Hide Away

Re bothHide Away

Chapter 18- Veritaserum

In our cabin, I waited for Draco to speak first to explain the reason as to why he had dragged me here.

First he locked the door and made sure the balcony door was locked before he spoke.

"Look Ginny," he said, his voice coated with ice, "whatever happened this morning and um...last night has to be put aside because we have a murder to solve."

"Who said we didn't have a murder to solve?" I asked him. "I am perfectly aware of the situation and have already started on solving it."

He stared at me for a second and then said, "Whatever feelings of hate...or anything else you have for me, Miss. Weasley, will have to be put aside because this is serious." His eyes flickered for the briefest of seconds.

"That's fine with me, Mr. Malfoy," I said just as coldly, "because as soon as this 'mission' is over, I'm leaving and I will refuse to come on any other missions out of the office."

"So you agree to put aside your feelings and work properly?" he asked. "Because whether you remember or not, I'm still your boss as are you my assistant. You have also made us partners, so we need to solve this case."

"I agree," I said without much emotion.

He ran a hand through his hair. "Good. Now what I propose is that we start by questioning the passengers of the boat to see what they know of last night. I also have something that may help us." He went to rummage around his suitcase while I waited for him, impatiently.

He brought out a black vile and said, "Veritaserum."

I was impressed. This was going to help us a lot. I hid my joy easily and said, "That will do fine."

"I'll call the suspects one by one into the lounge," he said, "and we can put a few drops of it into whatever they ask for, coffee or champagne. Then we'll ask them the questions."

I nodded.

"Let's go," he said, opening the door and leaving.

"You go ahead," I said, "I have to do something."

Draco raised an eyebrow at me, but didn't say anything. He shut the door behind him and left.

I locked the door and made sure the balcony door was also closed. Then I surveyed myself in the full-length mirror. Even to myself, I looked like a joke. No one would ever believe I was from the Scotland Yard. No wonder the conductor had trouble with me.

I took off my skirt and top and changed into black pants and a white shirt. I then swept my red hair into a tight bun. If I were to be professional, I would have to look professional so people would respect my authority.

I surveyed myself in the mirror now and was happy with my transformation. At least people would do as I said.

Grabbing some eyeliner off the dresser, I applied it quickly.

As I turned to leave, I paused one last time to glance in the mirror. I didn't see whom I expected to see though.

All of a sudden, all the emotions that I had felt last night came tumbling back and caused tears to well up into my eyes.

What was I doing? I seemed to be running around in circles again and again, never realising what I was doing. Who was I trying to become? Did I love Draco? Or did I hate him?

Every time I thought of him, a big lump formed in my throat. I didn't know what that meant. Whenever I talked to him, it was as if the whole world was conspiring against me and didn't want me to be happy.

Even this morning, I was just talking to him and we were fine and suddenly everything just went downhill. I found myself saying all sorts of mean and nasty things to him, things I didn't want to say. I accused him of not trusting me and he practically agreed that he didn't trust me.

Why did things have to be so complicated? Maybe because you're making them complicated, said a voice in the back of my head.

I sighed. Why couldn't things be as simple as they were last night when I was crushed and wanted to die when he came along making me feel like I was worth something and that he cared about me.

This murder had been just what I needed, I realised. Not that I had planned for this to happen, or that I was glad that Ella had died. No, but it was just the distraction I needed to remind myself that he was DRACO MALFOY, a guy who was gorgeous, rich, titled and had plenty of other women around him to suit his taste. I was only Ginny Weasley, the girl whose name was unknown and who was forgotten. What could he want from me?

It was time for me to do my work and stop pretending that things could be different when I very well know they can't be.

I sighed again and then left the room.

Making my way to the lounge, I threw every thought of Draco and me out the window and concentrated on the girl who had just been murdered.

I entered the now empty lounge and saw Draco sitting at a table, waiting for me.

Since he had made the agreement to put our feelings aside (whatever they were), he greeted me as coldly and indifferently as usual.

He didn't say anything about me change of clothes, but I saw him raise his eyebrow slightly, which I pretended not to notice.

"Sorry for the delay," I said. I raised my little notebook I had brought and said, "I've charmed it so that if anyone tries to read it other than me, all they will see is a bunch of scribbles."

"That's fine," he said, indicating his own notebook, slightly bigger than mine. "I've done the same."

