Chapter 30
"Mrs Wilford! Are you even listening to us?" David Abbots cried angrily.
They were in a very important meeting and Alicia hadn't listened to a single word her employees had said. They were talking about some great idea they had come up to solve the Alan Smith case and catch the oldest of the Potter daughters. Alicia smirked at the silliness of these people! They were planning a trap for her without even realising she was way too clever to fall for their stupid trap. And anyway, they would never catch her. After all Alicia was there at every single meeting they had to talk about her and where she might be hiding.
"No," Alicia answered her employees truthfully. They looked shocked.
"Anastasia, this is very important! How can you not be listening?" Mr Tuyandis said.
Alicia smiled at the men sitting around the huge table with all the documents. She was the only woman of the Department.
Alicia hadn't planned to say it. It came out all by itself.
"I'm tired of this," she said simply.
There was silence.
"What?" William was the first to speak.
Alicia sighed and looked at Robert Tuyandis, the man who had given her this job in the first place.
"Bob, I'm sorry but I can't do this anymore …"
Alicia saw William Jones raise his eyebrows in amusement. She knew he would understand.
"What do you mean?" Mr Tuyandis asked, afraid of the answer.
Alicia took in a deep breath.
"Bob, I quit."
Alicia was sure every single mouth in the room fell open. She, Anastasia Wilford, the best detective in the Department and the nastiest as well, was quitting! It couldn't be true!
"We'll miss you," William said and winked seductively. Alicia had to grin.
Robert Tuyandis, however, was not smiling. He looked absolutely furious.
"Ana, you can't do that!" he shouted.
Alicia smirked.
"Watch me," she said and wheeled around. She flung the door open with great force. But before she walked out, she turned back to look at her old co-workers.
"And if you really want to catch Alicia Potter, you're going to have to find something better than a trap. Because, and you can trust me on that, she's not going to be easy to catch."
And with these last words, Alicia walked out of the Department.
It was raining outside and there was a storm. Usually Alicia would have worried about getting her suit wet. But that day she didn't care about her suit. She wouldn't need it anymore.
Alicia looked up at the dark sky. The rain was wetting her whole face and body, she let it enter her mouth and her ears, let it soak her clothes and her shoes.
She was free again.
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Alicia was packing her things. She had made up her mind a long time ago.
She emptied her wardrobe. She examined her clothes and took two pair of jeans and a bunch of tee-shirts and underwear.
She went into the kitchen and took two water bottles. She didn't really need the bottles of water. She could make water appear with her wand but it never tasted as good as the water you could buy in a supermarket.
"Where are you going?"
Alicia looked up. William was standing in front of her.
"How do you keep getting into my apartment?" Alicia cried. She pretended to be angry but the presence of William did not bother her at all.
"I have a key," William said waving it in front of her eyes.
Alicia was confused.
"How did you get one?" She asked.
William's eyes were shining.
"I'm afraid that's my secret, he said, now tell me where you're going."
Alicia decided it was best to lie to him.
"I don't know exactly. I decided it would do me good to have a few days of vacation."
William looked disappointed.
"That means we won't be able to see each other for a least a week!"
Alicia laughed.
"I'm sorry," she said and tried to imagine how William would react if he knew she was probably going for ever. Alicia felt like this was going to be her life now. Every time she felt happy something went wrong and she had to disappear again.
"When are you leaving?" he asked.
Alicia looked at her watch.
"In half an hour." She said.
William grinned and took her hands.
"There are a lot of things we can do in half an hour," he whispered.
Alicia nodded and smiled as William took her in her arms and carried her into the bedroom.
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Alicia felt strange as she rested her head on William's muscular chest. She had slept with men before but it had never been like that before. This time she had actually enjoyed it. Alicia was nervous and scared. She hoped she wasn't falling in love. That would make everything so difficult and complicated. Alicia sighed and looked at her watch. She had to go. Emma was waiting for her. Alicia wanted to change her mind and stay in William's arms for ever, but she knew she couldn't. She couldn't allow herself that. She had to think about Elisabeth.
"Can I take a shower?" William asked.
"Yeah, sure." Alicia said. William stood up and went into the bathroom
As soon as she heard the water running, Alicia threw the blanket of her and got dressed quickly.
She grabbed her bag and left the apartment silently.
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"Ana! At last you're here! You're usually so punctual. What happened?" Emma cried when she saw her sister appear in front of her.
