This flat character is stereotyped as the disgruntled husband who wants out of a marriage gone stale. He comes home 'tired,' but his dissatisfaction evidently stems more from his home life than from his professional one. His mind is made up - he will fulfill his conjugal and parental duty but no more. He doesn't hesitate to take a shot of whiskey to get up the nerve to say what he has to say. Then he does, rather curtly, but expresses some regret: "I hope you will not blame me too much."
Patrick Maloney doesn't live long enough to develop as a character, but we see another side to him through the dialogue with the police officers and Mrs Maloney. He was on a first name basis with his colleagues and was evidently both respected and well-liked. The policemen agree to drop protocol and have dinner at Mrs Maloney's because that's what Patrick 'would have wanted.'
The duplicity of this character reinforces one of the themes of the short story, that of appearance versus reality. As situations, people are not always what they seem to be.
The reader is not particulary empathetic with this character. That's why at the end of the story, one can almost giggle along with Mrs Maloney...
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