Chapter 1
Rosemary Artson jolted awake to a very loud pounding on her apartment door. The sun beamed through the single small window in her room and directly into her face. She rubbed the blurriness and sun from her eyes and sprinted to the door while throwing on a white button down and a black skirt and a jacket that were previously on the floor. She picked up a brush on her dresser and was running it through her long brown hair. "Rosemary! Do you know how late it is! Do you know how much trouble we're gonna be in because of you!" Rosemary unlocked her door and swung it open. "Im so sorry Flora! Im such an idiot. I can't believe I overslept!" The frantic short red haired girl shot an unforgiving glare at Rosemary. "If we mess up this case, our first solo case ever and I get fired because of you-" Flora fumed. "I know! Lets go." Rosemary interupted her grabbing her bag from a chair by the door and running past the girl and down a narrow staircase opposite the apartment. She ran out of the old decaying brick building and into the parking lot. Flora caught up with her. "Let's take your car since we have to drive all the way to Bellington county. I don't think my car can make it." Flora pointed to her car. One of the side mirrors was missing along with the back bumper and the paint that at some point must have been blue was a rusty shade of brown. Rosemary choked out a laugh and ran to her car. It was nothing to behold either. A small worse for wear black car from about a decade ago but both side view mirrors were intact. "Don't laugh, maybe if we actually make money off of this case we can both afford a new car." Flora jumped in the passenger side pulling a map out of her pocket. Rosemary got in and started the engine pulling out into the street. "I heard this place is a massive pain to find." Rosemary sighed eyeing the map in Flora's lap. "We can't just use a GPS?" She sped a little faster than she normally would go down the street. "No. This place isn't on a GPS. Detective Barry said we have to use this map. It's okay. I'll tell you where to go. You turn right up here." Flora pointed at the stoplight. "Okay... It really must be in the middle of nowhere." Rosemary grumbled.
About two hours passed by and they were very much out of the city. "So I think we're almost there." Flora said looking at the map. "I know it's hard to tell when all we've seen for the past hour is trees, but this should be the area." Rosemary saw a small wooden sign ahead with an arrow pointing to a little narrow road. The Tarragon Manor was painted on the sign in small white letters above the arrow. "Right there! That's it! Tarragon Manor!" Flora shouted excitedly. "Good. Finally." Rosemary sighed and turned onto the road. "Okay-" Flora said. "Remember what we need to do." Rosemary nodded "We're interviewing Vincent Tarragon about the murder of his wife Anna Tarragon." Flora nodded. "Yes. Apparently he was away on business and when he came back he found his wife unconscious in the den. Dead and poisoned." Flora pulled out a folder from her messenger bag that had a brief rundown of what they needed to know. "They still don't know who did it but Vincent has a solid alibi, and more than one witness, it can't be him." Flora continued. "Our main suspect is Spencer Kent. He is a new cook they had hired recently and was one of only four staff working at the manor that day. The other three are trusted employees of Mr. Tarragon for several years and they all have alibis. Spencer's alibi was that he was working in the kitchen most of the day and served Anna Tarragon her final meal that evening before heading home." Rosemary laughed. "That does seems a little obvious doesn't it?" Hazel smiled. " Well there is another suspect. A tea salesman that had stopped by the manor that day to meet with Anna. It doesn't say his name though." She stated looking at the folder. "Oh." Rosemary said. "I mean that sounds maybe even more suspicious."
Rosemary could see a large white house up ahead. It was very fancy looking. White with gold trim around the edges and a huge fence of well kept hedges. Beautiful flowers completely surrounded the house. It looked like something out of a storybook except for the very expensive looking Rolls-Royce parked in the large driveway and two other decently nice cars parked opposite it. "Maybe we should park down the road and walk." Flora said nervously. "What, does my car look that bad?" Rosemary laughed. "Good thing we didn't take your car." Flora shot Rosemary a look. "Hey! That's mean! We're already 30 minutes late because of you so I don't-" Flora was interupted when a man came running from somewhere out of the trees toward them. "Wait!" He shouted. He was a young man that looked to be in his early to mid 20s or so. Somewhere around their age maybe a little younger. He had scruffy brown hair and was wearing what looked like a newspaper boy cap. Or thats what Rosemary thought it looked like. He was wearing outdoor work clothes but it looked like something you might see in the 1930s. He had brown pants and shoes, a worn white button up shirt and brown suspenders. Rosemary slowed the car to a stop and rolled down the window. "What the-" Flora murmured looking at Rosemary. "Yes?" Rosemary asked the man who ran up to her window. "Please don't go to Tarragon manor! That's where you are going isn't it?" He asked panting. "Um yes... and why is that?" Rosemary asked him suspiciously. "Anna Tarrogon isn't the only one that died in there. Really you should turn back now before it's too late! You should'nt get involved! Really!" He was still breathing heavily. "Did you just come out of the woods?" Flora blurted out to him. "I did. That's where I live." He looked at Flora and gestured to the dense trees that lined the road. "What!-" Flora started. "How do you know Anna Tarrogon?" Rosemary interrupted her. "Oh! Well... she is one of my clients or was one..." He looked over to Rosemary. "I frequent her manor and many of the other manors in this area." He scratched his head under his cap. "Other manors? There are more?" Rosemary asked. "Yes. All along this road, if you just keep going down a ways." Rosemary looked puzzled. "When we turned on this road there was only a sign that said Tarragon Manor. There was no street sign at all." She said. "Yes! And on the map there is no name for the road either. Only a line inticating where it is and a big red circle that says HERE in Detective Barry's chicken scratch." Flora pointed to the map she had spread out in her lap. "It seems strange to have a manor as grand and expensive looking as that." Rosemary pointed to the house. "On a road without a name. Several manors... you said." She looked at the man almost accusingly. "Yes. This road does not have a name." He said. "The people who live here prefer it that way." Rosemary curiously looked at his face it was hard to read his expression. "Rosemary we are so late! We need to go!" Flora shouted looking at the time on the car. Rosemary nodded and started the engine. "We need to go. We're investigative journalists it's our job to be here. Thank you for speaking with us though." Rosemary began to roll up the window. "Wait!" The man shouted. Rosemary ignored him and drove forward towards the house. "We don't have enough time to park on the road and walk. We'll have to park in the drive way." Flora said sighing. "Already on it." Rosemary pulled into the large driveway. "I warned you!" The man shouted from the road but didn't chace after them any further.
She parked as far away from the Rolls-Royce as she could and jumped out of the car. Flora followed and they ran up to a very extravagant white and gold front door. It had two doors that could open on either side. Rosemary grabbed a big gold ring handle that had a roaring lion molded into it and she knocked.
