That pretty school teacher-lookin lady with the fancy cars layin dead up there in her tent! Dead fer shur! Somebody Come Help! ten-year-old Henry P. Giles howled as he ran lickety-split across the putt-putt course toward the bath house at Hathaways Family Golf and Fishing Resort. Momma! Come Quick! I didnt touch nothin! Just looked in. Iroquois County folks said Hathaways Campground had seen better days. Folks old enough to remember. Now, all but a few of its forty campsites were closed for repair. The putt-putt golf course and fish pond lay virtually abandoned. The only recent improvements at this rustic institution were a sophisticated website and two huge signs out on I-95. The resort they described had little in common with Hathaways Campground beyond its Highway 158 address. Two Iroquois County deputies answered the Sunday morning 911 call. It took only a quick look to persuade them this was just another of Hathaways Off I-95 suicides. They even found two large prescription pill bottles, one full, one empty, beside the body. Retired USC professor, Dr. Ray Raether, though, didnt agree. Ray and his constant canine companion, Samantha, had been in their Aliner just across the road the previous day when their new camping neighbor arrived. Theyd gone over to help set up her tent. Ray had encountered his share of suicidal students at USC. Even more drug abusers. The vivacious young woman he met across the road at Hathaways was neither suicidal nor a drug abuser. Ray would stake his Aliner on it. But if not suicide or a drug overdose, what explained her death? Samantha, at 110 pounds, was large even for an American Alsatian. Shed been born at the Schwarz Kennels in Oregon, with breed developer Lois Schwarz herself assisting. Samantha was protective. But in a quiet, attentive way. Those steady, expressive yellow eyes were what most people remembered. She seemed to know instinctively whether anyone she met was good or bad, and allowed only those she considered good near her. Or near Ray! Ray Raethers suspicions alone wouldnt have triggered a more comprehensive investigation of this latest Hathaways Campground death. But the new arrival had signed in as Victoria Limpkin Prentiss. And shed told Mrs. Hathaway she planned to have dinner that night with a cousin from Charleston. The death of a Charleston Limpkin relative couldnt go un-investigated in South Carolina. Or even under-investigated. As if to make the point, newspaper and television news reporters began arriving at Hathaways less than two hours after the 911 call. More comprehensive investigation of Victoria Limpkin Prentisss death meant Iroquois County Sheriffs Department Chief of Detectives Salvatore Patrick Ryan himself would handle the case. Sal was a retired New York City Police detective who bore little resemblance to either Don Knotts or Andy Griffith. After Ray shared his doubts about Victoria Limpkin Prentisss suicide with Sal over a remarkable breakfast at Sadies Restaurant in downtown Iroquois, Sal invited Ray and Samantha to help him with the case. Their investigation took Sal, Ray, and Samantha from Iroquois County to Charleston and back. Nothing they learned was as it seemed, or as it was supposed to be, as they uncovered the true cause of this lonely and peculiar death.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 21:18:35 +0000
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