Immediately after getting off his horn, Sharkey spoke to a few uniformed officers. They walked away and began canvassing the small crowd in search of witnesses. Sharkey walked to where another detective was talking to the distraught Dr. King.
“This is my partner, Detective Sharkey,” the young detective said.
Shoulders hunched, Dr. King lifted her head, acknowledging Sharkey’s six-foot frame. Unkempt, long sandy hair hid his cold, blue stare. Diana was still in the depth of her sorrow, and her eyes drifted to the ground where her husband’s bloodstain remained. She didn’t appear to be holding up well. Sharkey silently watched her slipped into quiet gloom. Diana was weakened and seemed unable to deal with the situation. Sharkey steeled his blue eyes on her and decided not to push too hard.
“I’m sorry about all this,” Sharkey said, waiting for Diana to look at him. She didn’t, and he continued. “Bad things sometimes happen to good people with no feasible explanation. But I promise you that my partner and I will do everything to get to the bottom of this.”
“Thank you, detective,” Diana said, finally looking up at Sharkey.
Tears were running down her cheeks. Sharkey nodded to Diana King. Then he turned to his partner. Pulling McAlister out of Diana’s earshot, Sharkey asked, “What do we know so far, Jim Bob?”
Jim Bob McAlister, a twenty-six-year-old, athletically built man, grew up in the Ozark area. The proud local, McAlister, was a family member considered upper class in this region of the southeast. With only three years under his belt in the Enterprise police force, McAlister earned a promotion to detective in less time than others in his grade. McAlister’s rise to homicide division tied him to his family’s political connections. He walked over to where Sharkey stood and related Diana’s statement.
“She said they were at the golf course in Ozark, and it started to rain. They stopped to get a file. While upstairs in her office, she was alerted to noise outside,” McAlister said.
“Yes…but why did they stopped?” Sharkey asked, staring intently at his younger partner.
A chirping sound of his radio distracted Sharkey, and he took a couple of steps away then listened. Keying the walkie-talkie, he said, “Go ahead…”
The grimace on his face tightened when he learned that there were no eyewitnesses to the shooting. The onlookers noticed the body and the SUV doors were left open, but the ghost-like attacker was long gone. No one had seen anyone running from the scene or knew who had perpetrated the horrendous assault. The search was continuing, and the police established a five-mile radius.
“Keep looking and make sure you guys check all the garbage cans back and forth. Let’s leave no stones unturned,” Detective Sharkey said.
Then he turned and stared at his partner standing with the bereaved wife. The crime scene investigative unit cordoned off the immediate area with yellow tape and scoured the outer limits for whatever evidence or witnesses they could find. Investigators found no weapons, empty cartridge, or any other evidence in the crime scene’s proximity. Members of the investigative unit widened their search.
A few hours later, the authorities were stumped. The police had no further information regarding the crime because there was no eyewitness. Detective Sharkey realized that the last person to see her husband alive was his wife. At this time, she appeared too distraught for any type of interrogation. Wavering whether or not to take her statement, Sharkey kept his gaze on her.
The coroner’s vehicle pulled up close to him. Medical technicians were in the process of removing King’s body from the crime scene. Diana stood by looking on with a saddened gaze on her face.
Sharkey said, “Dr. King, we’ll have to keep your vehicle as part of the evidence.”
Diana King turned her head in Sharkey’s direction and nodded without looking directly at him.
While the police impounded King’s SUV, Sharkey’s keen eyes saw a certain familiarity between his young partner and the grieving spouse. It was the way that Detective McAlister stood next to her. Sharkey dismissed it but was surprised when the detective offered the still visibly shaken Diana a ride home.
“Dr. King, you better ride with us,” the younger officer suggested.
Something about the way they stared at each other stayed in Sharkey’s head. He filed it away in the back of his mind for further use. The detectives escorted Diana to an unmarked car. Sharkey drove, and his younger partner rode shotgun. Sirens blared while a saddened Diana sat silently in the backseat.
Through the rearview mirror, Sharkey kept his eyes on her. A sad look clouded her while tears rolled softly down her cheeks. Glancing at each other, the detectives decided to hold off on questioning the spouse. Instead, they engaged in what seemed like idle chatter that was initiated by Sharkey.
With a smirk on his face, Sharkey looked past Diana into the darkness. He saw the lights of Enterprise disappear in his rearview. This southeastern part of Coffee County, located in Dale County, was a place Sharkey migrated to ten years ago. Sharkey wanted to get to the bottom of this homicide, and he needed his only witness to cooperate. Sharkey wanted to find the reason why this man and who did it.
Sharkey was an out-of-towner, and since moving to the area, he was often made aware that the local folks showed tremendous fierce loyalty to the city. For them, like his partner, this area represented God’s gift. Transient residents such as soldiers and dependents didn’t give a damn. With this in mind, Sharkey played his hunch. He wanted Diana King to talk and set out planting the seed.
“Jim Bob, you know when the town erected the Monument?” Sharkey asked.
McAlister stared at his partner with a confused look on his face. Then went on to fumble the answer.
“Ah…well…ah, I think around nineteen, ah, I know it symbolizes the prosperity the city felt the insect brought.”
“The idea for the Monument came into existence in nineteen-oh-eight. It was dedicated December eleventh, nineteen-nineteen,” Diana said with distinct homegrown pride.
“Enterprise was trying to make itself famous, huh?” Sharkey quipped in a condescending tone.
“I guess you could say that,” McAlister said, sounding confused.
McAlister was wearing an unsure expression. Sharkey had to be aware of all the information he was seeking, McAlister silently reasoned. The locals were very proud of the region’s history. He soon heard his partner prying.
“What’s your opinion, Doc?”
“Enterprise put itself on the map by erecting the only statue dedicated to an insect pest in the world,” Diana added. “Coffee County once found itself to be the leading producer of peanuts in the nation.”
“Jim Bob, this lady sure sounds like a citizen who knows her history. She’s definitely from around these parts…” Sharkey said, encouraging Diana’s response. “Oh, you are from around here then, huh, right, Doc?”
“I was born in Ozark, and from an early age, I’ve studied those facts in school. And you just don’t forget things like that,” Diana said with a certain smugness. “You sound like you’re from out of town, detective.”
“Oh, you’re right about that,” Sharkey exclaimed.
“Whereabouts, detective…?”
“Amarillo, Texas,” Sharkey said and watched Diana fell into dead silence.
The classic grieving spouse syndrome, but he badly wanted to crack her façade. Diana King’s enthusiasm regarding the area where she was from did not surprise Sharkey. He had many times witnessed the same conceit in his partner. Nodding, Sharkey stirred the pot, hoping he was onto something. McAlister