Chapter 11

When they received a search warrant from the judge, Daphne, Fred and the officers went to James Stevens' building in Manhattan Valley.

What a murky old building it was. The perfect place to hide and stay hidden.

The red bricks of the building had some words painted on in white paint, but over the years it had faded, and nobody could make out what it said.

From the outside it appeared to be a 3-storey building, but it looked so old the ground floor could have been used for something else back when it was previously in use before Stevens bought it.

The five went up to the house, Daphne knocked on the door. Henderson looked around at the "garden", which was just a patch of grass that had discoloured under the sun, a washing line that ran from one side of the house to a small shed in the tiny garden, no clothes on it though, and that was it.

There was no answer, so Daphne knocked again. She looked up at the building and couldn't decide why someone would want to live here, it looked haunted compared to the rest of the neighbourhood.

Someone answered this time and a man stood in the doorway. He was tall and thin, and he wore a black t-shirt that was much too big on him, and he had scruffy jeans. His face wasn't hollow as Daphne had expected.

'What do you want?' He asked.

'James Stevens?' Fred asked.

'Yeah?'

'We have a warrant to search your property.' Fred said, holding up the warrant from the judge.

James Stevens' eyes widened, and his face turned white, 'Why?' He asked.

'We need to search the property.' Fred said, and he stepped into the building, followed by Daphne and the officers.

Henderson stood to the side with James Stevens who protested that they had nothing to search for to which Daphne replied, 'Then you won't mind us looking.'

This seemed to have annoyed Stevens, and Daphne knew he was hiding something, and she knew he wasn't going to confess.

The inside of the building was just as scruffy on the inside as the outside, I didn't look like it had been dusted since Stevens moved in.

There was a three-seater couch and an armchair in front of a small TV and a small coffee table in between them. The TV was off however there was a glass of water on the coffee table.

Jacobs opened the coat closet and he searched but there was nothing aside from Stevens' shoes and his coat, an umbrella, and another raincoat.

Garrett went into the kitchen, he didn't see anything inside the room that looked suspicious, so he looked through the cupboards, nothing other than a box of Lucky Charms, but he didn't think that was suspicious because Garrett sometimes ate Lucky Charms in the morning, when he wasn't having peanut butter on toast, or toast and eggs.

So, he went to through the next door which led him to the garden. Jacobs followed Daphne and Fred upstairs.

Garrett looked out into the garden, but there was nothing unusual other than its unkempt state. His eyes fixed on the shed in the garden and he went to investigate. The door was locked but he looked through the murky windows, but he saw only a lawnmower (obviously unused) and various garden tools which did not stick out as suspicious.

Jacobs caught up with Daphne and Fred, before they went into the first bedroom, he informed them that there was nothing suspicious downstairs and that Garrett had gone to investigate the garden.

Fred turned the doorknob and pushed open the door. It was a bedroom. There was a double bed which had not been made, a small chest of drawers and a wardrobe. The curtains were drawn, and they were about to step into the room when they heard a sound.

Jacobs pointed to another door and brought his finger to his lips, indicating they should be quiet. They nodded and followed him quietly to the door.

Jacobs carefully turned the doorknob, hoping he wasn't making too much noise. He put his hand on his gun which was in its holster, he could grab it quickly if he needed it.

He pushed the door, which opened into another bedroom. Though this one had multiple single beds, and the room was dimly lit by the sunlight shining through the cracks in the curtains.

Sitting on the floor in the corner of the room were 6 small children.

Fred grabbed his walkie-talkie and told Henderson to arrest Stevens and call for backup.

Garrett heard the comment on the walkie-talkie and went to assist Henderson with the arrest, thinking that Stevens would put up a fight and Henderson wasn't a big police officer, but he managed by himself just fine. He arrested him and took him out to the police car and stayed outside until backup arrived.

The children didn't appear to be harmed, but they looked scruffy and unclean, though they seemed to have been fed.

They recognised their faces from the photographs, and they counted each one of them; Max Preston, Prissy Rossman, Compass Halder, Russell Thomas, Dylan Townsend, and Nina Jackson. All recovered.

