The Rhode Incident - Ch 4

Although he hadn't wanted to go, he had little choice in the matter. The village of Rhode only had a population of 800 people and neither a hospital nor a pub were proper places to conduct interviews. He had thought about inviting them to the police station in Edenderry but the only suitable place to do an interview would be the interrogation room and he was pretty sure they would feel uncomfortable. Heck, he was sure they weren't going to be comfortable in their own home talking about it, but that was where he was going.

After reviewing the documents and the evidence making sure he hadn't missed anything, he took the questions he wrote down for the interview, stepped into a bright and clear evening, and was on his way back to Rhode in no time at all.

The O'Rourkes invited him into their home and already he loved how tidy it looked; he hoped the rest of the abode was like this. There wasn't much of a porch walking in but it at least it was a place to put outside clothing in. Eamon and Mrs. O'Rourke sat down in the living room, away from the view of the O'Higgins house, while Mr. O'Rourke brought out a couple of cans of beer for the three of them.

Mr. O'Rourke opened his immediately but did not drink from it while Mrs. O'Rourke didn't touch hers at all. Eamon started speaking. "So, did you know the O'Higgins very well?" Mr. O'Rourke spoke.

"No, not really. Nothing much beyond waving and saying hello, though I did speak with Michael a couple of times but it's been a long while since I had last spoke to him.

"Did you talk about anything in particular?"

"To tell you the truth, I don't remember. I know I spoke to him but I have no idea what we had spoken about."

"Mrs. O'Rourke, did you speak to the O'Higgins at all?"

"No, I never spoke to them."

"Okay then, did you at least say hi?"

"A couple of times."

"Did either of you notice anything strange before the night in question?"

"The only thing I can think of" Mr. O'Rourke responded "is that the family stayed inside a lot more than usual the few days before, beyond that though, no."

"Anything you want to add Mrs. O'Rourke?"

"No, nothing."

"Then how about the night it happened?"

"That I do have something to say about..." she stopped with a horrified look in her eyes as she struggled to get past the mental block. Her husband held and squeezed her hand as he cooed to her "It's alright. It's alright. You can get through this. Just relax." It took her a couple of minutes to calm herself down enough so that she could start speaking clearly.

"Our bedroom window faces their house but you probably know that anyway. I'm not exactly sure when it started, maybe it was about 3am but I had been awoken by screaming. It was so clear... not loud per say, but clear. It woke me up and I went to figure out where it was coming from and... and that's when I-I-I saw... it. A split-second of light coming through the window and I got out of bed to see what was causing it. What I saw... What I saw..." Mr. O'Rourke squeezed her hand once more. 

"What I saw was a flame appearing for a split-second through their windows. This window and that, it appeared in random windows and I found it mesmerizing. I was shocked and awed as I watched it appear from window to window, every window downstairs it seemed. Then it disappeared for a few moments before reappearing upstairs. It traveled from window to window until it crashed through one of them and it fell onto the grass below.

It took me a minute to realize what I had just seen and where the screaming had come from and I cried and I felt absolutely felt sick to my stomach. I didn't even realize that Andy had woken up until he pulled me into him. I couldn't sleep after that for the next couple of nights because those images were all I could see every time I tried to."

"I woke up when she had gotten out of bed. I asked what was wrong but she obviously didn't hear me so I tried again, louder, but there was still no answer. I got up to tap her on the shoulder when I saw what she was looking at. It was already upstairs by the time I saw it. I witnessed it run around for a few seconds before flying through the glass.

I hadn't heard the screaming until it was almost too late. Most bloody awful thing I have ever heard. I don't know why I kept watching but I did, and I noticed in the dead of night, the silhouette of someone walking into the outside from the house and closing the door behind them. Then the silhouette started running down the street past our house and that was the end of it."

"Alright, is there anything else that needs to be said before I go?"

"No." replied Mr. O'Rourke, "nothing that I can think of."

"I can't think of anything else either." Mrs. O'Rourke said.

"If that's all. Then we are done. I honestly hope you have had a good day today. My car will still be outside as I have to talk to Mr. Stone about this. Shouldn't take too long, goodbye."

The detective shut the door behind him and walked across the rock garden onto the side of the road. He knew from the start that this was going to be a very strange case, but he had no idea that it was going to be this bizarre or how frightening this would become.

Eamon walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. An elderly man opened the door and Eamon introduced himself to him. "Come in" Mr. Stone beckoned. Detective McDonagh was lead directly from the step outside to the living room where there were bookcases filled with books lining the walls, a table in the corner with a Go! game set up on top of it and two squat wooden chairs on either side. Where he was going was near the fireplace with two leather recliners sat next to it. There was no fire burning at the moment, just the light bulbs illuminating the room.

"Would you like something to drink?" Mr. Stone asked.

"No thank you." Eamon replied. "In fact, let's just get right into it. Did you know the O'Higgins at all?"

"No, they mostly kept to themselves, I would ring in the occassional "top of the mornin to ya" but that was it."

"Okay, did you notice anything strange about them before the incident?"

"No. Between my work as a minister at the local church and my Bible thumping, I'm afraid I was too busy to notice what the neighbours were doing."

"What about that night, did you notice anything then?"

"Of course I did. How could anyone not hear that horrid screaming?"

"Could you describe what you saw?"

"It was one of those rare times that I gave myself a break and broke out the laptop. I was here, in the living room and I was posting on a Christian forum. Not long after that the awful sound started. I turned around to see what the source of the screaming was, and I saw this thing next door as it moved from window to window. I was so sure that an angel had appeared, that some kind of miracle had happened. So, so sure...

I was in denial for a couple of days after they told me what I had actually witnessed was a murder in progress and not an angel. Furthermore, I had seen a shadow run out through the front door and down the street. I thought I had seen something glint as it passed one of the street lamps. 

I had assumed that the angel had driven a demon out of the house and that the glinting was one of its claws. This is what I had believed. Honestly, I think I was right to think that, especially with what has happened and all that. He may not have been a demon, but he may as well have been."

"Alright, Anything else to say?"

"This is most certainly the work of the devil."

"Thank you. I must be off. It's getting late."

"Would you like something before you go?"

"No, no thank you, I'm fine."

"Goodbye then."

"Goodbye."

Eamon walked back to the car and zoned out for a few minutes, thinking of nothing whatsoever. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. He wanted that religious nonsense out of his head ASAP. Brain bleach in hand, the detective drove back to the police station to drop off the notes collected this day before going home for a well-deserved sleep. This was a tiring day after all.