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Post by Kate Donaghy on Oct 16, 2016 23:54:38 GMT -5
Kate nodded. Wanting a change of subject she turned to ask him, "Have you heard from the hospital at all?"turning the attention toward Lex.
Kate led him back into her office to await Christine's family.
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Post by Dorian Humbert on Oct 17, 2016 0:29:35 GMT -5
Dorian sighed internally, though his face remained the epitome of calm. "No change since we last spoke. Lex is still unconscious. Her brother is, apparently, still very aggressive when anyone attempts to check on her besides the doctor." Although O'Connor had made a point of remarking how much more aggressive Alek seemed in Dorian's presence compared to any of the other Aurors. Dorian deserved as much, since it was his foolishness that put Lex in danger in the first place.
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Post by Kate Donaghy on Oct 17, 2016 0:36:50 GMT -5
Kate was striking out at every turn. It was bad enough that she had only bad, worse, and horrible news to give him, but asking about his partner didn't help either. She had nothing else, no topics of conversation that would be of interest and do anything to ease his mind.
Silence was the only safe option as she waited for Christine's family to arrive.
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Post by Lillian Montgomery on Oct 23, 2016 2:14:46 GMT -5
Lillian was the first to arrive. The knot in her stomach only grew as the days passed without any word from her daughter. She knew that Christine was nearly a fully grown woman and under a lot of pressure with school, but Lillian was still her mother and a mother knew when something was wrong with her children.
She had hoped to find Geoffrey or her sister and they would have some clue as to what was going on, but instead she was directed to the office of Kate Donaghy.
"Hello? Are you Ms. Donaghy? I'm Lillian Montgomery. Is Christine alright?"
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Post by Dorian Humbert on Oct 23, 2016 3:17:20 GMT -5
Dorian was half sitting, half leaning against the credenza behind Kate's desk, his arms folded across his chest, deep in thought. The quiet between he and Kate was simultaneously better and worse than the conversations that came before it. So when the door opened Dorian both welcomed the interruption and cursed it.
Then he just cursed it. In the doorway was Christine's mother. His stomach twisted as she asked after Christine.
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Post by Kate Donaghy on Oct 23, 2016 3:24:10 GMT -5
Kate looked up as the woman appeared and introduced herself. She briefly glanced at Dorian, then stepped forward to meet the woman.
"Mrs. Montgomery, yes I'm Kate. I'm the auror in charge of the investigation. If you could ma'am, just verify that this is your daughter?" Kate asked, sliding Christine's picture toward Lillian.
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Post by Lillian Montgomery on Oct 23, 2016 3:52:12 GMT -5
Lillian looked between the two individuals in the room for some sort of clue what this was all about, but took the picture and without even fully looking she knew it was her daughter. She had been the one to take the photograph.
"Yes, that's my daughter. Please...will one of you tell me what's going on? Is Christine alright?"
"Ma'am, are you aware that your daughter was staying at the Avalon for the majority of this month?"
"Yes. She said she wanted some time to study for her NEWTs exam."
Kate looked at Dorian.
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Post by Dorian Humbert on Oct 23, 2016 4:07:22 GMT -5
A large part of Dorian hoped that Mrs Montgomery would see the pictures and explain that there had been a mix up. That wasn't Christine Montgomery. That her daughter was only 17 and the girl in the photographs was not her. But that wasn't the case.
"Actually, ma'am, Christine was staying at the Avalon as part of our witness protection program. There was an incident in the park and your daughter was a key witness." The vanity charm held, though Dorian felt as though he was about to be sick.
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Post by Lillian Montgomery on Oct 23, 2016 4:18:14 GMT -5
"What?" Lillian said sounding surprised, "Christine didn't say anything at all." Lillian's heart was still pounding, but Christine being a witness for a crime was much less serious than what had been running through Lillian's mind.
"What kind of incident? Is my daughter in danger?"
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Post by Dorian Humbert on Oct 23, 2016 4:30:39 GMT -5
Dorian hesitated for a moment, trying to find the strength to carry on. Lillian's concern for her daughter dictated that he had to continue. "Your daughter came across a crime scene. She didn't see the actual crime take place," he assured her, as if that made things better somehow, "but there was a murder and Christine- your daughter was our only witness."
The ringing in his ears was growing louder again. He couldn't answer the woman's next question. He looked to Kate for support.
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Post by Kate Donaghy on Oct 23, 2016 4:38:11 GMT -5
Lillian knew it was bad when Dorian said "Murder" and "Only Witness." She was already shaking her head no.
"No, no there must be some kind of mistake. My daughter isn't..."
Kate felt sick too, she didn't know how Grayson handled these kind of meetings all the time. So far Kate had let him give the bad news each time, and if this is how it felt Kate suddenly felt like the worst partner in the world.
"There was another incident Mrs. Montgomery, and Christine was taken from the safehouse. The auror on duty is in critical care."
Lillian went several shades paler. She needed her husband for strength, but she didn't wait for him. She needed her sister for strength to tell her that they would find Christine and everything would be fine.
