Year/Job
Private Detective
There's something rotten in Denver. |
Travis
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Post by Kermit Palantine on Mar 14, 2024 14:05:54 GMT -8
Kermit loved his business. I mean, how cool was it that he worked out of a storage unit? Sure, other people might prefer something more professional, like the old office he’d rented before his license had been revoked by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. But for Kermit this job was ninety-five percent vibes and there was no better vibe for a washed up private detective than a closet for an office. Of course it did limit his options for clientele somewhat, so he would typically meet clients in other locations before introducing them to home base.
Kermit had a half a dozen unique locations where he would start business. One of his favorite places was The Salty Kraken, a dingy little pub in Hogsmeade that was a popular joint for dark wizards and crusty sailors alike. Again, it had the right vibe. Fights were common around the bar and there was all you can eat shrimp. Kermit had his own booth in the back, a gift from the pub’s owner in exchange for taking some pictures of his wife around town. Kermit suspected that it was less of a wandering wife type deal and more of a game between Ahab and his old lady, if you know what I mean.
Tonight, Kermit sat in the back of the pub drinking his Red Bull and eating peanuts as he read through his notes on the Caspar case. Business had been good since he’d gotten back to England. The Fawkes Agency had lost some credibility since Kermit had fled the country, and the opportunities were prime for poaching. He hadn’t exactly been truthful when he’d secured Vivian Flint’s business, but his willingness to accept payment in The Friends We Made Along the Way made for an attractive offer.
A whoosh from the entrance as the heavy oak door swung open announced Mrs. Flint’s arrival. Kermit looked up from his seat, squinting through the smoke. He could barely make out her face, but her figure was unrecognizable.
“Mrs. Flint,” he said, closing the file on her family as she approached. “We were just talking about you.”
- Vivian Flint
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Year/Job
Auror Admin Assistant
Metamorphmagus
I hope you get what you're dying for. |
Steph
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Post by Vivian Flint on Mar 18, 2024 10:29:43 GMT -8
Technically, Vivian wasn’t allowed to step foot in The Salty Kraken. It was one of two places her father had forbade her from frequenting when he was alive, along with Club Brielle - but that was for more personal reasons that Vivian didn’t want to get into at the moment. She had disobeyed both orders, of course. She liked Mr Gable’s company at Club Brielle and she liked the boys at The Salty Kraken.
It wasn’t the kind of establishment a socialite like Vivian Caspar should visit but she didn’t hesitate when Kermit asked her to meet him there. If anything, she thought Kermit was more out of place than she was. He was such a strange man, Vivian wasn’t even sure what to think of him. Still, he was basically working on her case for free.
The wind pushed her through the wooden doors, forcing her to step forward from the shadows of the dim lights around the establishment. As she suspected, he wasn’t hard to spot. She slid into the seat next to him, ignoring his comment. She’d only met him a couple times but she was getting used to his strange comments.
“What about me?” She asked, placing her hands on the table but immediately regretted it when she felt the shells of the peanuts on her skin. She made a face and tried to dust it off. Vivian gave up, feeling like the tiny particles were going to cling to her all day, and she looked at him expectantly. He had asked to meet her but didn’t give her any indication what this was about.
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Year/Job
Private Detective
There's something rotten in Denver. |
Travis
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Post by Kermit Palantine on Mar 18, 2024 10:59:21 GMT -8
Kermit may not have fit into a place like a sailor pub, but that was his nature. He was comfortable in any setting even if he didn't always look the part. Kermit was a master at sliding into any role that was needed for him, and right now he was playing the role of Vivian's hard boiled detective. Maybe he'd invited her to The Salty Kraken instead of his storage unit office because that was a little too hardboiled and he still wanted to impress Vivian. He was a very serious detective, you see!
"Just looking over your background check," Kermit said. "Nothing too surprising, I guess, given the family history." He slid the file labeled Vivian F. away from her. "But I'm sure you're not interested in that. I thought you would be interested in my preliminary findings in your case though."
