A/N: THIS IS MY TAKE ON EMILY'S MURDER. I'M NOT SURE HOW THINGS WORK AT A POLICE STATION, SO PLEASE HUMOR ME, THANKS. AGAIN, THESE CHARACTERS DON'T BELONG TO ME. HOPE YOU LIKE IT.
CHAPTER 32: CRACKING THE CASE
The information Max had given Woody about Emily's death was bothering him. But what bothered Woody even more was withholding that information from Jordan. He and Max would talk about the case from time to time, only when Jordan wasn't around. The fact that James was involved was intriguing to Woody, he wondered what part James played in his mothers murder. Between work, therapy and Jordan, Woody's plate was full, but something was still eating at him. He needed to make time to pursue this case, his most important one.
Christmas was around the corner, Woody's favorite time of the year. He wanted this Christmas to be special for Jordan. Woody felt he didn't have much else to offer Jordan, so he decided to try to give her the one thing she had always wanted; the name of her mothers killer. He went through the files again and again, trying to find something, anything that would give him a clue. He was going over the phone records, when he spotted a simple extension number. That call was then forwarded to another number. Woody promptly called the phone company to get any information they had on a forwarded phone call from 26 years ago.
After an hour-and-a-half of being transferred and put on hold, Woody got the information he was looking for. He raced into the kitchen to find Max. "Hey Max, I was looking over the house phone records for the day Mrs. Cavanaugh was murdered, and I found this number.", Woody said excitedly. "Yeah, so she called the station the day she was murdered.", Max replied, uninterested. "But look, she called this extension, 146.", Woody pointed out. "That was Malden's phone. Woody do you think Malden killed Emily ?", Max asked with a whisper. "I don't know because that number was then forwarded to this number 555-1799. I called the phone company. You wouldn't believe the strings I had to pull to get this number.", Woody smiled. "That's Malden's home number.", Max told Woody in disbelief. "Woody I think we have some detective work to do.", Max exclaimed handing Woody his coat.
The two men raced to the station, trying not to be noticed, that did not work. The captain came up to the pair and asked, "Hoyt, isn't today your day off?" "Yes Sir, I need to pick up some evidence to bring to the morgue.", Woody replied, relieved he didn't really have to lie. "And Mr. Cavanaugh, you're here because?", the captain asked. "My personal chauffer Sir?", Woody grinned. "Right. Okay Hoyt, just sign in when you're not on duty.", Captain commanded as he turned to leave. "Yes Sir.", Woody called out.
They made their way down to the phone records room to get the tape from Malden's phone. Even though the call was forwarded, Woody hoped it was still recorded from his office phone. It wasn't hard to find, all of the boxes were marked and dated. Max took down the box while Woody watched the door. Once the tape was found, they were off to the morgue. When the elevators opened, Bug was the first to see the two men. "Hey guys, Jordan is out on a call, she should be back soon, you can wait in her office if you'd like.", Bug said, smiling. "Actually Bug, we're here to see Nigel.", Woody replied, nervously tapping on the side of his chair. "Oh, of course, he's in there.", Bug pointed, annoyed. "Bug could you do us a favor? When Jordan comes back, could you keep her out of here until we're done?", Max asked. "Sure thing Max.", Bug answered, thoroughly interested. "Nigel has all the fun.", he mumbled under his breath.
Nigel worked his magic with the tape, confirming that Emily had talked to Malden from his home. But there was another voice on one of the phone lines that could not be made out. Nigel's fingers flew over the keyboard as he tried program after program, trying to decipher the voice. Success, they heard a woman scream.… "that's your mistress isn't it , you're having an affair….", then the call went dead. With that Woody called Lois Carver to get a warrant for Malden's house. Lois swung by the morgue to pick up Woody, before going to talk with Malden's widow. They arrived at the house, Woody looked at the front steps, "I guess I'll wait here, Lois.", he stated, extremely disappointed. "Nonsense, we'll go around back. This is your case Hoyt.", Lois said smiling.
Woody and Lois knocked on the back door, when it opened, they explained to the elderly woman that they were detectives, there to look around for any information her husband may have had on an old murder case. The widow welcomed the pair in with a gracious smile until the name Emily Cavanaugh was mentioned. Mrs. Malden turned icy cold and said, "She deserved to die, I'm not sorry at all." Woody looked up at Lois with complete shock. "She had my husband's child……..while we were married., she let out a chilling laugh and continued, I had intended on killing both of them but that stupid boy knocked on the door and ruined my plan." The old woman was taken into custody, leaving Woody the detective to close the case.