The Case of the Golden Heron Society - Chapter 4
Chapter Four: Investigating
“That came from inside the house,” Snape said.
“Let’s go,” Harry said as he dashed out of the room. Generally scream like that at a murder scene meant one thing; which was why Harry was not surprised to see the guests standing over a second dead body.
“Merlin,” Snape muttered as he tugged Harry back.
Harry stepped back to allow Emery to take over the scene. Emery ordered the guests to be taken into the dining room this time, since the second body - Alexandra Goldberg, Harry recognized - had been found in the study that joined with the living room.
There was a second door to the study room, so they were no closer to figuring out who did it. But, in most cases a second body meant a higher chance of finding clues and Harry had the feeling that such was the case now.
Peterson had been shot twice, but Goldberg had been stabbed - quite a change in things. Goldberg had also been killed elsewhere and her body dumped in the study; the fact that the murderer hadn’t been caught in the act was proof of that. There also wasn't enough blood pooled on the carpet and she almost looked as though she had been staged.
Something caught his eye and he edged forward until he was standing beside Emery. “A golden heron,” he said.
“Huh?” Emery asked as he looked over at Harry. He frowned. “What are you doing here? Didn’t I say to wait in the library?”
“You said to stay with Professor Snape and he’s right there,” Harry said as he motioned back to where Snape was standing. “More importantly, the golden heron.”
This time Emery picked out what Harry was talking about and he blinked as he knelt down next to the body. “A golden heron pin, the same as what we found in the library,” emery said. “But they said that they had no idea about them.”
“Obviously they lied,” harry said. “We’ll have to talk to them again.”
“No surprise there,” Emery said. They would have to interview them all again anyway, since another one of them had ended up dead. Emery frowned and turned back to Goldberg. “She has something in her hand.”
Emery carefully reached out with gloved hands and pried loose the piece of paper. Harry leaned in. “What does it say?”
“It’s a blackmail letter, the same type that Peterson had in his breast pocket,” emery said.
Harry blinked and scowled. “And when were you going to tell me about that?”
“When I was done with the body,” Emery said. “I hadn’t expected the second body, though.”
“Eh, I already knew about the blackmail,” Harry said, waving his hand in dismissal.
“You did?”Emery asked.
“This only proves that Peterson wasn't the only one being blackmailed,” Harry continued, ignoring Emery for the moment.
“How did you know that Peterson was being blackmailed?” Emery asked.
“Through his bank statement, though I had yet to confirm it,” Harry said with a shrug. “And I think that I might know why, though I have yet to confirm that, either.”
“So we need to talk to the guests again,” emery said.
“That would be the first thing to do,” Harry said, eyeing a smudge on the lapel of Goldberg’s jacket.
“One more thing that you have to figure out is how the body got here,” Emery said. “We had an officer both inside the living room and out in the hall.”
“A locked door mystery without a locked door,” Harry said.
“That seems to be the case,” Emery said as she shook his head.
“The killer probably moved the body in here the same way that he or she got into the locked library to kill Peterson,” Harry said. “I’ll poke around after we interview everyone and see if I can find proof to my theory.”
“Can't you just tell me what your suspicion is?” Emery asked.
“You know i don't like to unless I have proof,” Harry said. He then grinned. “Besides, it makes a better reveal if I don't tell you it until I figure it all out.”
“And finding out how the killer moves around will solve everything?” Emery asked. “Then why don't you focus on that while I do the interviews?”
“Because, I have things that need to be confirmed during the interview,” Harry said.
Emery sighed and nodded his head. “Let’s get to it, then.”
They went back to the dining room and Emery took a chance in interviewing all of them at once; he figured that at this point they were more likely to break than before the second death. He already knew that the women had gone for a bathroom break, but how did Goldberg get separated from the group?
The four remaining women did not know how that happened. She must have sneaked off on her own, Jill Cooper said. Kristin Brown thought that she saw Alexandra leave with a determined look on her face, but it happened too fast and then she got distracted. But, none of them knew that Alexandra had been in danger until they heard a thud in the study and found her dead.
Where were people during the time that Alexandra disappeared? All of the men had alibis; they were still in the living room and the policeman with them confirmed it. The policeman who went with the ladies to the rest room had lapsed enough for one of the women to sneak away, but knew for a fact that the rest of the women were present during that time. Of course, it was possible for either gender to slip away, as Alexandra had just proven. Nervous looks were shot around the table.
