An old friend
“Oh... Evan, Pandora. Hi, what can I do for you two?” Dorcas asks as she allows them inside.
After it set in that Dorcas could have a massive part in The Carty Juniors actions, Pandora and Evan agree to pay them a visit, as it could easily benefit the case and give them more clues to unmask the psychopath if Dorcas just so happened to slip up.
“Nothing much really, we don’t want to bother you too much” Pandora says as she and Evan take a seat. “Before we begin, we apologise as I’m sure this isn’t the reunion you wanted, as it’s not what we want” Dorcas nods “I’m sure you’re aware but we are currently on a mission to unravel the identity of The Carty Junior, and we’ve gotten quite close actually, oh well we did, that was until recently where the only proper leads we had actually died, murdered. Do you know anything about that?”
“I don’t believe I do. How many did he kill?”
“five people” Evan responded “Two of which were done with knifes that traced back to your family. The fingerprints belonged to your father, we will also be questioning Regulus so don’t feel like you’re being singled out here, Its just our job, May I ask do you know why your father was the only fingerprints we found on the weapons?”
“I honestly don’t know. Can I see the knives?” Pandora pulls out two pictures of the weapons in question and gives it to Dorcas to inspect. “I have no idea. These knives, they have our family emblem on them, I haven’t seen them on weapons before though. I don’t know” She hands the photos back and stood “Can I offer you two something to drink? Tea?”
“That would be great Dorcs, thank you” Pandora says watching them as she leaves the room to go for the kitchen.
“Two things” Pandora turns to Evan, speaking in a hushed tone so Dorcas wouldn’t be able to hear them “One, they either have no idea what we’re talking about, or two”
“She’s lying” Evan finishes in the same tone as Pandora who nods in agreement. “What do you think?”
“The second, they used to obsess over those knives remember? I don’t know why it has her fathers fingerprints and not theirs but they are definitely lying about something. Its not the first time they’ve seen those knives” Evan nods and goes to speak before Dorcas returns with three cups of tea, handing two of them to the two sat opposite her.
“Dorcas, The knives, how did they come to be in your fathers possession?” Evan says instead
“They belonged to his dad, and his dad before him and so on, they go back centuries “
“But you didn’t know they existed until today?” Pandora questions, bringing the cup to her lips.
“I’ve heard of them; I just didn’t know they actually existed until now. My father always refused to show me his knives so I just believed them to be a lie” They used to obsess over those knives remember? Yes, he does remember, she may not have even seen them before but she’s known they exist, she liked the idea of them coming to her possession once she leaves school. She’s lying and she really isn’t doing a good job at it, don’t they remember that the three of them were friends back in school? If anyone knows anything about Dorcas, it’s Pandora and Evan.
“If the knives were to have come to your ownership one day, what would you do with them?” Evan asks, just to get more out of them, as this whole knife talk seems to be going somewhere, best to keep going down that route.
“I assumed they’d be kitchen knives so cooking, but I’m guessing that’s not what they’re purpose is and that’s not what you’re asking. You’re asking me what I’d do if I had possession of a weapon?”
“I am, yes”
“I wouldn’t use them. I’d probably lock them in a case or give it back to my father, Id never use them myself, nor would any children I have in the future use them. That’s not what I want”
“During school, you’d always bring up knives and your obsession with one day owning them. Is that these knives?” Pandora asks. Evan was hoping to keep that part to themselves instead as it could easily have been used later on but oh well.
“No, those were different. Lost those ones in target practise”
“target practise?”
“Yes, With a dart board except I had to use knives instead of darts, I put them down to go get a drink and when I returned they were gone, haven’t seen them since” Ok, they’re getting better at the whole lying on the spot kind of thing now, but its not quite enough to be believable after earlier.
“But you’d never use them as weapons?”