They had agreed to meet in the park. It wasn't very far from the Potters' house so Emma could walk there and it was a discreet place to meet. There was nobody in the park for it was a very cold day.
"I'm sorry, Alicia apologized, but William came to see me."
Emma looked at her sister's messy hair and her pink cheeks and smirked. It was nice to know her sister had at least one thing in common with the other women in the world.
"You know I won't be able to go away with you. Today I'm going to help you as much as I can, but after that I have to go back to Hogwarts."
"I know," Alicia said sadly. She knew Emma would have liked to come with her; but unlike Alicia, Emma couldn't leave her life behind just like that.
"What if we don't see each other anymore? What if you forget all about me again?" Emma asked worriedly.
"I won't," Alicia tried to reassure her.
"But what if you do? You never know. You managed to forget me once, and you can do it again." Emma looked sad. She felt her heart rip at the simple thought of losing Alicia again. It had done her so much good to have a sister again.
"I'll contact you, for god's sake, stop looking so worried," Alicia snapped suddenly. She felt nervous and she was sweating. It put her in a bad mood.
Emma said nothing anymore. She tried to look as if she wasn't scared anymore. But deep inside, she didn't believe her sister and she knew they were going to lose each other.
"So, where are we going?" Alicia asked.
"To the place where Elisabeth was found." Emma said as she mounted her broom.
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They arrived in the middle of a dark forest.
"This is where she was found?" Alicia asked.
Emma nodded.
"That's what the nurses said. The police said she tried to kill herself with a bunch of spells, but she wasn't strong enough to do that. They say she chose this forest because nobody was going to disturb her."
Alicia frowned.
"Who found her then?"
Emma shrugged.
"I'm not sure, but I think they told me she was found by a young wizard who was walking his dog. He immediately called the hospital and the police. That's all."
Alicia sighed. She didn't know where to begin, it was all so complicated. She looked around at the forest but there was nothing there to give her clues. And then an idea came to Alicia.
"If the man was walking his dog here, it means he lives in the area. When we were flying I saw a wizard village near by. Let's go there, shall we?"
"Okay, Ana, but don't get your hopes up. Elisabeth was found here over two years ago. The man we're talking about may have moved away."
Alicia shook her head.
"He didn't move away. I can feel it."
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Alicia and Emma knocked on the door of the nearest house. An old man opened the door.
"Good day, so sorry to disturb you, but we're from the Criminal Search Department and we would like to ask you some questions about the woman Elisabeth Malfoy that was found in the forest near by. What can you tell us about that?"
Alicia showed her old card as Head of the Department to make sure the old man was going to answer her.
"Not much. The whole village was scared at first. We thought someone had tried to kill her right next to our homes, but then it turned out that she tried to kill herself so we calmed down. That's all I know. It's a very tragic story but the village got over it."
"A tragic story? Why? Did anybody know Elisabeth Malfoy?" Alicia asked eagerly.
"The whole village knew her! She lived here after all. She was such a nice lady. We miss her."
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"Good day, I'm sorry to disturb you but we're from the Criminal Search Department and we have a few questions for you. What do you know about Elisabeth Malfoy and her terrible accident?"
"We were all really sad of course. She was very popular around here. She gave money to charity and she organised lots of parties to raise money for poor people. She was a good person."
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"Good afternoon, we're from the Criminal Search Department and we have a few questions to ask you about Elisabeth Malfoy. What can you tell us about her?"
"She was really funny and she liked to party a lot. Sometimes we went to the pub together and complained about our husbands."
"Elisabeth Malfoy is married?"
"Yes, didn't you know?"
"Why didn't she change her name then?"
"I guess she liked her own name."
"What's her husband's name?"
"Jerry Milton. He was devastated when she tried to kill herself. If you want to interrogate him, he lives right across the street."
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"Good afternoon, Mr Milton, we're sorry to disturb you but we have very important questions about Elisabeth Malfoy. I believe you are her husband. We're from the Criminal Search Department."
"Yes, of course, come in."
Alicia and Emma entered the house. Immediately Alicia's sixth sense woke up. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine Elisabeth living in this house. Even after two years, you could still feel Elisabeth's presence in the house. Her smell of soft apple shampoo that she had always carried around her since she was just a little girl, her particular taste in decoration, her old romance books, the portrait of the Malfoy family … It was all there. Alicia felt like she was suffocating as she saw and felt all those things. She remembered what it was like to share a room with Elisabeth. Alicia didn't want to admit it, but the best memory she had of Hogwarts was when she and Elisabeth locked themselves in their dorm. They wouldn't let any of the other girls come in and they would talk for hours and hours about their future.
