The Bodies One By One

Chapter 27

Stacey and Rushforth couldn't contain their laughter when Storm had told them what happened, 'I knew it!' Rushforth suddenly said and Storm frowned, 'what'd you mean you knew it?'

'I thought I saw Finlay in the hall! I just wasn't sure, and if she was here, she obviously meant business, so she was  here to rip your heads off!'

'Ha.Ha, very funny Rush, please stop rubbing it in'.

Storm shook his head but smiled because in all honesty, he would've have acted the same way as well, 'Baloc and I think that the attack on Malloy is more personal', Stacey nodded, 'okay, that makes more sense... So I guess you're going to have to talk to the Malloy family again?'
Storm nodded, 'yep, she's a mystery, so I'll have to go back to talk to Ms. Malloy'.

Ms. Malloy looked hopeful, but it died when they told her about the fact that they were still searching, 'I'm sorry to ask, I know that Patricia and you weren't close... But we do need more help, I'm taking it you have no new information for us?' Baloc asked and she shook head. But something seemed off to Storm, it looked like she was hesitating, 'did you want something to drink?' She suddenly asked, she's hiding something, it's like she's stalling, but just play along.

'Yeah sure, I would love to have one'.

When she had left, Storm lowered his voice to speak to Baloc, 'could you see the hesitation?' He whispered into his ear and he was glad that he wasn't the only one who noticed, 'dunno if it's gonna work, but we're going to have to break through to her'.
She was quick to return with some drinks, and she placed them on the little table before Storm and Baloc, 'Ms. Malloy, it is okay to go through your daughters room?' She hesitated again before nodding.
Baloc had already asked a team to do a sweep through, but they had found nothing, then again, they weren't as good as his team, just like Finlay said.
She led them to a door that sat at the very end of the hallway, there was a sign, 'P.M', Storm said and Ms. Malloy smiled, 'Patricia Malloy', ah okay.
Patricia was quite a neat girl, then again, she was a girl, and nine times out of ten they were neat and tidy. Storm wandered around and examined the Cd's that she use to listen to, Pop, nothing out of the ordinary. He then moved over to the mirror and ended up examining himself.

Fucking hell, is that what I really look like? Time to shave...

When he went to her bed, his felt his shoe knock something, it was hidden just at the corner under the frame, against the wall. He leaned down and grabbed it, it was a worn brown book and when he opened it, it revealed photos... Family photos, of her mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. Malloy.

'Were you aware that she had this by the way?'

He turned to show Ms. Malloy, who joined his side, 'no, what is it?' He showed her the photos, 'I wouldn't know how old the photos are, I'm just going through', he opened the book wider to allow Baloc to see as well. They flicked through the pages, the pictures  were obviously from years ago, but as Storm flipped through towards the end, they started to look recent, and everything seemed normal... Until they saw Graves in the photos, with Ms. Malloy, and they were kissing.

'Uh...'.

Storm looked up at her and their eyes met, 'so... When were you going to tell us about you and Charleston Graves?'
Her eyes grew wide in terror, 'I... I didn't think that was really important!' Storm slammed the book shut and tried his best to keep calm, 'not important?' He felt Baloc touch his arm but he shook it off, 'every little detail is important, James Holly worked at Charleston's shop and we found evidence there, so he is potentially a suspect at the moment'.
He could tell that she was about to cry, 'so, maybe you daughter was getting worse because you started to see another man? How long have you and Mr. Graves been together?' He could tell that she was scared, 'a while', was all she said, 'a while as in, a long time, meaning, not long after your husband passed? Patricia's father'.
She began to cry, 'I'm sorry! I'm so sorry I should have told you!' Storm shook his head, 'that information is important! Your daughter is dead because -', Baloc suddenly grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back, 'that's enough', he whispered sharply into Storm's ear and he knew that Baloc was right, that's enough.