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STORM

Tuesday ood news The search tea found any trace of India Lawrenson It has been four days since she was last seen There are no significant leads on who murdered Rachel Garrett either

Rachel’s parents, Ronald and Alicia Garrett, had driven to London from halfway across the country yesterday to carry out the heart wrenching duty of identifying their daughter

Storm had stood beside thehter’s body She’d reached out a hand to touch Rachel’s face, to smooth back Rachel’s dark hair that was so like her own, but Storm had had to request for her not to The forensics examinations were still underway Preservation of evidence seerief

The pathologist had carefully left everything covered up except their daughter’s face A white cloth had concealed her dismembered hand and the knife wounds on her torso that had been inflicted with enough force to break two ribs and almost cleave off a portion of flesh

The white cloth was a uise the fact that Rachel had been reduced to a cadaver There was no need for her parents to see that Theas they only looked at Rachel’s face, even with her eyes now closed and no hint of a shter who had departed for London with such joy, leaving behind the bittersweet melancholy of an empty nest

For Stor to parents about their deceased children is one of the worst parts of his job, secondary only to speaking to children about their deceased parents, the latter bringing back memories of his own childhood It doesn’t help that parents sometimes mistake his deter He is not looking forward to interviewing the Garretts

He had volunteered to interview the theexperience for theency Headquarters They had wanted to see the workplace of those investigating Rachel’s death, to reassure the her killer to account for taking her away fro For not knowing that she had been their everything

They had said she was their only child They had not reat unknown that they were too scared to define yet As if their hts that had come into them

Ronald and Alicia Garrett arrive at Agency Headquarters atThey sit side by side in the interview roo each other’s hand for coe opaquebehind which is another roo unseen They sense they are being watched and it makes them uncomfortable, as if they are suspects

Had Zael not insisted on watching, Storm would have held the interview in his office

“Sorry about the room,” Storm says

“It’s okay,” says Ronald Garrett

Leo arrives with the teas that the Garretts had requested when Stor and hot to clutch at They accept them as if they are lifelines

“Any news?” Mr Garrett asks Leo, as if soed in the ten minutes since he had last asked Stor for any bad news that Leofrom them