"Boss." He shouted downstairs.
The bald boss almost rolled up on the ground.
"When did these three people move in?"
"The evening before yesterday, three people came together and said they were from Ireland for business."
"Have you ever gone out since you moved in?"
The boss swallowed, his eyes evaded, and after Lin Ze pulled the wand out of his cuff, he finally spat out the truth. "Yes, one of the people went out last night. When he came back, he brought a package, wrapped tightly in black cloth. I asked what it was, and the man smiled and said it was a local specialty."
"Where's the package?"
The boss pointed under the bed.
Lin Ze bent down and pulled the thing out, untied the black cloth, and found a clay pot inside. The mouth of the pot was sealed with wax, and there was a circle of symbols Lin Ze couldn't understand but looked familiar to Lin Ze engraved on the pot.
He turned the pot over, and there was a Hippogriff pattern engraved on the bottom.
Lin Ze put the clay pot into Undetectable Extension Box, and took some tissue samples from around the corpse's eye sockets and sealed them into vials.
After doing this, he patted the dust on his hands and asked the boss to close the hotel.
How dare the boss say no?
It was completely dark when Lin Ze came out of the hotel. He turned to Knockturn Alley and knocked on Caractacus's back door.
"Mr. Lin, what happened again?"
Lin Ze placed the clay pot on his counter and pointed to the pattern at the bottom. "Do you recognize this coat of arms?"
Caractacus took a closer look, and his expression suddenly changed.
"This is the coat of arms of the Greengrass Family."
"Are you sure?"
"That's right. Burke Family has done several businesses with the Greengrass Family. I've seen their family crest more than once. Hippogriff has three arrows on it."
Lin Ze Put away the clay pot again.
Greengrass Family has been hiding behind the scenes these years. They are on St. Mungo's's donation list, and they are also present at Ministry of Magic's charity dinner, but they don't have any flaws exposed.
"Do something for me." Lin Ze said to Caractacus.
"Make a list of the things Greengrass Family has bought from you in the past ten years."
Caractacus didn't ask any further questions and turned around to look through his inventory records.
Lin Ze turned around and left. Knockturn Alley was more lively at night than during the day, and there were figures moving in the dark.
Poor Harper had already fallen asleep, but Lin Ze pulled him out of bed.
"What's wrong? What's wrong? The ministry is on fire?" Lin Ze ignored his thoughts and asked him to check the registration information of all properties under Greengrass family's name.
"Now?"
"Now."
"Merlin na..."
Ha! Merlin?
Your Merlin is right in front of you.
Harper put on his coat and ran outside, even wearing his socks inside out.
At noon the next day, three things were neatly placed on the Lin Ze table.
Caractacus's transaction list, Harper's asset information transferred from Records Office, and Grot's Greengrass family vault information sent through the Goblin channel.
Lin Ze spread out the three materials and spent half an hour reviewing them.
Greengrass Family has bought at least 340 alchemy equipment from the Burke Family in the past ten years, most of which are crucibles and purification equipment. The amount used far exceeds the daily needs of an ordinary Pure-blood families.
The treasury flow shows that they have a fixed expenditure every month, and the payee is a Potions material company registered at Ireland, but Grot checked the registered address of that company and it was an abandoned Muggle warehouse.
The real estate details are more interesting.
Greengrass Family has a manor in Cotswolds, with a registered area of twelve acres, but the copy of the title deed obtained by Harper from the Muggle Land Registry shows that the actual area of the land is thirty-seven acres, and the extra twenty-five acres are marked as "unusable wasteland" on the wizard's title deed.
Lin Ze put the materials away and called Ben over.
"Contact the owner of the Greengrass Family for me and tell him that Special Operations Team would like to make an appointment to go to their manor for a safety inspection to check for any materials that Death Eaters's remaining party may be hiding."
Ben blinked. "Safety inspection? When did we have this business?"
"Now there is."
Ben looked at him for two seconds, didn't ask any more questions, and lowered his head to write the notification letter.
Lin Ze added, "After sending it out, let's spread the word to "Daily Prophet" that Special Operations Team will conduct surprise inspections on some Pure-blood families estates in the near future, and Greengrass will be the first one."
The pen in Ben's hand stopped. "Are you going to..."
"Give him a tip." Lin Ze leaned on the back of his chair and looked at the ceiling.
"Of course, if he ran away, it would save me the trouble of checking."
The notification letter was sent out that afternoon.
Early the next morning, news came from Grot.
Greengrass Family had a large sum of Galleon withdrawn from Gringotts's treasury last night, and the account of Ireland's shell company was also emptied.
Lin Ze brought Third Team's people to Cotswolds that afternoon.
The iron door of the manor was locked from the inside, and no one answered the knock. Lin Ze was so rude that he blasted the door open with "Reducto".
House-elf in the manor was so frightened that he collapsed on the ground.
The head of the Greengrass Family, Xiu, ran north with a few boxes the night before yesterday. I don't know where he went specifically.
Lin Ze asked Amos to lead people to turn the manor upside down. He dug out a pile of parchment in the secret compartment of the fireplace in the study. It was a communication record between the Greengrass Family and the North. The recipient had only one code name, "M".
The content of the letter is very brief, mostly confirmation of date and quantity.
But there was one letter that was different. It said, "The wine has been brewed and we are waiting for good news."
Lin Ze folded the letter and put it in his pocket. When he walked out of the study, Amos poked his head out of the next room.
"There's something in the cellar, you'd better come and take a look."
The cellar is behind the kitchen, and the entrance is hidden under a row of pickle vats.
Amos moved the jar, revealing the stone steps going down. The smell coming up from the bottom Lin Ze was too ripe, with a sweet fishy smell mixed with the pungent smell of chemicals.
He walked down the stone steps. The cellar was not big. There were three rows of wooden shelves against the wall. Dozens of clay pots were stacked on the shelves. They were exactly the same as the ones in the hotel room. The mouths of the pots were sealed with wax and the coat of arms of the Greengrass Family was engraved on the pots.
There were more than a dozen glass jars on the innermost row of shelves. The contents Lin Ze contained didn't want to take a closer look. He only glanced at them and turned away.
"Notify Crouch." Lin Ze said to Ben who followed.
"Ask him to send someone to seal it, and also notify Fudge and ask him to check Greengrass Family's relationship with Wizengamot. Don't miss any of them."
Ben took out his notebook and took notes, hesitating for a moment. "What about Hugh Greengrass himself?"
Lin Ze walked up the stone steps without looking back.
"He can't run away."
After returning to the ground, Lin Ze stood on the porch of the manor, watching Third Team people coming in and out of the yard.
The setting sun in the distance dyed the gentle slope of Cotswolds into dark gold, and the sheep moved slowly on the slope.