Mary Dalloway
Mary Dalloway is a deputy within the Saint's Crossing Sheriff's Department.
History
Early Life
Mary Dalloway grew up in a small holler by a stream in the Blue Ridge Mountains of West Virginia. Her father made what little money he could to provide for the family through moonshining. On one such trip, two days into a three day shine run, her father would be attacked and killed in the Appalachians by a black bear while setting up camp for the night. Her mother, who Mary would remember as a good-time girl before her father’s death became a shadow of her former self, haunting the house and neglecting her children to the extent that Mary's sister would die of starvation. Her distraught mother's wails and screams would only fall silent when her voice left her too. In her despair, her mother scratched her own throat out leaving the young Mary alone in the holler that had seen such misery.
Mary would be sent to live with her grandparents who knew little of the horrors that had occurred in her parents house. For a while Mary knew peace and would remember these as happy times. One day, when Mary was in her late teens a knock at the cabin door would change her life forever. Mary remembers little of the events that would happen in the cabin that day but a strangers grabbing hands and a whisper in her ear from “the devil in a tie”. Mary would be left inexplicably, largely unharmed amidst a scene of horror and bloodshed.
Wheeling
Traumatised by the events of that fateful day, Mary would leave her deceased grandparents home in an attempt to start her life anew. Mary made her way to the town of Wheeling where she would find employment within the Ohio County Library, the first in the state. Attempting to put the horrors of her past behind her and begin a normal, happy life, Mary would enter into a relationship in her early twenties that would eventually end with her being left at the altar on her wedding day. The only vow that she would make that day would be to never again allow herself to be hurt and betrayed that way again. For many years Mary took pleasure in the quiet life of a librarian, where the chaos of the world outside and the unpredictability of people held no sway over the organised world of books that Dalloway could easily categorise and make sense of.
Mary's safe and simple life would begin to unravel when people began going missing within Wheeling and clues started appearing as if taunting her, that hinted at the unsettling truth that the “Devil in a tie” may have returned. Soon Gossip began to spread about the quiet and strange librarian and the memories that had previously remained locked away began coming back to her.
Unable to put the unsettling memories out of her mind and convinced that the re-appearance of the killer was somehow connected to her, Mary came forward with what she knew to the local Sheriff's Office who had been investigating the recent disturbances in Wheeling. With her history and drive to catch the culprit Mary was temporarily deputised and quickly began aiding local law enforcement in their hunt. Over and again they would come close, occasionally finding a location where they had been but always too late. Eventually the trail would grow cold with the Sheriff's Department being forced to give up the hunt.
Mary's quiet life however had been shattered. With the killer still at large and a new drive in her to make sense of the minds of those that committed such terrible acts, she left behind her life in Wheeling and the safety of her library.
Events in Saint's Crossing
Deputy Dalloway
Dalloway arrived in Saint's Crossing having heard of its law department’s prestige and the new scientific methods being employed in law enforcement within the department. Though she faced a number of struggles during her cadet phase, often growing frustrated during her training and in her interactions with other deputies, Mary's curiosity and intellect would quickly be noticed. In mid march of 1902, Mary Dalloway would be deputised into the Saint's Crossing Sheriff's Department.
Dalloway's history in dealing with records and administration along with her fascination with the new fingerprinting techniques at the department's disposal would see her quickly gaining a reputation as a useful person to go to with fingerprint work as she threw herself into the files and the Crossing's long backlog of cold cases.
While Dalloway took to her new career as a deputy with relative ease, the ease with which she navigated the complicated world of social interactions with her new colleagues did not come so easily. Dalloway would find an ally and eventually a friend in Deputy Marigold Williamson, more commonly known simply as Bill. Bill would take on a mentor like role with Dalloway who in turn would find herself seeking to help the troubled Bill, who's self spiralling seemed to be going unnoticed by the rest of the department.
The Case of the Broken Hourglass
During Dalloway's first weeks as a deputy, a new multiple murderer with a grudge against Sheriff Mitchell Sandh would appear to cause havoc among the department. This man would become known as "Hourglass" and his viscous crimes which included the kidnapping of Sheriff Sandh's sister, Deputy Audrey Sandh, would light a fire under the department. Dalloway would be present for the first arrest of Jameson Farthing, the man known as "Hourglass". With Deputy Sandh's whereabouts still unknown and threats of her death should he not return to her location, Hourglass would be released to the consternation of those interrogating him.
