Muggle travel was becoming easier for Daphne. A long trip like this would have been awkward and fully visible to the magical authorities in each country, so airliners and public transport became a necessity. It took a week to find the right judge in San Francisco. The prisoner had been sent to a psychiatric hospital. He would stay there as long as he claimed to be able to kill by magic. There was strong evidence that he had committed murder in California. A food store owner had refused to give him alcohol and died of injuries inflicted by the criminal.
The obvious question Daphne puzzled over was why he didn’t use his wand to avoid capture. The most likely answer was that his wand had been damaged by a spell back-firing. The hospital was located near a small country town. Travelling there was easy, Daphne stayed in a B & B and spent days waiting in public places in the town. The hospital staff lived in the town, they shopped in the supermarket, and gathered for drinks in the few bars. It didn’t take long before Daphne was able to filter out the killer’s name.
The killer still wasn’t confirmed as her father’s murderer other than by his own claim, which wasn’t enough evidence. The search continued until Daphne made a vital discovery. A senior staff member walked into a bar as Daphne was leaving. She felt a Legilimens push from him. He was a wizard. She knew who he was, he was still wearing a name tag with his position printed on it. He was a Senior Consultant Psychiatrist. What was going on here?
Daphne quietened her thoughts and retreated to her B & B room. How was she to proceed? What was a wizard strong enough to use Legilimency doing here?
Her B & B host, Mrs Brand, called to Daphne as she came in; “Daphne! You have a visitor; she is waiting in the sitting room.”
Visitor! Daphne didn’t know anyone in California. What is going on?
Her visitor was a woman, thirty something, well dressed and friendly. Her response to a gentle Legilimency touch was a firm block. She was definitely a witch.
“Daphne Greengrass, my name is Jane Goodman. Please don’t be alarmed by this, I am from MACUSA. I have a few questions for you, and I would appreciate it if you could help me with your answers.”
Daphne didn’t respond.
“Well Daphne, MACUSA is running an investigation into activities inside the hospital that you seem to be interested in. I am approaching you because MACUSA contacted the Ministry in London to check you out when you first arrived in town. They are very supportive of you. If you could confirm a few things for me it be helpful.”
Continued silence was not an option; “OK”.
“Good, first, you are a journalist who writes a column for The Daily Prophet.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Good, at the present, you are taking a break to carry out your own investigation. Is that right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Can you tell me any details of what you are investigating? I can’t keep anything you say private if it involves MACUSA.”
“It isn’t a secret; I am looking for a gang of criminals from Britain who murdered my father during the Wizards War. I am following up a certain inmate of the hospital who doesn’t seem to be able to keep his mouth shut about being a wizard and claims to have executed my father. His name is Magnus Morton.”
“We know about him, Daphne; it seems that he is a wizard. MACUSA arrested him and confiscated his wand. Another outlaw attacked the arresting auror and freed Morton. We were able to stop him getting his wand. Eventually we arrested the second outlaw. His name is Archer; he is a California resident. He has never been to Britain.”
The auror waited for Daphne to respond.
“It looks like Morton moved to Chicago and tried to live as a muggle criminal. The muggle police arrested him; and sent him back here. It looks like he doesn’t apparate very well so he couldn’t get away, some wizards can’t apparate at all if they aren’t carrying a wand. They normally send ordinary criminals like him back into the criminal system. We don’t know why he is still being kept here.”
The MACUSA auror obviously wanted Daphne to fill in the gaps. “There is someone else I have seen who is curious. He is Dr Antonio Fernandez; he is, I think, a Senior Consultant Psychiatrist. He is also a wizard.”
“You’re certain about that?”
“Yes, I sensed him using Legilimency when he came into the bar on Main Street. As for his name and position, it was on his name tag. He was still wearing it when he went into the bar.”
Jane turned to leave; “Thank-you very much Daphne. Please stay here at least until tomorrow. Please don’t risk meeting anyone else from the hospital until we know more about the situation there.”
“Just a minute, you said that MACUSA has Morton’s wand. Have you done a Priori Incantato on it for spells cast?”
Jane turned and looked at Daphne.
“Probably only for the last dozen.”
