Murder Most Horrid
Chapter 25: Back-alley dealings
The next morning, Bellatrix was standing in the very alleyway where little Billy had been murdered, examining the scene. Child murders were often tough cases, Bellatrix found. Emotions tended to run high, after all, as she had found out yesterday. Thankfully, Hermione was feeling a little bit better today and would be spending the day with her mum. She hoped it would do her some good.
The orphanage, a tall building in one of the hidden wizarding quarters of London, was less than impressive, that much was certain. There were too many kids in too small a building, a building which could do with a new lick of paint and some proper maintenance certainly. Seriously, the state of this orphanage made The Burrow look like Harrods in comparison. Still, the lone matron Warrington ran a tight ship, did her best to keep the kids happy and fed, and often lobbied for a higher budget.
Considering the door leading into this alleyway almost fell from its hinges when opened, Bellatrix decided that Warrington should lobby harder.
Having read the police report, Bellatrix stood near the place where the body had lain. She took out her wand and waved it in front of her, causing a magical outline to appear. The dark witch took out the police photographs and studied them, studying the position of the body within the alleyway. After that, she took a good look at the alleyway itself: it was narrow, contained a dumpster and several dustbins. The front end had been closed off by a high wrought-iron gate which was locked by a padlock. The back end had been closed off by a wooden fence which was nearly twice as high as the wrought-iron one. Behind the wooden fence was another series of back alleys leading to other buildings in the wizarding quarter. The wall on the other side of the alleyway was windowless and belonged to a bakery; not much information to be had there. She looked up: the height of the buildings didn't allow for much natural light and the fire-escape was haphazardly screwed into the wall.
Not that a fire-escape, even a rickety one, would be particularly useful when the only way out of the alleyway was locked with a padlock, Bellatrix grumbled. She'd have to mention this to Warrington: that padlock could cost lives if a fire were to break out.
The dark witch noticed that there was a lone window in the side of the building, on the highest floor. There would be a rather good view on the alleyway from that window. Pity no new witnesses had come forward.
Bellatrix retraced her steps; she found the place where Sirius had been knocked against the wall rather quickly. It was near a patch of wall where the bin bags had been overturned. If Sirius' story was true, and judging from the position of both the body and the point where Sirius had been slammed into the wall, the assailant would have come over the wooden fence in the back.
Bellatrix started a study of the fence. The fence was about nine feet tall and, after careful observation, found faint claw marks in the paint. She traced the claw marks with her fingers: something dug its claws into the wood when it had flung itself over the fence. As luck would have it, the assailant left a bit of himself behind: stuck to a loose nail was a tuft of dark gray fur. Carefully, Bellatrix took out a pair of tweezers, pulled the fur from the nail and dropped it in a plastic evidence bag. She'd have Barty compare this fur to any hair of fibers he might have found on Billy's body.
She already took note of the color: the fur was not the same color as Sirius would have in his animagus form. So far, Sirius' claim of a third person in the alleyway was shaping up to be true. She already had suspicions of this, of course, but it was too early to draw a conclusion as of yet.
Once back inside, she was almost knocked over by three giggling kids running through the hallways.
"JENNA! RENNY! OSCAR! NO RUNNING!" shouted Warrington. The middle-aged woman was pleasant to look at, but she looked far too tired for her a woman of her age. "Apologies, detective Black. We've all been rather... disturbed."
"I quite understand," said Bellatrix as they passed what looked like a shrine to Billy. There was a large photograph of the little boy, surrounded by smaller pictures of him and his friends. Crude children's drawings were draped among a plethora of lit candles. "By the way," she said while pointing at the shrine. "With that fire-hazard in the building, you need to get rid of that padlock on the emergency exit outside. As the responsible party, you will be charged with negligence and prosecuted accordingly if the worst were to happen. Do you follow?"
Warrington looked stricken for a moment, but quickly nodded in understanding.
"Good. I've completed my investigation in the alleyway. I'm clearing it, you can use it again. Just keep away from the wooden fence for now. Some Department people will come by later to take photographs."
"Thank you," said Warrington.
"Is there anything else you remember about last night?" Bellatrix asked.
"No... well..." there was a moment hesitation. "There is... Oh, forget I said anything. I didn't think it mattered."