“Back then Its all I thought I was supposed to do, so they were originally meant to be for weaponry yes, but now I wouldn’t use them for that, Now I’ve grown and realised I’m not a carbon copy of my father and I never will be, so now as weapons I wouldn’t use them”
If you were to ask Evan how much of this conversation was actually going into his head, he wouldn’t answer, giving you an instant reply of saying “none”, it wasn’t that he wasn’t paying attention, because he was, he was listening, he’s great at listening, he just didn’t make himself care. Knives, Dorcas, case. That’s all he was getting, he was listening enough to ask questions and receive answers, no answer actually made sense. It was as if he was still high, he wants to change the topic every two seconds but he also just wants to sit, relax and let everyone else do the talking as his mind went elsewhere, specifically to the photo sat on the shelf behind Dorcas. It was a photo of friends outside a tall boarding school, known as Hogwarts. The friends? Well there was Dorcas, Pandora and Evan, but there was also Regulus and... and Barty. All of them, before they were separated by grief and parents’ approval, before death and life had other plans to take them, back when everyone was happy with no parents following your every step, with nothing stopping you from being your age and forcing you to grow up. You could just be and nothing was out of the ordinary. Funny how fast that all changed, considering that photo was only taken a few hours before they would say goodbye to the school they grew up in for the last time, only one year before Barty passed. Crazy how fast everything can go to shit, yet everyone still acts as if nothing isn’t wrong, like this conversation was always going to happen, as if they didn’t help create this outcome by leaving her behind. Maybe that’s how Dorcas sees them now, invading her privacy when they’re the reason that Dorcas is even in situations like this. The crime life was something that all of their parents found themselves obsessing with, well not so much Bartys however he did fight against their parents so that’s along those lines, but whilst Evan and Pandora broke free, they left behind two other people who would be forced down that path anyway, Regulus and Dorcas. They could’ve left too, but their parents wouldn’t be as accepting to losing their only child, or the only one they had left.
“I couldn’t get rid of it, it didn’t seem right to say goodbye, even after all these years I struggled to say bye” Dorcas spoke, bringing Evan back to the current situation once more, he looked at them just to see they too were looking at the photo that has taken Evans full attention.
“Sorry. Nice photo” he said shyly as he looks at Pandora who didn’t seem that impressed with him losing interest but she still offered him a sad smile before he looked away
“Its ok. It often distracts me too” And that was that, everything they needed was said. Talking to their father could come later as he apparently wasn’t home, so they had as much information as they possibly could get and left. Nothing else seemed important enough to look into, well, as far as Dorcas was aware of.
Whilst the conversation was going on, Lily had snuck into the Meadowes Manor and searched for anything that would hint at Dorcas using the weapons. She came out empty handed. A shame really, it was a good idea too.
Marlene’s pov:
All she has to do is walk up to her, bump into her maybe, make it look like an accident, and then they “reconnect” and just talk. That’s her job, its always been her job the moment she knew it was what she wanted, so why is this so much harder than it usually is?
When they were attending Hogwarts, Dorcas was a really good friend of Marlene’s and Lily’s, so much so that Marlene eventually developed a bit of a crush on Dorcas, that was until everything went to shit when Dorcas decided to give into her fathers desires and become whatever it is she is, its hard to say as her father often switched positions in the crime department, point is, they were friends, then they weren’t, and now they’re here, or Marlene’s here, waiting outside the house she knows to belong to Dorcas, waiting for them to walk out so she could follow her and put the plan into motion.
It doesn’t take long for Dorcas to appear as she leaves the house, she walks down the street and after about a minute of watching from afar, Marlene follows behind her, not close enough to be noticed but not too far that Dorcas disappears out of sight.
Marlene, after a few minutes, crosses the road to keep the suspicions low, she still follows Dorcas, just at a range across the street, not to make it obvious. Dorcas does pick up the speed quite quickly though, causing Marlene to do the same and eventually, Dorcas fades out behind a tall building, tall enough to block any sign of Dorcas’ presence. Marlene is forced to cross the road to actually see Dorcas but when she enters the alleyway that Dorcas disappeared in, Marlene found herself being pinned against the wall, knife to her throat.