“Can you get a record of spells cast around the time of The Battle of Hogwarts?”
“I’ll ask for it to be done. I’ll be back tomorrow; stay here.”
Sunrise heralded a beautiful day. The California countryside was different from anything Daphne had seen before. Her family home was hidden in a forest, the colours were fresh green in spring, forest green in summer, orange to red in autumn, and brown and grey in winter. Central California was yellow dry grass with patches of green conifers. The days were clear, with blue skies and no rain. The blue skies helped Daphne sense that she was finally getting somewhere.
Jane arrived at the B & B at eleven. She was accompanied by a tall, distinguished man in a neat suit. “Daphne, this is Auror Patterson, he has some news for you.”
“Thank-you Jane; the MACUSA investigation department has examined Morton’s wand. They have been able to extract the details of all spells cast with wand for a week before and after the battle. The murder that you are investigating is there. Morton cast an Avada Kedavra curse which killed Julius Greengrass on the night of the Battle of Hogwarts. There are many other killings as well. It seems that following the battle, Morton went on a killing and stealing campaign. It looks like he covered his tracks by murdering all his fellow gang members and took anything of value from them, even if it was only a few dollars. Then he escaped to the USA where he continued thieving and occasionally killing.”
Jane Goodman took over; “Daphne, I’m sorry for your loss. I hope that we will be able to help you get some closure for your father.”
Daphne felt lightheaded, she didn’t trust herself to say something sensible. “What do you intend to do about him?”
“MACUSA doesn’t have the same sort of relationship with the muggle authorities that occurs in other countries. Getting inmates out of psychiatric hospitals creates more attention than we want. We still don’t know who this wizard doctor is. He is certainly not who he is claiming to be. The real Dr Antonio Fernandez died two years ago, cause of death, a killing curse.”
The quest was over. Daphne always intended to identify the killers and get them sent to Azkaban. In Daphne’s thoughts, life in prison was always a worse fate than a revengeful, quick death. “Jane, can you get all these records about Morton sent to the Ministry in London? Send them personally to Harry Potter. The Ministry will be able to get the British police to have him extradited to the UK. I have finished what I came to do. If you don’t need me here anymore, I will fly back to London.”
The next day started perfectly, as had all the others. Daphne packed and prepared to catch the bus to San Francisco. She thanked Mrs Brand and opened the front door. As she walked to the street, she sensed a heavy Legilimency push. She drew her wand and held it under her coat. A car stopped in front of her and the door opened. Magnus Morton stepped out. Dr Fernandez was at the wheel.
“Don’t do anything silly. Get in the back.”
Daphne didn’t hesitate. “Stupefy!”
Morton collapsed. The car door window burst out in flying shards. Fernandez had cast a stunning spell at Daphne. Her coat was hex proof. The coat deflected the spell which destroyed the front fence.
Daphne dropped to the ground and cast her next spells at the car; “Confringo! Stupefy!”
The car had been torn apart by the blasting spell leaving Fernandez stunned but still holding his wand. Daphne’s stunning spell left him restrained. Help was needed as soon as possible. The Patronus to Jane Goodman was short and urgent. “Fernandez and Morton are at the B & B. They are stupefied. Bring an Obliviator.”
The disapparation sounds echoed around the neighbourhood. Goodman, Patterson and two other aurors disapparated in front of the B & B.
The Mrs Brand had come to the front door to wave Daphne goodbye. She saw the stunning spells, the car being ripped apart, the Patronus and the disapparations. She then saw Morton and Fernandez being apparated away to MACUSA jail cells.
The Obliviator arrived and gently took Mrs Brand inside to discuss what had happened.
Jane Goodman took Daphne to her office in auror headquarters. “Do you know how Morton and Fernandez knew you were there?”
The question worried Daphne as soon as she saw Morton. “I got enough from Fake Fernandez by Legilimency to give me part of the answer. There was another wizard who recognized me and reported me to him.”
“Thank-you Daphne, for leaving us something to do. We will extract everything we can from Fake Fernandez and Morton and clean up the rest of the gang. Now, have you considered a career as an auror?”
Daphne laughed and shook her head. “My family would disown me.”
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