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Year/Job
Auror Admin Assistant
Metamorphmagus
I hope you get what you're dying for. |
Steph
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Post by Vivian Flint on Mar 18, 2024 19:17:11 GMT -8
Vivian’s opinion of Kermit wasn’t high enough for him to be worried about what she would think of his actual office. Oh, maybe that was too harsh. She didn’t have anything against the man and despite his eccentric behavior, he seemed competent enough to get the job done. Or that’s what Vivian had to tell herself because she wasn’t even paying him!
“What?” she asked, reaching for the file but Kermit pulled it away in time. Her dark eyes followed it as it slid away from her. She stared down at it for a minute before her gaze met his. “Why are you running a background check on me? I hired you to look into my brother.”
Brothers.
Vivian was initially pushed into hiring a private detective after Simon just so casually mentioned that he had suspicions about Marcus’ death and Dane. He didn’t outright say that he thought Dane had murdered him but she read between the lines. Vivian liked Dane. Out of her three brothers, he had been the most normal growing up, his tantrums notwithstanding. He was intelligent and level headed when he needed to be. They were the closest in age and Vivian really looked up to her older brother when they were in school, but no amount of adoration or understanding from her or anyone else in the family stopped him from cruelly snatching their inheritance away. Typical of Dane who always saw himself as some sort of tragic figure, of course he took the first opportunity to cleanse away any perceived sins committed by their father.
Vivian and Simon ignored each other for the most part, but now that Dane had taken both their livelihoods from them, their interests aligned for the first time. Vivian wasn’t an idiot though and when she hired Kermit, she made it very clear that she wanted both Dane and Simon looked into. She couldn’t put it past her eldest brother to frame Dane and she wouldn’t put it past Dane to act innocent while benefiting from their father’s death. She couldn’t trust anyone. Max, well, he wasn’t a player in this game - never had been and never would be. He was set for life after signing his contract with Ballycastle and Vivian would prefer to keep her baby brother out of this completely.
“I’m interested in both now.” Vivian wanted to know what he found on her brothers and what the hell he found out about her. She thought she was very careful about her extramarital activities, there was no way he knew. Unless he really was as good as he said he was.
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Year/Job
Private Detective
There's something rotten in Denver. |
Travis
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Post by Kermit Palantine on Mar 18, 2024 20:36:21 GMT -8
Rich families always made for interesting cases. Where would Kermit rate the Caspars? So far he had them at a seven, though the Auror was proving to have some juicy secrets that had Kermit flirting with an eight. Vivian was no slouch herself in the secret department, though her background check had turned up more information about old and current boyfriends than ties to criminal activity. As far as that was concerned, the Caspar kids were surprisingly clean with Simon being the only one who seemed interested in their father’s legacy.
So where should Kermit start in all of this? He could read back Vivian’s file if that was what she really wanted, but to Kermit it seemed like a waste of time reading back everything she already knew about herself. She was right that it wasn’t why she hired him, but Kermit never took a case without doing his due diligence first, especially when those clients were the daughters of one of Britain’s most successful magic gangsters.
“I hope you’ll forgive the intrusion, Mrs. Flint,” Kermit said. “But I like to know who I’m working for. In detective theory it’s called The Sleuth’s Folly. Guy takes a job from a pretty, disarming young woman, finds out too late that he’s covering up bodies for a multi-national pharmaceutical company,” he shook his head. “Anyway, where do you want to start?”
“I’m interested in both now.”
Well, Kermit figured that Vivian would make a pretty good example of his own ability as a detective, so he turned back to her own file and laid it out in front of her.
“How long has Mrs. Flint been unhappy?” he asked. On the other side of the file’s cover was a picture of her husband entering a London flat with his mistress. Kermit wouldn’t be showing Vivian these things so casually if he didn’t suspect that she already knew. “If I had to guess, the flat’s no surprise to you. You probably know the woman too, Irene Gleason. A year behind you at Hogwarts.”
Kermit flipped the photo of Vivian’s husband to the other side of the folder, revealing another photo beneath it. This one was a bit more impressive in its framing, shot through the sheer curtains of an upstairs window, it featured Vivian caught in the act of her own extramarital activities.