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Post by Dorian Humbert on Oct 23, 2016 4:54:24 GMT -5
Dorian gripped the edge of the credenza as he sat listening to Kate retell the ordeal. He couldn't bear to look at Christine's mother in so much pain. He felt selfish and filthy thinking of how he reacted when this woman had lost her daughter. "We're doing everything we can to find her, Mrs Montgomery." This would be of little condolence to a mother without her child, but he had nothing else to offer her. The hope that Christine might still be alive could sustain her a while longer at least. It could sustain him as well.
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Post by Kate Donaghy on Oct 23, 2016 4:59:37 GMT -5
Kate questioned the hope that they clung to, but for the moment she wouldn't take it away for the world. She also couldn't tell this woman who was floundering for support, that her daughter was likely already dead.
"Where's my sister?" Lillian asked suddenly. It wasn't that she didn't trust the pair in front of her, but she needed her family, she needed someone she knew to tell her that Christine was gone, until then her mind just wouldn't accept it.
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Post by Dorian Humbert on Oct 23, 2016 5:26:01 GMT -5
Dorian dreaded having to deal with the Ferreras, but anything was better than watching Christine's mum fall to pieces. Dorian stood. "I'll see if I can't find Agent Ferrera." He gave Kate a look that he hoped would be an apology for leaving her alone with the grieving mother, but he wasn't sure it would come across with his charm still in place. He stepped out of the office, shutting the door behind him and sighed heavily. Now he had to deal with Cara Ferrera .
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Post by Kate Donaghy on Oct 23, 2016 15:15:41 GMT -5
Kate nodded subtly toward Dorian as he left to find Lillian's sister. Suddenly Kate was upset that she had delivered the news to the woman by herself, but she wasn't going to keep her in suspense either. Kate did the only thing she could to the grieving terrified woman. She sat and offered whatever comfort she could.
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Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Oct 23, 2016 22:06:19 GMT -5
Geoffrey had only been back at work for a few weeks, and was still finding his footing. It was a stupid job, and he no longer felt even the slightest satisfaction doing it, but until he made another plan, this was it and he could no longer hide behind his trauma over the Imperius attack. That didn't mean, of course, that he was happy or comfortable doing it. He also was having a really hard time caring about his job. Really? the Floo network? Most people preferred apparation, anyway.
He had been out on a call to fix a blockage in someone's floo, when the message came via an oddly-timed owl. He was needed back at the Ministry, and he couldn't imagine why, but he was secretly glad. The only real problem with the floo in this house was that the idiots who owned it hadn't cleaned their chimney in a while and it was causing a floo blockage. What did he look like, a chimney sweep?
He politely told the family that he had to leave, and advised them to call a chimney cleaning service instead, then he apparated to just outside the Ministry and took the Phone Booth inside.
The message advised him to go to the Auror office, which made him roll his eyes. Roland probably wanted something, although Geoffrey couldn't imagine what he could do that Roland couldn't do better. But whatever. Maybe Riley needed him.
But when he got there, neither Roland nor Riley were anywhere in sight. Instead, a woman he barely recognized was talking to... his mother? What was going on?
"Uh... someone summoned me? Geoffrey Montgomery? Mom, what are you doing here?"
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Post by Kate Donaghy on Oct 23, 2016 22:10:23 GMT -5
Kate stood when Geoff entered the room. She didn't have much interaction with anyone outside of the department, but she had seen his face before visiting Roland, so she knew who he was. She stood out of the way as Lillian stood and pulled her son to him.
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Post by Lillian Montgomery on Oct 23, 2016 22:12:56 GMT -5
Lillian was sobbing, she couldn't help herself any longer. She held on to her child, the one that was safe and sound, and clutched at the tangibility of a body for support.
It was difficult to get the words out, "Your sister's been taken!" she cried against him.
Christine had been through so many scrapes and survived, but Lillian knew what was going on with this madman having heard some of the stories from Cara and the news.
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Post by Geoffrey Montgomery on Oct 24, 2016 9:31:32 GMT -5
It all happened so fast that Geoffrey couldn't process it all. One minute he was standing there, the next, he was engulfed in an almost crushing hug from his mother, who was crying and babbling something about Christine.
Christine.
Without fully understanding what his mother was saying, Geoffrey looked around the room almost frantically, as if he expected to see Christine sitting there, rolling her eyes at her mother's hysterics. "What?" he said, feeling his heart rate increasing, creating a buzzing noise in his ears. "What happened to Christine? What do you mean she's been taken?"
He looked to the auror, hoping she could provide some more coherent explanation.
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Post by Kate Donaghy on Oct 24, 2016 19:38:26 GMT -5
"Your sister was a witness to the Penny Young case, she was in protective custody, but one of our aurors was overtaken and Miss Montgomery, your sister, was kidnapped. Presumably by the same man who is responsible for Penny Young's murder." Kate said trying to explain, but knowing that there were no words to explain what had happened. How did you tell a family that their daughter was kidnapped by a serial killer?
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