บท 103: Chapter 103. Drugs and Candy 2
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… Roberts Mansion…
… Guildford, Surrey. Southwest of Central London…
Hazel silently sulked as they were ushered into the impressive foyer of the Roberts Mansion, she had requested to sit this investigation out because the last person she wanted to be around was Roxana but her request had been turned down.
It wasn't exactly an investigation because Mr. Roberts himself had been the one to request their presence. It had been a surprising invitation but he had mentioned having information concerning the dangerous drug that had become popular amongst Majes and as they were put on the case after successfully catching 'X', she was required to be here.
Well, it was just Mr. Potter and her. Mr. Swiller and Mr. Dewey were occupied with something else but as a butler showed up to direct them to a receiving room, Hazel decided that she would have preferred hiding around in dirty backstreets to this.
"Please make yourself comfortable, Master Rowan will be here to attend to you soon." The suited butler bowed stiffly, stepping out.
Not long after he left, uniformed maids hurried in with trays of tea and scones which were placed on side tables beside them.
Hazel was disgruntled, busying herself with looking around the receiving room. The Roberts Mansion was overflowing in grandeur but was a tad gaudy and flamboyant that portrayed them as the nouveau-riche. The Roberts Mansion was only recently built so there was no way it would have a House-Elf bound to it, the butler and hired help showed that.
The door that they had come through opened slowly to reveal the person that had invited them over. Mr. Rowan Roberts was a quiet and kind-looking man, a migrant who was able to make quick money by means of his ingenious ideas.
"I apologize for my tardiness, I hope you have not been waiting long." His voice was similar to the way he looked, quiet and kind.
Mr. Potter rose to his feet and Hazel mimicked his actions, staring at his wild dark hair and black-rimmed glasses to avoid looking at Mr. Rowan. Although surprisingly, Rowan looked nothing like his daughter, save for sharing similar hair shades, they both looked very different.
"Not at all." Harry politely replied, his eyes narrowing as he appraised the middle-aged man. "We are flattered by your invitation but I'll have to be presumptuous and ask that you go right to the point." He stated bluntly.
Rowan was unfazed by this, his kindly expression did not wane. "Of course, I'm sure I must have taken you away from more important matters." He took his seat and waited for them to do the same. "I'll be blunt with you then because it doesn't benefit me to do otherwise."
Harry's previous suspicious expression changed to one of consternation. He had been unable to guess Roberts' motive by inviting them with claims of having information concerning the drug, the American had always stayed out of the Ministry's business, content to build his companies and grow his wealth quietly.
So, unless it directly involved him, Harry couldn't see why he would willingly come forward with useful information seeing as his relationship with the Ministry was already somewhat strained.
He sat back however and waited for what Roberts had to say. Daylen and Finn were already out investigating downtown London and he was unable to join them because of this meeting, he hoped it would yield something useful at least.
"About two weeks ago, I received a report stating that my company's Ro-Bars were being infused with a dangerous substance and being resold on the market." Rowan repeated the same words he just said to his daughter less than an hour ago, waiting for the levity of his words to sink in before continuing.
Expressions of shock grew on the faces of the Aurors as they processed Rowan Roberts' words. Although the drug in question was well-known, they were yet to get their hands on a sample because of the well-hidden routes that the drug was being peddled in.
"You can imagine my horror when I heard this report, I immediately tried to resolve things…"
"Why didn't you inform the Ministry right away?" Harry crossed his arms, a dark look on his face. If they had gotten this information immediately after Roberts found out, they would have more evidence on hand and perhaps have already solved the case.
Rowan chuckled lightly but there was no humor in the sound. "I already have a strained relationship from when I forced their hand in approving the usage of the blue Egyptian lotus in my Ro-Bars, you don't expect that I'll immediately run to them when the very thing they were trying to avoid happened."
Harry wasn't sympathetic, the Ro-Bars were a big hit and that gave Roberts some immunity. "What changed now?"
"Clearly, I couldn't resolve it by myself so I was forced to turn to the Ministry for help." Rowan gestured with his hands. He had expected this cold reaction, in his opinion, Harry Potter was rather nice.
"Or perhaps you want to shift the suspicion from yourself." Harry cocked a brow.
Rowan remained calm at this. "I would be stupid to think that I would be clear of suspicion simply because I offered information that I'm sure you would find eventually but… If I were the perpetrator, what reason would I have for doing something like this?"
Hazel watched as Mr. Potter fell quiet, she had been silently observing the back and forth between both men. She too could think of no reason why Mr. Roberts would do something so damaging to his company's reputation. It meant that someone else was probably behind it, the thought of that made her remember what Roxana had said when they met in one of her clothing store branches, that as a prosperous business enterprise, they had a lot of enemies.
"That remains to be seen." Harry finally responded. There was a chance that Rowan Roberts had no hand in the drug scheme but until proven guilty, Harry would treat him as the mastermind of the entire thing. "I will require a detailed statement on everything you know of this." He stated, staring pointedly at Roberts.
Rowan took a deep breath and expelled it. "Of course, I'm willing to cooperate with the Ministry in every way I can to get to the bottom of this matter." His research into the issue had produced nothing, he had no idea where the substance was being infused into the Ro-Bars, as a matter of fact, he had found it extremely difficult to get his hands on one.
Frankly speaking, he was a Dark Lord in name only, he tended to keep out of Blackmore Alley and all of the frivolities going on there. Leland had told him that if he wanted to be a part of their world, he couldn't sit on the fence, he was starting to realize that now.
Because he had next to no connections in Blackmore Alley itself, he had merely been plunged into that world when he was seeking assistance in convincing the Ministry to approve the ingredients that went into the Ro-Bars. Then he was introduced to Willard Carleton and that was the start of his bizarre journey.
Carleton was an unsettling man but he was able to get the job done, calling in favors and pulling strings to get Rowan's product approved. Naturally, this put Rowan in the other man's favor and the only thing he had requested was that Rowan join the ranks of the Dark Lords.
Carleton had already predicted at the start that Rowan's company would do incredibly well but Carleton was well off, Rowan still couldn't understand why he had done that but perhaps it was all in a bid to get connections.
Rowan still felt like he owed Carleton a favor, it was why he refused to ally himself with Leland when he brought up the proposition. Carleton was long dead but he was stuck in Britain's Wizarding Underworld, it wasn't a place he couldn't just cancel his membership for.
Without being told, Rowan was certain that Leland Blackburn was behind all this, Leland was a very dangerous man. There was no way he could fully escape the matter on hand without getting scratched, and that was the best-case scenario. The worst would be that he would get sent to Azkaban and his daughter's future which he had worked so hard for would be ruined.
"An intense search will also be carried out on your factories and the Mansion as well." Harry listed off. "If all of the investigations lead to a dead end, your factories might have to be shut down to prevent further production of the drug." He deadpanned. "Because whether you're a willing participant or not, there's no denying that your company's product is being used as a major component of a very dangerous drug."
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