21 Using the Force.
Adam found himself standing on the lower deck of Aunt Matilda. Tony stormed across the deck and dropped down and entered the wheelhouse and into the sun deck, before throwing himself angrily into the nearest couch. Adam followed, but at a more leisurely pace walking to the windows behind the desk and looked out over the lake. Tony sat up.
"Thought of something?" Adam asked.
"Yes. I need to repair Matilda." He said as he leapt from his seat. Once outside, he dropped down the rope ladder, which was still as Adam had left it. Adam watched him from the boat as he walked around the hull, pointing his wand from time to time. He could hear the boat groaning every now and then, as he repaired the damage.
He came back up the ladder before pulling it up behind him. He stopped and looked over the water, deep in thought.
After a few minutes of silence, Adam decided to break it. "I heard everything she said."
"Good. I can't work out why that happened?"
"She seems quite determined to blame a Muggle for the murders."
"I know, but I don't know why."
"While you were in the room, another oddly dressed old wizard came out and spoke to me" Tony did his usual shrug, which he used when he did not understand where the conversation was going.
"He tapped me on the head with his wand. Was he doing something?"
Tony, concern on his face pulled his wand out and pointed it at Adams' head. Sparks came from the tip, which flew past his head.
"What did he say?" He said after a moment, suspicion in his voice.
"He said that we have many friends in the Ministry, but we are making many enemies. He said we should endeavour to continue our brilliant work, regardless of the adversity we may face. That's when he tapped me on the head with his wand. He then said that we were getting somewhere because the number of people we are annoying was growing by the day." That's when he heard you open the door and he went back to his room."
"He said nothing else?" Adam shook his head.
"Did he tell you his name?"
"No, but on the door, he came from the sign said, Willard Endicott."
"He's the head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation."
"And that means?"
"A very powerful person, certainly friends with Luthor and a lot more powerful than that Tyndall woman, whoever the hell she was. Also, he's a very close friend of Percy Weasley and his family."
"What did he do to me with his wand?" Adam braced himself for the worst.
"He did you a great favour. He placed a ward on your person, which stops anyone from removing your memories."
"Why would he do that? Can that be done?"
"Removing Muggle memories is something we have an entire department for, and the people whose job it is, are called Obliviators. You heard the Tindall woman demanding that I remove your memories of everything to do with the investigation." Tony paused before bringing the wand up a second time. "I have found an oddity." He said after a moment.
"What?"
"I have no idea. I'd need to talk to someone with a great deal more experience than me."
"But something has been done to me?" Adam asked.
"I'm not sure, but it seems that you might have been around magic before."
"Luthor said he knew me when I was a Detective Inspector, which would have been a few years ago." Tony shrugged his shoulders. "Have my memories been tampered with?"
"I have no idea, but it's beginning to seem likely."
Adam paused and thought for a moment. "Were you going to remove my memories?"
"Not for a moment, that's the reason I got us out of the ministry as quickly as I could before she decided I wouldn't do it and someone else would. We seem to have nowhere to turn now. The people I trusted this morning, now seem to be our enemies." Tony said despondently.
"This has happened to me on many occasions, it's a good sign that you're standing on toes."
"But without the Ministry backing, there's little I can do."
"They can't stop me."
"They put a huge amount of pressure on your government."
"I'm about to retire, remember."
Tony frowned. "You never did tell me why you were retiring?"
Adam shook his head. "I'm not entirely sure why I am retiring, except that it seems to have been forced upon me." Tony was about to speak, but Adam continued. "When I find out, I'll make sure you and Gwen are first to know. What we need now is to find some friends" Tony nodded, coming to the same conclusion.
"As much as it pains me to trust the guy, I'm going to see if Luthor Crabbe has any ideas."
"Before you do that, do you have a picture of Hulda or Augustine?"
Tony went to the small bureau and took a piece of parchment from it. He touched his head with the wand and pulled a silver streak out, which he directed at the parchment.
"Will this do?" He handed it to Adam.
Adam took the parchment and put it back on the bureau took his phone out angled it onto the parchment and took a picture. He looked at the result. "Good enough. I'll get her picture put out on the force's intranet, the AI will recognise her if she's been around any cameras, so that might give us a lead."
"You think that will work," Tony asked sceptically.
"It worked twice already." He replied and Tony's smile came back. "I've already said you magical folk have a bad habit of relying on your magic for everything, worse, I have as well. My guess is, our friend here," held the parchment up, "will be too arrogant to believe we Muggles can find her. Hopefully, that arrogance will be her downfall."
"It's worth a try. You get that sorted and I'll contact Luthor."
"I've already done it," Adam said sitting down. "Direct link to the yard, the photograph should be on every forces noticeboard already."
"You do realise we're in Norway, will your call will be tracked, if it even works here."
"I'll worry about that later and yes the phone works fine, even here." He paused for a moment as Tony flicked his wand at the pot-bellied stove, watching it flare into life. "I've just realised, the phone worked inside your Ministry." Tony stopped and looked up.
"I never thought about it and that shouldn't have happened." He stood up and took the upright wooden chair from behind the desk, placing it in front of the stove. Adam watched puzzled but not surprised by anything he saw anymore.
After a couple of moments, Tony pointed the wand at his face; a light bluish haze came from the wand tip and surrounded his head. He flicked the wand at the fire, which flared for a moment.
"Luthor." He said almost whispering. Adam sat up and stared intently at what was going on before getting up and moving around to get a better look at what he was doing. He gasped as Tony's head turned towards him for a moment; his sightless eyes were glowing like two hot embers, malevolent evil looking. Tony looked back at the fire.
