Crouch finally nodded.
He didn't speak anymore, but leaned back on the bench tiredly.
"Then I won't disturb you, Director."
When he walked to the door, the voice of Crouch came from behind.
"Don't push yourself too far, or we will be ruined together."
"Of course, Mr. Director."
Lin Ze came out of Department of Magical Law Enforcement. The lights were bright in the corridor, and employees were coming and going with documents in their arms.
He stood at the top of the stairs and felt for the first time that this place was a bit small.
Malfoy family's owl arrived that afternoon, two hours earlier than Lin Ze expected.
Inside were three parchment rolls and a tin box. Inside the rolls were a list of Death Eaters's core members, details of Malfoy family's capital transactions before and after Voldemort's downfall, and private correspondence between Lucius and several judges Wizengamot in the past three years.
Contained in the tin box were several silver rings engraved with Dark Mark, which seemed to be the certificate of membership that year.
Lin Ze flipped through the things from beginning to end, making sure there were no obvious gaps. He copied a copy of the list and handed it to Crouch's desk, and locked the original copy into his Undetectable Extension Box.
There were quite a few people on the list. Lin Ze copied these names on a separate piece of paper and placed them under the desk lamp.
Seymour, the patriarch of Parkinson family, was never caught after escaping to Scottish Highlands, but his wife and children were arranged by Malfoy to live in a manor in the countryside of Wales under a false name.
There are also three members of the established family.
One is registered as Wizengamot, one is listed as the legal person of a certain Potions store on Diagon Alley, and the other simply has the title of consultant at Department of Magical Law Enforcement and does not come to work at all.
Lin Ze folded the piece of paper and put it in his pocket, picked up his coat and went out.
Four days later will be the formal hearing of the Wizengamot vs. Malfoy case.
During these four days, Lin Ze searched for the remaining people on the list one by one.
The first one is the manor owned by Parkinson family in West Wales.
He directly found Seymour's wife at night.
The woman turned over in the middle of the night and found someone sitting on the chair next to the bed. She was so frightened that she almost fainted.
Lin Ze put a copy of the confession signed by Malfoy in front of her and told her that she and her husband had only two choices:
By testifying at the hearing or dying, Lin Ze also proved his determination and ability to her.
Seymour The letter was sent the next day.
He was willing to testify, testify unconditionally, and donate half of the family property.
The second one is the old guy named Wizengamot, whose surname is Fawley.
Lin Ze chose to block people in the corridor during a recess in the court, and the two of them walked fifty steps side by side.
It took less than half a minute for Fawley to go from being arrogant at first to turning pale, and then Fawley was left leaning against the stone wall and wiping sweat with a handkerchief.
There is also an official from Department of Magical Law Enforcement who has obviously lived too securely these years and has gained courage along the way.
He was drinking red wine in the study room when Lin Ze came to the door. He had a very tough attitude. Like Malfoy, he chose to resist, but in the end he was directly educated by Lin Ze using "Cruciatus Curse" for more than ten minutes.
As for the remaining Lin Ze on the list, it didn't take much effort.
Malfoy's confession plus the testimonies of the first few people were enough for Wizengamot to clarify the context of the entire case, and the remaining people were just filling in the scraps of the evidence chain.
Lin Ze did not go on the day of the hearing.
He was sitting in the partition of Group Three's office, flipping through the newspaper and waiting for news.
Lucius Malfoy finished reading his testimony in court and handed over the correspondence with the remaining parties of Death Eaters in the past three years one by one. Fawley and several other people also attended in turn. The testimonies were so seamless that the judges of Wizengamot had their faces darkened after hearing this.
The final result was as Lin Ze expected. All those who promised Lin Ze to hand over half of their family property were released.
In the Malfoy family half of the property, he kept a Diagon Alley shop and several properties around London, and the rest was fully discounted into cash.
This money is enough for him to raise a small team outside Ministry of Magic that only takes orders from him. In the future, it will be more than enough for him to deal with Wizengamot or Death Eaters.
When I went to the ministry the next day, Lin Ze met Crouch in the corridor.
Neither of them mentioned what happened in the office that day. Crouch only said, "Malfoy, you will write the final report on the case" and turned back to the office.
Lin Ze wrote the report very briefly, only describing the actions and sources of evidence. As for how to get Malfoy to speak, he did not mention a word.
Crouch's written by signature.
Lin Ze stuffed the approved report into the file box, thinking that this was the end of the story.
He didn't expect to turn the page so quickly that he didn't even have time to take a breath.
When he was about to get off work that day, Harper ran into the office panting, holding a crumpled letter in his hand, with a dark mark on the edge of the letter paper pinched by his sweaty hands.
"Team Leader Lin, something happened."
Lin Ze took out the letter and unfolded it.
The letter was from a wizard hotel called "Old Oak" in the southeast of London. It said that a guest who checked out this morning left a bunch of things in the room that he shouldn't have left. The hotel owner did not dare to make it public and asked Harper to tell Lin Ze.
"There are three corpses in the room, all wizards."
Lin Ze slapped the letter on the table, stood up and walked out.
The "Old Oak" hotel is located in a crooked alley southeast of London. The front door is very narrow and can only accommodate one person in and out. The owner is a bald and skinny wizard.
Seeing Lin Ze come in, the boss's hands trembled and he almost dropped the cup he was holding.
"Team Leader Lin..."
"Where is the room?"
"The innermost part of the third floor."
Lin Ze didn't deliberately step lightly when he went upstairs, and the old wooden steps creaked under the soles of his boots.
The light in the corridor was very dark, and most of the wallpaper on both sides had peeled off, revealing the blackened lime underneath.
The door at the end of the corridor on the third floor was ajar, and there was a sweet and fishy smell from the door that had been left for a long time, mixed with the lemon smell of inferior air freshener. The smell made people feel sick to their stomachs.
He pushed the door open and went in.
The room was small, with a double bed, a writing desk, and a half-dead potted plant on the windowsill.
The three corpses were lying on the edge of the bed, lying on the carpet, and leaning against the wall.
They are indeed wizards, wearing ordinary wizard traveling robes.
The appearance of death was surprisingly consistent - gray face, purple lips, and a circle of fine black spots around the eye sockets.
Lin Ze squatted down and opened the eyelids of the man on the wall. The pupils had long been dilated, and very light purple lines remained on the irises.
He stood up and looked around.
There were no signs of a fight in the room, the window was bolted from the inside, and the door lock was not broken.
The three people's wands were neatly placed on the desk, and they didn't even take off their wand holsters.
Lin Ze's eyes finally fell on an inconspicuous copper ashtray in the corner of the desk.
There was no ash in the jar, only a thin layer of dark red powder stuck to the bottom, which was somewhat similar to what he had seen in the the North Shedding Gods bone pile before, but mixed with other things.
He rubbed a little of it with his finger and leaned in to smell it. The sweet and greasy smell was so strong that it made him choke, and his stomach turned violently.