Chapter 4

The dining hall of the Salem Institute was quiet except for the sound of whispering, a sound that Indira Inkpen was all too in tune with. Most of them would be gossiping and spreading rumors about Amber. Indira shook her head. She wanted to stop it but if she opened up the floor to the subject of the local murder than she would get all kinds of questions that she wasn't prepared to answer. A few faces in the crowd had eyes red from crying, obviously close to the dead girl. Indira turned back to her breakfast which consisted of dry muesli and orange juice. She ate and looked at what her companions were eating. Robert was eating fruit and drinking water. Poppy Pomfrey, the Hogwarts healer, was drinking a tiny cup of strong, black coffee. Minerva wasn't even eating anything.

"You should eat something." Indira said. "Otherwise you'll fade away."

Minerva McGonagall was, however, the last person Indira could imagine fading away. She was the thinest woman Indira had ever come across and yet she had the strongest presence.

"I'm not hungry." Minerva said.

"You're worried." Robert said. "You never eat when you're worried."

"Of course I'm worried!" Minerva snapped, lowering her voice so the students couldn't hear her. "Someone has been killed! Are you sure it's a good idea letting the pupils go out?"

"It's been part of our policy for years, encouraging Muggle/Wizard understanding." Indira said proudly. "If we stop it now, what will people think?"

"People will think you're trying to protect your students!" Minerva exclaimed. "There is a killer still out there!"

"Do you think it will happen again?" Indira asked.

"I don't know." Minerva said, some what irritably. "I'm not a murderer am I? I don't know how they think!"

In hindsight, Minerva decided she was probably being a little harsh. She was about to apologize when Rolanda Hooch, the Hogwart's Quidditch mistress and Septima Vector, the arithmancy witch, walked in, talking quietly. They sat down and Septima said, "there are more people out there."

"Just what we need." Robert sighed. "I thought the police had done their job?"

"These people aren't from the police!" Rolanda said, in an excited whisper. "From what I can gather, they are from the FBI!"

Minerva looked at Indira.

"Is that bad?"

"That's very bad!"

"I saw the body last night!" Septima said. "They obviously worked out that this wasn't a normal killing!"

At this point Poppy Pomfrey broke silence and burst into the conversation.

"Excuse me," she said, "but am I the only person who didn't get a look at the body? I should have seen it first! I could have helped identify the cause of death! I am the only person here with medical experience."

"I don't think anyone needs much help to work out what killed her." Rolanda said darkly.

"Well, what?" Poppy demanded.

"You could start with the dirty, great hole in her stomach," Rolanda said, "and finish with the humongous gashes in her head. It wasn't pretty, Poppy. You should be glad you didn't see her."

"I guess." Poppy admitted. "Have they worked out what was used to inflict the wounds?"

"They're thinking dog or wolf." Septima said. "Something like that."

"Wolf?" Poppy raised an eyebrow. "Have you thought about the -"

"- the werewolves?" Minerva anticipated. "Of course. It was the first thing we thought of. But it doesn't make sense. I mean, the Salem werewolves have been peaceful for years."

"But there's always the occasional mishap." Robert said. "A few lose control and don't mean to do harm anyone."

"I guess." Minerva mumbled. "I still feel like the more I think about it, the less I suspect them."

"Who do you suspect then?" Rolanda asked.

Minerva thought, her brow furrowing. She didn't really want to say, not in front of everyone else. She had come to the conclusion that the killer had to be a human. A human wizard. Since the only wizards she knew of were either Salem students, teachers or their families, it seemed to her that one of them would be guilty. And that was going to hurt a lot of people.

"I don't know." Minerva said slowly. "I don't know."

Indira stared at her, obviously not fooled. But, Minerva could tell, she seemed to be thinking the exact same thing. It wasn't fun, suspecting people who you had worked with for years, but it had to be done.

"What about her access card?" Minerva asked. "And her wand? Is there any news of them?"

"It hasn't been mentioned by the Muggle media," Robert answered, "so I'm guessing not."

Poppy sighed, "it won't be long."

The rest of the morning meal was eaten in silence. Slowly, like the trickle of stream that was drying out, the students, Hogwarts and Salem alike, left the hall and began to amble to their classes. It had been decided that they should continue as normal. Minerva was sharing teaching responsibility with the Salem transfiguration teacher, so she had the morning off. Septima and Rolanda went off, followed by Robert and Indira, leaving Poppy and Minerva by themselves.

"So who do you really think is responsible?" Poppy asked.

"You weren't deceived, then?" Minerva smiled.

Poppy shrugged.

"I've been reading faces all my life. Usually I don't ask questions, but my silence doesn't often end in death."

"The truth is," Minerva said, "that I don't know. But, I suspect, it was most likely somebody close to, even inside, the school."

Poppy nodded.

"Yes." she said. "I'm afraid that I've been thinking that too. If it isn't the werewolves, that is."

"I'd like to believe it was some poor soul who had no control over what he was doing." Minerva sighed.

"But?"

"But I don't."