The four of us sat on her oversized screened-in back porch with cups of tea. Harper didn’t have any coffee in the house, and I felt terrible for not having asked if they needed anything from the store. I could tell Amelia did too. The three of us sat stiff as statues, clearly uncomfortable to the casual observer. Harper gazed out over the backyard, covered with fallen leaves. A large rope swing, tied to a limb on the large oak tree in the center of the yard, moved with each gust of wind. Standing by the tree stood Leonard’s daughter, smoking a cigarette in one of those old-fashioned cigarette holders.
Harper noticed us staring as she sipped from her antique rose teacup. “That’s Bea. She’s Leonard’s youngest child. She’s a sweet girl. But she bucked her father’s rules at every turn. She just broke Leonard’s heart with her wild, rebellious ways.”
Bea must’ve noticed us staring, too, because she walked into the small carriage house at the back of the property.
“The police were here again today.” Harper turned in her seat toward me. “They kept asking if I knew whether Leonard had had any enemies, or could I think of anyone who would rob him.”
“Oh” was all I could think to say.
“Who could have done this at your mother’s charity event? It was by invitation only.”
The three of us shook our heads, and I said, “I don’t know, hon.”
“It’s just unimaginable. And Lyla, this happened right under the chief of police’s nose. If anyone should have noticed something suspicious, it was him. How dare he!” Harper put her hand to her mouth. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to raise my voice. It’s just the police are beginning to sound more and more accusatory.”
“Have any idea why?” Amelia asked and cast a worried glance my way before focusing on Harper. We were all recalling Rosa’s warnings.
Harper shook her head, looking helpless.
“None of this makes sense. And nothing I can say will make it any better. But you’ll have some closure when the police get whoever did this. The police are just following protocols. Try not to take it personally,” I said, attempting to reassure her.
Harper nodded; her shaky fingers gripped the cup.
I hated this. Hated it. If I dwelled on the crime long enough, I understood Harper’s anger. It could have been my father lying out in the library, or any other attendee. But then, I thought back to Rosa. The evidence the family had turned over gave me pause in that line of thinking.
“It’s surreal. I keep thinking Leonard’s going to walk through that door at any second. I wanted out of my marriage. That much is true. But I didn’t want him dead.” Harper wiped a tear from her cheek.
“Oh, hon.” I moved around Amelia to sit to the left of Harper and took her hand. I had to do something. “Have the police said anything about the evidence they recovered at the scene or about any suspects?”
Mel and Amelia looked on with keen interest as Harper shook her head. She dropped her face into her hands, and I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and held her while she sobbed. All three of us shed tears along with her. Her pain palpable, Melanie wiped at her eyes, and Amelia handed tissues around.
“We’re going to get you through this. You aren’t alone.” I squeezed her tighter.
A minute or so later, rustling in the blinds caught our attention, and Harper lifted her head and began mopping her face with her tissues. Kenneth peeked out while he took a bite of what looked like pie.
Harper frowned. “They’d kick me right out if they could. They never approved of our marriage.”
“Who? Leonard’s family?” I glanced toward the window.
She nodded, and Kenneth stuck his tongue out at us before letting the blinds drop.
“My God. He gives me the creeps.” Melanie shivered. “Do they all treat you that way?”
“Well, LJ is different, and Bea seems to like me. But the rest of the vipers are a nightmare. They’re always here with their hands out. None of them pitch in for anything. Dead beats.” Harper wrapped her arms around herself. “LJ is the only one I can depend on.” I wondered about the rumors of an affair. Especially by the way her face softened when she’d said LJ’s name.
Harper,” I said softly, “are you sure you want to stay here? You could come and stay with one of us for a while.” This family certainly seemed to have it in for her.
“No. It’s fine.” Harper sniffed. “This is my home, and I won’t give it up to those vultures.”
“I can respect that.” Melanie leaned forward. “But isn’t it too much to cope with? I mean, it’s got to be awful staying here with the likes of Kenneth.”
Harper shivered and surprised us by whispering, “It is. You all can’t imagine what it’s like living the way I have for the last year. I’m getting rid of them as soon as I can. That’ll serve them right.”
“Good for you!” Mel nodded.
I put my cup next to where Amelia had placed hers. “Bless your heart. I can’t even imagine the strength it must take to endure all this. And the offer stands. If you ever need a break, you’ll always have a place with one of us.”
“Thanks. Your mom said the same.” Harper glanced up and gave me a watery smile. “You have such a nice family.”
I smiled. “I am lucky.” I wanted to ask about my mother but didn’t feel like the timing was appropriate.
She nodded and rubbed her finger around the brim of the cup; her eyes remained downcast. “It’s like I’m a stranger in my own house now. When Leonard was here, it was different.” Mel passed the box of tissues over to Amelia, who handed it to Harper.
“You told us about Edna and Bea living with you, but not the rest of them. Has Leonard’s family always treated your home as if y’all had a revolving door?” Melanie scooted to the edge of her seat after a quick glance toward the blinds behind her told us we were no longer being watched.
Harper shook her head. “When we first got married, it was just the two of us, Edna, and Beatrice. Edna took some getting used to.” Her shoulders rose and then fell. “I managed to adjust. We had a nice little house in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. I had my job as a receptionist at the rehab facility, and we were close to my aunt. One day, it simply changed. Leonard started going to late-night meetings and started asking me to dress differently. I wanted to make him happy, so I complied.” She sighed. “He floored me when he up and told me he’d bought a house in Sweet Mountain, Georgia, and put our old house on the market; He’d never even discussed it with me. That’s when I found out about the severity of his impulsiveness. He said he was led here.”
“Led here by …?” I asked.
“He said he felt this is where we needed to be. That he’d been guided by a higher power.” Harper twisted the tissues in her hand.
