Chapter 3

Daphne and Fred sat at the dining table opposite Tobias and Addie Halder.

Young parents in their late 20's living in an expensive apartment building in Carnegie Hill, New York City. The parents are travel writers, which Daphne guess was where the name Compass came from. They earned their money writing travel blogs and books and offering travel tips on Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms.

Photos of their travels were stored inside a huge scrapbook that lived on the coffee table and was always updated. Photos of their beloved son were hung all over the living, standing on bookshelves, or tucked safely inside personalised coasters.

'We should be in Thailand now. We had our tickets booked for weeks; we have been planning this for months.' Addie Halder wiped her eyes as she spoke, 'Compass loves travelling, he's only 7 and he's been to Hawaii, Poland, England, Germany, Romania, Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia. We were planning on taking him to Iceland in October, and then Belgium before Christmas and we have all these trips planned for next year.'

'We can see this is hard for you, Mrs Halder, but we need to ask you some questions.' Daphne spoke.

Tobias Halder nodded, wiping his eyes and he took a deep breath, 'What do you wanna know?'

'Did Compass go to a party the day of his disappearance or the day before?' Fred asked.

The Halder's exchanged looks, 'He did.' Tobias Halder replied, 'A boy in his class, it was his birthday, well him and his twin sister. They were having a joint party. His friends and her friends.'

'Where was the party?' Daphne asked.

'The father hired the school auditorium for the day, I believe the money went towards a new jungle gym in the playground. The school had a charity day a few weeks ago.' Addie Halder explained.

'Can you tell us more about this party?' Daphne asked.

'Like what?'

'Everything. We are aware that all the missing kids went to a party and disappeared either the day of or the day after that party. So, please tell us everything.' Fred spoke.

'Ok, umm…we took Compass to the school auditorium, all of his friends were there. Compass gave Johnathan his present which was put onto a table with all the other presents. Umm…the kids played games, danced, and had lunch.' Addie Halder explained, 'I was talking to one of the other parents about something.'

'Is that all?' Daphne asked and Addie Halder nodded, then she smiled, 'Compass thought the magician was amazing.'

'Magician?' Daphne asked.

Tobias Halder nodded, 'Yeah there was a magician, he did some magic tricks for the kids and got them involved with a couple of "magic games" he called them.'

'What kind of magic games?' Fred asked.

The Halder's suddenly looked confused and they glanced at each other, 'What does this have to do with anything?' Tobias Halder asked.

'What magic games?' Fred asked again, this time his voice was more demanding, and the Halder's quickly answered him, 'Like pulling a rabbit out of a hat, and he did this one trick with two of the kids, one of them held a card and the other held a lemon. The magician made a card disappear and then he cut open the lemon and it was inside it.' Tobias Halder explained.

'Can you give us the name and telephone number of the parents who hosted the party?' Daphne asked.

Addie Halder nodded, she went into the living room and took her phone off the coffee table and searched through her contacts before giving Daphne the names 'Gerard Rose' and Daphne wrote the number down.

'Thank you for your time Mr and Mrs Halder, we'll be in touch soon.' Fred said as he and Daphne stood up from the table. Tobias Halder shows them to the door.

'This seems way too easy Freddie.' Daphne said.

'I know, it does.' Fred replied, and he pulled out his phone and called Captain Williams.

'Captain, can you contact the parents of Russell Thomas, Dylan Townsend and Prissy Rossman. Tell them we know their kids went to a party before they disappeared but ask them if there was a magician there.'

'A magician?' Williams asked.

'Yeah, we think we might be on to something.' Fred replied.

'Ok, I'll give them a call, this better be good, Jones.' Williams replied and he ended the call.

When they arrived outside, Daphne and Fred climbed into their car and sped to Lennox Hill, the home of Nina Jackson.

'Hello Mrs Rossman, this is Captain Williams from the police department.'

'Oh, hello Captain. Is this good news? Have you found Prissy?' Victoria Rossman asked, the Captain heard voices in the background, he recognised Adrian Rossman's voice and a child's voice, he knew the Rossman's had three other children as well as Prissy, but she was the youngest.

