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CHAPTER23
* * *
He turned up his radio to drown out the noise of her screams and rants and pretty soon got caught up in the show that he was fond of listening to, to stave off the boredom that can sometimes set in on those long uneventful nights behind his desk. It was a lot of conspiracy nonsense but he and most of the other men in town got a kick out of it.
It was almost an hour later before he even remembered her and he hoped she’d tired herself out enough to give him some peace and quiet. He bemoaned all those times he’d begged for some excitement around here now that he’d had to put up with her.
He turned the radio down and listened, but all was quiet back there for the first time since he came in for his shift. “Thank heaven.” He murmured to himself as if someone might overhear him, though there was no one there.
He started to turn the radio up again when the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Had she tired herself out after all? That would be for the best he thought as he made his way back there again.
He knew, as soon as he saw the bottom of her shoes on the floor he knew. His mouth fell open when he came into full view of the cell and saw what she’d done to herself. As an officer of the law who’d been on the job for more than twenty-five years, he’d never seen anything like it. It looked like she’d ran headfirst into the wall.
He ran over to the phone to call Detective Sparks. They couldn’t blame him for this surely, no one had said anything about a suicide watch. He couldn’t be expected to stand watch over her the whole time she was here now could he?
* * *
Celia had been taking a much deservedscented bubble bath when the phone rang. Thankfully out of habit, she’d taken it into the bathroom with her and answered on the third ring with the glass of chilled wine halfway to her lips.
“We’ve got trouble, she killed herself.
That was the greeting from the desk sergeant before she could even get the word hello out of her mouth. His words stupefied her for the merest of seconds before she flew into action.
“What do you mean? How did this happen?” She dried herself off with one hand while holding the phone to her ear with the other and ran from the bathroom into the bedroom. She stood next to the bed at a loss, her thoughts splintered into a million little pieces. Clyde was muttering unintelligible words on the other end of the line and she cut him off midstride.
“Call the M.E. and the chief.” She hung up the phone and rifled through her closet for a pair of jeans and a tee shirt. Not her usual fare for the workplace but time was of the essence. She called officer Bailey on her way out and he was ready and waiting when she swung by his place to pick him up.
“The chief and M.E. should be there granted no one left the state for the holiday.” That was her greeting when he opened the passenger door and climbed in. She was still frazzled by this turn of events, her mind filled with ways she could’ve prevented this.
At no time had it entered her mind that Valerie O’Rourke would take her own life, she just wasn’t the type. After all the noise the other woman had made about her lawyers and what she planned to do to the town once she got out, she thought for sure she’d have her day in court.
Officer Bailey was just as rattled as she was. He’d been catching up on some much needed sleep when the phone rang and his mind had taken a few minutes to adjust. It seems he’d congratulated himself too soon. “What was Clyde doing? Why wasn’t he watching her?”
“Okay, we can’t start pointing fingers and placing blame, let’s just get there and see what happened, then we’ll go from there.” Her mouth felt dry, and her stomach filled with heavy stones of dread. The one resounding thought in her mind was how she was going to tell Riley O’Rourke that his wife had died on her watch.
“What a mess!” She sped through the narrow streets, which were a lot more lively because of the holiday, ignoring the disapproving looks of the locals as she passed them by. The siren she had blaring meant nothing to them here, not like it would have in the city. Nothing disturbed their slow pace, not even death.
She was pleased and distressed to see both the M.E’s vehicle and that of the chief. She hadn’t had much dealings with the man since his old friend recommended her for the job, but from what little she knew of him, he was a taciturn no nonsense kind of guy who frowned on excuses.
“Sparks what the hell is going on here? How could you let this happen?” He barked at her as soon as she walked through the door. Sergeant Walker was sitting behind the desk looking white as a sheet with his head in his hands.
“I’m sorry sir, I didn’t foresee this development.”
“Well you should have. You arrested the wife of the richest man in town for murder and you didn’t think this was a possibility? I thought you were smarter than this. What happened to all that fancy training you got in the city?”
She bit her tongue and tried not to play into that particular scheme. It wasn’t the first time he or someone higher up had sneered at her background and she knew it was coming from a place of one-upmanship.
She’d gone out of her way in the beginning not to step on any toes because she knew just what they thought of her; but in this case he was right. She’d dropped the ball and the shit had landed square on her foot.
“May I see her sir?”
“Mike’s back there with her.” It took her a second to realize he was talking about the M.E. Mike Peters before she headed to the back where the cells were located.
Had it not been the weekend and a holiday at that, the prisoner would’ve been transferred out instead of overnighting here at the county jail, then she would’ve been someone else’s problem. Celia scolded herself for her selfish and less than compassionate thoughts, but she was well and truly sick of Valerie O’Rourke.
The woman had had everything. A husband that most of the women in town under fifty and a few above would’ve given their eyeteeth to have sitting across the breakfast table from them. A successful business from all appearances, and more money than she could spend in ten lifetimes.
Why did she have to take her life down this path to destruction? What a waste of resources. Celia knew that that wasn’t the real problem she had with the woman the M.E. was now examining though. It was the thought of what this would do to Riley that had her so upset.
