Objects of Virtue

Chapter 07

Harry and Niall exchanged worried glances before thanking Zayn's family and leaving the room. Once they were safely back in Harry's car, he couldn't help but blurt of the obvious fact that they both were thinking.

"Sounds a lot like someone we just met didn't it?" Harry said glancing worriedly at Niall as he drove back.

"I mean, yea, sure, mate – but then again, a lot of blond-haired blue-eyed babes walking around London these days." Replied Niall as he pondered on the matter

"Coincidences are rare in our line of work Ni" Harry said, his jaw set in concentration. Niall was right – Zayn had indeed described about half of London's female population and there was little they could do with his description. Also, Zayn had mentioned the name Lizzy – which could be a pet name of some sort, but it certainly didn't have any connection to Charlotte. The drive back was silent and the radio playing songs that Harry was barely listening to, was the only interruption. It was a strange case and was only getting weirder by the day. Harry couldn't think of any plausible reason as to why Charlotte would want her father dead. He really hoped that the forensics team had some answers waiting for him. He was extremely intrigued by the bullet that they had removed from Zayn the other day.

Dropping Niall off at his apartment, Harry drove slowly through the evening lost in thought. The ringing of his phone brought him back down and he answered quickly. It was the forensics team calling to let him know the answer to the question that had been plaguing his mind for most of the day – they had been able to trace the rifling characteristics to a GSG 1911 long-barrel pistol. It was getting late and Harry debated if he was to let the information sit until the next day or if he was to go in and get a head start. His curiosity got the better of him and he found himself taking the turn towards the police station. It was almost 8 p.m. and he was exhausted but he needed to get to the bottom of this. He had his work cut out for him when he went in. A sleek folder sat on his desk with the name of all the people that held licenses for this particular firearm and Harry sighed inwardly.

Sitting himself down on his chair and unbuttoning his shirt ever so slightly, Harry pushed his sleeves up and got to work. Crossing checking the names of all those involved with the case and the license holders was going to take all night and Harry resigned himself to the fact that come tomorrow morning he would still be in yesterday's clothes. The firearm, Harry found out was on the pricier side of the spectrum and definitely not something that the common criminal would get his or her hands on easily. This further played into Harry's theory that it was indeed a civilian, and probably a rich one, who had tried to shoot at Zayn. But why? Why would someone go through so much trouble?

It was closing on to midnight and Harry was wishing that he had dragged Niall in with him. Lucky bugger was probably curled up in his bed snoring and possibly creating enough noise to piss the neighbors off. Sleep was slowly creeping in on Harry as he rubbed at his tired eyes. The names were beginning to blur into each other and now all he was seeing were a colony of ants that seemed to be running around hastily on his paper. Trying his hardest to focus on the task at hand, Harry turned his gaze back to paper in front of him. All of a sudden one name in particular jumped out from the rest of the list. He wasn't expecting to see it let alone have to do anything about it, but there it was. Louis William Tomlinson. What the fuck? He had to read it a couple of times, rub at his eyes vigorously and re-read it just to make sure. Grabbing his phone, he quickly dialed Niall, tapping his foot as he waited for him to pick up.

It wasn't long before Niall turned up at the station too, his hair still a mess and his shirt buttoned up wrong. If it wasn't for the fact that they were currently in such a tense situation, Harry probably would have made a jab at his best friend's appearance. Niall sat down in his chair and looked questioningly at Harry.