They stared at their saviours; it was almost like they didn't know they were there. The children were huddled together, clearly, they had come to trust one another during their ordeal.

Garrett came into the bedroom and his huge figure startled the children, 'You found them!' He exclaimed, Daphne shushed him, and he realised they were scared.

Garrett came closer to the children and got to his knees, 'I'm not gonna hurt you.' He said and he pointed to his police badge, 'See I'm a police officer, and these are my friends. We've come to get you and take you home.'

Dale and Henderson made the calls to the parents to inform them of the safe recovery of their children who had been taken to the hospital to be checked out.

Daphne and Garrett went to the hospital with the children whilst Fred, after being hounded by reporters shortly after the arrest, made a statement outside the police station informing the city that the Magic Man had finally been caught.

The nurse explained to Daphne and Garrett that neither of the children had been physically harmed, neither of them had any cuts or bruises, marks or burns. And the children kept insisting that the Magic Man took care of them.

The nurse also noted that the children had been well fed and they explained to her that he gave them Lucky Charms in the morning for breakfast along with a glass of water each, a cheese sandwich at lunchtime and pasta for dinner, 'A couple of the kids said it was the same food every day, but they were happy to be fed anything.'

'Was there anything else?' Daphne asked.

'There was one thing, actually.' The nurse said, 'When I asked them about how well they were looked after, a couple of them said that they were fed and looked after by the Magic Man and all they had to do was follow his rules and "stick to the plan".'

'What does that mean?' Garrett asked.

'I think it proves our theory.' Daphne replied.

After each of the children had been collected by their parents, and Daphne had informed them that they would be contacted soon, she and Garrett returned to the station.

'Captain wants you in the interrogation room, detective.' Jacobs said. Daphne grabbed her notepad and went upstairs to the interrogation room.

When she entered the room, Fred was sat at a table opposite the handcuffed James Stevens.

She closed the door behind her and sat next to Fred, and he pressed the button on the recording device, 'Saturday 17th July 2021, the time is 3:35 PM. Present for the interview is myself temporary Captain Jones, Detective Blake and suspect Mr James Stevens.'

'Mr Stevens, can you explain why you kidnapped all those children?' Daphne asked.

'No comment.' Stevens replied.

'Can you tell us what your intentions were?' Daphne asked.

'No comment.'

Ok, it's going to be like this, is it? Daphne thought.

'Can you tell us if that was you at former Captain Williams' party on the night of Friday 16th 2021?' She asked.

Stevens looked her dead in the eyes and he smiled, 'Like my tricks detective?'

'What I would like is for you to tell what you think you were doing.' Daphne replied.

'That was quite some chase wasn't it?' Stevens smiled, 'I didn't think a woman could keep up with me, not one who so elegantly dressed as you.'

Daphne grinds her teeth, 'So that was you?'

'It was indeed. And I kidnapped all the kids from their homes and planned to use them in my performances.' Stevens spoke.

'First of all, how did you get into the buildings without being spotted by anyone or any of the cameras?' Fred asked.

'Would you believe magic?' He asked, and Fred and Daphne stared at him, Stevens continued, 'I guess not. Ok, if you really wanna know, I'll tell you. I picked the locks, took the child, and left. I'm a trained myself to sneak around without making a noise, waking the child or the rest of the family, and leaving no evidence behind.'

'Ok, now tell me about the night at City Hall.' Fred said.

Stevens clapped his hands, 'Oh that was a great performance wasn't it? I wasn't counting on Townsend recognising her son so quickly. The kids and I had been practising for weeks, Dylan was to come up on stage with me, I knew someone was bound to recognise him. And the others set to work to pickpocket the party-goers.'

'How did they do it? Without anyone spotting them?' Daphne asked.

'No magic really. It only takes an alcoholic drink and good magician to have your full attention, plus the kids were super quiet.' Stevens explained.

'You never hurt the children?' Fred asked.

'No of course not.' Stevens replied, he was more serious now, 'I never wanted to hurt them, I just wanted them to help me. I fed them, gave them beds to sleep in, I allowed them to wash-'

'But you never got them new clothes.' Fred stated.

'Not true, they had their costumes.' Stevens said, 'And we had all the fun in the world watching movies and putting on face make-up.'

