Chapter 5

Deidra

"But being a brother or a sister is the role of a lifetime." Holly Goldberg-Sloan

It was seven o'clock in the morning when Thomas Chambers rang the doorbell and waited impatiently for someone to open the door. He hoped the blitz attack would give him an advantage. He wanted Kate and her brother-in-law to know that he knew what they were up to. He wanted them to feel how he was closing in on them… that there was no escape for either of them.

His name and title had easily opened the gate to the estate to him, but getting inside the house wasn't that easy. When the front door had finally opened, a young, grumpy maid told him that no one in the family was awake at this hour and that he should come back later. It was the most obvious lie. Kate Harper was an early riser, always had been, who used to swim or run in the morning. At first he had contemplated waiting for her at the beach, but he wanted this to be more official when he called her bluff.

He was about to literally tell the maid to cut the crap, when he heard steps in the foyer and Kate's voice.

"What is it?"

"You have a visitor, Ma'am," the maid said over her shoulder.

"I'm not just a visitor." Thomas produced his badge out of his pocket. The maid pulled back, startled by the force with which he shoved the official identity into her face.

"I'll take care of this," Kate said and shooed the maid away. Once the girl was gone, Kate took her time to examine her early visitor. She was holding a mug with coffee in her hand and the morning paper was clamped underneath her arm. Her flaunted display of boredom by his early appearance annoyed him.

"Are you bored by your vacation? Why are you lingering around at this hour, Thomas?" she asked.

"I have some old news for you, Mrs. Harper," he said sourly. There had been a time when he had called her Kate, but those times were over. School and spring breaks were a part of their past. They had grown up since then– or at least he had.

His choice of words amused her. Her eyebrows rose and she tilted her head coquettishly to the side. "My, my…. What could that be?"

"I have to inform you, Mrs. Harper, that your husband escaped prison last evening. He's been searched for since and hasn't been found yet." His words didn't have the effect he had hoped for. Kate's facial expression barely changed, only her eyes lost their taunting flicker.

"What do you mean, "escaped"?" she asked sternly.

"I'm sure you are familiar with the word," he said, coolly. "Last night, your husband faked an injury. He was taken to the doctor and on the way there, he overwhelmed the guard and ran."

"That's ridiculous," Kate said and now her eyes were sparkling again. "How could…. I mean, he would never…."

"He had help," Chambers explained. "Inside and outside the facility. One guard was already arrested and another one is on the run with your husband. Another person got injured – not too badly. Once we get him he won't have to worry about another murder charge."

"You made that up!" Kate turned around. She wanted to kick the door shut with her high heel, but Chambers was quicker. He caught the door, slipped inside, and followed Kate through the foyer.

"I don't care if you believe me or not. Aaron Harper escaped prison last night and I think you know everything about it!"

Kate stopped in her tracks and started laughing. "You're still chasing ghosts, are you?" she asked, as she swirled around. "After all this time you still haven't understood that the dead deserve to rest."

"Your husband is not a ghost."

"But you wish he were, don't you?"

Jessica dried her sweaty face with the towel she had wrapped around her neck and entered the house through the French doors that led into the dining room. After an almost sleepless night she had jogged at the beach to clear her head and now she felt fresh enough to enjoy a good breakfast. She crossed the room with energetic steps, but slowed down when she heard angry voices. Curious, she peeked around the corner and saw Kate and a stranger arguing.

"You really have a lively imagination! Did it ever occur to you that you could be wrong?" Kate asked angrily.

"I'm not wrong and the police will search your whole property – every room and every corner of your house and your company. Everything and every place you own. I know Harper will show up here sooner or later. I know he can't stay away from you!"

Kate scoffed. "You're delusional!"

"Am I?"

With her hands on her hips Kate stepped slowly and deliberately towards him until only a few inches separated them, "Tell me, Thomas…. Do the local police even know you're here? In fact, does anyone outside this house even know what you're talking about? Does anyone care for your fairy tales except you? Where's your search warrant? What tells me that this is nothing more than another lousy attempt of yours to disrupt my life?"

"I'm with the FBI and soon your house will be overflowing with federal agents who are searching for your husband, who is a convicted murderer and escaped prison."

"You sound like a broken record," Kate replied coldly. "But you know what? Be my guest… Get your warrant and tell the feds and the cops to search my whole property! Aaron's not here and I will call my lawyer to prove that you're lying. I'll tell him about your visit and I will ask him what I can do to get you out of my hair once and for all! Your badge and gun don't give you the right to play god!"

"Call your lawyer," Chambers said, his eyes fixating hers "And I'll be back soon. With a warrant!"

With that Chambers stormed out and slammed the door shut. Kate remained in the foyer and stared after him.