Emery brought them back into focus, asking whether anyone had heard anything. But, beyond the thump that came from the study, presumably of the body hitting the floor, they had heard nothing at all. Emery nodded his acceptance; his men had heard the same thing, after all.
“We have a couple of more things to ask the seven of you,” Emery said. He fetched out the bag that held the golden heron pin from his jacket pocket and put it down onto the table in front of him. “Can you explain what the significance of these pins is?”
Glances were exchanged across the table, each of them glancing down afterwards. “Didn’t we already say that we didn’t know about it?” Ethan Gibson asked.
“I can’t help but find it suspicious to find this third golden pin on Goldberg, especially after she told us the same thing,” Emery said. “I would think that she would have known about the pin if she had one herself.”
“You said that you had found one in the library, so isn't it possible that Alexandra found another and put it on?” Isaac Foster said. He scowled and crossed his arms. “We said everything we could the first time you questioned us, and as sorry as we are about what just happened, we don't have anything else to add in here.”
“Is that so?” Emery asked. He glared at Isaac Foster. “Even if you don't say anything, we will find the truth. Are you prepared to deal with the consequences?”
“Go ahead, find the truth,” Isaac Foster said, glaring right back. “Good luck with that.”
“I don’t think that we’ll be getting anything more out of them,” Harry muttered to Snape. He jerked his head towards the doorway. “Let’s get out of here.”
Snape nodded and followed Harry out of the room. He waited until Harry had closed the door before he spoke. “What makes you think that you won’t be able to coax anything else out of them?”
“They’ve been lying all along,” Harry said with a shrug. “Plus, whatever they’re hiding isn’t something that they will give up as easily. No, we’ll have to expose their secret before they will say anything.”
“And how are you planning on doing that?” Snape asked.
“I already know what their secret is, and the first victim has even given me proof,” Harry said. He started walking down the hallway. “I have no doubt that this secret is what led to the death of both of the victims, but there are still things that I need to piece together.”
“What are we doing now?” Snape asked as they approached the study where the body had been discovered. The body had been moved out of the small room and the police were mostly done with the room.
“Now we’re looking for the last pieces of the puzzle,” Harry said. He nodded at the policeman guarding the door and slipped by him. The few men inside quietly left him alone; they were men who had seen his work before, but knew it was better to ignore the boy than to acknowledge him. “We’ll have a few minutes; just long enough to figure this out.”
“Figure what out?” Snape asked.
“What we were about to discover in the library,” Harry said. He looked to where the body had been discovered and then headed over to the closest wall: just opposite the door to the hallway. He motioned at the wall. “Tell me, how does a body just appear in a guarded room? You were about to answer this in the library, weren’t you?”
“Secret passageways,” Snape said. “That would explain the locked rooms.”
“The first step is finding out how to open it,” Harry said. He had already picked out several possibilities on how to open it, but he stepped back and motioned for Snape to look.
Snape shot him a glance and sighed. “Muggles,” he said as he reached out to twist the sconce on the wall. “They have to do everything without magic.”
“Exactly,” Harry said as the wall slid open. “There’s always an explanation for everything, all you have to do is simply light up the pathway and you’ll find it.”
“And what will we find in this pathway?” Snape asked.
“We’ll just have to figure that out, won’t we?” Harry asked as he stepped into the passageway. Snape stepped in after him and they shut the doorway to the secret passageway, figuring that they would be able to discover another entryway. Harry took out a torch and then led the way down the passageway.
Simply built as a pathway between the outside walls and the inside walls, the secret passageway wound its way through the mansion. There were spy holes for every room, and entrances in key areas of the house. The first entryway that they came to was for the library, confirming Harry’s theory on how the first victim died.
“Should I find the exit as well?” Snape asked; even though there was an outline of a door, the way to activate it was not in plain sight.
“Nah, we’ve got one other thing to find,” Harry said, walking past the library doorway. Snape gave him a questioning look, but followed as Harry explored more of the passageway.
They came to a stop in front of another door shape in the wall. Harry didn’t pay the door any attention, however, crouching down to look at smudges on the wooden floor.
“What is it?” Snape asked.
“The last pieces of the puzzle,” Harry said. He took out the scrap cloth that he used as a headband while working in the garden and dabbed at one of the smudges. “This is one of the pieces, and the other is on the other side of the door.” Harry nodded towards the outline of the door. Instead of finding the exit, however, he simply looked through the spy hole to find what was on the other side.
“And now?” Snape asked.
“Now we do the big reveal,” Harry said. He turned around and grinned at Snape, shining the torch light on his face. “It’s time for the fun part.”
