backyard, carrying the boxes of pastries that Grace had ordered.

" Hey Chief Bennett. Coach. "

" Hi Chad.", TC says.

" I gotta get these into Mrs. Bennett.", and he went into the house.

" THAT, I take it, is ‘Chad’."

" Yep.", TC said.

" What’s the case?"

" Missing identity. He’s trying to find his parents.", Sam offered.

George laughed. " TC. I know we’re friends and all, but, you want me to take on a kid finding his parents? Don’t you think that’s a little small for me?"

" I thought cases were like roles to an actor, George. There are no small cases, only small investigators."

" Damn. That was chilly, TC. So, gimme some background."

" Chad showed up in Harmony a little over 6 months ago. He’s looking for his biological parents. He’s had no one. So far, dead ends."

" Nothing?"

" Well, there have been two people who have said that they knew something about his parents: the first is an old man who gives new meaning to the term ‘senile’, and the other is a woman who was just murdered."

Upon hearing the word murder, George’s ears perked up. " Murder?"

" Yep. Sam’s investigating it now."

Sam looks at George. " We’ve got nothing."

" Hmm…a lost kid, and old man, and a dead woman. Not exactly a lot to go on, TC."

" I know. But, I thought you could hear Chad out, do a little digging. If you don’t get a feel for it, no hard feelings."

George looked at TC. He could see that this meant a lot to TC, and George owed so much to TC, and TC rarely, if ever, asked anything of his friends. So, when he did, he knew that it was important.

Chad and Eve come out into the yard.

" Eve, where’s my wife?", George asks.

" Grace had a new shipment of dolls in, and Maggie wanted to see them."

" My wife and those dolls….Grrr. But, gotta love her."

" Can’t live without her.", Sam jokes.

" Tell me something I don’t know." George extends his hand out to Chad. " George Alexopoulos."

" Chad Harris."

" Chad, I was talking to George about looking at your case.", TC said.

" You a cop?"

" Former FBI. I do private security/investigation now."

" You sound expensive."

" You won’t be paying me. This is on TC’s bill, so that means that there’s no bill."

" I dunno."

" Chad. I asked George to just talk to you. If he thinks that your case has merit. He’ll continue."

" If not, no harm done, right Chad?", George asks. Chad nods in agreement, and Sam speaks up,

" Pull up a chair, Chad. Unless you want to do it in the living room, so that you and George have privacy."

" Naw, Chief Bennett. I’m cool. Everyone knows what I’m doing, so, unless you all will get bored hearing the story, I’ll tell it here."

Chad sits down at the table with the Adults and is about to begin telling George his tale when,

" CHAD! When did you get here?"

They turn to see Grace and Maggie standing in the yard.

" I brought your pastries, Mrs. Bennett."

" Great. I have terrific news. I found out about your Medallion!"