“Why’re you following me?” Dorcas says through gritted teeth, clenching her jaw clearly agitated with Marlene.
“Why do you have a knife on you?”
“Safety precaution. I answered your question, now you answer mine” She digs the knife further into Marlene’s neck, enough to burn but not enough to cut
“I’m not following y-“ The knife goes in further and this time, Marlene, without even looking, can feel the blood pouring out of her neck. Dorcas apparently wasn’t happy with that answer. “Ok I was, but with a good reason”
“Such as?”
“I recognise you, from school. I weren’t sure if it was you so I followed you to make sure, I just weren’t aware you carried knives on you for any occasion” All she had to do was lie, lie and you’d win this, lie and it would make sense to Dorcas to believe it, right?
“Hm, well am I who you believe me to be?”
“Depends. Dorcas Meadowes?” The shock in Dorcas’ face would’ve been made instantly obvious if not for the blade digging deeper. “I’m Marlene. Marlene McKinnon” Dorcas slowly removed the knife, not putting it away, just pushing it off Marlene’s skin.
“Jesus... You haven’t changed”
“I would say the same about you but uhhh- “
“Right, the knife, sorry.” They flick the knife back into its smaller size, fit better for a pocket, before putting it back into their pocket, where it must’ve been originally “McKinnon, how many years have it been?” A small smile slides onto Dorcas’ face as she recounted the years that’s gone by “Ten?”
“Around that, yeah. It’s great to see you again” Marlene says, almost as an instinct, like its normal to see Dorcas every other day. Marlene scrubs her hand at the tiny cut on her neck that Dorcas’ blade had graciously given her.
“You too McKinnon. Ah, sorry about that. Not every day that someone follows you and reveals your own name before introducing themselves, so I just thought you- Sorry”
“It’s alright, doesn’t hurt really” Just lie and you’ll get there, just lie. That’s easy, its her job, so why’s Dorcas making it so much harder? Good thing Marlene being a detective isn’t a known fact whereas James and Sirius being ones are. An undercover detective, she can lie, she’s great at lying, Fucking Dorcas and their whole fucking existence making this job painfully hard for reasons that are extremely most definitely unknown. Just lie.
“So, considering it is you I followed, how’ve you been?”
“Great conversation starter”
“I do my best” At this, Dorcas’ face slowly begins to form a small smile, they attempt to hide it as it comes but does terribly at it
“No I can tell, really. It’s as if you’ve planned out this entire conversation before you actually confirmed me being here” Sarcasm, that’s Sarcasm. Ok, so be sarcastic back, easy peasy.
“Oh of course. Who wouldn’t plan out a conversation such as ours beforehand?”
“Only the people our parents warn us about growing up”
“Oi! My parents warned me of nothing of the sort. Maybe that’s an explanation in itself”
“McKinnon, what do you want?”
“What?”
“You were following me, surely not for the pure intention to catch up”
“You don’t trust me? Is that what this is? Oh, but Dorcas, I’ve tried so hard to get your attention, first, I followed you, see? Commitment, and two, I- “
“Yes Marlene, I get it” Ah, no more sarcasm, that ended. Right, just lies. Got it.
“Sorry” Marlene says sheepishly.
“So... how’ve you been?”
“Didn’t I ask you first?”
“Yes, but you’re answering first”
“Ok... Well after Hogwarts, I tried to write that book I told you about, I stopped after six months when the ideas just left my brain, so now I’m trying to do something football related, at the moment though I just work as- “ As what? What is it that Marlene would like to pursuit a career as? A chef? No, Marlene cant cook and she’s pretty sure Dorcas knows this. A bouncer? Well, Marlene does have the build for it, and even if she didn’t, smaller yet feisty women can easily throw strong moody drunks out of a bar, that’s besides the point, She could easily be a bouncer... who just got pinned against a wall and was unable to fight back... Ok so not a bouncer. A retailer could easily work, for the money, it wouldn’t seem out of the ordinary for Marlene to do that, ok Retailer it is. “a retailer. Pretty easy job but worth it for the money yknow?”
