Liam O’Brien stared at Aiden Kelly, unmoving, for a full ten seconds. The only sound in the foyer was the tick-tick of a dusty antique grandfather clock.
Jake had forgotten how rotten delivering the news of a loved one’s passing felt. He’d been shielded from this side of the job for far too long.
‘Was it her heart?’ O’Brien mumbled. ‘We lost our dad to a heart attack.’
‘We don’t know the cause of death yet,’ Kelly said. ‘She’s been taken to the hospital. We’ll need you to go in and formally identify her.’
‘Why? You know who she is.’
‘It’s a legal necessity, Liam. Again, I’m sorry.’
Kelly led them toward the kitchen, with O’Brien in tow and Jake bringing up the rear. After they had taken seats at the table, the bereaved man looked glassily at Mason Campbell.
‘Did you find her?’
‘I’m the one who discovered your sister, Mr O’Brien,’ Jake answered. ‘I’m Detective Jake Hunter. She was actually in the vineyard, not the former children’s home.’
‘But you said …’ O’Brien began, looking askance at Kelly. ‘I don’t understand. Why was she out there?’
‘Did Ava often visit here, Mr O’Brien? Mr Campbell?’ Jake asked.
Both men shook their heads. ‘I don’t think she’s ever been back, not since we had to close it down,’ O’Brien answered. ‘Mason?’
‘Never saw her here,’ he confirmed.
‘This isn’t making sense.’ Anger crept into O’Brien’s voice. ‘What were you doing in the vineyard looking for her? Who told you she was there?’
Jake felt a twinge of pity for the him. ‘Initially, we were searching for a missing child from the campground. We located him in the vineyard. He mentioned having seen a … something there, so I returned to investigate.’
‘But what was Ava doing there?’ O’Brien repeated.
‘We’d like to work that out,’ Jake said, his eyes flicking to his superior officer and back to O’Brien again. ‘Do you feel up to helping us piece together her last few hours?’
Liam O’Brien took an enormous breath, held it for several seconds, then seemed to settle his emotional distress in a single exhalation. ‘The burdens of the flesh have lifted,’ he chanted solemnly, ‘and all sins are forgiven. She is gone home to God; may she rest in his bosom for all eternity.’ He gave a wan smile. ‘Right. Detective Hunter, Aiden, fire away.’
Jake had seen people take solace in their religion to deal with grief before, but rarely with such alacrity.
‘If you’re sure, Liam?’ Kelly asked. ‘We don’t have to do this now, or here.’
‘No time like the present. What do you want to know?’
‘Thank you, Mr O’Brien.’ Jake rose and indicated the doorway to the lounge room. ‘Would you please come this way?’
O’Brien shook his head and fanned his arm over the table. ‘Here’s fine.’
Jake looked to Kelly for support.
‘Please, everyone stay,’ O’Brien insisted.
The senior sergeant nodded his agreement and Jake resumed his seat.
Wondering why his superior officer would allow others to observe what should be a semi-formal interview, Jake set his phone on the table in front of them to record the conversation.