Bellatrix crossed her arms. "Let me be the judge of that. No matter how insignificant it might seem, any detail could be vital to my investigation."
"Well," said Warrington. "One of the girls claimed she saw what happened."
Bellatrix blinked once. Twice. "There was an eye witness to the murder itself?!" Bellatrix couldn't keep the anger out of her tone of voice. "Why was I not immediately informed of this?!"
Warrington flushed slightly. "She often makes up stories, so I didn't believe her. I sent her up to her room for punishment, actually."
Bellatrix sighed heavily. "I'll need to speak to this girl immediately."
"Of course," said Warrington. "Right this way, please."
The matron led Bellatrix up the stairs. "Charlotte has the room on the attic, because she's the eldest. She's lived here since her birth and we rarely have kids her age at the orphanage. The other kids she shares her room are both two years younger than her."
"The room on the attic?" Bellatrix asked. "Does that have a window with a view on the alleyway?"
"Yes, indeed."
"Hm," Bellatrix rubbed her chin as they walked up a second set of stairs. "Tell me about the girl."
"Her name is Charlotte Puckle," said Warrington. "She's almost eight years old now. Sweet girl, but more than a bit of a handful. Truth be told, she's been getting more difficult as of late."
"Puckle?" Bellatrix frowned. "That's a rather prestigious pure-blood family. From Northern Ireland, I believe?" The dark witch had only heard the name, but didn't recall ever having met a member of the Puckles. The Black family hadn't have any dealings with them in the past, as far as she knew.
"Indeed," Warrington replied. "Charlotte is the result of an... indiscretion. Hers in an all too common tale, sadly. Her mother died in childbirth, the father is unknown and the Puckles don't want anything to do with her."
Bellatrix nodded. It was a familiar story in pure-blood circles. A 'black sheep' would fall in love with someone of 'inferior' blood status and be disowned from the family. In the Black family, that had been Andromeda. When Andy had been disowned, Bellatrix had been there to pick up the pieces; the dark witch had gone through it before and helped her little sister get through the rough patches. It seemed like Charlotte's mother had not been so lucky to have a sister to help her.
Finally, Warrington and Bellatrix arrived at the top of the stairs leading into the attic. She knocked and opened the door. The door opened to reveal a makeshift room with three beds, one against each wall. The side of the room had been crudely cordoned off with a wooden enclosure, which led to the storage area. The room was shoddily made and shoddily maintained and had the air of being a temporary measure which had been made permanent.
The room's lone occupant was a young girl, dressed in a dark pink shirt and beige trousers. She was sitting on her bed, and looked up from the book she was reading. Dark curls, held back by a tatty purple hairband, cascaded over her shoulders. Her skin was pale and her eyes were as dark a coals. Her expression was one of disdain the moment she spotted Warrington, but Bellatrix could tell this was a girl who was quick to laugh from the lines in her face. Immediately, she recalled Hagrid's words about a girl who resembled herself... Bellatrix had to agree with that assessment as far as the looks were concerned. 'Let's hope this is kid is better behaved than I was at her age,' Bellatrix laughed inwardly.
Around the bed was a small dresser and a nightstand with some books on it. Next to her pillow lay a ratty old cloth doll. Most noticeably, the girl wore a small silver necklace around her neck. A poster of a white cartoon cat hung on the wall. The dark witch considered that these meager possessions just might be the only items this girl owned in the world.
"What do you want?" the girl spoke coldly.
"Charlotte, this is detective Black from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement," said Warrington. "She's here to ask you some questions."
"Hello Charlotte," Bellatrix shifted uncomfortably. She didn't think she was overly good with kids to begin with. And kids made the most horrible witnesses, especially the ones with a vivid imagination.
"Oh, so you believe me now?" Charlotte snorted.
"Charlotte, don't be that way..." she turned to Bellatrix after a loud crash could be heard coming from downstairs. "I'll leave you to your questions. I'd better get downstairs before the kids set something on fire."
"Padlock!" Bellatrix called after Warrington as she sped out the door.
Bellatrix took a small chair and sat on it: it was way too small and way too low for her to sit comfortably.
The girl looked less than impressed with her. "Are you with the police?" she asked warily.
"Yes," said Bellatrix. "I'm detective superintendent Bellatrix Black."