Cautiously Jessica stepped forward and approached Kate. Now the younger woman was shaking, whether from fear or anger, Jessica couldn't tell. She startled when Jessica gently placed her hand on Kate's arm. Her head jerked around and Jessica looked into a pair of watery eyes.

"Are you all right?" Jessica asked kindly. "I didn't want to eavesdrop, but I couldn't help but overhear your conversation."

Kate shook her head, as if that could help her to find a way out of her angry confusion.

"Yes, I think I am…. But this doesn't make sense. Aaron's not here…. And he wouldn't break out of prison. It's not his style!"

"Who was this man?" Jessica asked. "You called him Thomas, which means you must know him."

"I've known him all my life," Kate replied. "But it's a long story."

"Is it one you want to tell me?" Jessica asked. She had this sudden realization that all she knew about this case was just the tip of the ice berg. There was more behind it. Much more than Preston had told her and perhaps more than he was aware of.

Kate drew a deep breath. Suddenly she looked very tired and much older than a woman of thirty years. "I think will. I guess you need to know everything to understand Aaron's whole situation."

Jessica nodded. "I'll take a quick shower and then we can talk over a hot cup of fresh coffee."

"And I'll call Aaron's lawyer first," Kate said. "I mean, if any of this is true, he must know it, right?"

Jessica shrugged, uncertain whether to agree or not. The whole thing sounded absurd to say the least.

The women parted. Jessica rushed upstairs and Kate went into the study to make a phone call. As she had expected Aidan was already awake.

"Chambers was here," Kate told him. "He said Aaron escaped prison… what can you tell me about this?"

One hour later Jessica and Preston were having breakfast while Kate was clinging to her cup of coffee while she told them the story of FBI agent Thomas Chambers. His obvious and audible dislike of Kate and her husband had its roots way back in the past when they all were teenagers. Long before the Hamptons became the glamorous center for the rich and beautiful, the Harpers and the Napiers had already settled down there. Kate and the two brothers had grown up as neighbors, separated only by a low fence and the wooden sleeping beauty door Jessica had admired the day before. The three spent a careless childhood that in Kate's memory contained long summer days filled with laughter and endless days at the beach. A glorious youth, the best of times. The brothers had been raised to join their father into the company while Kate trained to become a professional swimmer.

"I've always been quite competitive," Kate said. "The water is my second home. Back then it truly was my home. Blake and my mother supported me and even when the money got tight he made sure my coach would stick with me. I'll always be grateful to him."

Jessica eyed Preston across the table, but his face didn't show any sign of disapproval upon Kate's description of Blake's influence on Kate's life. She didn't quite believe he wasn't at least a bit jealous of Blake's role in Kate's life, but he hid it well enough. She returned her attention to Kate and wondered if Kate knew that Preston was behind Blake losing the company over ten years ago. If she knew, she must realize that there were a lot of potential issues between both men.

"Thomas Chambers had a sister who was about two years younger than he was," Kate said. "Her name was Deidra."

"Had a sister...? She is dead?" Jessica asked surprised.

Kate sighed, "Yes, she died almost eleven years ago. She drowned in the ocean. It was an accident."

Jessica narrowed her eyebrows. "What kind of accident?"

Kate looked from Preston to Jessica and back. She was moving on her chair, uncomfortable and her fingers were clenching her empty mug. "It was a stupid, unfortunate accident. The night it happened Aaron and Aidan wanted to celebrate their twentieth birthday on their father's yacht. He didn't allow it, because of the bad weather forecast, but, of course, they didn't care." She chuckled, soothed by the memory of adolescent mischief. "So we had a small party on the yacht. We were four, Aaron, Aidan, Deidra, and I. Back at the dock Thomas made a big fuss about it all. He didn't want her to come with us, but she was a stubborn girl, even brazen. I remember he called us all sorts of names, when he realized Deidra wouldn't listen to him and went with us instead. He never approved of Deidra hanging out with us."

"And why was that?" Preston asked.

Kate shrugged. "In his opinion we were too rich, too smart, too much of everything…. He and Deidra grew up in the backroom of the local corner shop. They weren't poor, but he took some kind of pride in being someone who was working for everything he earned in life. I remember I once apologized to him for not living in the streets, because he annoyed me with his attitude. Anyway, that night we left the harbor on board the yacht, but soon the forecast storm was brewing. We should have returned when we noticed it, but we didn't. Aaron was drunk and so was his brother…. And Deidra."

Kate made a meaningful pause and Jessica concluded, "And Deidra went overboard."

