Chapter Twenty-Four – Letter From A Murderer

A week later, another body was found. The woman was hung and stabbed, identical to Lucius's death. There were many similar aspects to both murders; both persons were high ranked deatheaters. The motive was apparent, someone wanted to move up, but was being held back by those who possessed more power.

It had been Tom who walked into the scene of the crime, and the pictures of what he saw still run through his head as if he was seeing it for the first time.

It was late at night and Tom was craving chocolate peanut butter ice cream, his favorite flavor of all time. Deciding to let Ginny sleep, he had crept out of bed silently and swiftly made his way to his destination. When he entered the kitchen, an eerie silence greeted him. The sound of footsteps alerted him that another person was present. Calling out to see who it was, he was answered by a house elf.

"Sir." It squeaked. "Sir, 'ome with me. A murder dis way. Must 'ome now!"

Tom followed the elf to the back of the kitchen and towards the large freezer that held the bulk frozen foods. Wincing at the cold that chilled Tom, he cautiously peered around the door. He let out a small yelp as he came face to face with a dead woman, hanging right behind the door. Her lips where a pale blue, her fingers turning shades of purple, and her body iced over.

Right away Tom recognized who the newest victim was, and was sad to say the least. Bellatrix Lestrange had been one of his loyalist servants. Sure she had most likely gone mad in Azkaban, but loyal she had remained. Bellatrix had always loved the savage skills of torturing…he was going to miss her.

"Call in the deatheaters now!" Tom ordered the house elf. With a snap it disappeared and was replaced by a group of women and men dressed in black. Tom remained silent until his followers began to move restlessly. Tom was at the moment blocking the view of Bellatrix's body, and stepped to the side to allow the others to see.

Gasps echoed around the chilly room, but what else could you expect? Bringing order back Tom said, "It seems our murderer has struck again. I hate to have to do this to you, but I will be administrating vertaserum. Each one of you must drink it before me and answer my simple question of if you did it or not."

So now, Tom sat in his office, waiting for his servant Severus to finish concocting the potion. Each bottle was to be named and waiting for Tom within the next five hours. He was hoping that his intuition would be wrong, and that the killer wouldn't be one of his own.

Meanwhile, Ginny sat in her room munching on some cookies that one of the house elves, Minim, had freshly baked. Ginny hated to admit weakness, but these murders were spooking her. She found herself always eating snacks when alone in a room. It seemed that paranoia had set in, and Ginny was its newest victim.

Letting out a loud gasp, Ginny jumped at the noise coming from the window. Her hand found its way to her chest as she tried to calm it down, telling herself that the owl on the windowsill had been the maker of the noise. Throwing open the window, Ginny let the owl in, which happily flew to the head of her bed. Conjuring some treats, Ginny watched the bird as it ate. As the owl feed, Ginny read the mysterious letter.

Dear Mrs. Riddle.

I am the murderer of the two deatheaters and wish to inform you that you need not fear for your life, for I am a friend. You have known me for many years, and even though I am your superior, we still learned to work alongside each other.

I have cast a spell on this piece of parchment, telling me when you have received it. Once you are done with this letter it will blow up, so read carefully and remember what I have said.

Good luck, Ginny.

And, true to its word, the letter was engulfed in flames and soon blew away in the wind that slipped through the open window. Ginny had no clue who the murderer was from their letter, but hoped that what they had said was true, and that she was safe. Knowing Tom would have to hear about this, Ginny took the owl to the window, and watched it fly away. Once it had disappeared from her sight, she closed the window and went on her way to find Tom.

She was walking down the halls when she stopped. Her conscious started to kick in, and told her that perhaps for the time being, Tom shouldn't know…for his protection of course.

'Yes, he shouldn't be troubled any more.' Ginny thought. 'If and when another deatheater is killed, I will confront him immediately, but until then…'

Having decided to keep the letter a secret, Ginny went back to her room, and continued to eat the cookies.