The girl narrowed her eyes. "How can I be sure?"
Bellatrix took out her badge and flipped it. "Suitably impressed now?" she smirked.
The girl nodded. "I'm Charlotte. Charlotte Puckle. Do you believe me?" Charlotte asked with surprise.
"I don't know," said Bellatrix. "You haven't actually told me anything yet."
The girl accepted that answer and hopped off the bed. "I saw it. I saw it happen from right here," she said and walked to the window. Bellatrix got up from her chair and stood next to Charlotte. Looking down, there was a clear view of the entire alleyway below, as expected.
"Miss Warrington didn't believe me. But I saw it, I swear!" Charlotte said.
"Why wouldn't she believe you?" Bellatrix asked.
"I might have… made up some things sometimes, you know, for attention and stuff," Charlotte pouted, "But I'm not making things up this time, I swear!"
Bellatrix took note of the girl's conviction, her expression, her tone of voice. This girl obviously had seen something and believed what she had seen would be helpful to her.
Bellatrix nodded. "Why don't you tell me what happened?"
The girl shot her a grateful look. "Where should I start?"
"Start at the beginning," Bellatrix said. "Why were you up here?"
Charlotte bit her lip and started to speak. "There were some people here yesterday with animals," said the girl. "Hagrid and Hermione seemed really nice and all, but I wanted a little quiet so I went up to our room. Josh and Cindy were playing with the spiders and I don't often get time alone in our room. I read my book and later I heard some people in the alleyway below."
"Do you remember what time it was?" Bellatrix asked.
"Nah, don't have a clock here, but it was dark and the moon was out," said Charlotte. "I looked down and saw Billy with Sirius. Sirius is really awesome."
Bellatrix grumbled at Charlotte's opinion of Sirius. Immediately, her estimation of the girl lowered considerably.
"So Sirius turns himself into a dog and starts running laps around Billy," said the girl. "Billy loved dogs, you see? But then I see something from the corner of my eye."
"What did you see, Charlotte?" Bellatrix said.
"It was big," said Charlotte. "Really big. And wide. And with muscles. And fur! It threw Sirius aside as if he was tissue paper. And then... Billy... he didn't even have time to scream."
Bellatrix put a hand on Charlotte's shoulder. "This big thing... did it look like a wolf walking around on two feet?"
"Yeah," Charlotte replied.
'A werewolf'. Bellatrix's earlier suspicions were confirmed. She'd checked her field almanac before heading to the orphanage. Last night, there was a full moon out. Add the clawmarks and the fur found below and it all started to make sense now.
Charlotte continued. "I must have made some noise or something, because the man wolf looked straight up at me. He had a really ugly face. He only had one eye. Half his face was covered with scratches and scars. He just looked up... and did nothing. Didn't growl or howl. It... it looked as if he was smiling."
Bellatrix's blood started to run cold. "Charlotte. Are you absolutely sure of that? It never snarled at you? It never tried to jump at you or attack you?"
"No," said Charlotte. "In fact, I sorta ducked behind the windowsill. A few counts or so later, I peeked over it and it was still there standing in the same spot. Then it sorta made this move with its head, as if it was saying 'yeah, I know you're still there'."
Bellatrix closed her eyes. This was even worse than she thought: the werewolf was under the influence of wolfsbane potion. That meant the werewolf in question was in full control of itself and fully aware of everything it was doing. "What happened next?"
"I saw it bite off Billy's arm," said Charlotte. "But then Sirius started to wake up and the wolfman ran off. Then mister Hagrid and Hermione came into the alleyway and Hagrid punched Sirius and sat on him. I think you know the rest. I tried to tell miss Warrington what I saw, but she slapped me and told me stop lying. Then she got really sad and told me she was sorry for slapping me. I tried to talk to Hagrid and Hermione to tell them what happened. That Sirius didn't do anything to Billy, but they were too upset to listen and the policemen didn't want to talk to me at all. I just wanted to cheer up Hermione. She was so nice to us and she looked so sad."
"Hermione," said Bellatrix. "She's doing better now."
"How do you know?"
"We live together, miss Puckle," said Bellatrix.
"Oh," spoke Charlotte. "Are you her mum?"