“I just got the kiss,” he clarified. “My theory is that you loved him at some point. Heck, you were probably crazy about him. But once you were married, he changed. Late nights at work, absent more often than he was home. This,” he nodded to the picture. “Is how you take back your dignity, right? I respect that. He doesn’t hurt you, does he?”
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Year/Job
Auror Admin Assistant
Metamorphmagus
I hope you get what you're dying for. |
Steph
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Post by Vivian Flint on Mar 19, 2024 8:22:32 GMT -8
Irene Gleason. Vivian looked down at the picture of the blonde clinging on to her husband’s arm as they entered their shared apartment and she fought the urge to stab her wand into the photograph right in Irene’s head. It took an especially trashy kind of person to pretend to be friends only to jump straight into bed with your husband. It wasn’t news to Vivian, it had been going on for years, probably before they even graduated. Her own affairs followed but only after Damien made it very clear that this was a marriage of convenience. As long as Daddy Caspar kept giving Vivian money, Damien would stick around. What would happen now that Marcus was dead? As much as she hated the way Damien treated her, she’d only ever loved him. She stood to lose more than just money because of Dane.
“No, absolutely not,” she answered Kermit’s question quickly. Damien was cruel but he never physically hurt her. “I still love my husband, Mr Palantine. This is normal for people like us, but you already know that, don’t you?”
Vivian reached out and flipped both photographs over so she didn’t have to keep looking at them. It was a fact of life but that didn’t mean she liked seeing Damien happy with someone else. Vivian didn’t understand what she’d done to deserve this kind of treatment, she probably never would. She wasn’t going to dwell on it.
“And my brother? Did you also follow him around and catch him through a window like this?” Her finger tapped on the back of her photograph. It wasn’t a real question, Dane was so dull that Vivian doubted he’d ever be caught in a similar position. Still, there was something nagging at the back of her head. A moment from Max’s engagement party jumped out at her again; a look shared between Max’s fiancée and the wrong brother. She knew she was being ridiculous and she hadn’t voiced it to Kermit yet.
“Or maybe Simon kicking a puppy somewhere? Since we’re just presenting obvious information.”
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Year/Job
Private Detective
There's something rotten in Denver. |
Travis
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Post by Kermit Palantine on Mar 19, 2024 11:17:06 GMT -8
As twisty as the game Vivian played with Damien was, it wasn’t the first time Kermit had documented infidelity. In fact, that was at least seventy percent of the job. She was a lot better about hiding it than Damien was, maybe because he was confident in his ability to dodge trouble and she actually had some sense. It wasn’t that Vivian was sloppy in her attempt to avoid detection, it was that Kermit was that good.
She was right, though. The real case had always been Dane, even though she’d given him the go-ahead to look into Simon and he’d taken the liberty of digging up dirt on Max for good measure. To this point, Dane had proven to be the most interesting of the four kids. Though Simon’s criminal activities definitely qualified as interesting, it was another one of those details that Kermit couldn’t exactly call surprising.
He nodded along as Vivian explained her situation with Damien, admittedly feeling a little sad for her when she referred to “people like us,” though he didn’t speak his mind on that matter. From what Kermit knew about the Caspars, they were just a few kids who were trying to navigate the world for the first time without their father’s influence, and most of them were doing it legally. He respected that.
“Who do you want me to start with?” he asked Vivian. “I’ve got info on Dane and Simon, though really only Dane surprised me. Let’s just start there.”
Kermit reached for the Dane C. file and placed it out on top of Vivian’s file for her to look through.
“Your brother’s the straight-laced one, right?” he asked. “Trying to live on the straight and narrow while carrying your father’s dark legacy, not exactly enviable. Mostly he’s clean, but I did find one thing.” In the file was another picture, a shot of Dane and Max’s fiancée at a furniture store in Diagon Alley. “I took this one the other day. He was out furniture shopping with your future sister-in-law. There was one curious moment, let me see…”
Kermit reached into his pocket to pull out a small slip of paper with a hastily written note. “When asked about your sister in-law to be, your brother said, I quote, ‘We've known each other for years. First she liked me, then I liked her. It felt like we were never going to sync up but then we ended up on this project together at work and, sure, we butted heads together at first, old resentment for how things played out in the past, but in the end, we realized that we couldn't and shouldn't live without each other. We're not planning on moving in together until after the wedding, traditional families you see, but we've got our own place lined up already and we're just too eager to be together forever so we're decorating and if you can keep it on the down low, we might just be planning on staying a few dozen nights together at the place before the wedding.’”