I nodded and he spoke again. "I've spoken to the Captain and he has ordered all the passengers to come in here one by one, ready to be questioned. When I ask the passenger's preferred drink, you'll get it for him or her and put a few drops of Veritaserum in."

"Sounds good," I said.

"Mrs. Aiden, if you please," said Draco in a loud voice.

Mrs. Aiden and her husband entered the lounge. Mrs. Aiden had a handkerchief in her hand and was drying up the remainder of her tears.

I waved my hand to the comfortable sofa in front of us and said, "Please be seated."

Draco settled in his chair and said, "Now Mr. and Mrs. Aiden, I want you to know that we will try our best to solve your daughter's murder but we will need you to tell the truth and be co-operative."

Mr. Aiden nodded and said, "You may call me Angus and my wife Marcel."

"Something to drink, Marcel and Angus?" I asked.

They politely declined but Draco said, "Come now, you've had a rough morning. I'm sure you would like something to perk you up. Joanne get Marcel a sherry, and what about you Angus?"

"I'll have some wine, if you please," he said.

I smiled placidly and went to get them their drinks. With my back turned on them, I dropped a few drops of the serum into their drinks. I brought it to them and said, "There you are."

They each took a sip each and said their thanks.

"Now, let's review what each of you did last night, starting from about seven o'clock," said Draco.

Marcel took a deep breath and said, "Well, after having a fight with Ella at lunch, I decided..."

I put up my hand and said to Draco, "Neil, don't you think we should start from the beginning? Like who exactly you are, what you do and your relationships with other members on this boat."

'Neil' didn't blink or say anything, but his hand was poised to write down their answers.

"Well," said Angus, "my name is Angus Aiden and this is my wife Marcel Aiden. I am retired, as is my wife. We came on this trip after our only daughter, Ella, suddenly left and married a Spanish bloke. We wanted to talk some reason into her and came running after her."

"Indeed," said Draco, writing it all down.

"So what happened on the train, when she saw you?" I asked, scribbling madly as well.

"She was a bit short with us," said Marcel. "She said some nasty things, telling us to stay out of her life and that she loved Orlando, but Angus and I disapproved of him. He had just broken up with someone, to whom he was supposed to be getting married, but for some reason he broke it off.

"Ella was adopted and her parents were originally Spanish. So she told us that she was finally with people who understood her and didn't make her feel uncomfortable. She thought we were trying to pry her away from her culture and background because we were jealous but it was nothing of the sort; we loved her to bits. We thought she was going to end up alone with a man like that, but she didn't believe us."

I wrote it all down quickly. "All right, so when she said nasty things to you, what did you do?"

"We remained on the train and now the boat," said Angus. "We were hoping that maybe if we were constantly around her, then we would be able to talk some sense into her. She refused to talk to us and always remained distant. But yesterday...." He glanced at his wife.

"What happened yesterday?" asked Draco, from behind his notebook.

"I got into a fight with her," said Marcel, starting to cry again. "I decided that I was going to tell her everything I knew. I told her that her husband was quite poor while we are quite rich, and that he had married her for her money. She got mad at us for saying that and stomped out of the dining hall."

"What time was this?" I asked.

"Around three," said Marcel. "Angus had decided he was tired of the whole thing and had left. Ella's husband wasn't there either, so that was when I confronted her."

"Three?" I questioned. "I was there at three though."

"This must have been after you left," said Marcel. "I saw that first your husband left and then you left after him."

I nodded and wrote it down.

"What happened after?" asked Draco.

"Well, I went back to my cabin, and..." she stopped and Angus interrupted.

"I told her to give it a rest and to just leave her alone," said Angus. "I took a nap after and so did Marcel. We decided that we were going to leave her alone and just steer clear of her."

Marcel picked up. "We didn't go to the dance, thinking she might storm off from there as well. We didn't want to cause a scene, so we stayed in our cabin."

"Around eleven, I decided I needed a sleeping mask for my eyes, since I couldn't fall asleep," said Marcel. "The captain's stockroom was near Ella's cabin and I bumped into her by accident. She thought I was following her so she yelled at me and told me she hated me. I told her I was there by coincidence, but she didn't believe me. She raged at me and so did her husband, telling me to leave them alone."

"And then what?" asked Draco.