Kate nodded, as she nibbled at her lower lip. "Yes. It was horrible…. I was more or less sober, because my coach would have killed me otherwise. Even before the weather changed I wanted to go back. Aaron and I even argued about it. It wasn't exactly fun to be the only person who wasn't drunk, but of course no one listened to me. It was quite a disaster. Deidra wasn't doing well…. She could never handle alcohol. I was inside, sulking, when she fell overboard, but when I heard them all screaming I rushed outside. I jumped after her, but….," she broke off. "It was dark, the water was cold and troubled. I couldn't see a thing. A thunder storm was breaking loose…. I remember I tried to grab Deidra, but she was kicking and screaming. She hit me with her foot in the stomach and I couldn't breathe. I struggled not to drown myself and suddenly she was gone. Aaron jumped after me, because Aidan was too drunk to do anything. We searched for her until it became too dangerous… we were lucky, because Aaron made it back on board and helped me... but Deidra's body was never found."

"I see," Jessica looked down onto her empty plate, affected by the fate of the young woman.

"Yes…. I know Aaron and Aidan never forgave themselves. The family did everything they could to make amends, but, of course, no pay check in the world can bring back a loved one."

"That's true."

"Did you tell your story to the police?" Preston asked. "Was there an official investigation?"

"Of course," Kate said. "The police questioned the three of us for days. It was a nightmare, but in the end they believed us. They searched for Deidra's body for two weeks, but she never turned up. For days we had hoped that she had made it to the shore somehow…. Despite everything. We never wanted her to die and that's the truth."

"But Thomas Chambers believes you killed his sister?"

"He religiously worships the idea that we killed her…. He thinks we did it for fun, as if we had been some bored bunch of rich kids who needed a thrill in their lives. He paints everything in black and white and he never grew out of the role of the big brother. There's not a shade of grey in his world and no mercy."

"And when he saw his chance to blame Aaron for the death of Carter he took it," Preston said. "He made Aaron the scapegoat."

Kate shrugged. "Every summer Chambers comes back and investigates Deidra's death. Last year he investigated Carter's death. I don't know how he did it, but the police allowed him to stick his nose into the case and he helped them to build this crazy theory about Aaron stabbing Carter with a weapon they never found just before he threw him over the balcony."

Jessica sighed. This was another angle she hadn't calculated. Could a federal agent like Chambers really force along a conviction like this? The wish to avenge a loved one could drive people to the extremes. Jessica had seen more than once how hate could cloud peoples' judgment. Perhaps she needed to talk to Chambers herself to get the whole picture. She should also try to find out more about Deidra's death and the following investigation in the library and the local newspaper archive.

So far none of this made any sense. There was also the nagging feeling deep down inside of her that Kate wasn't telling her everything. She looked from Preston to Kate and back. Perhaps father and daughter showed similar characteristics when it came to twisted truths.

"And what about Chambers' claim that Aaron escaped prison?" Preston interrupted Jessica's thoughts. Wouldn't it be all over the press by now if something like this had happened?"

"I made some calls," Kate answered. "We'll soon know what's going on."

Jessica straightened her back. "The question is, what will happen if Chambers is right? What if Aaron really escaped prison?"

"I told you, he would never do such a thing," Kate insisted.

"I know what you said, but I can't imagine that a federal agent like Chambers would come up with such a story, unless he has proof for it."

Ever since Thomas Chambers had left Kate's house, he had sat in his car, observing the gate of the Harper estate. He had placed the bait and now all he had to do was wait. Aaron Harper was on the run and sooner or later Kate would try to contact him.

He knew it was a shot in the dark, but he had studied the family for over a decade and knew how it worked. The biggest irritation in the whole game was the presence of the mystery writer J.B. Fletcher on the estate. His contact at the airport had informed him about her arrival in the private jet of the Harpers the day before. After a quick research he had learned that Kate's biological father and Mrs. Fletcher were old acquaintances. Apparently she had put him behind bars seven years ago and had helped him to stay out of prison a few months ago. During his years in the FBI he had learned not to judge a situation or the people involved before he knew more about the motivation behind their actions. He couldn't fathom why a woman like J.B. Fletcher would get involved with this case. Her reputation as an amateur sleuth was rushing ahead of her. She was well-respected for her sharp mind and her power of deduction. Why was she mingling with a family of murderers and criminals? Was it research for her next book? Was it Preston Giles? Or was it something entirely different?

It made him nervous that he didn't know how to estimate her role in this. If he wanted to be in control of the situation, he needed all the facts. He had spent over a decade of his life to find out what really happened to his sister the night she vanished from the yacht. People had repeatedly told him he was obsessed with Deidra and her terrible fate, but for him there was only peace when he knew the truth, and having control over the Harpers in their present situation was the final step in this direction. J.B. could shake up his plans, like she had shaken up the plans of many of his colleagues.

A cap passed him and drove to the Harper estate.

"Let the show begin," he mumbled, as his muscles tensed. Ten minutes later the same car drove past him with Jessica Fletcher in the back seat. He didn't have to think about it twice. He started his car and followed her into town.

~~~tbc~~~