Chapter Text
Murder was a strange career. It hadn’t been Remus’s first choice. He had watched his dad throughout his childhood, leaving in the middle of the night to see a body across the city, talking to reporters about missing children, crying into his mother’s shoulder when the victim was especially young or hurt in ways too hard to discuss. He had never wanted to follow in Lyall’s footsteps, choosing instead to start law school – hoping for a more normal life.
But plans changed. His father went out on a routine arrest and never came home, bleeding out in an unmonitored hallway. The investigation, if you could call it that, was closed without an arrest. The man had run away too quickly, they said. He disappeared, they said. They’d get him one day. Remus had so many questions that went unanswered. Why were the security cameras off? Why did they have no backup? Why was his father, a high-ranking detective, even at the arrest of a random drug dealer?
So he dropped out of law school before his second semester. He aced his training and became a police officer. He spent ten years rising through the ranks until he became one of the youngest DIs in the city. He made a career in murder and was good at it, taking the toughest cases and solving them faster than his peers.
And he still had no answers about his father.
Remus groaned at the sound of his phone ringing. He had just gotten back into bed, a cup of coffee in hand, and had been hoping to spend the morning relaxing for once. He specifically woke up earlier so he could have a lie-in before work.
He groaned again when he saw the caller ID – James Potter. It was work-related, then. He stood up as he answered, abandoning his coffee to get dressed.
“What?”
“Good morning, sunshine,” James replied with a laugh. “We have a weird one. Homicide victim found in a hotel room this morning. I’ve already sent you the address.”
“Anything more you want to share before I get there?”
James hesitated.
“It’s a bit hard to describe, honestly. Better if you see for yourself. You’ll be here soon?”
Remus checked the address before answering.
“Give me half an hour. I need to grab something to eat, then I’ll head your way.”
“See you then.”
Now dressed, Remus headed to the kitchen with his coffee. He decanted his coffee into a travel mug and grabbed his overnight oats from the fridge, thanking his past self for the foresight to make breakfast in advance. He ate quickly and filled the bowl with water before heading out.
In ten minutes flat, he was pulling out of the parking garage, praying to any god listening that it wouldn’t be as bad as James made it seem, and he’d be home for dinner. He could use a break, honestly. Somehow, though, he didn’t believe he’d be getting one any time soon.
*
Weird didn’t really do the scene justice.
The victim, a young adult woman, was lying on the bed, on top of the sheets. There were no obvious signs of trauma, no blood or bruising on her neck, but she was pale and cold – poisoned if he had to guess. Her hands were resting on her stomach, holding a dead rose. And the real kicker – a small sewing pin stabbed in between each knuckle, red embroidery thread twisted around the top of each pin, connecting them. The spool of thread, still attached, lay by her right side.
It was an eerie scene, for sure. But, even more so, it was a familiar scene – to Remus, at least. He was sure if he had to check, the thread would be red no. 122, scarlet. Whoever did this had an eye for detail.
Remus stood from where he had been crouched near the body and turned to his colleague.
“You ever read crime thrillers, James?”
James frowned.
“No, Remus,” he responded. “I like to take breaks, on occasion. You should try it some time.”
Remus smirked.
“That’s not why I’m asking, but thanks,” he replied. “Just that if you did read crime thrillers, you’d probably recognise this scene. It’s plagiarised from a novel – Deadly Ever After.”
James looked between Remus and the body, narrowing his eyes.
“Why’s it called that?” he asked. “I don’t get it.”
“The book centres around a serial killer who uses fairy tales to inspire his crimes, hence the title,” Remus explained. “This scene mimics the first kill and the cover image – Sleeping Beauty.”
“I still don’t get it.”
Remus sighed and started pointing to different aspects of the scene.
“The rose is for the classic imagery of the sleeping princess, as she’s usually holding a rose. The pins and embroidery thread are for the spinning wheel. It’s not a perfect recreation of the story, but it’s a perfect recreation of the book.”
