The Case of Hallingham Manor

Chapter six: (more) Further Investigations

Detective Jones parked the Santler in front of the Hallingham's home and walked up the corroded and crumbling stairs. It was seven thirty that evening and just over the horizon the last glimpse of daylight could just be seen in all its glory as dusk drew to its end. She knocked on their door and waited- for quite some time actually. A frantic Mrs Hallingham answered.
' Detective, have you found him?!' She asked quite panicked. 'Where is he? Can I see him?
' Mrs Hallingham please calm down and I am sorry to say I have not found him,yet' the detective said in a calm manner. Her face turned sour and cold almost immediately as the words came out of the detectives mouth.
'What do you mean you haven't found him?!' Mrs Hallingham almost shouted. ' Your supposed to be finding him or are you not that great of a detective because if that's the case'.
' Mrs Hallingham need I remind you that I have your daughter to find and your husband to find' Detective Jones said firmly. ' I cannot do two cases at once it's merely impossible'. Mrs Hallingham sighed and let the detective in realising she wasn't going to win this argument. Detective Jones walked in to find the placed trashed. Paper and glass all over the floor along with water and photos as well.
'What happened here'?! the detective asked in shock staring around the room.
Mrs Hallingham sighed and said ' I was hoping you could tell me'? Then out of the corner of the detectives eye she noticed something red on the wall. She went over and moved a painting and there in red paint was:
STOP SOLVING THE CASE OR NEXT TIME THE WRITING ON THE WALL WILL BE IN YOUR BLOOD.
Mrs Hallingham had fainted and Detective Jones stood there in complete shock. Now who could have done something like this? Then she remembered something from earlier on this morning. The person in the brown coat.
'Mrs Hallingham I may have a few people on the list who could have done this' said the detective turning around to Mrs Hallingham laying unconscious on the floor. She picked up Mrs Hallingham and layed her on the couch and ran upstairs to see Malora. Malora wasn't there at the time she was at school. Detective Jones looked around her room and noticed a book under her mattress. She picked it up and it was a diary. The detective knew it was an invasion of privacy for the young girl but this could open the case wider so she read:
Dear Diary,                                   17th September 1888
Today me,Melissa , Mother and Father went to the zoo. My favorite was the tigers. They remind a lot of my Father as he is always pacing around and looses his temper very frequently now. After the zoo my mother and father had an argument and didn't talk to each other for the rest of the night. Things have been so unusual since that lady came to our house two months ago. At the time I didn't think anything of it as she was a normal lady with brunette hair tied in a bun and a blue silk dress that looked expensive. That day my Father scolded her and told her to leave him and our family alone and she ran off crying. Anyway I just hope things get better. I'd hate to think of our family falling apart.
Malora

Detective Jones thought to herself and realised that the woman could have been Catherine Eddowes, the fourth victim of the Leather Apron, and she knew why she had come to see him. She was now getting somewhere and continued to read this time a more recent entry:
Dear Diary, 14th September 1889
Another day has gone by and still Melissa is missing. Mother has been acting eccentric...no that's too harsh. She has been acting strange since Melissa disappeared. She keeps turning on the phonograph with the most unsettling and depressing music she can find in the record collection. She every night burns newspaper's talking about our family and she never eats with us anymore. Come to think of it, she hardly eats anyway. She has become thin and pale as if she were a ghost or skeleton that belonged in a graveyard. My father on the other  hand just sits in his study when he gets home from work and after tea. He doesn't talk to anyone except if it's asking what's for dinner or if it's business matters. All in all the house is so silent you can hear a pin drop. I come home from school and my mother is normally making the dinner or upstairs locked in her room. I miss Melissa so much but I carry on with my life normally even though the darkest thoughts swirl through my head. I just wish and pray that Melissa would be found and everything would go back to normal....but it's not that simple. Let's hope things get better.
Malora.
Detective Jones wanted to keep reading but stopped herself because she knew she had enough to go on. She decided after Malora got home from school she would have a chat with her. Mainly apologising for invading her privacy but also at the same time asking her small questions. The detective went down the stairs expecting to find Mrs Hallingham but just like her husband she had vanished. On the couch was a little letter. It read:
Dear detective Jones,
I'm very sorry but I can no longer go on living like this. This life is torture for me. Take care of Malora for me and Melissa if she is found. If you want to find me I will be the next person having an autopsy done in the morgue. Tell Malora I love her so much and I am sorry I have to do this to her.
Yours Sincerely Elena Hallingham.
And as she was reading Malora walked and asked what was happening and the detective sat her down and told her the most grotesque and traumatic news of her life. Malora sat there crying and trembling. And the detective promised to her that if her mother has taken her own life and her father won't return she will protect her and look after her and she will find Melissa whatever it takes. And the two sat there in complete silence and sadness as the rest the evening drew on.