Chapter Five
“That came from inside the house,” Snape said.
“Let’s go,” Harry said as he dashed out of the room. Generally scream like that at a murder scene meant one thing; which was why Harry was not surprised to see the guests standing over a second dead body.
“Merlin,” Snape muttered as he tugged Harry back.
Harry stepped back to allow Emery to take over the scene. Emery ordered the guests to be taken into the dining room this time, since the second body - Alexandra Goldberg, Harry recognized - had been found in the study that joined with the living room.
There was a second door to the study room, so they were no closer to figuring out who did it. But, in most cases a second body meant a higher chance of finding clues and Harry had the feeling that such was the case now.
Peterson had been shot twice, but Goldberg had been stabbed - quite a change in things. Goldberg had also been killed elsewhere and her body dumped in the study; the fact that the murderer hadn’t been caught in the act was proof of that. There also wasn't enough blood pooled on the carpet and she almost looked as though she had been staged.
Something caught his eye and he edged forward until he was standing beside Emery. “A golden heron,” he said.
“Huh?” Emery asked as he looked over at Harry. He frowned. “What are you doing here? Didn’t I say to wait in the library?”
“You said to stay with Professor Snape and he’s right there,” Harry said as he motioned back to where Snape was standing. “More importantly, the golden heron.”
This time Emery picked out what Harry was talking about and he blinked as he knelt down next to the body. “A golden heron pin, the same as what we found in the library,” emery said. “But they said that they had no idea about them.”
“Obviously they lied,” harry said. “We’ll have to talk to them again.”
“No surprise there,” Emery said. They would have to interview them all again anyway, since another one of them had ended up dead. Emery frowned and turned back to Goldberg. “She has something in her hand.”
Emery carefully reached out with gloved hands and pried loose the piece of paper. Harry leaned in. “What does it say?”
“It’s a blackmail letter, the same type that Peterson had in his breast pocket,” emery said.
Harry blinked and scowled. “And when were you going to tell me about that?”
“When I was done with the body,” Emery said. “I hadn’t expected the second body, though.”
“Eh, I already knew about the blackmail,” Harry said, waving his hand in dismissal.
“You did?”Emery asked.
“This only proves that Peterson wasn't the only one being blackmailed,” Harry continued, ignoring Emery for the moment.
“How did you know that Peterson was being blackmailed?” Emery asked.
“Through his bank statement, though I had yet to confirm it,” Harry said with a shrug. “And I think that I might know why, though I have yet to confirm that, either.”
“So we need to talk to the guests again,” emery said.
“That would be the first thing to do,” Harry said, eyeing a smudge on the lapel of Goldberg’s jacket.
“One more thing that you have to figure out is how the body got here,” Emery said. “We had an officer both inside the living room and out in the hall.”
“A locked door mystery without a locked door,” Harry said.
“That seems to be the case,” Emery said as she shook his head.
“The killer probably moved the body in here the same way that he or she got into the locked library to kill Peterson,” Harry said. “I’ll poke around after we interview everyone and see if I can find proof to my theory.”
“Can't you just tell me what your suspicion is?” Emery asked.
“You know i don't like to unless I have proof,” Harry said. He then grinned. “Besides, it makes a better reveal if I don't tell you it until I figure it all out.”
“And finding out how the killer moves around will solve everything?” Emery asked. “Then why don't you focus on that while I do the interviews?”
“Because, I have things that need to be confirmed during the interview,” Harry said.
Emery sighed and nodded his head. “Let’s get to it, then.”
They went back to the dining room and Emery took a chance in interviewing all of them at once; he figured that at this point they were more likely to break than before the second death. He already knew that the women had gone for a bathroom break, but how did Goldberg get separated from the group?
The four remaining women did not know how that happened. She must have sneaked off on her own, Jill Cooper said. Kristin Brown thought that she saw Alexandra leave with a determined look on her face, but it happened too fast and then she got distracted. But, none of them knew that Alexandra had been in danger until they heard a thud in the study and found her dead.
Where were people during the time that Alexandra disappeared? All of the men had alibis; they were still in the living room and the policeman with them confirmed it. The policeman who went with the ladies to the rest room had lapsed enough for one of the women to sneak away, but knew for a fact that the rest of the women were present during that time. Of course, it was possible for either gender to slip away, as Alexandra had just proven. Nervous looks were shot around the table.
Emery brought them back into focus, asking whether anyone had heard anything. But, beyond the thump that came from the study, presumably of the body hitting the floor, they had heard nothing at all. Emery nodded his acceptance; his men had heard the same thing, after all.