"I never saw her again!" sobbed Marcel onto Agnes' shoulder. "The last thing she said to me was that she hated me, when I loved her so much and now she's gone."

For some reason, my heart went out to Marcel. I knew how it felt to have a loved one die after an argument.

The day before my mum died, I had a big row with her. She scolded me and told me that by not going out anymore, I was turning into a housemaid. She told me that I had the rest of my life ahead of me and that I should make the most of it. But my mind was also set to be a bore and to be depressed my whole life. I yelled back at her and told her that it was my choice whether or not to have a life and she should be pleased that I'd rather sit and read a book then go and sleep around.

She told me that I had to stop living in fantasy and start to accept life the way it was. She told me that she knew I was sad about our dead family members, but she thought I should make the most of the family that was alive, and not treat them like they were dead as well.

I told her that the family that was alive didn't even know whether or not I was alive, so why should I give a damn about them? I then stomped off to my room and slammed the door.

That was the closest I ever got to telling mum how lonely I really was.

That same night, after I had sobbed and trashed my room with my temper and had fallen asleep exhausted, she came to my room. She hugged me and told me she was sorry and that she loved me. I was still in a foul mood so I told her I didn't care, because I didn't love her, and I pushed her away.

The next morning she was found dead in her bed, after a heart attack in the middle of the night.

I never told anyone about that incident because every time I think about it, I feel so guilty I want to kill myself.

Tears rushed to my eyes now, but I tried to stop them. This wasn't about me, I told myself. This was about Marcel's dead daughter, who had told her she hated her.

"The next morning, I decided I was sorry and that I didn't want her to be upset with me, so I made up my mind to apologise to her. I went in and found her dead and I started screaming," said Marcel.

"Who do you believe killed her?" I asked.

"Orlando," she whispered.

"Do you know who the woman was, that her husband had broken up with?" asked Draco.

"No," said Angus. "We wanted to stay away from him and anything to do with him, so we really didn't care who it was. She was supposed to be stunning though, almost magical, many people said."

I rolled my eyes. How many times had I heard that about someone? "That will be all," I said. "We will be in contact with you later today about our findings."

They nodded, and Angus helped Marcel up and they left the lounge.

"Next please," said Draco in a booming voice.

Ella's husband, Orlando came in next. He was a handsome bloke, but not as handsome as Draco. He had black hair and light brown eyes. His nose was small and he had high cheekbones and long eyelashes (but not as long as Draco's). His eyes appeared red-shot as if he had been crying. He was wearing a light blue shirt that appeared a bit dirty.

"Please take a seat," I said. "My name is Joanne Rowling and this is my husband Neil. We are investigators from the Scotland Yard."

He wrinkled his nose. "How did you know that there would be a murder then?"

Draco answered. "We didn't. Actually we were on our honeymoon," I gaped at him, "and when this murder took place, we felt that we had to help.

Ha! Honeymoon, my ass. We fought so much and had so many misunderstandings I wasn't sure anyone on this boat believed us to me married.

He nodded. "I understand."

"Before we begin to question you, why don't you have a drink?" I proposed.

I saw him glance longingly at the bar. "Um, no. That won't be necessary," he said.

I threw a glance at Draco. He caught my drift and said, "Oh come on, we insist. It's on us." He grinned at him.

A sparkle of joy lit up his eye, "All right then. You are too kind." His accent was rough, but he spoke understandable English."

"What would you like?" I asked.

"Vodka," he answered excitedly.

I threw another glance in Draco's direction and waited for him to get up, but he didn't.

I groaned inwardly, cursing him for being such a lazy rich bastard, while I got Orlando his drink. I put the serum in and then handed the man his drink, while smiling pleasantly, trying to appear as if I wasn't disgusted.

He said thanks, smiled back, took a sip of his drink and said, "Your wife is beautiful, Mr. Rowling."

I was ready to roll my eyes again in exasperation and glanced at Draco. He didn't appear fazed at all.

"Thank you," he said, without emotion. "Now, let's begin. Your name, residency and work if you please."

Residency? He hadn't asked The Aidens that, I thought. Maybe he had forgotten...

"Orlando Bloom," said the man, after taking another sip. "I live in Spain, but I have been looking for work in the UK."

"You are the deceased's husband?" asked Draco, confirming.

Of course he's the deceased's husband! I wanted to cry out. We just discussed this with the deceased's parents!

He nodded.