“Yeah I do.”
“What about you or are you going to keep me guessing?”
“You have no idea how tempting that is, but I’m not that much of a dick. Honestly, the moment I left school, I did exactly what I said I was going to so, so here I am, following in my fathers footsteps” Dorcas looks away at the word father, showing their clear disdain for the man, and honesty, Marlene completely understands where the hatred came from. Her father has been one of the few hard to find criminals that have appeared over the years, he’s easily recognisable in public, but its almost as if he doesn’t go out in public at all just to avoid suspicion, the only time he’s properly been spotted is when he’s actually at the crime scene, seconds after its committed, and despite this, he still slips right through their fingers, why? Because no one can prove he’s the man behind the slaughter, ironic, isn’t it? Considering Dorcas herself once went up against the man to put him behind bars, them being only thirteen at the time though made her an unbelievable source, therefore, the court deemed her a liar, so other then that, he’s a free man until proven guilty, which no ones achieved, especially as of recently, probably due to Dorcas’ help now that they have no choice but to help him, making Dorcas appear more of a liar than before.
“You know you don’t have to, right?”
“You didn’t follow me just to lecture me, right, McKinnon?”
“Not at all. I’m just saying there are other options and paths for you to go down”
“Easy for you to say, your father isn’t choosing your life for you” Your father... That hurts.
Marlene instantly looks away, giving the same reaction Dorcas did about the word, just for different reasons.
Nearly seven years ago, Marlene and her family were attacked, and it was just Marlene’s luck to be the only survivor, leaving nothing but a nasty scar behind. Not even her brothers could say they were that lucky. The one who did it, now that’s a story that hurts more then the knowledge of being the last alive. None other than Peter Pettigrew, and you can believe Marlene’s luck when no one believed her, including James and Lily, who even later on had the same fate, except their entire little family made it out alive, so they truly were the lucky ones. The three of them had argued on numerous occasions about Peter being someone none of them recognised just for Marlene to be right in the end. That hurt. Imagine having an attack be made on your life just for your closest friends to not believe you or say you’re delusional when you recount the events of what happened. Because No Marlene, Peter doesn’t have that in him, and No Marlene, you really did hurt you head. And even to this day, some people still don’t believe Marlene, she really hopes Mary and Remus are ok, that they’re happy where ever they are and if they just so happen to read minds, then they should know Marlene doesn’t blame them nor is she mad, she just hopes their ok. Peter on the other hand... Jesus Christ...
Marlene’s brought back to the current time as Dorcas opens their mouth again, clearly realising their mistake, if they even know. “Shit, I’m so sorry, I completely forgot. It was all over the news Marls, I’m so sorry- “
“It’s alright. I’m fine. You’re fine. Don’t sweat it”
“You sur- “
“Yes”
“Ok... Shit” Dorcas says as she looks down at her watch “I’m late. Marlene, it truly is amazing to see you alive and well, but I do need to be going now. Would you like to catch up properly? Over food or something?” Yes. Maybe she shouldn’t be as enthusiastic at this as it’s literally her job to do just this, but hey, don’t blame Marlene for being excited for seeing an old friend.
“Yeah, of course. I’d love to”
“Perfect” They grab Marlene’s hand as they grab a pen that they had resting behind their ear and they began to write “That’s my number, message me and I can let you know when I’m free and where we could meet?”
“For sure, yeah, sounds like a plan”
“Awesome. But now I do really need to go.”
“Then you should go” Marlene says, voice full of humour at the way Dorcas is quite literally rambling. Still not one to be late then. “It was nice seeing you”
“You too Marls. Bye” Before Dorcas has time to go, Marlene pulls them into a quick hug before pulling away and saying “Sorry, just had to make sure you’re real”
Dorcas smiles at the taller girl before replying “Flesh and everything. Really though, bye” She says the bye through a slight chuckle before Marlene responds “Bye” In a more sheepish tone, watching Dorcas depart.