At that moment, Bellatrix had to fight the urge to slap the kid silly. "No," she hissed through clenched teeth. "Girlfriend."
"You are? But… you're so old," Charlotte spoke matter-of-factly. Bellatrix could only grit her teeth and grumble.
"I'm not that old," the dark witch shot back. "And maybe Hermione prefers mature and more experienced women. Did you ever think of that?"
Charlotte frowned. "Experienced in what?"
Bellatrix understood her faux-pas. "Ask me again when you're older."
The girl's mouth formed an 'O' shape. "You're talking about sex, aren't you? Anyway, you did well. Hermione is really nice and clever."
"That she is," Bellatrix willed herself to calm down and got up from her chair. "I'm going to tell miss Warrington I'm going to bring you to the precinct for a statement. I also want to show you some pictures of known werewolves."
"Cool!" Charlotte hopped off the bed. "Are we going right now?! Are we?!"
Bellatrix held up her hands to slow down the child. "Calm down," Bellatrix smirked. "Let me have a chat with miss Warrington first. I'll call you down when I've taken care of things."
"Okay!" Charlotte smiled broadly, ready for what seemed to be adventure. Though, truth be told, the dark witch gathered the girl mostly wanted to be away from that orphanage for a while. "Don't be long!"
After going downstairs, Bellatrix went to speak with miss Warrington about bringing Charlotte to the precinct to make a statement and to have her look at mugshot books. Warrington, showing her protectiveness of the children, bombarded Bellatrix with all kinds of questions about the process and what time Charlotte would be home. At first, Bellatrix answered the questions patiently, but eventually she decided talking to this woman was taking too much time and decided to pull rank. One flip of her badge was enough to convince Warrington to let her take Charlotte. Together, the two of them walked to the stairs leading up to the attic.
"Charlotte, dear?" Warrington called up. "Could you come down, please?"
No reaction.
"Charlotte!" Warrington tried again. "Please come down."
Again, no reaction.
"CHARLOTTE!"
"I don't want to go!" sounded the muffled voice from behind the door.
Bellatrix and miss Warrington shared a look.
"CHARLOTTE PUCKLE!" Warrington shrieked. "You come down here this VERY INSTANT!"
"NO!" sounded from behind the door.
Immediately, Bellatrix got a really bad feeling. Something didn't add up. The girl had been so enthusiastic about a trip away from the orphanage before. Why had she suddenly changed her mind? Aside from that, there was something off in the child's voice. It wasn't cheerful, excited or enthusiastic like before. In fact, she sounded quite scared.
"Tell her that I'm leaving," Bellatrix whispered.
"But..."
"Just do it!" Bellatrix hissed.
"Charlotte, dear!" Warrington shouted up. "Detective Black is leaving now."
No answer. Bellatrix motioned Warrington to remain silent as she crept up the stairs with wand in hand. The stairs were rickety, but she managed to reach the door without making a sound. She waved her wand and whispered a silent spell. After tapping the door with her hand, she was able to see through it. Nothing the room seemed to be out of order at a first glance, but Charlotte certainly was: the little girl sat stiffly on her bed as if she was a plank of wood.
Bellatrix carefully opened the door. It opened slowly and with a slight creak of hinges in dire need of oiling. Immediately, the girl's eyes met hers. Charlotte was absolutely terrified. A bead of sweat ran down from the side of her temple, over her cheek. A slight, almost imperceptible jerk of her eyes towards the right side of the door told Bellatrix there was someone there.
She turned to her side, just in time to see the door being slammed towards her with violent speed. It collided against her body, pushed her into the side of the room. Prepared thanks to Charlotte's signal, Bellatrix managed to cross her arms before a huge black-cloaked individual rushed her.
It saved her life.
The momentum of the much larger individual knocked her back, onto one of the beds. Her assailant was holding a serrated blade, holding the handle with both his massive hands to be able to thrust hard, aiming for her throat. The dark witch managed to block the thrust with her crossed arms and pushed back, creating enough of a gap between them for her to be able to slam her knee into his stomach.
Her assailant grunted, more from annoyance than from pain. Before he had the chance to strike with his dagger, Bellatrix waved her wand and yelled out a spell. The tip of her wand transformed into a whip, which wrapped around the hilt and, with a flick of her wand, ripped the dagger from his hand and caused it to fly across the room where it embedded itself firmly into the woodwork.
