Chapter 8: Chow Mein, Anyone?
The alley that Mitchie Williams had been left in was not the kind of place that anybody would want to be left in to die. The walls were a dull grey, the bricks worn from time. A few doors were placed into it, though they didn't seem to anywhere important. Graffiti covered up the walls in some areas, faded reds and blacks spelling quickly scrawled names that could not be deciphered. A metal pipe ran along the top and it dripped water into a gradually forming puddle on the ground. Even in the day time, there were shadows in the corners.
Amelia stepped into the alleyway first. Apart from its sinister aesthetic, there didn't seem to be much wrong with it. Frank and Fabian went right to end and began to poke about. Gideon came up next to Amelia.
"Did anybody find anything when they searched this place?" she inquired.
"No," Gideon answered, "And they went over it with a fine tooth comb, even with the limited time frame. Crouch made sure of that."
"Crouch?" Amelia said in surprise, "Surely he's got more to deal with than the inner details of a rookie Auror operation?"
"Probably," Gideon shrugged, "But until they fill the position, he's still the acting head of the office. With everything on his plate, they'll need to get it filled soon."
"Yes," Amelia said distractedly, "I dare say they do."
The heels of her shoes clicked against the concrete as she went further down the passage. There were some bins placed along the side and Amelia wondered if anyone had thought to look through them.
"Frank," she called, "would you mind searching these bins for clues?"
"Shouldn't somebody have done that already?" Frank protested, "Besides, I always do this team's dirty work."
"Point taken," Amelia said, "Fabian."
"Oh no, Bones, there's no way I'm doing any rubbish diving, thank you very much," Fabian replied.
He turned away from the wall to face his partner, ready to argue his case. As he did so, he leant against one of the bricks and it came lose, turning sideways and almost falling out.
"And now you've ruined the wall," Amelia said mockingly, "Try not to break the crime scene, Fabian, dear."
Scowling, Fabian bent over slightly and began to maneuver the brick back into place. He was about to pull out his wand, when he stopped and looked closer.
"There's something in here," he said.
Amelia, Frank and Gideon went over to him, as he pulled the brick out completely and stuck his hand into the gap, bits of dust and crumbling mortar falling out. He pulled out a folded piece of card and dusted it off. From its cleanish state, it hadn't been in there terribly long.
"It's the menu for a Chinese restaurant," Fabian said, sounding confused.
"So it's not important?" Gideon said with a sigh.
"I don't know," Frank said, "they're doing a killer deal on chicken chow mein!"
Amelia took it from Fabian's hand.
"This restaurant is just down the street," she said.
Unfolding the menu, she looked at it carefully. Somebody had torn holes in the middle of the page. They were arranged like a triangle. Amelia frowned; she had seen this before, on Francesca Dyer's wrist. At first the needle marks had seemed random, just the evidence of drug use. But Francesca didn't use drugs, her best friend swore to it. So why were the marks there? They had to be significant, Amelia had suspected as much, but now this piece of paper seemed to confirm it.
"This is the pattern that was marked on Francesca Dyer's wrist," she said, handing the paper back to her colleague, "I thought it was random, but I'm not so sure now."
She walked back up the alley, a theory forming in her head.
"What if Mitchie wasn't dumped here?" she said, "What if he was running away? Somehow, he finds out how the deaths are connected and what they're about. He's in the middle of investigating, when they (whoever they are) decide he needs to be silenced. They chase him to this street. As he's running, Mitchie grabs one of the menus from the outside box of the shop and tears this symbol into it. He turns into the alley and finds a loose brick, where he hides the menu, either to retrieve it later or hoping that someone will find it and connect it to him. Then he gets cornered and cursed."
"Why didn't he just disapparate?" Gideon asked.
"Maybe they'd already taken his wand," Amelia suggested, "It could have been his last option."
"I don't know," Frank said again, "That's an awful lot of maybes and what ifs."
"There are a few holes," Amelia agreed, "but it's a theory and, quite honestly, what else have we got?"
They went back to the office and once again sat down at Amelia's desk, staring at the ripped menu as if it might provide some divine inspiration. Dolores brought them all coffee and listened as they explained about the discovery of the card and the symbol. She nodded, her nose crinkled as she thought hard.
"Well, what about the others?" she said.
"What?" Amelia asked.
"If Francesca had the symbol on her hand and the symbol is what connects them, according to the message on the menu," Dolores said, "then doesn't it make sense that the other victims would have the triangle on them as well?"
"Jane, you are a genius!" Amelia exclaimed.
"Well, I'm more than just neat handwriting," she smiled, "The photos are in that envelope, pinned to the board."
She left the Aurors to sort through the many pictures, in search of triangles.
"I'm beginning to see why you keep her around," Fabian said to his brother.
"Is that your blessing then?" Gideon teased, giving a rare grin.
"Gideon," Fabian replied, "if this solves the case, then I will personally pay for your honeymoon!"
Amelia smiled, but couldn't stop herself from yawning. Fabian noticed and pulled her pile of photographs away from her.
"Go home, Bones," he said, "you're exhausted."
"I'm fine," Amelia said testily.
"No, you're not."
He caught her eyes and stared into them, bright blue meeting stone grey.
"Amelia," he whispered, "go home."
"We can manage here," Gideon said kindly.
"And we'll send you an owl if there are any developments," Frank added.
Fabian mouthed "go" and, reluctantly, Amelia took her coat and bag and left the office.