The place reminded her of the ranch in one of the old nighttime soap opera reruns her grandmother used to watch, Dallas she thinks it was called, but she was too young to remember.
The miles of white ranch fencing, horses grazing off in the distance and the cattle even farther away gave one a feeling of calm and home sweet home. The O’Rourkes owned about five thousand acres of prime land all be told, the richest landowners in town and for miles around.
As large as it was, everything about the place felt cozy, like home. Even the beautifully designed gardens, that ran from beneath the front windows and down the sides of the old Georgian styled house.
And the swing that sat on the marble porch, gave her ideas of idyllic mornings spent wiling away the time in the early sunlight as she drank a cup of coffee and read the paper. Fanciful!
But those were the kind of thoughts that ran through her head whenever she saw the place or came anywhere near it. And no matter how often she saw it, it was always the same.
Though she’d only ever seen it from a distance, or in the magazine she still had at home in her bedside table from the time two years ago when one of the leading house design magazines had done a spread about the place.
Her face heated with a blush when the thought of the owner; Mr. Riley O’Rourke. His family had owned the farm for generations, and he was the first to add onto it, the first to turn it into the moneymaker that it was today.
Just like that soap opera that she could barely remember, he’d found oil, which had immediately taken him from firmly upper middle class to very, very wealthy. So not only was he the best looking man for miles around, he was now the wealthiest, and at one time the most sought after.
This had all been before her time, before she’d moved here. By then he was already married to the beautiful Valerie Troy, the very fashionable, very well learned and well travelled Valerie Troy with her degree in fine arts and elegant airs.
They’d been high school sweethearts, who as the story goes, everyone was sure, would marry and settle down here together. He’d gone to one of the major Ivy League schools as well for his degree in business as was to be expected for someone with his background.
They’ve been married ten years now, but still no children as yet. Detective Sparks remembered the first time she’d ever laid eyes on Riley O’Rourke in the flesh, the way her heart had skipped a beat; and then the embarrassment when he’d barely spared her a glance.
It was no wonder, even as beautiful as everyone was always telling her she was, she was nowhere near as beautiful as his wife, not even close. And she was lacking all the sophistication of the well-educated cultured girl who’d obviously caught his heart when they were young and still held it in the palm of her hand.
Not that she would’ve done anything untoward with a married man. She’s not that kind of woman; but funny enough, his reaction had made her like him even more. In a town were the whispers about what goes on behind closed doors abound, it was nice to know that there was at least one man who didn’t play the field.
The door opened at her third knock, interrupting her thoughts and Eileen Cline, the housekeeper invited her in. “Come in please Detective. Since you’re here after all this time I’m guessing old Barney was right, you’ve found a body. Is it murder then?”
“Thank you Ms. Cline, and yes, there is a body, but the case is still in its early stages yet so we won’t know more until we’ve done a thorough investigation.” And if I tell you any more than that I’m sure the whole town will know have heard every word of it before I’ve driven away from this place.
She was till getting used to the way things worked here in Briar Reef. The grapevine in a small town was almost as effective as the Internet and moved at just about the same speed. And with news of this magnitude she had no doubt that it would be making the rounds long before she got a handle on what was going on herself.
She saw Mr. Doss sitting on a chair at the old woodblock table in the kitchen and made her way over to him. Poor old guy, to think that he’d seen what she had; he must’ve been horrified to come across a thing like that out there on his own as he was.
“Mr. Doss, I’m going to have an officer take you down to the station to answer some questions, will that be okay?” She wasn’t comfortable questioning her only witness here. Unprofessional it may be but she didn’t want to be here if Riley O’Rourke or his wife came home.
“But I have to get home, I’ve been here all morning and…” He sounded a bit flustered and it was obvious that the morning had taken its toll. He was getting up there in age and the sight had been a dreadful one even for someone as seasoned as her.
“I understand that but you’re the only witness to a crime.
“But I didn’t see anything…” She held up her hand and turned her attention to Ms. Cline who was busy puttering around the kitchen. Not that she wasn’t certain the older woman had already dragged every detail out of him in the time he’d been sitting here waiting.
But there was no help for it, the force was bare skin and bones and she’d needed every hand on the scene, so there was no one to run him down to the station before she could get to him. At least she’d made him stay put until she arrived.
“I’m sorry to impose on you any further Ms. Cline but is it possible we can have somewhere private and out of the way to talk, if you don’t mind? I won’t be long.” The older woman dried her hands on a kitchen towel and smiled at her warmly.
“Why yes of course, come on through here.” They followed her into the parlor where Detective Sparks stayed standing while Mr. Doss took a seat in one of the overstuffed chairs.
“Now, Mr. Doss,” she pulled the notes the desk sergeant had taken earlier from her pocket. “It says here that you heard the victim scream.”
“I did yes, but by the time I got there she was already face down in the little puddle of water.”
“What time was this do you remember?” According to the coroner she hadn’t been dead for more than an hour by the time we got the first call. But it helped that the old guy was actually there on sight when it happened. Makes things a lot easier.
“I’m not sure,” he looked at his watch now as if that would help.
“What time did you leave your house to go on your walk Mr. Doss?”
“Why the same time I leave every morning, a little before eight o’clock. I find that the day isn’t as hot at that time.”