23. Meet with a Squib.

They were left in the hands of the duty sergeant, who took them down to a large storeroom, a sign proclaimed it was evidence storage. Adam saw two constables, who spoke little, but seemed to keep a close eye on them. The duty sergeant brought two boxes from a shelf and placed them on a desk. Adam noticed that another constable trying to keep out of sight was sporting a huge bruise on his nose and two black eyes. He knew from experience he had recently received a head-butt to the face.

"Do you have a room where we look at the content in private?" He asked the sergeant.

"There's a small storage room at the back, but usually we look at the box's contents here, to preserve evidence trails."

"Is the room unlocked?"

"Yes, it is."

"Thank you, sergeant. We'll call if we need help." Adam picked up the first box and motioned for Tony to take the second.

"Sir," the sergeant called, "we know exactly what's in those boxes."

"I should fucking well think so, this is evidence storage," Adam snarled, staring down the sergeant who looked away. All the other officers had stopped what they were doing and watched.

The two of them carried the boxes across the room and into the storeroom in silence, almost oblivious to the stares from around the room. Adam again noticed that the second constable was also sporting an injury. He had a single black eye and a large bruise on his jaw.

"They were a little nervy, weren't they?" Tony asked as he set the box down on the desk.

"I suspect they think were internal security and they're anxious, which means they've been up to something. Did you notice their bruises; they've been in the wars recently?"

"Which has nothing to do with us."

"I hope so." He said, opening the first box, which contained trousers, shirt, underwear, and shoes. At the bottom was a wand, twisted and broken. There was a brown stain on the side to the tip. Adam used the shirt from the box to pick the wand up.

"The brown mark will be blood." He said looking at Tony. "What can you find out about the owner from this?"

Tony slipped his wand out and pointed it at the tip and small ghostly images appeared, but they flickered and twisted. It was impossible to read the images because of the damage, declared Tony after a moment.

There was a gentle cough from behind them, startling both men. A small blond uniformed police officer had opened the door and entered the room, with a hot drink in each hand. Her shoulders sagged for a moment.

"You're not internal affairs, thank fuck for that." The look on her face was that of relief, and she didn't seem the least bit bothered by the images flowing from the broken wand.

Tony stopped what he was doing and turned to face the woman. "Who are you?"

"Sorry, I'm Constable Holly Fairweather." Her elfin face broke out in a smile as she used her heel to kick the door shut. She sounded as if she expected them to know who she was. "My mother works for the Daily Prophet, Stormy Fairweather."

A big grin broke out on Tony's face. "Stormy's a woman?"

"Didn't you know?"

"No, some of the stories she's written, made me think she was a he."

"What the hell is a Daily Profit?" Adam butted in.

"Local wizarding newspaper."

"Are you wizards?" She asked surprised.

"No, I'm a DCI from Scotland Yard. I don't know what the hell he is." He said pointing at Tony.

"I'm an Auror."

She took a step back from the men, her eyes widening. Adam reached over and took the hot cups out of her hands.

"What's wrong?" Tony asked, noticing the change in the woman's demeanour.

"I met an Auror once, he was not nice."

Adam changed the subject. "What the hell are you doing here with your skills?"

"I like the work and sometimes the people I have to work with." She lifted her light brown fringe to one side, uncovering a large purple bruise surrounding a deep graze. Adam leant in for a close look.

"You get that during an arrest."

"I got it in here, that's why we all thought you were internal affairs."

"Did you have anything to do with the two injured out there?"

She looked pensive and nodded.

"Did you do that to them?" He pointed at the door. A big smile spread across his face.

"Yes, all three of them deserved it." She said while looking away, a smile flashed across her face, which she didn't hide. It was clear she was proud of herself.

"Who won?"

"I did, I always win."

"A little unfair to take on three guys with the skills you have?" Adam said, still smiling at the thought of this small young woman besting two let alone three large police officers. "I'm assuming you didn't use a wand by the looks of their bruises?"

"I can't use a wand." She replied.

Tony looked around. "You can't use a wand?"

She looked away, embarrassed. "I'm a squib." She replied, her demeanour changing.

"What's a squib?" Adam asked, putting down the bloody wand.

"A person who has magical parents, but has no discernible magic ability of their own," Tony said, saving her from saying it.

"That's me, the eternal dirty secret my mother and father keep to themselves."

"I'm sorry," Tony said, opening the second box.

"Don't be sorry, it's the reason I'm in the police. I keep away from your world, there's nothing there for me."

Tony pulled items of clothing out of the box. "No wand." He said as he dropped the clothes. Holly slipped her hand inside her jacket, slipped a wand out, and held it out to Tony.

"I thought you can't use a wand?" Adam asked.

"I can't, but this was the dead wizards and I've never been to Diagon Alley to get a wand like my brothers, so I took it from the scene. I assumed he wouldn't need it and I thought maybe I have something." She smiled at them.

Tony took the wand and interrogated it, which took less than a minute. He handed it back to her.

"The wand doesn't have an owner, you never know. If you find out you have something, please let me know, for yours and my sake. The owner of the broken wand was Gabrielle Lynwood, I don't know what her wand usage was.