"Luthor." He said louder. "Yes we're fine," Tony said after a moment, obviously having a conversation with someone. "We're safe for the moment, I think, Can you find out who Heather Fawcett Tyndall is? She didn't tell us what she did." There was a pause for a while. "I'll wait for your call. Thanks."
Tony took a huge breath of air as if he had been holding his breath and sat back from the fire. The blue haze around his head drifted away and the glowing eyes died away. He looked at Adam, his face, red from the heat of the fire. He rubbed his eyes and slumped forward in his chair, looking tired and grey.
"Works like your phone, but a hell of a lot more tiring." He said. "Luthor has never heard of Ms Tyndall and Percy does not have an undersecretary. He likes to do things himself." Tony stood up and moved the upright chair back behind the desk before collapsing back onto the settee.
"Luthor has suggested we stay put for now while he does some checking, he'll contact us as soon as he has something."
"So we wait again." Tony nodded. "Even though people can trace us and know where we are." He continued.
"Shit," Tony exclaimed. "I really am not very good at all this spying stuff."
Adam started to laugh.
"When I was first told about you, I assumed you were the spy, right up until the little visit to St Mungo's."
"Seriously?"
"You didn't help much with your little speech in the café." Tony smiled at the memory. "Was that really only a couple of days ago, feels like weeks."
Both men jump as something hit the roof of the boat. Adam threw himself flat on the floor of the sunroom as a large owl flew in the door.
"Freya. It's great to see you." Tony exclaimed at the owl as it landed on his shoulder.
Adam looked up at him from the floor and pointed at the bird.
"There's something attached to its leg."
Tony reached around and pulled a roll of parchment from the owl's leg, read it and looked at Adam smiling before reading it aloud. "I've taken the trace of Mr Croft, I suggest you stay put for now but move. I'll be in touch shortly. Send the owl back. Signed Botilda."
"Stay put and move?" Adam asked regretting his question almost immediately.
"Got it." Tony walked up to the wheel, the owl wings flapping all over the place as it tried to stay on his shoulder. He tapped the wheel with his wand and the familiar sound of the boat's strange engine started up. The deck below Adam lurched a little as the boat rose, making a sharp-banked turn.
Adam walked over and stood beside Tony looking looked out of the front window. He looked towards Tony and found two huge brown eyes staring unnervingly at him. The water under the boat was flowing past at a fair clip as the engine note dropped to a deeper rumble.
"I was going to head for Durmstrang."
"The school?"
"Yes, but I expect whoever is involved will have people watching for us to resurface; especially now the trace is off."
"Did you know about this trace?"
"No, but it makes sense for the ministry to make sure that the first time they work with the Muggle police, the person they send isn't killed or worse."
"What could be worse than being killed?" Adam asked. The look from Tony was enough. "Don't tell me."
He left Tony at the wheel and slumped into the couch, closed his eyes and listened to the gentle wind as it rushed passed the boat, the gentle sway lulled him to sleep until his phone started ringing.
He sat up, and found Tony opposite him slouched across the other settee, rubbing his eyes, obviously just woken up himself. Adam held his phone up and started to read aloud.
"A woman answering the description of Hulda was seen on CCTV outside a shop that was being burgled. Although the shop had been entered, nothing was taken. Two other people were seen at the same time, one male, and one female. Both of them entered the premises. The police arrived within five minutes, by then the three had disappeared from the view of the CCTV cameras."
Adam looked at Tony, who was half listening as he looked out over the tree-covered vista.
"Now the strange bit," Adam said continuing. "Half an hour later, they found the dead body of a young man, who had died of blunt force trauma. The autopsy suggested that he has suffered the injuries from a fall from a tall building, at least eight stories high. However, where the body was found, there is no building more than three stories tall."
"Please tell me a broom was found nearby," Tony asked, grinning.
"If a broom was found, nobody would report it, because it would mean nothing to the Muggles."
"I think we need to visit the site," Tony said happily now they had something to do.
"Hold on, there's more. Another person was found unconscious on a building ledge near the first body. The second person was female and the injuries received would suggest this person also fell from a height, but not high enough to kill them. She is in Brighton General, in a coma."
"If she's still alive, I can probably fix her and then we can interrogate her."
"You can fix someone in a coma?" Adam asked incredulously.
"Yes, we Aurors are trained in first aid and falls from brooms are quite common."
"We'd need to get the cooperation of the local police."
"Can that be done easily?"
"We'll soon find out won't we," Adam said smiling.
"Let's go then."
"Weren't we supposed to stay here?"
"The trace is off you, we can't be followed."
"What happens if your friend in the Ministry needs to talk to you?"
"My owl will find me."
"Seriously?"
"Found me here didn't she."
Adam shrugged his shoulders as Tony stood up. "Where is your owl?" He asked, looking around the cabin.
"She had a rest and headed back to the Ministry."
"Before we go, can you answer me a question?" Adam asked not moving from the chair.
"Anything." Tony Replied.
"Is it easy to control people with the curse you mentioned a few days ago?"
"The Imperious curse." Adam nodded. "It's an easy curse, you just need to want to do it, however, it takes a fair bit of skill, not to cause permanent damage." Tony thought for a moment. "There's been a long history of wizards and witches using the imperious curse as an excuse for doing something bad. I was shown during my training how to negate its effects, but you could be caught off guard by a surprise attack."
"What about us Muggles?"
"You have no defence against it at all.
"Could the murders be people that have been used for practice?"
"Practice for what?" Tony exclaimed.
"That my young magician is the question."