Kermit eyed Vivian over the slip of paper, letting the quote sink in a bit.
“And that’s not even the most interesting part,” he said, tapping his finger to the picture in front of her. “You see that curtain in Miss Carter’s hand there?” Another dramatic pause for emphasis. “Your brother stole it.”
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Year/Job
Auror Admin Assistant
Metamorphmagus
I hope you get what you're dying for. |
Steph
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Post by Vivian Flint on Mar 20, 2024 10:43:07 GMT -8
At first, Vivian’s mind kept screaming at her that Kermit had mixed Max and Dane up in all of this. Why would Rosemary be shopping for furniture with Dane? Kermit had to be mistaken… but that was Dane’s big old head taking up half the picture and she recognized Rosemary’s engagement ring anywhere - Vivian had spent countless hours admiring the ring when she was a child, but ultimately it would never be passed down to her. She ran her fingertips over the glossy finish of the photograph and she could only shake her head. And that was before Kermit went on to quote Dane’s words back to her.
Vivian didn’t know what to think of it. What kind of game were they playing? There was no way Dane and Rosemary knew each other for years. Sure, she’d been dating Max for a few years now but they were much younger than Vivian and Dane, they didn’t run in the same circles at Hogwarts. So why would he say that?
And stealing? Saint Dane wouldn’t dare, right? He was always going on and on about how he’d never be like their father, he wouldn’t get off his high horse to steal a curtain. Besides, with all the money he snatched away from his siblings, he could afford to pay for it.
“Rosemary Carter,” Vivian whispered to herself, tapping the index finger over the blonde’s smiling face. They really knew nothing about her but of course they didn’t. Rose’s smile and cute face disarmed everyone around her, she was so innocent but now Vivian wondered how much of it was just an act. Did she know what actually happened to Marcus? Was Rosemary using Max for… what would she need Max for if Dane had all the money now?
“They could be friends.” Vivian was trying to talk herself down from diving into this conspiracy. She could clearly see Rosemary’s bright eyes staring back at her, urging her to step back. Maybe the girl felt bad for Dane. The Caspars had disowned Dane and they were welcoming her into the fold. Was she stupid enough to think she could step in and fix that fracture?
The more Vivian looked at Dane and Romy, the more she had questions. Rosemary was touching the curtains but her other hand was affectionately placed on Dane’s forearm.
“But what’s with the ridiculous story? Spend a dozen nights together before the wedding? Max’s wedding?” Vivian looked up at Kermit like he had all the answers in the world. She wasn’t sure what she expected to find out but she suddenly felt out of depth here. She felt like a child looking for guidance. She missed her father. This would have never happened if Marcus was still alive.
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Year/Job
Private Detective
There's something rotten in Denver. |
Travis
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Post by Kermit Palantine on Mar 20, 2024 11:02:09 GMT -8
This was the part where Kermit gave the client space to let all the revelations sink in. He’d seen half a dozen wives with the same faces that Vivian had as she studied the picture in front of her. The usual response was denial, trying to make sense of something that had no sense. Looking for any excuse not to believe what he had found. If they didn’t want to learn what they already believed to be true, why would they hire him?
“You might know that they work together,” Kermit said. He took the file from Vivian and produced another page from the folder. This was a copy of signed paperwork signed by Dane and Romy requesting her temporary transfer to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement basement as support for a cataloging project. “If they’ve downplayed their association, I assure you it isn’t true. Miss Carter has been working with your brother for months in the basement. Have you ever been down there before, Mrs. Flint? A cramped records room stuffed wall to wall with the Ministry’s history. What do you think two people could get up to down there alone in the darkness all day? I have timestamps from when they clock in and out, they’re working overtime almost every night and leaving at the exact same time. The point I’m making here is that these two are very close.”
Vivian touched the photo in front of her. She still seemed last in the why of all of it.