Her assailant growled angrily and certainly wasn't out for the count. Bellatrix yelped when a massive hand wrapped around her neck, while another grasped the wrist of her wand-hand. With a grunt, he thrust her onto the bed and pushed her arm outward. The dark with could only see the underside of the cloaked man's face; cracked lips, filed sharp teeth in a mouth twisted in a sadistic grin. On the left side of his face were the beginnings of an ugly scar.
The huge man started to squeeze, his massive strength cutting off the flow of oxygen almost immediately. His other hand was painfully crushing her wrist. Bellatrix forced herself to hold on to her wand; if she'd lose her wand now, her life was over.
Desperately struggling to break free from his grip, Bellatrix tried to aim her wand to the side. Black spots were starting to appear in her vision as she spent the last remaining precious oxygen in her lungs on a desperate spell.
Fire shot out from her wand and ignited the mattress of the bed on the other side of the room. Her assailant instinctively turned his head towards the fire and loosened his grip. The dark witch never hesitated and brought up her knee a second time. It connected with his stomach, startling him. Eager to press the advantage, Bellatrix curled up both her legs and slammed her feet into his chest, causing the man to stagger backwards. It was the opening Bellatrix had been waiting for: the dark witch willed herself into becoming an arid black smoke and shot off from under him. Time slowed to a crawl while Bellatrix shot to the middle of the room while her assailant lamely attempted to grasp at the smoke.
Being winded from her ordeal, she couldn't travel for long and willed herself to rematerialize with wand in hand. The huge man drew a wand of his own and faced off with Bellatrix.
Her entire neck felt stiff and her voice was raspy: if she had been in his grasp any longer, he might very well have crushed her larynx. With the vocal component of her spells all but eliminated, her magic was severely weakened. However, she was still powerful enough to hold her ground. The massive man was definitely more of a bruiser than a duelist: he moved his wand slowly and could barely defend against Bellatrix's constant barrage of spells. To Bellatrix's delight, his barriers were utter rubbish. While circling each other in the room, Bellatrix's delight turned to frustration after firing off three high-powered stupify spells in rapid succession.
Even though she broke through his barriers expertly, he just shrugged them off. If only her voice could do more than croak.
It was only when Charlotte decided to intervene that the balance shifted. Bellatrix tried to warn her to stop, but the only thing which came out of her mouth was a painful rasp. Charlotte grabbed hold of a chamber pot and threw it at the man's head. It collided with the back of his skull with a satisfying clank, but he seemed less than impressed. Turning his attention away from Bellatrix and to the girl, he snarled and mowed her off the bed with a swipe of his arm, sending her flying through the room. The little girl screamed and Bellatrix could only watch in horror as she was sent flying right out the window. A quick grab of the curtains was the only thing which saved her life.
The huge man saw this, grinned and held out his wand to blast a massive hole in the wall on the far side of the storage area. Once the dust settled, he brought his hand to his lips and blew Bellatrix a kiss before running towards the hole. If he'd jump out, he'd be outside the building's anti-apparation field and be gone.
It was a devil's choice. Rescue the girl and let the attacker escape, or chase the suspect and hope the girl could hold on to the curtains a little while longer. It had to be a split second decision.
Bellatrix chose to help the girl. Though with a certain amount of reluctance as she watched the large man slip away.
However, it had been the right choice. The moment Bellatrix started to rush towards her, the curtain ripped and, while letting out an anguished high-pitched scream, Charlotte started to fall towards the concrete floor three stories below. The dark witch didn't hesitate and once again willed herself to become an arid black smoke which shot out of the window. The girl fell to the ground in slow motion, slow enough for Bellatrix to catch up with her. Charlotte was locked in a silent scream as the black smoke which was Bellatrix engulfed her. Once she had a proper hold on her, Bellatrix willed herself to return to human form and, with the girl firmly in her hands, landed harmlessly into the alleyway.
"I got you," Bellatrix rasped as the girl clutched onto her. By now, the suspect would be long gone, but at least the orphanage wouldn't have to deal with losing another child.
Charlotte looked up and grinned broadly at her. "That was AWESOME!"