I glanced briefly over at Amelia, who raised her brows.
“Leonard sometimes said things like that. He felt we should do this or that. He claimed to have some psychic discernment.” Harper shrugged. “I just thought it was a quirk. Leonard was very good with money and retired early. He spent a lot of time reading up on different ways of life and enjoyed it. I supported it. But he got caught up in some weird minimalistic movement from years ago. I can’t remember the name now, but I think the police raided their compound like forty years ago or something. I’m talking kooky stuff.”
I shivered at the notion of Harper being controlled by a man with strange ideas.
“So when did the family move in?” Amelia asked gently, tucking a single stray silver curl behind her ear.
Harper let out a shuddering sigh. “They were already here when we got here. Leonard said people in that movement study he took part in lived this way. I thought it was weird, you know?”
We all nodded.
“But then after Leonard explained that having family close by meant we’d always have a strong support system and would always be close, I thought that idea was sort of nice. I’m an only child, you see, and my aunt raised me after my parents died in a car wreck when I was four.”
“Oh, Harper.” Amelia squeezed her hand.
“It’s okay. I don’t even remember them. But having so little family, I thought it would be kind of nice to be close to my new family.” Harper dabbed her eyes. “And it was at first. Then things got weird.” She gulped from her cup as if she needed a second to scrounge up her courage. “A couple of months after we moved here, I was getting homesick. Plus, it was feeling a little overcrowded in the house.” We all nodded in sympathy. “That’s when I started talking to Leonard about taking a trip home and spending a few weeks with my aunt. Just she and I, like we used to. I thought it would do me some good. He hit the roof, yelling and saying that part of my life was over now, and we had a higher calling. We had no room in our lives for those who didn’t believe the way we did.” Her voice hitched.
Amelia sucked in a sharp breath.
“What he meant was the way he believed.” She put her fists to her chest. “Because I didn’t have any idea what he believed other than wanting to keep me all to himself. I knew then that I needed to leave.”
“So, did you?” Mel leaned forward.
“I called my aunt and told her everything. She told me she’d come and get me. I needed about a week to get my things in order. I packed a small bag, things Leonard wouldn’t notice missing. But she never showed up. I called her cell more times than I can count. I called her friends, and they hadn’t seen her. I even called the police. She simply vanished.”
“When was this?” I felt my brow furrow. “Is this who you wanted me to help you find?”
“Yes. My aunt went missing last year. Her neighbors started noticing her newspapers piling up on her front stoop. Everyone thought perhaps she’d had an accident or heart attack or something. They called the police, and they broke the door down. She’d just gone. Her bank accounts were cleaned out, and her clothes were all gone.”
“She just left without a word?” Amelia looked shocked.
“They said she must have left. They had a hit on her credit cards. Still, Phyllis never wanted to leave the house she shared with my late uncle. She was sixty-eight for heaven’s sake. Settled and happy. But the police wouldn’t do anything. As much of a fuss as I made, they just put out a missing person’s report.” She let out a loud sigh. “After that, I felt stuck. And Leonard knew it. I wasn’t supposed to express my opinion outside our marriage quarters, and never in front of the family. Then he started telling me who I could and couldn’t be friends with.” She glanced over at Mel, who wiped her eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” I said gently.
“I felt so ashamed. I had a weak moment a few weeks back at the market. Your mom was there, and when she showed me kindness, I spilled my gut. She offered to help me, and we began making a plan for me to open a new bank account, and she said she’d help me find a place. I made her swear not to tell you. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, and God, I’m so sorry you’ve been living through such hell.” I gave her a sad smile as my heart broke. No wonder Mother had taken such a stance to help her. It all made sense now. To think that she’d been living such an oppressed existence for years was horrifying.
“It wasn’t all bad. Leonard could be charming sometimes.” She gazed out over the back lawn. “The strange thing was, all this time I thought Leonard just wanted us to lead a simple life. You know, embody some of the minimalistic qualities—getting rid of superfluous things or sharing housing—but really, I think he was losing his mind. I was changing my lifestyle and dress because of the ravings of a madman.” Harper rubbed her forehead.
“How’d you find out?” Amelia asked as she wrapped up tighter in her thick gray sweater.
“I found a journal he’d been writing in. He scribbled a lot of crazy stuff in there. It was turned over to the police this morning. Perhaps it was early onset dementia or something. I don’t know.”
“You sure you won’t reconsider and come to stay with me? I hate to think of you staying here after all the crap you’ve been through.” Melanie looked as though her heart was breaking. My tender-hearted bestie would move heaven and earth for a friend in need.
“You such a good friend, Mel. And I promise you this: if it becomes too unbearable, I will.”
Melanie nodded. “Okay. I won’t smother you with constant calls and visits. But I’m available day or night.”
“That goes for all of us.” I smiled, and Amelia patted her arm.
“The reason you invited me over in the first place was to see if I could find your aunt. That’s what you were going to ask me about at the library?” I hated to tell her that if her aunt hadn’t been seen in over a year, the likelihood that she was no longer with us was great, although the credit card hit did shed a glimmer of hope. Especially if there was more than the one hit, and recently.
Harper nodded. “Maybe Leonard threatened her, and she left out of fear. Maybe she’s been on the run all this time.”
“Do you think Leonard could’ve done something like that?”
“I just don’t know.” She met my gaze directly; her hazel, almost green eyes were red and watery. “But I have to find out. And when they arrest the person responsible for Leonard’s death, and this all blows over, I can go home, and so can she.”
In my opinion, and if Leonard’s family had anything to say about it, nothing about this case was going to blow over.
“Will you help me?” Harper pleaded.
“Yes, I’ll do my best to help you find her.”