"Please tell us when and where you met your wife," pressed on Draco.

"Well, like I said, I was looking for work when I fell in love with Ella Aiden. She was also Spanish but adopted into an Irish household. She fell in love with me immediately, although her parent's tried their best to keep us apart."

"How long have you been married for then?" I asked.

"A month today," he said.

"So, what happened when you two wanted to get married?" asked Draco.

"Well Ella told me that her parents didn't like me because I was Spanish and they wanted her to remain in Ireland and within the Irish community.

"I understood what she meant, so we ran away and got married. We heard of this cruise so we decided to go on it as our honeymoon. Ella's parents came after us and tried to bring her back home, but Ella was firm and stubborn. She told them that she loved me, that she was married now and had her own life," he said.

I nodded and wrote it down. "So did they do anything rash to try to bring her home?"

"Not really," he said, thinking. "They were very nice about it actually. They just said that they loved her and wanted her to come home. They tried to speak to us and when we refused, they didn't really do anything about."

"Please tell me everything that happened yesterday until this morning, when you found her dead," requested Draco.

"Yesterday morning, we had breakfast on our balcony and it was quite splendid. After that, we went to the lounge and found that Ella's mother was there. We left immediately and decided to stroll around the boat. After that I got a bit of a headache so I went off to have a nap, before the dance that evening."

"Why did you get a headache?" asked Draco. "Any particular reason.

He smiled sheepishly. "Well you see, I am not from a very rich family, so I rarely get to indulge in any of the luxuries Ella normally does...did. And when we ran away together, she had enough money with her to make sure we had a comfortable life. So, I have never had much champagne before and the first time I tried it, I fell in love with it. You could say I had had a few too many drinks that morning."

No kidding, I thought.

"So I got a headache and went off to bed. I left Ella in the dining room and a half-hour later she stormed in, in a full rage. She said that her mother had cornered her in the dining room and she had stomped off, being sick of their endless talks.

"That evening we went to the dance and waltzed in each other's arms. At eleven or so, we came back. As I was unlocking the door, I saw Ella's mother walking around and Ella blew up. She started yelling about her following her around and saying nasty things."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"I was rather drunk," he said, smiling again, sheepishly, "so I just went in and heard her yelling outside. Finally she came in, huffing and muttering to herself. I changed my clothes and immediately fell asleep. The next morning I woke up to find blood all over the sheets and her dead. Her mother came in and saw all the blood, and started screaming."

"During the night, did you not feel anything or hear anything beside you?" asked Draco.

"No, and I found it the strangest thing, because I sleep very lightly and always hear Ella moving around during the night. Last night though, it was as if I were a log and was dead asleep, but that also could have been the effect of the alcohol I had had," he said, thoughtfully. "But I woke up feeling cramped and like I hadn't slept well. I felt like I had spent the night sleeping in a closet." He laughed.

"Did you kill her?" Draco asked in a soft voice.

"No," he said. "I loved her."

"Can you please tell me your last relationship and to what extent it went?" I cut in before Draco could say anything else.

"I was dating a beautiful French girl and we were even engaged. She was an actress and I met her in Spain while she was shooting the scenes of a movie. We were so in love from that day, that a month after I met her, I proposed to her and she said yes. But I caught her kissing another man so I dumped her and made my way to UK and met Ella," he said.

"Name of that woman?" Inquired Draco.

"Elle Dela," he said. "It was quite odd, but she told me it was French. She had the most beautiful face ever and she had long blond, almost white hair and the brightest blue eyes you had ever seen," he said dreamily, forgetting that his wife was dead. "She had a magnetic pull about her. I would find myself staring at her and not even listening to a word she said and just admiring her beauty. I knew I was lucky, because I always saw other men staring longingly after her, but she paid them no heed."

I scribbled it all down and I saw Draco doing the same.

"How was your relationship with your wife?" I asked.

"We weren't very romantic, but we were attracted to each other. Ella had a short temper and got mad very easily."

Draco suddenly cleared his throat and I had the distinct impression he was mocking me.

He continued. "She didn't like my drinking so much and got mad at me over that, but we loved each other. Anyway, every married couple fights. I'm sure you two have experienced the same."

Draco shifted in his chair and I felt like laughing.

I saw that he was waiting for an answer so I said, "Yes we have. But did Ella know of your relationship with Elle?" I found the similarity between their names uncanny.

