Vilan scanned the boy’s body again.
The bruises under the skin, the unnaturally twisted limbs, and the numerous traces of the Cruciatus Curse displayed in his vision—all indicated that this poor boy had suffered inhumane abuse before his death.
Combining the lividity deposited on the body’s skin with the delay in rigor mortis due to the cold weather, 【Subtle Observation】 determined the victim’s time of death to be last Thursday or Friday.
It was now Wednesday, so Bader’s death had occurred six or seven days prior.
The cruel scenes that 【Subtle Observation】 had reconstructed for him were too much for Vilan to bear, so he could only lower his head and close his eyes.
“The Aurors will arrive shortly; let’s wait and see what they have to say.”
Vilan suggested, “After all, the serial murder case has been investigated by the Aurors all along, so they are more experienced in this…”
As Vilan was speaking, several successive bursts of air explosion suddenly sounded from outside the door.
It was Mr. Gobert; he had called the Aurors over.
They Apparated just outside the door.
Mr. Gobert, who was leading them, had his wand glowing with a Lumos charm, allowing Vilan to clearly see the Aurors’ faces.
Vilan immediately recognized Ruben Carson’s tall, strong build and characteristic dark skin. Behind him, Vilan also saw a woman with pink hair.
“Tonks!”
Vilan exclaimed her original surname in surprise.
Immediately, Vilan realized his mistake; she should now be addressed as Nymphadora Lupin.
Or, Mrs. Lupin would be more appropriate—she had said she disliked the name Nymphadora.
The Aurors surrounded Thomas, listening to him repeat the general circumstances of finding the body.
Then Carson led his team into the house.
“You’re Vilan?”
Mrs. Lupin greeted Vilan warmly as soon as they met:
“It’s a pity I wasn’t at that Quidditch World Cup; I only heard James speak of your wisdom and calmness! Merlin’s trousers, I really can’t believe a child like you could do so much!”
“And Hermione! Harry told me about you. Why are you here too? This place is so scary; I’ll send you back to school later…”
“No, Mrs. Lupin,” Hermione refused her, “Vilan is one of the witnesses who discovered the body. I’ll go back after he finishes giving his testimony.”
Vilan interrupted Mrs. Lupin’s chatter:
“Mrs. Lupin, now is not the time for this. Please take a look; this murder case is almost identical to the serial murder case from a while ago.”
The Aurors were taking photographs for evidence at the scene. Mrs. Lupin said Vilan could step out for a while; after they finished taking pictures, they needed to carry the deceased’s body out and arrange it.
Vilan and Hermione met up with Ron outside.
It was very cold, and light snow continued to fall. Ron’s eyebrows, eyelashes, and fringe were all covered in white.
He asked Ron if Mr. Thomas had provided any valuable clues.
“No.”
Ron’s snow-dusted eyebrows furrowed, and snowflakes fell from them. Although he had a pen and paper, he hadn’t written much:
“I asked him outside and also listened to what he explained to Mr. Gobert.”
“This single old man owns many properties, and the last time he opened the door here was four months ago.”
“At that time, he just hired a few people to thoroughly clean the dust inside the house and the weeds outside.”
“After that, he never came back.”
Vilan looked at this small house he had once loved so much and dreamed of forever.
Now, an Auror was waving his wand, moving a stiff child’s body wrapped in a black bag from inside the house to outside.
Another Auror was sealing the diary—a crucial piece of evidence—in a transparent bag.
He had saved money for this for a long time, so for such a sudden change to occur, it would be a lie to say he wasn't upset.
Vilan suppressed the surge of bitterness in his heart and gritted his teeth, making a decision: he must find the murderer who cruelly tortured and killed Bader before dumping his body here.
“McCarthy said the deceased resembles Bader Crouch, who went missing some time ago. William, please notify the family and have them identify the body.”
Vilan heard Carson assigning tasks one by one.
He still habitually called Mrs. Lupin “Tonks,” though it was also possible Mrs. Lupin preferred to be called that:
“The Hogwarts student, Weilan Costa, is one of the important witnesses who discovered the body. Tonks, go to Hogwarts and inform Dumbledore about this matter.”
“Four more people, respectively, will take statements from Thomas, McCarthy, Gobert, Mrs. Crouch, and these three students from Hogwarts.”
“The rest of you, come with me for an initial on-site inspection.”
Vilan cooperated obediently, giving his statement. During this, he told the Auror taking his statement his entire experience and speculations.
This included the commission Mrs. Crouch gave them, the possible or impossible existence of Mr. Crouch’s mistress, the secondary disposal of the body, and the inhumane torture Bader had suffered before his death.
Because Vilan, Hermione, and Ron had all been staying at Hogwarts for some time prior.
At most, Vilan and Ron had gone to Hogsmeade to choose robes, but they had returned very early that day—all of which could be corroborated by many people, so their suspicion was ruled out first.
“Mr. Carson wants you to go up to the roof.”
When the statement was finished, a young Auror relayed this message to Vilan.
He led Vilan around to the back of the house. A long ladder had already been magically erected there.
The tall pine trees planted behind the house blocked the cold wind, and the ladder was very steady, but the accumulated snow on the ladder made Vilan’s fingers ache.
Vilan climbed the long ladder onto the red-tiled roof.
Carson, holding his glowing wand, was already waiting for him there.
“There’s blood up here,” Carson had to shout very loudly to keep his voice from being drowned out by the snowy wind. “Come and see if the killer murdered the child here.”
Vilan consumed magic power for the second time, using 【Minute Observation】 to examine the rooftop environment.
Carson shone his wand for him, and large patches of thin snow on the roof had already been cleared away by him.
Vilan saw drops of blood around the chimney.
“There’s too little blood,”
Vilan replied to Carson.
This statement carried a lot of information.
Because judging by the amount of blood from the body, the deceased must have been thrown into the chimney shortly after death.
Otherwise, if the blood of a dead body had settled internally for some time, it wouldn’t have flowed out that much.
From all the signs on the roof, including the cutting magic 【Minute Observation】 found on several tiles, little Bader must have been decapitated here.
But there was too little blood.
A living person’s heart is still beating, and the carotid arteries are still supplying blood; if the head were severed at this point, a large amount of blood would spurt out in a short time.
However, there were only a few drops of dried bloodstains on the roof, appearing as if they had dripped.
This indicated that Bader had just lost his life when he was brought to the roof. The killer decapitated him and threw him into the chimney.
After falling from the fireplace, the body’s severed neck faced downwards, and the still-fresh blood, due to gravity, slowly flowed to cover half the room’s floor.
Vilan looked around the four corners of the roof and found traces of Apparition magic again in the northwest corner.
At this point, the entire process of disposing of the body was clear.