Home | Members | Help | Submission Rules | Log In |
Recently Added | Categories | Titles | Completed Fics | Random Fic | Search | Top Fictions
SS/OC

A Spy's Fate by debjunk [Reviews - 2]

<< >>

Would you like to submit a review?

Chapter 27: Another Clue

Severus and Pat appeared at an old abandoned tenement in Harlem. All of the windows were missing. Severus looked up at the tall building that was falling apart.

“He made fake Galleons here? Wasn’t he afraid that the floor would cave in or something?” Severus asked sarcastically.

“He reinforced the floor with two by fours. Nothing was gonna fall through that floor.”

They went into the building and looked around. The place was completely empty. There was trash all over it, though. They ascended the stairs to the second floor. There was nothing there either. The entire building was deserted except for the trash left by hundreds of homeless men and women who had spent a night in the shabby building.

“You got any ideas,” Pat asked as he turned to Severus.

Severus’ eyes narrowed at Pat. “This is your investigation. I’m just along for the ride.”

“You’ve been quite helpful, actually,” Pat confessed.

“Can we go to her apartment? I know Brian said it’s been gone over with a fine tooth comb, but I would feel better if I were the one who had combed it for clues.”

Pat shrugged. “Why not? We’re out of leads. Let’s do it.”

They Apparated to Bree’s apartment building. Pat explained during the elevator ride up that since the scene had been fully investigated that Severus could go ahead and touch anything he felt like. They had already gathered the information they needed. The elevator stopped, and they exited. Pat waved his wand to break the Auror’s ward before they entered the apartment.

It looked much as it had the last day Severus had been there. The day Brianna had disappeared, which had only been yesterday. Severus slowly walked around the room, keeping his eye out for anything that was out of place. Everything seemed to be in order. He came to the place where the struggle had been. He squatted down and looked at the area. There were no footprints or marks except for the blood. He ran his hand over the dried blood, feeling as if he could contact her through her spilt blood, but he felt nothing. Standing up again, he went over to the bedroom. There was nothing out of sorts there. He went out to the balcony. He knew that anything that might have been there had probably blown away, but he searched it anyway. Nothing. He found nothing in the kitchen either. Finally he returned and sat heavily on the couch next to Pat.

“Anything?” Pat asked.

“Not a thing,” Severus responded darkly.

“I appreciate you lookin’ around anyway. I would have kicked myself if we had missed somethin’.”

Severus nodded and stared into the fireplace. He noticed some charred ashes in it. he looked at them, puzzled. It was September… too early for a fire. The fireplace had always been immaculate, ready to be used as a Floo. Now there were ashes in it.

“Didn’t Brian say that he told Brianna to Floo to work on Monday?” Severus asked Pat.

“Yeah, he did.”

“Then why would she burn something in there?” he asked as he arose and went over to the fireplace. He put his hand into it and felt around in the ashes. As his fingers sifted through the ash, he felt a larger piece brush his fingers. His hand surrounded it, and he lifted it up. It was a piece of the parchment that had evidently been burned in the fireplace. It had not all been destroyed. There was a letterhead and underneath it was scrawled a partially burned hand written note. It appeared to be Brianna’s address as her street was visible along with part of the number of her building. If there had been an apartment number, it no longer existed.

“Look at this,” Severus said, showing the remains of the parchment to Pat.

“You don’t think she’d have started a fire in there, Severus? You’re sure?”

Severus nodded.

“This could be the paper Davis used to get here,” Pat mused.

Severus stood up. “That’s what I was thinking. It has a hotel name written on the letterhead.”

“The Atlantic Inn,” Pat read.

There was no address associated with the letterhead. Pat Accio’d a phone book and looked up the address. He grimaced. “It’s near Coney Island,” he said.

“Is that bad?” Severus asked.

“No, it’s just not Fifth Avenue. The neighborhood is a bit seedy.”

Severus nodded.

“Well, let’s go before it’s dark,” Pat said. “Hopefully she’s holed up in one of these rooms.”

oooOOOooo


“Yeah, he was here,” the front desk clerk said.

They had found the run down hotel easily enough and had begun to question the squirrelly man that stood behind the desk in the lobby, if it could be called that. There were two old red couches with great tears in them facing each other atop an old area rug that was covered in stains.

“Lovely accommodations,” Severus had quipped before entering.

Pat and Severus looked expectantly at the clerk, but he said no more.

“And is he still here?”

The thin man with a goatee scratched his head and looked at them curiously. “Gee, I don’t remember,” he said slyly.

Pat threw a twenty dollar bill at him.

“Oh, now I remember,” the clerk went on as he snatched the money up so fast, Severus had to blink.

“He checked out this morning,” the man said.

Pat sighed. “Did he happen to say anything about where he was going?”

“Do I look like the information line?” the clerk snapped. Another ten dollars shot his way.

“He didn’t say anything.”

Pat placed another ten on the counter.

“Did he have anyone with him?”

“No.”

“Did he mainly stay in his room, or was he in and out,” Pat asked while sliding another ten note to the man.

“Oh, he was gone for hours. He came back really late. I know because my shift was just starting. I work twelve hour shifts. I’m just about to get off now,” the clerk volunteered without asking for more cash.