'No, we have not yet found your daughter or the other children, but two of my detectives believe they have a lead in the case.' Captain Williams explained, 'I have a question to ask you.'

'Yes.'

'Prissy went to a party the day before she went missing?' Captain Williams asked.

'Prissy went to a party two days before she went missing.' Victoria Rossman corrected.

'Two days?' Captain Williams asked.

'Yes, she went missing on May 10th, the party was on May 8th.'

'Was there a magician at this party?' Captain Williams asked.

'I think there was.' Victoria Rossman replied, 'Prissy wasn't all that fussed about it though, she thought he was good, but you know how quickly kids lose interest in things.'

'Yes. So, there was a magician at the party?' Captain Williams asked.

'Yes, there was.'

Captain Williams asked Victoria Rossman for the name and telephone number of the parent who hosted the party. It took her a few minutes to find it, which gave Captain Williams a few minutes to rummage his drawers looking for a working pen. Victoria Rossman gave him the name and telephone number.

Captain Williams scribbled the number onto the paper and wrote 'Amelia Brown' next to the number.

'Ok, thank you for your time, Mrs Rossman, we'll be in touch.' The Captain put the phone down before he grabbed the file for Russell Thomas and searched for his parents' number.

He spoke to Russell's mother Mary Thomas. And then he called the Townsend's and spoke to Dylan's father Bradley Townsend but came away from the calls disappointed.

The Jackson's reported their 9-year-old daughter Nina missing 7 days ago. Daphne knew to expect a lot of emotion from the family, as well as possible hostile behaviour. It was still early days into the kidnapping and the family were probably still processing.

Daphne knocked on the apartment door, there was quick movement on the other side and the door swung open. A woman - who Daphne and Fred realised was Suzie Jackson, Nina's mother – answered the door. Her face was streamed with tears and there was a look of dread in her eyes as she saw Daphne and Fred hold up their badges.

'It's bad news?' Suzie Jackson asked.

Daphne shook her head, 'We've just come to ask you a few questions.'

Suzie Jackson nodded, 'Come in.'

She let them into the apartment, closing the door behind them, and led them into the living room.

'This is my husband Tyler, and our kid's Juniper, Hunter and Lisa.'

The family did their best to smile at the detectives. Lisa Jackson was the eldest of the children, and she sat with her arms around her siblings who looked like they were only 11 years old.

Tyler Jackson asked the children to go into the other room whilst they talked to the detectives, Lisa Jackson was about to protest it, but instead took her brother and sister into the next room.

'Please sit down.' Suzie Jackson said, ushering Fred and Daphne to sit on the couch before she sat next to her husband.

'What is this about?' Tyler Jackson asked.

'I know it's only been a week since your daughter disappeared, but we have a lead in the case. You know there are 5 other missing children and we have been working on the cases. We have discovered a link between each of the missing children, which is they all went to a party the day of or the day before their disappearance.' Daphne explained.

The Jackson's exchanged looks, 'Nina went to a party.' Suzie Jackson replied.

'Ok.' Daphne nodded, 'I want to ask you, was there a magician at this party?'

Suzie Jackson thought for a second, then she shook her head, 'No.'

Daphne stumbled over her words, 'No…magician?' She asked, 'There was…no magician?'

Suzie Jackson shook her head again, 'No there wasn't. I took Nina there. It was a little girls party, and they spent the whole time dancing, then playing party games before having food, but there was no magician.'

'Ok.' Daphne muttered, she looked back at her notes.

'We are doing everything we can to find Nina and the other children. We are looking into everything. There was a magician at two different parties attended by two of the other kids, even though the parties themselves were completely different. We are just making sure we don't miss anything out.' Fred explained, and the Jackson's nodded.

Daphne was relieved at how quickly Fred picked things up, she had no idea what to say, she was hoping Suzie Jackson would have said, "yes there was a magician". She hoped they were not wrong about this theory.