Chapter 72: The Trap

"It's impossible!" exclaimed an Auror. "He looks exactly like the one in the photo!"

Murphy also leaned in closer. "Indeed, Alex worked at Supreme Potion, he was my employee. I'm very familiar with his appearance. This man looks exactly like him... like a carbon copy."

Of course, it was a perfect match. This face had undergone numerous modifications and repairs, almost a one-to-one replica of Alex.

Isaac had a square face, while Alex had a round face. To make the contours consistent, bone grinding, bone growth, and then more grinding... it took three rounds of such procedures to replicate Alex's face.

It must be said, Researcher Nicolas indeed possessed a craftsman's spirit in plastic surgery.

However, Isaac had suffered greatly. Bone grinding, liposuction, leg amputation, skin grafting... Although the surgeries were performed under anesthesia, watching himself being transformed into another person caused Isaac indelible mental trauma.

But Murphy had no sympathy for him. The sins committed by this man were so great that even a hundredfold of the pain Murphy inflicted on him would not be enough to pay the debt.

"When did Alex pass through the Floo Network?" Kingsley asked Davies.

"Today, not long ago, around sixteen hundred hours." Davies replied nervously under Kingsley's intense gaze.

"Boss, wasn't that when we were preparing to capture someone?" an Auror questioned. "How could this be such a coincidence?!"

"It can't be a coincidence!" Kingsley exclaimed.

"Right, it can't be!" Murphy agreed. He looked at Kingsley. "What exactly are you playing at?"

Kingsley ignored Murphy, his vague unease now intensely strong. He suddenly realized he might have fallen into Murphy's trap. "Director, please authorize sending Aurors to Germany to bring back that 'Alex Wood' and see who the real Alex Wood is!"

"Do you know where he went in Germany? How many days will it take to bring him back?" Murphy snorted. "By then, this man will be decomposing, and I might already be locked up in Azkaban!"

"What do you suggest then?" Crouch asked.

"Fingerprints," Murphy said after thinking.

He looked at Davies. "The cross-country flight application must have his fingerprints, right?"

"Yes, of course." Davies replied.

Although fingerprint recognition technology wasn't widespread in the wizarding world, its basic application, like leaving a handprint on important documents, was common.

Aurors were also familiar with this basic forensic technology. The Auror who previously broke into Murphy's warehouse consciously cleared all traces he left behind.

Experts had identified the Auror's identity through residual fingerprints found on the warehouse door.

"Go get it," Murphy ordered. "Alex Wood must have some documents with his fingerprints at the Ministry, like his Apparition test application. Compare them, and we'll know who the real Alex Wood is."

Alex didn't have an Apparition license, but he had applied for the test.

"Alright, I'll go look for them," Davies hurried off.

Soon, Davies returned with several documents. He compared the fingerprints from Alex Wood's previous documents with those on the cross-country flight application, and then with those of the deceased.

The evidence was irrefutable.

The real Alex Wood had left the country, and the deceased was not Alex Wood.

All the Aurors looked shocked and confused.

Rita Skeeter excitedly urged her photographer to take numerous photos.

"What exactly did you do? Who is he?!" Kingsley glared at Murphy.

"Captain Kingsley," Murphy calmly replied, "that's exactly what I want to ask you. Where did you find this man, and why did you use him to frame me?!"

"This... all of this was your conspiracy!" Kingsley realized, understanding the source of his previous unease.

Alex visited the Owl Post Office monthly to send money, but his actions seemed very unfamiliar. Kingsley had thought it was just Alex being nervous due to his guilty conscience, but now he realized that it was a fake Alex using the owl for the first time.

"You planned this all along, didn't you? The explosion that injured Basilisk was to provoke us? The informant... no, Lucius... has he also joined you?" Kingsley was in shock. "Why? Wasn't he sent to Azkaban by you?"

"Mr. Lucius?" Murphy shrugged. "What about him? I thought he was still in prison."

Kingsley stared at Murphy as if witnessing a demon reborn from fire.

He felt a sincere fear, a deep-seated hatred, emotions so entwined that his body trembled slightly. "We couldn't read his thoughts during the Veritaserum interrogation, not because he knew Occlumency, but because you had already destroyed his mind..."

"You trained him into a puppet, a sacrificial lamb. You set up this trap at the cost of a human life."

"All of this, just to make it seem like he died under harsh interrogation..."

"You're not trying to clear your name; you're trying to make us the criminals..."

Kingsley's usually calm face twisted and contorted, "Murphy, you are a devil!"

"Captain Kingsley," Murphy replied calmly, "is this your excuse after your conspiracy failed? Then I must say, you should have been more cautious!"

"As for your accusations, I simply disdain to refute them. Why would I find someone from nowhere to prove my guilt in front of you? Fabricate evidence against myself? Am I insane, or are you?"

With that, he turned to Rita. "Ms. Skeeter, make sure you report everything that happened here. The Aurors, in their desperate attempt to frame me, coerced an innocent man into confessing and even cruelly transformed him into Alex, then killed him to cover up their lies!"

"Unlawful arrest! Malicious framing! Coerced confession! Murder! If they can do such things, what else are these Aurors not capable of?"

Rita Skeeter's eyes sparkled.

Framing!

Without a doubt, this was a setup against the Aurors.

Murphy Darkholm had come to her before the incident, clearly orchestrating everything!

Terrifying, horrific, insane!

Such a crazy way to concoct a lie!

Yet, framing others was precisely her expertise.

Murphy had given a good story, logically sound, and most importantly, the fact that "the Aurors caught the wrong person and killed him" was enough to crucify them on the pillar of shame. The rest was her domain.

As for justice?

As for the truth?

Let them go to hell!

As long as the news is sensational, scandalous, and conspiratorial, there will always be countless people willing to follow it.

Human nature's innate belief in evil deeds stems from a deep self-awareness.

Human nature is such, and she, Rita Skeeter, was merely reflecting it through her writing.

What fault was there in that?

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