Alicia tried to hide her tears as Elisabeth's husband offered her a cup of coffee.
"Thank you," she said.
"The police told me the case was closed. What made them change their mind?" Jerry Milton asked them.
Alicia looked at him closely. He wore his hair long and tied back into a ponytail. He had a large mouth and reassuring brown eyes. Alicia immediately knew why Elisabeth had married him. He gave the impression that he could protect anyone. Except that he hadn't been able to protect Elisabeth. Alicia felt hate as she looked at the man her friend had married.
"Have you been visiting Elisabeth Malfoy lately?" Alicia asked ignoring his question.
"I try to visit her every morning but she's always sleeping. Not that she's any better when she's awake," Jerry looked at his hands miserably.
Alicia knew how he felt. It was frustrating to visit Elisabeth, especially when she was awake. She understood why her husband preferred to see her when she was sleeping and she looked like a normal person.
"Why haven't you tried to make her look better? When we went to visit her, she looked like a monster." Alicia said accusingly. She had thought Elisabeth had nobody. But now it turned out she hadn't been so alone.
"I've tried, but after a few days, her skin turns yellow again. One day I tried to make her hair grow back. I bought a potion that cost me a fortune. I made her drink it and her hair immediately grew back. But the next day when I came back, she was bald again."
Alicia was silent.
"But why is the Criminal Search Department working on this case? Elisabeth isn't even dead! And anyway, nobody tried to kill her."
This was getting interesting.
"You really think she tried to put an end to her own life?" Alicia asked.
"Elisabeth was a very unstable woman and she was unhappy."
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They left Jerry Milton's house after having a long debate about whether or not Elisabeth had tried to commit suicide.
"He's lying. I could read his body really well. He knows she didn't hurt herself. He's hiding something," Emma confirmed Alicia's thoughts.
"I know. If Elisabeth really wanted to go away from this world, she would have made sure it was going to be something spectacular. She wouldn't do it in a dark forest. She would make sure it was going to be all over the newspapers. And anyway, Elisabeth isn't a weak woman. Even if she had had problems she would never have tried to run away from them. Plus all the people in this village seem to think she was happy."
Emma frowned.
"If you think he's lying as well, why are we here outside? Shouldn't we try to get the truth out of him?"
Alicia sighed.
"That's what I'm going to do, Emma, but I just don't want you to see it. You're going to stand here outside and wait for me."
"No, I'm not!" Emma cried.
Alicia took out her wand and used a spell to stop Emma from following her.
"I'm sorry, Emma, but I don't want you to have any nightmares tonight."
Emma gasped as she felt an invisible wall blocking her from moving.
"You can't just do that!" Emma shouted but Alicia ignored her and went back into the house.
Emma waited for a while and then she heard a terrifying scream that turned her blood cold. She shuddered. Nobody deserved to be on the other end of Alicia's wand.
Two minutes later, Alicia came back and made the invisible walls disappear again.
"Are you crazy? What did you do to that poor man?" Emma yelled as soon as she was free.
Alicia was sweating but she looked satisfied.
"I did the right thing," she said simply.
"Ana … tell me what you did," Emma cried her voice trembling.
Alicia washed her damp wand on her tee-shirt.
"Relax, he's not going to go to the police."
Emma did not relax. She wanted to hit Alicia, knock some sense into her sister, but Alicia was already far away in her thoughts.
"What did he tell you?" Emma asked as she tried to keep up with Alicia who was running back towards the forest where they had left their brooms.
"He gave me my first clue," Alicia said.
They arrived back to the forest. Alicia picked up Emma's broom and threw it in her direction.
"Go back to Hogwarts and forget all about this," Alicia ordered.
Emma knew Alicia was not going to tell her what she had done to Jerry Milton. And Emma was too scared to go back in the house to see for herself.
"What are you going to do now?" Emma asked timidly.
Alicia shrugged.
"Find the people who hurt Elisabeth and get the potion."
They hugged and then Emma flew away.
Alicia took her own broom in her arms and smiled nastily.
"The chase has begun," she whispered to herself.
Author's note : Don't worry, I haven't forgotten Mitch. I have already written the scene when he comes back into the story. I still have a lot of surprises for you ... and anyway I still haven't told you if Alicia really killed Alan ... hahaha :D