"No she didn't know. She knew I had dated other women, but she was all right with it," he said.

"You also have a brother on this boat?" I asked, remembering what Felicia told me.

"Coincidentally, my brother happened to be on the train with his wife as well and we spent some time with them. But they did not come on this boat, they had some business Jordan."

Draco wrote it down and no one said anything for a few minutes.

"Well, I think that will be all," said Draco. "You've been a great help, we will keep in touch."

He nodded and left.

I turned to Draco. "That was some character."

"He was," said Draco, thoughtfully.

"I believe Marcel and Angus though; I think he was just out for her money. He's here drinking vodka, talking about his ex-girlfriend like it's high tea while his wife is dead," I said. "I find that ridiculous."

He shrugged. "Some people don't display their emotions as openly as you do, Ginny."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I demanded.

He sighed. "Nothing. Forget I said it."

"Fine," I said. "Who's next?"

"Well, some people got off the train and didn't come on the boat, so we have Gabrielle, Evan, Mr. Black, Aisha, her brothers, her mother, Felicia and Arnold," said Draco looking down at his list.

"Let's start in reverse order," I suggested.

"Fine." He pressed a button on the intercom on the table next to him and said, "Felicia and Arnold please."

They came in and took a seat before us.

"Before we get started," I said, "what would you like to drink?"

They politely declined but Draco said, "Please, I insist."

Felicia smiled, looking sorry. "I'm afraid I had some dental work done recently and can't drink anything hot or cold for a while."

"And I don't like to drink in the morning," said Arnold. "I feel it is a vulgar habit."

"But surely you would like some coffee or tea?" I asked, desperate. I hadn't realised they could refuse a drink.

"No thank you. I have just breakfasted and had tea then," he said. "But thank you for asking."

What now? I thought.

This however, didn't deter Draco. In fact he looked happy about it. He just smiled and said, "That's fine. We just wanted to make sure you were comfortable before we started interrogating you."

They smiled and then Felicia said, "If you don't mine me asking, why are you solving this case?"

"Of course," I said. "Well, you know our names already, Joanne and Neil Rowling and we are actually private investigators from the Scotland Yard. We were on our honeymoon but we felt that we would like to help solve this case," I said smiling acidly at Draco.

He smiled just as coldly back. "Well for starters, please give us your name, work and residency."

"Arnold Grey and I have my own ice cream factory in Scotland," Arnold said.

"Felicia Grey and I help my husband with his factory in Scotland," said Felicia.

"Reason for this trip?" I said.

"Just a vacation," said Felicia. "But it doesn't feel like one now."

"Relationship with the deceased," said Draco, writing it all down.

"We didn't know her," said Arnold. "Never heard of her or her husband."

Felicia looked thoughtful and said, "I spoke to her once, I believe. My cabin was next to hers so I was out on the balcony and she was out on hers. We talked about how beautiful the Nile really was."

"Anything else?" asked Draco.

"No," said Felicia. "It was a rather short conversation."

He nodded and wrote it down and I continued. "Please tell us what you did yesterday."

"Well, I wasn't feeling good yesterday," said Arnold, "so we ordered breakfast in our cabin and ate."

Felicia smiled at me and said, "Then we just stayed in our cabin and for lunch, I went to get some food from the Dining Hall because I didn't want to bother the staff again. So I went there and ran into you Joanne."

I smiled back and she continued, "I got the food and went back to my cabin. There was to be dance that night so Joanne asked me to help her dress up."

I blushed slightly and looked at my notebook, remembering last night's events.

"I went to her room because Arnold was resting and helped her get dressed," she said. "I was planning on going to the dance, but since Arnold was sick I didn't feel up to it, so we spent the rest of the night in our cabin."

"Did you leave your cabin at any time?" asked Draco.

"Perhaps I went out to get some fresh air in the balcony," said Felicia. "But otherwise, I didn't really leave the cabin."

Writing it all down, I nodded.

"During the night, or before that, did anything peculiar happen?" I asked.

"Yes," said Arnold. "Around eleven, there was some yelling going on outside and it was giving me a headache, so I told Felicia to go and check it out."

"I went out and saw Marcel Aiden standing there while the now-deceased was yelling at her. Apparently they were mother and daughter, but I could never tell because I thought Marcel Aiden was Irish and the girl looked Spanish," said Felicia.

