The Mystery of Chad Harris: Fate Delivers Us, Prologue
 

Sam Bennett was looking over the dead body that was at his feet. He knew it was of that singer, Crystal. But, why would anyone want to kill her?, Sam thought.

Eve Russell was looking over the last of her paperwork.

" Eve, are you finished with the body?"

" Yes, Sam."

" Ok. My men will bring the body to the Morgue within the next 2 hours?"

" Why the delay?"

" Severe case of the flu going around. I'm so understaffed that I haven't had a chance to assign men to go search Crystal's hotel room."

" Well, Sam, I'll go check on other patients, and be waiting for you at the hospital…unless you need me here?"

" No, Eve. Go on."

Eve went over to TC, Whitney and Chad.

" Dr. Russell, did you see any envelope on Crystal? "

" No, Chad. I found no envelope.", Eve lied. " I have to go and get ready for them to bring the body. Whitney, I hope you know that I want you to get home soon."

Whitney simply nodded. " Yes, Mom."

Eve kisses TC. " See you when my shift is over."

" Bye, Baby."

Eve walks away, and Chad  mutters, " DAMN! I thought tonight was my night. The night that I found out about my parents. Why would Crystal lie to me, Coach Russell? Why would she make a big-to-do about knowing my parents and the story of my birth, if she didn't know? What would have been in it for her."

" Chad, I dunno. I have to tell you, I found the woman to be strange myself."

" Howso, Daddy?", Whitney asked.

" I bumped into Crystal and introduced myself to her. She said that she had a lot to tell me. That it was time I knew the truth."

" The truth? About what?", Chad asked.

" I don't know. She said that it was time that the truth 'set us all free'. That is the phrase she used..' set us all free.'"

" This is getting more whacked by the moment. I just happen to go into a Club, and meet this woman. I think she's possibly playing me, but, after my initial skepticism, I didn't doubt her. I thought I have a good ability to see through people and whether they're cool or not. I didn't detect any phoniness about her. Especially when she told me about my parents. I even got the feeling that she was being nice to me, about my father. "

" What did she say?"

" That my mother loved my father, but that because of racial matters with my father's family, he wouldn't be with my mother. I asked her if my father loved my mother, and she said she believed he did. I think she was being nice."

TC puts his hand on Chad's shoulder. " Chad, this has been a rough night. Why don't we all go to the Book Café and get some coffee."

The three of them leave together.
 

Eve Russell was pulling down all the shades in Crystal's hotel room. She had gained entry by remembering old skills long since used, but, one never truly forgets. Turning on the small light by the desk, there was enough light for her to see the room, but, not really enough to raise suspicion.

Eve looked around the room. There were a few pieces of luggage in the closet, but, as she did years ago, Crystal traveled light. And, of course, her space was immaculate. Things were in order. Eve went to what she thought was Crystal's personal bag, and found a leather bound satchel. Eve opened it and saw all sorts of papers and pictures in it. She had a choice: stay there and search through it, or leave with it. She put the satchel on the bed, and then pulled out Crystal's suitcases. She looked for secret linings and found one, but it was empty. She wondered what could have been in it. It looked like a perfect place for the envelope with Chad's name on it that she had taken off of Crystal's dead body. Eve searched the drawers, and found, stuck in the Bible, an old picture of Crystal and herself. She sighed with relief as she put it into the satchel, and looked around the room to see it anything seemed out of place. When she had done that, she turned off the light, and slipped out of the room, going down the stairs, instead of taking the elevator.

Eve drove home as fast as she could. She didn't see any lights, and was grateful for that, but, it didn't matter, because she had no intention of going inside of the house. She stopped out back, and placed the contents of the satchel, and Chad's envelope, inside the BBQ grill. She took the lighter fluid, and poured it all over the materials. Striking the match on the box, she threw it onto the grill. Eve watched with intensity as the pile of materials turned to ashes, with making sure, by poking in the long branch that she used to stoke the fire and insure that they had all burned.

Eve collapsed into a chair and began to sob. Crying for what she had turned into, trying to keep her past a secret. Thinking about all that she had done tonight: robbing a dead woman, breaking and entering. Of course, the most obscene thing she had done was to burn the envelope addressed to Chad. She didn't have an explanation, other than she had been afraid that Crystal had put some of her papers in with Chad. She had seen Crystal talk to TC, and she didn't know what she had told him. If the papers for Chad surfaced, then it would lend validity to anything that Crystal said, and she couldn't risk anyone linking the two of them.

Eve made sure that the evidence was a pile of ashes, before she wiped away her tears, and got ready to go perform an autopsy on one of the two friends that she had been given in her life.
 

Even though it had been a clear night, and the weatherman hadn't forecasted, out of nowhere, there was now a storm. The rain was fierce and heavy. The air was thick with an almost choking humidity that grips you and slows you down even more than usual for these parts. She sat up in her bed, listening to the rain, and the violence of the storm.

Suddenly, one of her tall windows flew open, and the white curtains flew in the wind like a flag. She watched the storm from her bed for a few moments, before getting up, and walking across the room, with the assistance of her walker. When she got to the window, she stood and smelled the storm. She closed her eyes and let the music of the storm talk to her.

The weatherman may not have known that the storm was coming, but, she did. She didn't get back into bed because she knew that she would have a visitor.

She said nothing as she heard the door open, and heard the footsteps cross the room to her.

" Why didn't you call me? I would have closed the window for you."

She turned to face her visitor, and spoke.

" There was a death tonight. It has begun. Your secret will be revealed. "

The old woman then walked herself back to bed, and got comfortably under the covers. While she would sleep, she knew that others' peaceful sleeps would soon be ending.