James nodded and wrote something down.
“Does this mean we should be looking for more bodies? You said it’s a serial killer, right?”
“I don’t know,” Remus answered honestly. “The novel’s a good starting point, but we shouldn’t narrow things down too much or start trying to predict anything. It could lead nowhere.”
“Fair enough,” James replied. “Who’s the author? We should probably call them in for an interview, just as a starting point.”
Remus grimaced before replying.
“Sirius Black.”
*
It wasn’t that Remus hated Sirius Black. He had never met the man, and he absolutely devoured his books over the years. He just wasn’t a fan of the persona, the charm. Black had won The Prophet’s Most Eligible Bachelor award twice since he published his first novel four years ago. He was a billionaire playboy with a chiselled jaw, grey eyes, and long, glossy black curls. He was arrogant, but he had the looks and the talent to justify it. Remus respected him as an author, but that was as far as it went. If he had met the man, he’d probably find him irritating at the very least. Theoretically.
Remus was pretty sure he hadn’t murdered anyone. If he had, he wouldn’t take it directly from his own book, but it was still a good lead. There had to be a reason someone copied his book, and he might know something helpful. So he called Peter and got him to set up the interview. Hopefully, Lily would be done with the autopsy by the time Black arrived, and Remus could avoid the whole ordeal by simply being elsewhere while he was interviewed.
He arrived at the Met and was immediately sent to McGonagall’s office by a rather flustered Peter. Luck was clearly not on his side today.
Sure enough, he opened the door to find his usually stern boss leaning against her desk and smiling at the man sitting in front of her. She looked up as the door opened and her companion stood to greet him. Sirius Black, in all his glory.
He was taller than Remus expected, almost Remus’s height. He was also dressed more casually, wearing ripped black jeans and a t-shirt that had seen better days under a leather jacket. He wasn’t sure why he expected something more formal. The only picture of the author he had seen were on the inside covers of his books, where it made sense that he’d be more dressed up. He still struggled to reconcile the image he had in his head with the man in front of him.
“You must be the detective who wanted to interview me,” Black said, offering his hand to shake. “Remus Lupin, right? I’m Sirius Black.”
“I know.” Remus immediately cringed. “Sorry, let me try that again. Yes, I’m Detective Lupin. Thank you for coming in, Mr Black. We just have a few questions about a murder that took place last night.”
“Please call me Sirius,” he said. “Minnie already filled me in over the phone about the murder. I’m happy to help wherever I can.”
Remus raised his eyebrows at McGonagall when he heard the nickname. She shook her head but cleared her throat and stood up fully.
“Sirius’s uncle, Alphard, was a friend of mine,” she explained. “He’s practically my godson. I called him as soon as Peter let me know about the connection between your case and his book. He has offered us full access to his apartment building’s security system, so we can look into his alibi for the murder, but I don’t think that will be necessary. I don’t think anyone here is accusing you of murder, Sirius. We need to look into whether the link to your book means anything, and whether that has an impact on you, but otherwise it’s business as usual.”
“That’s perfect, Minnie,” Black replied. “Like I said, I’m here to help in whatever way I can.”
“Thank you.” She turned back to Remus. “Sirius is going to be consulting on this case until it’s solved. We spoke about it, and I think it will be easiest if he sticks around, so he can answer any questions about his life as they come up and maybe offer a new perspective on everything. He’ll be working mostly with you, Lupin, as lead detective, so please look after him while he’s with us.”
“Of course, sir,” he answered before looking back at the other man. “Mr Black, if you’d follow me to my desk, I’d like to ask you a few questions, so we can start looking into any leads.”
“Lead the way, Lupin,” Black answered easily. “But, genuinely, call me Sirius. Mr Black is my father, and he’s much less charismatic, I can promise you that.”
With that, Sirius strolled through the doorway and waited a few feet away for the detective. Remus sighed, and turned to meet him, pulling McGonagall’s door closed behind him. It was going to be a long case.