“We have a couple of more things to ask the seven of you,” Emery said. He fetched out the bag that held the golden heron pin from his jacket pocket and put it down onto the table in front of him. “Can you explain what the significance of these pins is?”
Glances were exchanged across the table, each of them glancing down afterwards. “Didn’t we already say that we didn’t know about it?” Ethan Gibson asked.
“I can’t help but find it suspicious to find this third golden pin on Goldberg, especially after she told us the same thing,” Emery said. “I would think that she would have known about the pin if she had one herself.”
“You said that you had found one in the library, so isn't it possible that Alexandra found another and put it on?” Isaac Foster said. He scowled and crossed his arms. “We said everything we could the first time you questioned us, and as sorry as we are about what just happened, we don't have anything else to add in here.”
“Is that so?” Emery asked. He glared at Isaac Foster. “Even if you don't say anything, we will find the truth. Are you prepared to deal with the consequences?”
“Go ahead, find the truth,” Isaac Foster said, glaring right back. “Good luck with that.”
“I don’t think that we’ll be getting anything more out of them,” Harry muttered to Snape. He jerked his head towards the doorway. “Let’s get out of here.”
Snape nodded and followed Harry out of the room. He waited until Harry had closed the door before he spoke. “What makes you think that you won’t be able to coax anything else out of them?”
“They’ve been lying all along,” Harry said with a shrug. “Plus, whatever they’re hiding isn’t something that they will give up as easily. No, we’ll have to expose their secret before they will say anything.”
“And how are you planning on doing that?” Snape asked.
“I already know what their secret is, and the first victim has even given me proof,” Harry said. He started walking down the hallway. “I have no doubt that this secret is what led to the death of both of the victims, but there are still things that I need to piece together.”
“What are we doing now?” Snape asked as they approached the study where the body had been discovered. The body had been moved out of the small room and the police were mostly done with the room.
“Now we’re looking for the last pieces of the puzzle,” Harry said. He nodded at the policeman guarding the door and slipped by him. The few men inside quietly left him alone; they were men who had seen his work before, but knew it was better to ignore the boy than to acknowledge him. “We’ll have a few minutes; just long enough to figure this out.”
“Figure what out?” Snape asked.
“What we were about to discover in the library,” Harry said. He looked to where the body had been discovered and then headed over to the closest wall: just opposite the door to the hallway. He motioned at the wall. “Tell me, how does a body just appear in a guarded room? You were about to answer this in the library, weren’t you?”
“Secret passageways,” Snape said. “That would explain the locked rooms.”
“The first step is finding out how to open it,” Harry said. He had already picked out several possibilities on how to open it, but he stepped back and motioned for Snape to look.
Snape shot him a glance and sighed. “Muggles,” he said as he reached out to twist the sconce on the wall. “They have to do everything without magic.”
“Exactly,” Harry said as the wall slid open. “There’s always an explanation for everything, all you have to do is simply light up the pathway and you’ll find it.”
“And what will we find in this pathway?” Snape asked.
“We’ll just have to figure that out, won’t we?” Harry asked as he stepped into the passageway. Snape stepped in after him and they shut the doorway to the secret passageway, figuring that they would be able to discover another entryway. Harry took out a torch and then led the way down the passageway.
Simply built as a pathway between the outside walls and the inside walls, the secret passageway wound its way through the mansion. There were spy holes for every room, and entrances in key areas of the house. The first entryway that they came to was for the library, confirming Harry’s theory on how the first victim died.
“Should I find the exit as well?” Snape asked; even though there was an outline of a door, the way to activate it was not in plain sight.
“Nah, we’ve got one other thing to find,” Harry said, walking past the library doorway. Snape gave him a questioning look, but followed as Harry explored more of the passageway.
They came to a stop in front of another door shape in the wall. Harry didn’t pay the door any attention, however, crouching down to look at smudges on the wooden floor.
“What is it?” Snape asked.
“The last pieces of the puzzle,” Harry said. He took out the scrap cloth that he used as a headband while working in the garden and dabbed at one of the smudges. “This is one of the pieces, and the other is on the other side of the door.” Harry nodded towards the outline of the door. Instead of finding the exit, however, he simply looked through the spy hole to find what was on the other side.
“And now?” Snape asked.
“Now we do the big reveal,” Harry said. He turned around and grinned at Snape, shining the torch light on his face. “It’s time for the fun part.”
Chapter Five