Chapter 4

'You're kidding?'

Captain Williams shook his head, 'Afraid not. There was no magician at the parties Dylan Townsend and Russell Thomas attended.'

Daphne ran her hand through her hair, 'Fuck.' She muttered.

'I don't know where to go with this.' Captain Williams spoke, 'Did you think there was a lead?'

'Yes, we did, and it's the furthest we've come in the last 3 months.' Fred replied, 'We went through the files and that was the only link we found. There was no evidence left at any of the crime scenes and all the parents said that neither of the kids were likely to just wander off in the middle of the night because they're all fucking scared of the dark!'

'Jones calm down.' Captain Williams replied nonchalantly.

'I dunno what to do Captain. We can't turn the city upside down looking for these kids.' Fred commented.

'I know.' Captain Williams replied. He sat at his desk, his fingers tapping his chin as he thought.

Daphne pulled her notepad out of her pocket and flipped through her recent notes.

'There was no evidence left at the crime scene. No signs of forced entry and no signs of a struggle.' Captain Williams muttered, both Fred and Daphne watched him.

'We're certain it's not the parents or any other family members who had anything to do with it.' Daphne spoke.

'I know.' Captain Williams replied.

'No signs of forced entry. No signs of a struggle.' Fred spoke, and he looked back at Daphne who was leaning against the wall, her notepad in her hands.

'The parents can't think of anyone suspicious, no one who would want to harm their kids.' Fred continued, 'So what if it was someone the kids knew, and not the parents?'

'Someone from school?' Daphne questioned.

'That would make sense.' Fred replied.

Captain Williams shook his head, 'I think that's too obvious.'

'Well, what else could it be?' Fred asked.

They returned to their office.

Fred sat in his chair, staring at the ceiling thinking of something they could be missing, but he couldn't figure out what that was.

Meanwhile, Daphne sat at her desk typing away on her laptop. She looked at her most recent Google search, 'Magician for hire NYC'.

There was a list of results: Magicians for sale. Become a magician overnight. Party magicians for hire in New York City.

She clicked on third result and read through the article:

"Having a party? Need a magician? Then look no further! Fill out this form below and we'll contact you as soon as we can to discuss the right Magician for your party!"

She stared at the page, she could not fill out the contact form, but she scrolled down the page and found a customer service contact number.

She picked up the phone and dialled the number.

Fred looked over, 'You found something?' He asked.

'Dunno yet.' Daphne replied, 'Hello, I'm Detective Blake from NYCPD, I was hoping you could answer a few questions.'

She smiled, 'That's great! My partner Detective Jones and I are investigating the disappearances of the 6 missing children, can you tell me if a magician was hired for parties on the dates of April 25th, May 8th and May 23rd?'

She looked at Fred, she rolled her eyes and ran a hand through her hair, 'Are you sure?' She asked, 'Ok, can I take your name?' She wrote the name Caitlin on her notepad, 'Thank you for your time, Caitlin.' And she hung up.

'What?' Fred asked.

'There no magician hired out of this company for any parties on these dates.' Daphne said, she slid her notepad over to Fred and he looked at the dates she had written.

'But there's another magician hiring company in the city though, right?' He asked.

'If there is, I can't find it.' Daphne replied.

Fred snapped his fingers, 'I'll look for that hiring company.' He returned to his desk and typed away.

Daphne picked up the phone and dialled the number for Janet Huey.

It rang a couple of times before the phone was picked up, 'Hello?' A voice asked.

'Hello, am I speaking to Janey Huey?' Daphne asked.

'Yes, who is this?'

'My name is Detective Blake, I work for the NYCPD and I'm investigating the missing children's cases.'

'Right? How can I help you?'

'After speaking to Melanie Preston, I am aware that a magician was hired for your son's Birthday and I want to know where you hired him from.' Daphne spoke. Her pen in her hand, ready to note the information Janet Huey was about to give her.

'I didn't hire him from a company.' Janet Huey said, 'He's a freelance magician.'

'Where did you find him?' Daphne asked.

'Umm…it popped up on my Facebook.'

'Your Facebook?'

'Yeah, my husband Gregg and I were talking about hiring a magician for the party, so I asked on Facebook if anyone knew of a magician I could hire.'

'And what was the magician's name?' Daphne asked.

'Uhh…the Great Mysterious, I don't know it's something like that.' Janet Huey replied.

Daphne wrote it down, 'And he's from New York City?'

'I believe so.'

'Thank you for your time.' Daphne said, and she ended the call.

Two more phone calls later and Daphne came away satisfied, she squealed a little bit as she stood up from her desk.

'Hmm…someone's in a good mood.' Fred spoke.

Daphne smiled widely and she put her notepad in front of Fred, 'I spoke to 3 parents and they gave me the names of a magician called either: The Great Illusionist, the Great Mysterioso or the Great and The Magician. They didn't give me a number for him because guess what? They all found him on Facebook.'

'Ahh, great detective work Blake.' He smirked.

Daphne smacked his arm playfully, 'And what have you found?'

'I have not found anything.' Fred replied he gave a smile before he continued, 'Well, I mean I found out that there was a company hiring magicians before the owner began experiencing financial difficulties and the company went bankrupt. The owner moved away, though I've not been able to find him, and the building his company worked from was bought by another company and turned into offices for technical support.'

Fred smiled at Daphne smugly.

'Well done Jones.' Daphne replied before she became serious, 'So we have 2 names for this guy but no contact information. Is it likely that he worked for the magician company before it went bankrupt?'

'Possibly.' Fred replied, 'But there is no information on who worked there and how long for. It could be a coincidence and he really is just a freelance magician, but I don't know how we're going to find that out.'

'Well, we can't wait for someone else to go missing.' Daphne added, 'We need to figure something out soon.'

'The parents didn't keep the Facebook messages from the magician?' Fred asked.

Daphne looked down at her notepad and she shook her head, 'After every party, the messages are gone, as if the account were deleted.'

'So, what if this guy has gone by all these names?' Fred suggested pointing to the names on Daphne's notepad, 'But he changes his name each time so to avoid being caught?'

'That's a good idea. It makes a lot of sense.'

Fred nodded, 'Question is. How do we find him?'