Dalloway would discover a knack for undercover work during a mission to Guarma to investigate a criminal known as Julius Bradshaw who seemingly had a hand in numerous crimes carried out in the Crossing. Dalloway under the alias of Dianne Rivers and Bill under the alias of "Pocket" Jacks would spend a brief time on the island under the guise of gamblers where they would successfully manage to ingratiate themselves with the locals, including members of the Guarman Militia.
Back in the crossing with the Hourglass case showing no sign of coming to an end and the number of his victims only rising, Dalloway would slowly find herself drawn deeper into the gruesome case. Dalloway would discover one of his victims, washed up on the river bank outside of Annesburg and later the site of another murder within the docks of Saint Denis. Growing more involved and invested in the case, Dalloway would decide to follow a suspicion that the killer had grown addicted to his own method's of sedation and put her new found undercover abilities to use. Under a number of disguises Dalloway would enter the outlaw town of Van Horn in search of Hourglass' opium supplier and in the process uncovered a wealth of information on the outlaws who used the town as their base of operations and had been terrorising the surrounding area the past month.
Dalloway herself would soon discover that her investigations had come to the attention of Hourglass who would name her in person during one of his taunting messages to the SCSD. As Hourglass' methods grew more and more erratic and the body parts of his victims began showing up in abundance, Dalloway would decide to send a telegram to the man himself in attempt to draw him out. She would soon receive a reply with a telegram marked as being sent from Emerald station. Dalloway quickly informed the deputies on duty and together with Sheriff Sandh, Sheriff Kate Hearst, Deputy Sandh and Deputy Richard Pointer, the group would mobilise into hunting parties, systematically searching the various telegram stations in the crossing. As Dalloway and Hearst searched the east, The Sandh's and Pointer would arrive in Valentine where they would come face to face with Hourglass himself in the process of sending a telegram to Sheriff Sandh. After a brief and desperate chase, the man who had terrorised the Crossing for the past months would finally be caught.
Dalloway would be present for the interrogation of Hourglass in the cells of the Valentine Sherriff's Office where she would find not a meticulous, calculating killer but rather a wild beast in the form of a man. With the case now behind her and Hourglass facing execution, in no small part thanks to her assistance, Dalloway felt she had finally earned the right to call herself a detective.
The Case of the Missing Matriarch
Having now been within the department for a number of months and facing pressure to choose a stationing, Dalloway would finally settle on the beleaguered and oft neglected territory of New Austin. The fact that her good friend and colleague Bill called Armadillo home playing no small part in her decision. Dalloway would quickly settle in to the life of a New Austin deputy, growing closer to many of those stationed alongside her, none more so than Deputy Thomas Hooper.
Though the two's relationship would start as competitive, their teasing and arguing would evolve into a mutual respect with both deputies eventually admitting feelings for one another after a number of awkward encounters and no small amount of obliviousness to Hooper's attempts at flirting on the part of Dalloway. Dalloway, who had long closed herself off to the prospects of love and not quick to trust, allowed herself to open up to Hooper and agreed to a date. This early stage of their burgeoning relationship almost ended before it had begun when Hooper's attempt at a grand gesture in the form of a fake crime scene date request that happened to coincide with the anniversary of Dalloway's grandparent's gruesome death, sparked anger and humiliation in Dalloway. The two would eventually be able to put the blunder behind them and a successful first date would allow Dalloway to accept the possibility of letting someone into her life.
During Dalloway's early days as a deputy, she had become acquainted with the wealthy Braithwaite family, in particular the elderly Eloise Braithwaite, a woman known for her hard temperament who took no fools. Mrs Braithwaite had taken a shinning to Dalloway who often found herself called upon as the deputy of choice when in need of a deputy and even finding herself invited to the Braithwaite Manor for dinner, bearing witness to the family's tumultuous relationship on numerous occasions. Dalloway would become intimately aware of the family's troubles and the deteriorating mental health of Eloise Braithwaite.
This connection and the trust that had been placed on Dalloway would now come to a head when Mrs Braithwaite approached Dalloway in seek of help. Disguised and in a state of distress she confessed her fears that her nephew, Edwin Braithwaite, the black sheep of the family who had ties to the outlaw gang known as the Dead End Gang, wished to kill her along with his friend and leader . The family's troubles had apparently escalated though the elderly Braithwaite's worsening dementia had more than once led her to make claims that had proved false. Not a few weeks later, Eloise Braithwaite would be reported as missing by her handmaiden Jin Saito.