'Now, tell me why all this happened?' Fred asked.

'What do you mean detect-Captain?' Stevens asked.

'Why did you kidnap those children?' Fred asked, 'The ones whose parents were in school with your brother.'

Stevens suddenly looked uneasy, 'What? How did you know about that?'

'We looked into the parents and we discovered they all went to the same school, so we spoke to the principal, who was former vice-principal Bleu, and he said that Tyler Jackson, Bradley Townsend, May Thomas, Victoria Rossman and Melanie Preston all went to school together, and they were also seen hanging around with a boy called Jared Stevens.' Daphne explained. 'Jared Stevens drowned in the school's swimming pool in his senior year of high school.'

'Jared didn't drown. He was drowned.' Stevens replied.

Daphne and Fred looked at each other, 'Tell us.' Fred said.

'I was in middle school when my brother died. Jared's death was so unexpected but what I didn't expect was the reaction of his "friends".' Stevens replied, 'They spoke to the police only once and refused to speak to them a second time, they were acting strangely and one of them didn't go to the funeral.'

'Which one?' Daphne asked.

'Townsend.' Steven replied, 'I watched them. I watched them for weeks and I started to put things together along with the rumours that were going around school that they killed my brother.'

'What reason do they have to kill him?' Fred asked.

Stevens shrugged, 'They didn't like him, I don't know why. Jared liked them. I pieced together that they killed my brother, for what reason why I don't know.'

'What about Addie Halder? She's too young to have gone to school with your brother and she wouldn't have known him.' Daphne spoke.

'I attended NYU for a few months, I was also there when Addie Halder was in her first year, studying journalism.' Stevens spoke, 'Addie was much younger than me, we had different classes anyway. She stumbled upon my brother's case and began researching it, and I think she had enough evidence against them all, but she suddenly dropped it and a few weeks later she dropped out of NYU.'

'That had nothing to do with you?' Fred asked.

Steven shook his head, 'No, of course not. I wanted the police to be told what they had done, I wanted them to be brought to justice. But Addie dropped the case.'

'So, you kidnapped her kid?' Daphne asked, Stevens nodded, 'And the other kids. I wanted them to feel how I felt when my brother died. But I couldn't bring myself to kill the children, so I thought I would involve them in my acts, we had fun together.' He chuckled lightly, 'Little Prissy told me that was the most fun she'd ever had in a long time.'

He stared at them for a second, before he continued, 'I wanted them to be held accountable for what they had done to my brother, all 6 of them Addie Halder included.'

'Addie Halder had nothing to do with the death of your brother.' Fred said.

'No, that's true. But she failed to expose them for what they had done when she had the chance.' Stevens added, 'Shouldn't she be charged for withholding information?'

'Not necessarily, she was not involved in the crime.' Fred said.

Stevens growled, 'Then I want them all to be questioned.'

'Let's just focus on you, shall we James.' Daphne spoke.

'Whatever.' He mumbled, he was starting to sound like an angry teen, but Daphne and Fred continued, they had a job to do.

'The night of the former captain's party, you performed with Dylan Townsend, correct?' Fred asked.

'Yes.' Stevens muttered.

'Were the other children there?' Fred asked.

Stevens looked at him and gave him a face that said duh.

Fighting the urge to roll his eyes, Fred continued, 'So I guess you had the other children pickpocket from the party-goers?'

Stevens smiled, 'Well, we needed to make our money somehow, being a magician doesn't exactly rake in the cash.'

'So, I'm guessing that all the stolen stuff has been sold?' Daphne asked.

'Well, aren't you a smart cookie?' Stevens smiled, 'I've told you everything, now can we end this interview?'

Daphne looked down at her notepad, there was one thing she had to ask Stevens before they terminated the interview.

'One more thing.' Daphne began, Steven looked intrigued, rolling his head to the side and he smiled at her, 'Go on detective.'

'When we chased you to the rooftop, I was so close behind you, but you had just vanished. Our crime scene analyst found some black powder on the roof.' Daphne said.

'You wanna know how I escaped, don't you?' Stevens asked.

'I do.' Daphne replied.

Stevens smiled, 'Magic.'