"I waited for them to stop yelling so I could tell them to be quiet, but after a few seconds the girl just slammed the door and her mother left."

"Did you hear what they were saying?" asked Draco.

"Not really. But it was some nasty stuff," said Felicia. "Ella, the girl, told her mother to keep out of her life and to stop following her around. She kept repeating it, so I tuned out after awhile."

"What about Marcel Aiden?" I asked. "What was her expression?"

"Why, she looked absolutely stricken!" said Felicia. "I would too if my daughter started yelling at me like that. She looked very sad and in the end she just padded of to her room. I always thought her quite uptight and rude, but after that, my heart softened for the poor dear."

"Anything else unusual?" questioned Draco. "Did you hear anything during the night?"

"Felicia is a heavy sleeper, so after that incident outside she fell asleep," said Arnold thoughtfully. "I couldn't sleep though, since I had spent so much of the day resting. Around one thirty, right after I went to the bathroom, I heard a soft thud in the bedroom next to me. It sounded like something heavy fell."

"Interesting," said Draco, turning the page in his notebook. "You are sure it came from the deceased's bedroom?"

"Positive," said Arnold. "I sleep on the left side of the bed and the bed is against the wall and I heard it from the left, which was her bedroom."

I scribbled it down quickly and then asked, "Did you kill her?"

They didn't seem surprised by our question.

"No," they both said.

"What happened in the morning?" asked Draco.

"Felicia was dead asleep in the morning, but I heard screaming from the bedroom beside us, so I went to investigate," said Arnold. "The girl was murdered and her mother was screaming. I didn't have the heart to tell her to be quiet so I just left."

Draco asked, "Is that it?"

They both nodded yes.

"If you think of something else, please tell us," I said.

They both nodded again and Draco dismissed them.

I turned to him. "So, what do you think? Don't you find it suspicious that they declined a drink?"

He started to smirk, but then stopped. "Not really. They have the right not to want a drink."

"True," I said. "But why did we assume she got murdered. What if she committed suicide?"

He appeared to be thinking. "Maybe she could have been. We'll have to ask the doctor. But what motive would she had had to have killed herself?"

I shrugged. "Well she seemed unhappy about her mother following her."

"That's no reason to commit suicide," he said.

"Maybe not," I said. "But maybe she was really sad about being adopted and I'm not really sure about her relationship with her husband. I don't know that they got along, and Orlando said they used to fight."

He didn't look at me when he spoke again. "Everyone fights, Ginny. But just because they fought doesn't mean she was unhappy and killed herself."

"Maybe, but there could be more to it," I said, evasively.

He got ready to press the intercom when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," said Draco in a voice so much like Snape's that it gave me the creeps.

The doctor and the captain entered.

"Yes?" said Draco.

"I have decided that this cruise should stop early because of the murder," said the captain. "It seems like the best thing to do, so we're going to stop tomorrow night at Qena. I have informed the passengers and they understand. Will you be able to solve the case by then?"

I gaped at him and before I could collect my thoughts, Draco went, "Of course."

"Wonderful," said the captain and he left.

Draco turned to the doctor and he spoke, "I have completed the autopsy and have found some rather peculiar things."

"Before you tell us those things, can you please tell me if for sure it was murder or if perhaps she committed suicide?" I asked.

He nodded. "She was murdered for sure by the way the wound was in her heart. The angle was impossible for her to have stabbed herself. Someone else did this for sure."

I wrote it down and said, "What peculiar things?"

"She was one month pregnant," said the doctor. "Also, the knife that killed her was five inches long, almost a sword or a dagger one could say."

"Five inches?" I repeated, shocked.

"Indeed and none of the kitchen knives on this boat are that long," he said.

"Perhaps the murderer had his or her own," I said. "We haven't checked the passengers' luggage yet."

He nodded. "But still, a weapon of that length is quite unusual and I have yet to see one. The wound was so deep that it went through her heart and through the other side."

I gasped.

He nodded and said, "I was shocked and surprised to see it as well. The wound is three inches long, Mr. Rowling," he said to Draco.

Draco wrote it down and said, "Anything else?"

The doctor hesitated. "This may not be worth mentioning..."

"Please tell us," Draco prompted.

"Well three of the girl's hairs were cut in half," he said, playing with his hands.

"Interesting," murmured Draco, writing it all down.