“Could we look around in his room?”

“That’ll be fifty dollars,” the man said matter-of-factly.

Pat produced the note and slid it toward his expensive informant. The money disappeared, and in its place was a key with a 159 on it. Pat took the key and thanked the clerk for his help. Severus and he went down the hall and found the door with the golden 159 on it.

“Is it customary to spend a fortune for information in this city?” Severus asked finally.

“Depends on who you’re talkin’ to,” Pat said. “Seedy guys like that one live for the few times in their lives they can bribe a law enforcement officer. It’s worth it to me to get the info and obviously worth it to our slimy friend out there.”

Severus rolled his eyes at the nerve of the skinny little man sitting at the desk. Then he turned his attention to the room. They entered and found nothing very revealing. There was a ratty blanket on the bed and a broken table with a lamp next to it. Across from the bed was another small table with a small TV on it. In the corner was a doorway that led to a small bathroom.

Pat told Severus to wait a minute while he scanned the area with his wand. He pulled it out and did the same thing that Severus saw Brianna do when he had found her after being attacked. Pat explained what was happening, assuming that Severus had never seen such a procedure before. It seemed that the wand was looking for things that were out of place within and out of eyesight. It would pick up lost items, stains, anything that shouldn’t be in a normal room. The wand glowed brightly at the floor on the side of the bed. Pat took a closer look only to reveal an alcohol stain. Nothing else showed up, so Pat lowered his wand.

“Okay, now we can do a hands on search. Check all of the drawers and under the bed. I’ll look in the bathroom,” Pat commanded.

Severus pulled open every drawer and searched under the bed. Nothing. Pat came out of the bathroom. He had found nothing either. If there had been anything left in the room, it had probably been taken by the housekeeping staff, if there was one. Severus watched Pat as he seemed to be thinking and pondering something.

“It seems that, even though he had already abducted Bree, he hadn’t brought her here. He probably took her somewhere deserted, where no one would stumble across her. He must have left her alone at some point. He must have been pretty secure in that she wouldn’t escape or be found for him to leave her alone for any length of time.”

“A Petrificus Totalus spell would ensure she couldn’t move or make a sound,” Severus offered.

“Yeah, he probably did something like that.”

They were silent for a while. Pat finally looked up at Severus.

“I’ve reached a dead end. Do you have any ideas?”

Severus looked defeated. “None,” he offered.

“Let’s go back to the Ministry before Brian leaves for the day,” Pat suggested.

They headed out of the hotel, stopping to drop off the key to the clerk. He didn’t even look up as they left.

oooOOOooo


They stood in front of Brian’s desk as he looked up at them.

“So, you’re telling me that he simply disappeared off the face of the Earth?” Brian asked them.

“It seems that way, boss,” Pat said.

Brian slammed his fist against the desk. “We’ve checked every hotel in a twenty-five mile radius. Nothing. There have been no flights reporting sighting them. No Portkeys have been activated that haven’t been pre-approved. If they Apparated somewhere, we have no way of tracing it. Where could they be?”

“I don’t know, sir, but I’ll start up again first thing in the morning.” Pat turned to leave.

“That’s it?” Severus asked, glaring at Brian and then at Pat.

“Whaddaya mean?” Pat asked.

“You’re just turning in for the day?” Severus said in incredulity.

Pat came back to Severus. “Listen, we need some rest. The trail has run dry anyway. Perhaps a fresh start in the morning will help us to think of things that our brains won’t pull out of our heads tonight. Go get some rest. I’ll see you here at eight tomorrow.”

Severus wanted to be angry. He wanted to shout that they needed to keep looking. He wanted to strangle them for not doing more, but he didn’t. Pat’s rationale had made sense. He didn’t like it, but they all would work better with some rest. He could feel the fatigue making his body ache as he stood there glaring at Pat. Finally his sneer softened, and he gave Pat a little nod of approval.

Pat left as Severus turned to Brian.

“Be straight with me. What are our chances of finding her alive?” he asked Brian.

Brian frowned at him. “They’re not very good. I’m surprised he didn’t just kill her in her apartment. All I can say is that the longer she’s missing, the more likely she’ll be dead when and if we find her.”

“If?”

Brian sighed. “Severus, you know this is a big city. Sometimes these crimes are never solved. There are thousands of missing persons who remain missing forever. You should probably ready yourself for that possibility.”

Severus sneered at Brian and pounded his fist into the desk. “I will never give up looking for her until I find her. Do you understand that? I don’t care if everyone else gives up, I will search for her until either I find her, or I die trying.”

Brian looked at him sadly. “I believe you,” he told him.

Severus straightened and turned without a word. He glided out of the room with nary a glance back at the man he had just snarled at.


A/N: Next up: More hunting.

Poor Severus. Hopefully they’ll have some good luck come to them in the morning. Thank you, Lilith Kayden, for everything you do to get these chapters ready.











A Spy's Fate by debjunk [Reviews - 2]

<< >>

Disclaimers
Terms of Use
Credits

Copyright © 2003-2007 Sycophant Hex
All rights reserved