The Witching Hour

[Part 3] The Interview

Just then, Officer Dewitt approached them. He saw them talking nearby and assumed Alice was there on behalf of the Corona Journal.

"Alice. Rick." he said, nodding to them both, "How're you folks doin'? It's been a while since we talked. We haven't seen you in church for a long while now."

"Hello, Marvin." Alice said, purposely ignoring his comment about their latest church attendance, "How's Gracie doing? Please tell her I said hello."

"Oh, the missus is just fine, thanks for asking. I'll be sure to let her know for ya'." He said, politely.

"So how long do you think all this will take?" Rick asked, "The boys are asking. We're already behind schedule."

"I can't really say at the moment, Rick. We don't really know what we're dealin' with yet." Marvin Dewitt glanced over his shoulder at the unfolding investigation, his face looked sullen and grim, "I never woulda' guessed I'd be doin' this today."

"What do you know so far?" Alice asked, cutting to the chase, "I'm trying to get a report done for the paper tomorrow."

Rick took this as his cue to go.

"Excuse me, I think I need to get back over there and see what Kent wants us to do now. It was good seeing you again Marvin. I'm just sorry it was under these circumstances."

"Always good seein' ya' Rick." Marvin smiled.

Rick kissed his wife on the cheek before leaving them to their business.

"I was wonderin' if that's why you were here." Marvin went on, standing up straighter, "Where's Julia? Doesn't she normally handle these type a' things?"

"Jules is out of town today." Alice said plainly, trying not to let the question hurt her feelings.

"Alright, well then, Alice, like I said, we don't know a whole lot at this point. Right now, a special team of investigators are diggin' up the body. From there, it'll be taken to a forensic coroner who'll hopefully identify the body and tell us the cause of death, which'll let us know if any further investigation is needed."

Alice wrote down his words exactly as he said them.

"What do you know about the property?"

"Very little. This land was owned by a real estate company for a long time. When the city bought the property, the company had no idea where the house came from or when it was built. It's almost as if it appeared overnight."

"So," Alice paused to make sure she understood him correctly, "The house wasn't there when it was bought by the real estate agency?"

"They're sayin' it wasn't."

"And," she continued, "They don't know who built it?"

"That's right."

"Interesting." She said, and then glanced at her list of questions. She was hoping he'd have more information for her than this. Most of her questions were ones that couldn't be answered.

There was a long, awkward pause as she pretended to write things down, and simultaneously trying to come up with more material. Marvin waited patiently with his arms crossed over his chest, which only made the silence louder to Alice, pressuring her to say something.

"I... um..." she struggled, "do you know... uh..."

She fumbled clumsily with her notebook.

"It's alright." Marvin finally said, smiling and patting her on the shoulder, "You're doin' a good job. There's not much to know right now. Doesn't make a very interesting article, I guess."