Many weeks went by with no sign of the missing matriarch of the Braithwaite family save for a cryptic telegram that left Dalloway baffled. Mary and Hoopers relationship would continue to grow over those weeks. Shortly after Hooper departed the Crossing on a planned vacation, Dalloway would receive a frantic telegram begging for help. Racing to the location of the telegram's origin point she would find a masked figure waiting for her. This would turn out to be none other than Eloise Braithwaite herself. Dalloway would attempt to calm the frantic Mrs Braithwaite who spoke of ominous figures holding her captive who wished her harm. Fearing her Dementia was responsible for her paranoia and disappearance, Dalloway would attempt to reassure Eloise and encourage her to return to the Manor and Jin. Dalloway's attempts at reassurance however would prove fruitless and the terrified older woman would vanish once more. Despite the evidence seeming to point to her fears being figments of her imagination, Dalloway could not help but consider the prospect of Edwin Braithwaite and the Wallaby Kid having a hand in Eloise's disappearance and possible captivity.
A number of days would pass before the next telegram, this one even more frantic than the last. No sign of Eloise would be found at the station from where the telegram was sent. Dalloway would scour the cabins of the surrounding area looking for Eloise's hiding place before another telegram alerted her to her true location. Upon arriving at the cabin Dalloway would be faced with a bloody crime scene. Eloise Braithwaite's body would be found not far away along with the bloody knife that had stabbed her. As the doctor's informed Dalloway of Eloise's dire condition not just at the hands of her attacker but due to the sever signs of malnutrition, Dalloway found herself riddled with guilt at doubting her claims of captivity and the fears for her life.
Character
Personality
Dalloway is highly intelligent and perceptive though she has trouble socialising with people, often coming across aloof and even surly around those she doesn't know. She is not fond of being touched or people entering her personal space often requesting that others keep a distance of "three bibles". Communication and understanding social cues do not come easy to Dalloway who often finds herself at a loss for what to say or how to act amongst her peers, showing many signs of being neurodivergent. Though extremely introverted, when Dalloway does open up to those who have gained her trust or a subject that she is particularly fond of pops up she can become highly effusive, often regaling those lucky souls with animal facts and obscure tidbits of historical knowledge.
Possibly due to the struggles with human interaction that Dalloway has experienced her whole life she has developed a knack through necessity of questioning peoples motivations and thought processes that has evolved into a keen interest in understanding the human mind. Her quietness can occasionally be mistaken for inattentiveness to those who are not familiar with her though those that do make this mistake would be folly to do so for Dalloway is always listening and observing.
Dalloway has a number of niche passions, such as animals, clocks, history, swimming and reading, with a particular interest in science fiction and the works of H.G. Wells. Dalloway’s history working within the library and cataloguing its many books along with her analytical way of thinking have made her particularly proficient in the paper work side of criminal investigation spending much of her down time comparing recorded fingerprints to the large back catalogue of cold cases.
Dalloway has tried to shy away from her poorer, West Virginian origins, calling herself simply Mary rather than Mary-Lou and attempting to conceal her stronger native accent.
Appearance
Dalloway has black hair that she keeps tied up and often hidden beneath her hat. She has brown eyes and sharp features with a permanent scowl that rests comfortably and unintentionally on her face. Her dress sense is somewhat quirky yet always smart with suspenders and one of her many bow ties a consistent feature of her outfits. Having grown up in poverty, Dalloway has a habit of dressing frugally though she allows herself some luxuries in choice items of clothing such as her always prim hat.
Relationships
Trivia
- Dalloway has an irrational fear of crickets largely due to their sudden movements and loud noise
- Dalloway distrusts doctors
- Dalloway collects small glass figurines of animals which she refers to as her glass menagerie
- Dalloway also maintains a collection of unusual fingerprints
- Dalloway is a vegetarian
- Dalloway maintains a "three bible" rule of personal space
- Dalloway has been diagnosed with trauma induced syncope
- Dalloway runs a book club for fellow lovers of books
Quotes
- "They say cougars pick out the weakest in the group first"
- "We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the Dalloway"
- "It's not smut, it's art"
