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CHAPTER5
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Detective Sparks made her way up the stairs and heard the children at play. She cleared her throat to announce her presence and the other woman looked up at her entrance. The young nanny looked just as she’d expected, a brown haired Irish lass with light green eyes.
“Hello!” Her Irish accent was thick, her smile charming and Detective Sparks wondered at the folly of women who hire women like that to live in their house with their husbands and children.
Not that she thought all pretty young girls had ulterior motives, but just one look and she was already picking up on the fact that this one at least, was a lot more than she seemed.
Maybe it was the New Yorker in her that made her so cynical but whatever it was, her senses were already on high alert. All the same, she knew better than to pass judgment on someone just based on gut instinct alone.
“Hello, Bridgette, I’m Detective Sparks I’m here to ask you some questions about Mrs. Davis.” The nanny looked down at the children, a boy of about six and two girls four and two or almost two. “May we step outside please?”
Detective Sparks stepped aside to the let the other woman pass and followed her across the hall to what turned out to be the nanny’s room. The room was bare and about what you’d expect someone who was living and working in someone else’s house to be.
There was one lone picture on the nightstand of Bridgette and an older man and woman, probably her parents. On the bureau there was a comb and brush set, a few hair baubles and some bottles of perfume. The room was neat, nothing out of place and she was dressed in a light green skirt that came down below her knees and a white peasant blouse.
Nothing too revealing, but then she didn’t need much to enhance her beauty. “You say you’re here about Mrs. Davis, such a horrible thing. The poor little ones, I don’t think they quite understand, maybe Junior a little bit, but his sisters…”
Her voice tapered off as she sat on the edge of her bed. “I don’t know what I can tell you, I wasn’t privy to Mrs. Davis’ private life.”
“How long have you worked for the family?”
“Let’s see, I came when Junior was about two, just before little Teresa was born,”
“And who took care of Junior before that?”
“Why Nettie of course. But Mrs. Davis thought she was too old to take care of two children and so they hired me.”
“And how did you hear about the job?”
“They advertised in the paper of course.”
“And where did you live before that?”
“I came over from Ireland, this was my first time in America.”
“Do you have family here, know anyone else other than the Davises?”
She reddened and clasped her hands between her knees. “Well there is Riley and his wife.” Detective Sparks looked at her when she mentioned his name, it was the way she said it, the secret little smile on her face.
“And how well do you know the O’Rourkes?”
“Not that well I guess, I just see them when they’re here. He’s very nice, he comes more often than she does; he likes to be with the children.” Odd but not necessarily suspicious!
“How often would you say he came to the house without his wife?” Bridgette shrugged her shoulders and rested back on her palms, pressing her breasts taut against the cotton of her shirt and revealing the fact that she wasn’t wearing a bra.
“Maybe twice a week, sometimes more. He likes to play with the children.”
“And what was their relationship like? Mrs. Davis and Mr. O’Rourke I mean.”
“He’s a very handsome man don’t you think?”
Yes, yes I do! She didn’t say the words out loud of course, just left the question hanging in the air between them. “Well?”
“They were friends, very close friends. She was always happiest when Mr. Riley was around.”
“And her husband? How was she with him?”
