The Southern Gothic (Agnores x BurningLyeKisses)

A little sigh and she rubbed at her eyes quietly. She held her hand out, her keys dangling from the tip of one slender finger. "I'll let you into the record room," she said in a voice barely above a whisper. "I think you're right that there's something there. I just don't think my father had anything to do with it."

Roderick stared at the key for a bit, blinking slowly. "Why?" he asked bluntly. "What is with the sudden change of heart?" He knew the revelation about her mom had deeply affected Willow, but he couldn't quite shake the fiery, manipulative image of Willow from his mind. What game was she playing at? What did this accomplish?

"Because I want to know," Willow said quietly. "I...I trusted my mom. I looked up to her. And Mrs. Graves is the top volunteer at our church. She does everything for it. I...I don't know what else is a lie and I need to find out. I have to find out. So here. I'll let you in. We can go tonight. No one's around."

Roderick took the key from Willow, looking at it, considering carefully. "This really changed your world, didn't it?" He asked, but it was quiet. "Fine. Let's go, right now. If you think something is up, then we might be able to find more answers at the record room. And Willow?" Roderick stopped, pulling Willow into a light hug. "Thank you. I'm sorry." With that, Roderick was up, pulling his stuff together. He glanced back over to Willow. "You know, we may find nothing."

Willow just looked at him dully. "My mother is cheating on my father with her best friend," she said dryly. "Of course it changed everything. I don't know how long she's been doing it but she's known Mrs. Graves since before I was born. That's a long time."

A sigh and she rose from the bed, headig to the door with him. "So if she's been lying about that, there's no telling what else people have been lying about." She rubbed at her eyes and shook her head. "I can't believe she would do that."

Roderick sighed, not sure how to comfort the young girl. "I'm sorry," was all he muttered, before ushering her out and into his truck. He didn't say anything as he drove, simply contemplating what was transpiring. Willow had found her mother cheating on her father. With a woman. In public. For a pastor's daughter, that had to be deeply troubling. Roderick wasn't wholely convinced this had anything to do with Mr. Graves' death...but what if Mr. Polk had caught onto his wife's cheating, but had assumed it was the late Graves who was to blame, and not his wife? That was possible. Then the mayor would have reason to hide an investigation. But, any smart man wouldn't have left any record of this. He wasn't sure what he was looking for exactly, but Roderick was sure he would find something.

They pulled in front of the city hall, and Roderick shut off his truck and leaned back in his seat. "You ready for this?" He asked.