I didn't exactly see how missing hair was going to help us solve the case, but I wrote it down anyway.

"Estimated time of murder?" asked Draco.

"From one to two AM," said the doctor. "For that there is no doubt and it can only be from then."

I nodded and wrote it down. "Anything else?"

He shook his head and Draco dismissed him.

"Who's next?" I asked Draco.

"Aisha and her family," he answered and he called them in.

Since they were a family, they came in together.

Aisha smiled uncertainly at me, wondering what was going on.

I was about to speak when Draco said, "Perhaps it'd be better for you to just write everything down, because I'm going to speak to them in Turkish."

I sighed and poised my pen, ready to write.

"Do you understand Turkish?" asked Draco in Turkish.

"Yes," said Aisha's mother.

"My name is Neil Rowling and this is my wife Joanne," he introduced us. "We are private investigators from the Scotland Yard and we'd like to ask you some questions. But first, what can I get you to drink?"

"Nothing," they politely declined.

"Please have something," said Draco.

"No thank you," said Aisha. "We do not drink and my mother is diabetic so she cannot have anything with sugar in it, or much caffeine. So we try to refrain from such things as well."

Draco smiled and nodded. "Please introduce yourselves, where you live, and your work."

"My name Aisha Freida and I live in Istanbul. I am a teacher," said Aisha.

"I am Mariam Freida and I also live with my family in Istanbul and I don't work anymore," said her mother.

One of her brothers spoke. "My name Ahmad Ibrahim and I am an engineer in Istanbul." He had dark brown hair and grey eyes, like Draco. I smiled when I looked at his eyes, thinking of Draco. Of course Draco's eyes were much nicer.

"I am Muhammad Ibrahim and I am an auto worker in Istanbul," said the other one.

"Please tell me what you did yesterday," said Draco.

"Well, yesterday," said Aisha's mother, "we ate breakfast together, as usual. Our cabin is right next to the girl who died."

"Hold on a second, where exactly is your cabin?" interrupted Draco.

"Right beside it," said Aisha. "Hers was in the middle, between mine and my mothers and Felicia and Arnold."

Draco asked her brothers, "What about you two?"

"We share the cabin beside our sister and mother," said Ahmad.

Writing it all down, Draco said, "Continue."

"So I said good morning to her," continued Aisha' s mother. "She said good morning and then I went back into my cabin to finish my breakfast. Aisha and I sat down after, to talk about her wedding in our balcony. Ahmad and Muhammad went to take a walk around. For lunch we went to the dining hall and ate."

"Did you notice the deceased?" asked Draco.

"Not really," answered Aisha. "We were busy talking, but I noticed her leave in a huff and then another lady left after her. But other than that, nothing."

"What about the rest of the day?" asked Draco.

"We did not do anything in particular," said Muhammad. "I did some things for work, Ahmad slept and mother and Aisha conversed. At dinner though, there was supposed to be a dance, so we decided to stay in our cabin and eat. At around nine-thirty, Mother and Aisha came in to our cabin for a change and we ate our meal together. After that we just talked for a while, until perhaps two-thirty."

"Any particular reason you ate your dinner so late?" asked Draco. It was a good question.

"Well, we had eaten a big lunch that day," said Ahmad. "You may see the receipt for it if you wish, so we didn't feel like eating earlier, but we eat late anyway in our country because the system is different there."

Draco nodded and let them continue.

Their mother continued. "At twelve-thirty, we got tired and headed off to bed. Aisha and I left for our cabin and went back through the long balcony. I went to sleep comfortably. At around two-thirty, I had to use the bathroom so I got up and went. As I was coming back to bed, I saw a shadow in the girl's balcony. I moved my curtains and saw that it was she, standing there, staring out into the Nile. I didn't know what she was doing, so I just went off to bed.

"I didn't wake again until the morning, when I heard shouting. I went to investigate and found a woman screaming her head off because the girl had died. Apparently she was her mother."

Draco wrote it all down and said, "Anything else you remember?"

Aisha nodded. "When we were in Ahmad and Muhammad's cabin, my mother was in the bathroom when this occurred, around eleven. I heard a commotion outside so I went to look and I found Ella yelling at her mother. I heard a bit of the conversation before I realised it was rude of me to overhear, so I went back in."

"What were they saying, do you remember?" questioned Draco.