"I thought you needed the wandmaker to do that?" Adam asked.

"No, I didn't trust myself at first, but Pinne has confirmed everything I found on the others. This wand was owned by Eric Clerkin. Deceased and the wand knows it. The wand's last spells were Confringo, Expulso and Impedimenta, that was used several times."

"What does that mean?" Adam asked.

"It seems likely they were fighting each other, or an unknown third party. We won't know until we get to talk to Miss Lynwood."

"Are these spells normal in themselves?" Adam asked.

"The spells used would suggest someone inexperienced in wands usage, or not used to defend themselves. They didn't even use a Patronus."

"She's not an Auror."

"Good point, but the Patronus is the most basic and probably the best form of protection you can get and we're all taught it."

"So, untrained and running around on a broomstick, trying to fight or protect themselves. I wonder what this is telling us."

"We came here looking for Hulda Scrivens, but we seem to have gained another crime."

"We need to talk to Miss Lynwood when she comes round," Adam said looking at Holly. "Are you confined to the station at the moment?" She nodded. "Do you fancy babysitting the woman in the hospital?"

"Get me out of here for a while, yes please."

"I'll have a word with your Super. Get yourself ready to go to the hospital."

Adam tapped on the Super's open door. The room was identical to all the rooms at Scotland Yard. Adam realised that it was depressingly bland.

"Can I help you?" He asked as Adam stepped into the room.

"I found out about your little problem." Said Adam taking the seat, making it clear he was staying put for a while.

"Didn't take you long to work that out." There was an air of resignation about the man's deep voice.

"Half of your officers sporting huge bruises and not out working and nobody's talking to each other. I've been around the block a few times." He paused to let that sink in. "Also young Fairweather's a little engaging."

"She is that, but she has a huge temper and the ability to back it up."

"Tough little bugger to take on three trained men and do that much damage."

"It's not the first time either. I cannot doubt her ability and bravery. She puts most men twice her size in the shade. However, she is a bloody genius at crime scenes. She sees things way before forensics, so much so, that we now send her in first and forensics second. Keep that to yourself. If it weren't for that, she would have been sacked a long ago."

"What caused the latest fracas?"

"We had trouble in the town centre last weekend, usual drunkenness. They were told to keep a low profile and not get too involved. She didn't listen and waded in, as usual, expecting the other officers to back her up, but they did as I asked. She got walloped taking on a guy who was a lot tougher than even she expected."

"So she thinks they let her down." The super nodded.

"She has way too much gung-ho and her martial arts background makes her bloody dangerous."

"Surely all your officers have martial arts training."

"They do, but like you, she has taken it much further and is a bloody expert, she also teaches." Adam's eyes grew larger at this comment. "I checked you both out, or at least I tried to. Your friend has no background."

Adam didn't reply to his comment. "Can I assume things have been allowed to fester for a while then?"

"Yes, my fault, I should have sorted it out, but I was busy with the dead man and the one in the hospital. Talking about bodies, did you get what you needed?"

"Mostly, that's the real reason I've come to see you. I need someone to keep watch on our young lady in the hospital, they are bringing her out of the induced coma tomorrow morning. Can I suggest that young Fairweather does that? We'll need a woman present when and if we interview her, anyway."

"Good, get her out of here for a few days."

"Now the bad bit. I am going to talk to Commissioner Nugent at Scotland Yard to get the paperwork sorted to have the dead man and his belongings moved to London. Also, I'm going to have the woman moved into our custody when she leaves the hospital; again, I'd like Fairweather to do that."

"Seriously."

"I'm afraid so."

"The commissioner of Scotland Yard is authorising all this?" He asked disbelief in his voice. "Who the hell are you working for?"

"Me, I work for the Yard, young Garrett is a different matter altogether."

"He mentioned he was from the ministry, he's way too young to be a real DCI."

"Tony has good genes that make him look a lot younger than he is. People make that mistake, and as we're being honest with each other, Tony is someone I hope I never get on the wrong side of, he has a level of danger you would not believe."

"What's his real job?"

"He's a policeman, but not in any context you or I would understand."

"So, he's a spook." The super put his arms on the desk and leant towards Adam. He didn't correct him. "You been here for less than an hour and I've never seen procedure twisted like this before."

Adam nodded. "I've broken, just about every rule there is in the last couple of days and not one person in charge has even blinked, and I know they are watching." Adam paused for a moment. "At least we've taken a few problems off you for now."

"For now, please don't bring them back, we are so understaffed. We have a football match this weekend and I need to draft in at least another twenty bodies."

"What about a private company?"

"Use them all the time, but they cost and we have a reducing budget."

"We have similar problems, no one wants to be a policeman anymore, and those that do are so far from the right people..." He left the sentence hanging.

"I agree, that's why young Fairweather is usual, she wants to be a policewoman and she's bloody good, for all her indiscretions."

Adam nodded. "We'll be back here in the morning to talk to our patient when she wakes up."

"When will you take her to London?"

"As soon as she's able. I'll make sure you're informed before we do anything."