Takes A Criminal To Catch A Criminal [Threadbare Tailor]

[Eli Swan]

It was nearing the end of the first day of investigating, and some of the "concerned citizens" with their shiny, official-looking badges were knocking off for home, to return bright-eyed and bushy-tailed the next morning, but Eli still had one thing on his list. He'd bounced around to all of the various locations of interest today, taking at least a cursory glance at all of them, but there was one that had particularly intrigued him--the tailor's shop. Or, rather, the locked room in the back.

The widow kept the key to the room, as he understood it, and although of course people had asked to be let in, she had stubbornly refused to open it for anyone. Eli found that more than a little suspicious--they were investigating a murder, after all, and she was one of the suspects. What was in that room that was worse than a murder suspicion? What secrets did she not want anyone else to see?

Mrs. Webster had only been in fleetingly throughout the day, and she wasn't there when Eli slipped in. Good luck for him, he thought, moving through the tiny little shop towards the locked door.

With one last glance around the shop as if to ensure he was really alone (though it was small and bare enough that the idea of his having missed another person in the shop was quite ridiculous), Eli pulled out his wand and a small metal lockpick, and crouched by the back door. He wasn't exactly an excellent lockpick, but he'd had occasion to put his skills to the test once or twice whilst he'd been out on Cursebreaking missions--and a handful of times in slightly less reputable circumstances--and he didn't think the door would take him more than ten or fifteen minutes at most, unless it had some particularly strong charms about it.

  

[Connolly Brennan]

It wasn't often that Brennan had time off from his real job as an auror. And even though he did, the idea of not doing auror like things was a bit absurd. So when the murder had made the papers but the ghost of the deceased refused to involve the Ministry, Brennan surely couldn't pass it down. They weren't technically on the case but Brennan didn't see why he wouldn't be allowed to follow the ghost's rules.

It was growing later and Brennan could see that many were leaving but he was used to pulling late hours when it came to work so he didn't really see the point in going home yet. Besides, Connolly House was always rather chaotic so he had no qualms with avoiding it for a time.

He found himself going into the tailor shop, not the biggest fan of its owner nor her rather secretive ways about her back room. He was just as curious as to what he could find back there but he'd hardly stoop to the level of the gentleman he now saw. It was obvious, at least to him, what he was trying to do but he wasn't about to make a ridiculous scene over it.

"What are you doing?" he asked quietly after he'd shuffled quietly, and quickly, over to him, "That woman will surely have your head if she catches you!" He was fairly certain she would, too. She seemed of the crazy sort, he wouldn't put it passed her to do such a thing.

  

[Eli Swan]

Eli looked up when the door opened, but as the person coming in had an investigator's badge, he didn't really see a reason to stop what he was doing. This badge basically made him invincible, as he saw it; he'd been given permission to investigate all of the spaces that were labelled suspect, and that was what he was doing. Investigating. Just a little more resourcefully than the average person might.

The bloke who'd come in wasn't long in crossing to where Eli was, due to the size of the shop. Eli looked up at him from where he was and offered him a devil-may-care grin. "I won't let her catch me, then," he said cavalierly. "Come on; you've been wondering what's in that back room of hers, too. Everyone's been wondering."

  

[Connolly Brennan]

Brennan couldn't help but to roll his eyes at the other gentleman. Some people were taking their role of "investigator" a bit too seriously in his opinion. He really hoped that something like this didn't become the norm as it surely hindered his real job. People gallivanting about thinking they were the law when they really weren't made things rather hard.

"Everyone has," he said with a shake of his head, "But as an auror I can't exactly condone breaking and entering." He looked at the other man with a pointed gaze, trying to prove a point. Though he was definitely curious himself, he'd just rather not be arrested for it.

  

[Eli Swan]

If there was anything the other man could have said that would have deflated Eli like an old balloon, that was it. An auror. Just his luck.

He ought to have learned his lesson after he'd had to have Cash bail him out of Black's. This sort of work, while lucrative, just came with an unacceptable amount of risk--and he was a Cursebreaker, and risk was sort of what he did. So maybe he was a little bit of a adrenaline junkie, too, but he ought to be able to find some way to work that out of his system that wasn't quite so... illegal.

Dropping his hands to his sides and quickly tucking the lockpick into his sleeve (as if that would help, when the man had quite obviously seen what Eli was up to), the blond boy said simply, "Well. Shit."

  

[Connolly Brennan]

Brennan chuckled and shook his head. He wasn't going to arrest him, that would be a bit pointless especially since he wasn't on the job. Not to mention he hadn't fully broken in so he'd just pretend as though he'd never seen what was happening though he was grateful that he had stopped what he was doing.

"I'm not about to arrest you," he said with a small smirk, "I'm investigating myself. And though I'd love to see what's in there, that's not the way to be going about it." Though something told him that he may come back and try again another time. "Have you had any luck with anything else though?" he asked, making an attempt of comparing notes, "I'd almost wager to bet Miss Webster took care of the old man herself."

  

[Eli Swan]

Eli was certainly excited to hear that he wasn't about to be arrested; he didn't know much about how bail worked, but he was willing to bet he didn't have however much they'd put on him. Plus Angie wasn't in the country, and writing to Cash to ask for bail money would be more than a little bit awkward. It would also be a little awkward to try and explain that to his boss the next morning at Gringott's.

"I mean, there's got to be a body in there," he said enthusiastically, tucking his wand into his back pocket and scooting away from the door so that he could stand up. The auror was taller than him, because of course he was, so Eli was still feeling slightly intimidated, but much less so since the other man had acknowledged that he wanted to get into that room, too. "Otherwise why would she be so keen on keeping it hidden, when there's a murder investigation on? I don't think she would have done it in cold blood, though," he remarked. "She doesn't seem like the type. I'd bet it was an accident... like she tried to Imperio him into doing something, and she wasn't very good with the spell," he speculated.

  

[Connolly Brennan]

Brennan nodded. What was being said truly did make sense though he wasn't entirely sure either. There were still so many whatifs, especially without a body. That was the most frustrating part. It made deciding who had done it that much harder.

"I'm betting she's got some sort of sweatshop going on down there and doesn't want to get arrested for illegal labor," he said, hoping that was to be true compared to what could be happening down there, "But I agree, I don't think she'd be the type to get her hands dirty. What about that locket?"

  

[Eli Swan]

Eli frowned for a moment, thinking over what the other man had said. "It's possible. That does seem like the sort of weapon a woman might use, if she were going to murder someone," he agreed. "But it seems awfully premeditated. I don't know. I don't think she's really got the motive. If we were talking about Mrs. Fox, maybe," Eli said with a shrug. Mrs. Fox, however, wasn't a suspect, as far as he knew. She was Mr. Lane's daughter, after all, and she seemed appropriately distraught by her father's death, even though she was undoubtedly connected to Mr. Leroy Fox, who Eli still thought was suspicious, and the brat of an eleven year old.

"I just think an accident seems more likely with Mrs. Webster. She didn't have enough to gain from his death to plan it out," he remarked, then pulled out his small notepad from his back pocket. "Want to compare notes? Since, you know, you're not going to let me check out her back room," he joked with a nervous laugh.

  

[Connolly Brennan]

Brennan shrugged. He still thought it could be possible. Perhaps Mr. Lane had figured out her little secret so she planned it as such. He wasn't entirely sure but exchanging notes seemed like a good idea in that moment so he brought out his own notepad so that it could be done.

He paused before he left and look at him with a serious look, "Don't try breaking in there again. Someone else might not be so forgiving." And with that, he took his leave as he jotted down his additional notes from the other gentleman.