"Well, Ella was shouting at her mother to stay out of her life and to stop following her around. That was when I found out the woman was Ella's mother," said Aisha.

"Anything else?"

"No, I quickly slipped inside before they could notice me," said Aisha. "But now that you mention it, something did occur during the night. Around one I heard a soft thud, like something fell."

"Was this noise so loud that it awoke you?" he asked.

"No, it wasn't. I was having trouble sleeping because I was thinking of all the horrible things that Ella had said to her mother and I was feeling really bad for her mother, so I couldn't sleep that much," said Aisha. "And I was just drifting off to sleep when I heard it. It definitely came from Ella's room."

Draco nodded and wrote it down.

"Anything else you may have forgotten?" asked Draco.

They thought for a moment and then they said no.

"Well thank you so much for your co-operation during this. You've been helpful," said Draco. He got up, as did Aisha's family. He shook hands with Muhammad and Ahmad and then they left.

He then turned to me and I asked him, "Who's next?"

"Mr. Black," he answered.

I nodded and he called him in.

Draco repeated all the same questions for Mr. Black.

He didn't take a drink either, saying that it was an old habit of his not to accept food or drink from someone he did not know.

I couldn't help but smile at that. He was a smart man.

"My name is William Black, I live in the US and I am a retired FBI officer," he said. Oh well, that explained the extra vigilance against the drink.

His cabin was near ours and his day was very boring. All he did was sort through some papers, eat and take walks around the boat. Since he wasn't anywhere near Ella's room, he knew and heard nothing.

His interview was done quickly, so when he was done I asked Draco again, "Who's next?"

He smiled mischievously and said, "Evan."

"No way," I said. "I'm not going to be here for his interview, I'll be in the bathroom or something." I turned to leave but he grabbed my hand.

"You should stay, Ginny," he said.

I tried to take my hand out of his grasp, but he wouldn't let go. "Do you know what he tried to do to me?"

"You gave him that chance, despite my warnings," he said, his eyes cold and grey. "You have to stay and interview everyone."

"Are you going to make me?" Whoa! I thought that little line was pretty good on my part, considering my lack of thinking ability, but he looked pretty serious.

He began to say something, but suddenly I began to sway from side to side and then I blacked out.

A little while later, I heard someone calling my name. The voice sounded distant and far away, in some dark corner of the blackness that I saw before my eyes.

"Ginny. Ginny, wake up," said the voice.

I struggled to regain consciousness and suddenly felt cold water splash on my face.

I screamed and my eyes flew open. I saw Draco sitting before me, in his hand a water goblet, his eyes full of concern.

"What in bloody hell are you doing?" I demanded. I was lying on the floor of the lounge and my brand new white blouse was soaked.

"I called your name twenty times and you still didn't wake up so I used a more effective method," he said, smirking. It was the first time I had seen him smirk in days. It made my heart start beating faster.

I groaned and sat up. My head spun and it also hurt from where I had landed on the floor.

"What happened? How long was I out for?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.

"It's kind of obvious that you fainted and you were only out for about five minutes," he said. "Are you ok?"

"I just fainted on hardwood floor and banged my head. Do you think I'm ok?!" I practically yelled.

He smirked again. "You sound good to me."

I groaned again and smacked his arm. "Are you just going to sit there looking stupid or are you going to help me up?"

He shrugged. "Thought I'd just leave you there, your hair matched the floor."

I looked down and saw that the floor was a mahogany brown colour, the exact colour of my hair.

"Ha ha, very funny," I said taking his extended hand and getting up. "Don't think I'm speaking to you or anything. I'm still mad at you."

He smirked and said, "Don't think this excuses you from doing Evan's interview either. You still have to do it."

"Whatever," I said. "I'll do it, but what about my shirt that you've ruined?"

He looked annoyed. "Being a witch, have you ever heard of magic or a wand, Weasley?"

I smiled sheepishly. "It's in our room."

He raised a perfect eyebrow at me. "Are you telling me that you're walking around without your wand? Are you crazy?"

"To be working for you, yeah," I mumbled.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," I said, smiling brightly.

He rolled his eyes and performed the drying spell.

I settled myself back into my seat and Draco sat back down as well. He called Evan and he sauntered in.

I got shivers down my spine when he came in, but I took a deep breath, sat up straight and got ready to interview Evan on his view of last night's events.