“Try not to let yourself spiral,” Kermit urged her. “Just because they’re lying doesn’t mean they killed your father. I do believe that your brother and Miss Carter are engaged in a very intimate relationship. The transfer paperwork is signed after your father’s death and I can’t find anything connecting the two before. So, is it just an affair or something worse? Did Miss Carter conspire to take your inheritance? Your brother didn’t benefit much from the sale of your father’s business, and stood to gain much more in keeping it active. So if Miss Carter is manipulating him, I don’t see an angle that benefits her.”
It was suddenly a very complicated case, and that’s what made it worth it.
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Year/Job
Auror Admin Assistant
Metamorphmagus
I hope you get what you're dying for. |
Steph
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Post by Vivian Flint on Apr 10, 2024 10:07:29 GMT -8
Kermit didn’t have to say it for Vivian to know that Rosemary had no interest in their money. The Carters had a fortune of their own and with their only son already six feet under, Rose was first in line to inherit most of it. As far as Vivian could tell, Clark Carter was financially supporting all of his daughters so Rose had no reason to do this for Marcus’ galleons. So why was she doing it? Vivian looked down at the picture again, studying her brother’s face. He was a far cry from the clean cut boy he was at Hogwarts. She could tell the rift between him and Marcus had taken a toll on not only his spirit but his features. Vivian forced herself to look away while Kermit laid it all out for her.
Suddenly, she was confronted with a worse possibility than what she initially suspected. Rosemary wasn’t trying to help Dane, her coworker, back into the family fold. As Kermit gave her all the details, Vivian could feel her world come to a stop, she felt sick to her stomach. Not for herself, but for poor Max. He was the best of them and he didn’t deserve this, not at the hands of his own brother and fiancee. As someone whose whole world had crumbled because of infidelity she didn’t want her baby brother to go through it too.
“How intimate?” she forced the question out of her mouth. Sure, they were working the same hours and leaving at the same time and enclosed spaces with one person could lead to certain situations, but that still didn’t mean that they were going home together. Vivian didn’t know what to do with all the information being thrown at her. She came into this expecting one thing and it had spiraled into a completely different monster. One she couldn’t control or keep hidden from Simon even if she wanted to.
“Fuck,” Vivian whispered under her breath and looked away from the table and Kermit. Her eyes focused on the bar and the row of bottles behind the bartender. She needed a drink, a strong one. “How do I tell Max? He’s going to be devastated.”
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Year/Job
Private Detective
There's something rotten in Denver. |
Travis
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Post by Kermit Palantine on Apr 10, 2024 12:24:16 GMT -8
Did it even occur to Kermit as he laid out the details of her brother’s certain affair with her other brother’s fiancée that it could have just been love? As a detective, he was trained to look for meaning in everything. He’d learned that life was a complicated, a whole lot more complicated than two people just really liking each other. Maybe Romy being Max’s fiancée and cheating on him with Dane was complicated enough, but Kermit couldn’t let his guard down. If Romy was a playing an angle here, he didn’t want to miss it.
Kermit felt something stir inside of himself when Vivian struggled to reply. He wasn’t sure what it was. Maybe that she appeared so tough and impenetrable. Sure, she had come to Kermit with suspicions that her brother had conspired to kill her father, but Vivian was just a kid who hadn’t seemed to fully process the fact that she was losing her family. She wasn’t the one being cheated on, but Kermit had seen that look on countless housewives, husbands, and jilted lovers.
“How intimate?”
Kermit reached over to lift a small stack of notes from the Dane file, revealing another photo. “They don’t teach CPR like that anymore,” he joked. “It looks pretty serious to me. They packed his things up and moved it into her flat. He didn’t have a lot of stuff so it was a quick trip. I set myself up in a studio across the street and I’ve got some shots that, uh, probably best you don’t see. But trust me, it’s intimate.”
There was a half empty bottle of gin sitting next to him on the table. He filled the glass in front of himself and slid it over to Vivian. “I’ll drink from the bottle,” he said with a swig. “I’m just in the facts business, Mrs. Flint. I don’t have answers for your little brother. But from the looks of things, Miss Carter’s got her hooks deep in both of your brothers and I can’t find a reason why.”
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