Chapter 11

'What did the Wyatt's say?' Daphne asked.

Wheeler shook his head, 'Nothing new. Everything matched their previous statement.'

'The families have not been in contact with anyone who sticks out to them.' Fred stated, 'And it doesn't seem like anyone had approached the surviving siblings since the murders either.'

Daphne sighed and she grabbed her notepad, 'I'm going to speak to Milo's sister. She lives in Sandhurst.'

'I'll come with you.' Fred said, he stood out of his chair and grabbed his notepad too, along with Milo Pablo's case file.

'I'm going to speak to Fischer, she's done with her interview with the Harleson's. I'm going to let her know what we found.' Wheeler said.

Daphne and Fred exchanged looks before Daphne spoke, 'Not in too much detail though, we still don't quite know everything. Wouldn't want to get her hopes up.' She gave a quick smile, hoping she didn't make herself sound too suspicious.

Wheeler smiled, 'I've worked with Fischer for 6 years. I know what she's like.'

Daphne and Fred both smiled at Wheeler before they left the operations room.

Wheeler stood over the table looking down at the paperwork in front of him.

He thought over the information that Daphne and Fred had told him about the links between Milo's case and the recent murder cases.

The door opened, he looked up and Fischer had entered the operations room, closing the door behind her.

'The detectives are going to Sandhurst?' She asked.

Wheeler tells her to sit down, 'I'll explain it all to you.'

He told Wheeler about the links between the cases and Milo's case and how they think the killer is the same person, and unlikely to be a copycat.

'That would mean the killer would now be in his 70's at the oldest.' Fischer stated. Wheeler shrugged, 'How else could this link exist?'

Fischer was stumped, she was pleased that her team had finally gotten somewhere with this case, but Fischer felt like it wasn't enough because they still didn't have a suspect.

'They located Willa Pablo, Milo's sister, she's in Sandhurst.' Wheeler explained.

'Willa Pablo? I haven't seen her since we were kids. She's married now.'

'You knew her commish?' Wheeler asked.

Fischer nodded, 'Yes we went to the same school together but we weren't friends.'

'Do you remember much about her?' Wheeler asked.

Fischer shook her head, 'Not really. I remember finding out that one of the kids at the elementary block had gone missing and was later found dead, and my parents were concerned, as were the other parents in the town. It was the middle of Summer and nobody was out playing. The day of the funeral came and Milo's mother wanted the service to be family and friends only, though all the neighbours left flowers outside their house and there was a vigil outside the home when the family was at the service.'

'Did you go?' Wheeler asked.

Fischer nodded, 'We all did. A little while after the funeral, the Pablo's packed up and left town. And nobody heard from them again.'

'Commish.' Wheeler began, 'We found out that Willa Pablo is living in Sandhurst. Rosie Pablo, Milo's mother, died three years ago in Sacramento. But there is no record of Luca Pablo after 1999.'

'He's dead too?' Fischer asked. Wheeler shrugged, 'There's no death certificate under his name, and the last record of him was taken from an x-ray in 1999. Daphne searched Milo Pablo in case Luca had decided to take his name but there's nothing following Milo's death certificate in 1987.'

Fischer sat back in her chair and took a deep breath, 'This is a mess.'

Fred and Daphne had finally arrived in Sandhurst after the hour-long journey.

Daphne pulled up outside a two-storey house with a beautiful front garden covered in snow.

The house had a large driveway and they saw two cars parked on it, Daphne remembered reading that Willa had three children who were aged between 19 and 14.

They walked up the driveway and to the front door, and Fred rang the doorbell.

The door had a large glass window and they saw a woman in her late 40's approaching them, smiling as she came closer to the door.

She opened it and smiled, 'Hello, can I help you?'

Daphne and Fred showed her their police badges and the woman's face dropped.

'Are you Willa Baller?' Daphne asked, remembering Willa Pablo was now Willa Baller.

She nodded, 'Is everything ok?'

'Do you mind if we speak with you?' Fred asked.

Willa shook her head, 'Of course not, come in. Please.' She pulled the door open wider and allowed them into her house. She closed the door behind them and led them to the kitchen.

'What's happened?' She asked.

'Mrs Baller, this is about your brother Milo.' Daphne spoke.

Willa gulped, 'You finally found who did it?' She asked, but Daphne shook her head, 'Unfortunately not, but we have found more evidence and we hope it will soon crack the case wide open. We're here today because we need to speak to you about some things.'

'Like what?' Willa asked, 'Oh please sit down.' She said, motioning to the table.

Daphne and Fred sat down and opened their notepads and Fred laid the police file on the table, Willa sat opposite them.

'We believe that the recent murders in Sandpoint are linked to your brother's murder.' Fred started, 'The cases have some similarities but what sticks out the most is that second victim, Charlie Tudor, disappeared on January 9th last year, and the 5th and 6th victims, Christopher and Lee Thomas, disappeared on June 21st of last year. Do those dates mean anything to you?'

Willa's eyes were filled with tears, 'January 9th is Milo and Luca's birthday. And June 21st is the day Milo went missing.'

Daphne nodded, 'Also, the victims are all twins and there is one surviving sibling in each family.'

Willa gasped, Daphne and Fred knew she had caught on.

'The killer is the same person?' Willa asked. Fred nodded, 'We believe so, but the age of the killer is just too old. A man in his 70's could not have possibly kidnapped and killed ten boys – all in their late teens – and then moved their bodies without anyone noticing him.'

'You think the killer has to be someone younger?' Willa asked.

'Yes.' Daphne replied, 'But we are here to ask you a few questions. What do you remember about your brother's case?'

Willa took a deep breath in, then she exhaled and began her story, 'I was 13, the boys were 9. My friend came over and we were listening to some music in my bedroom and the boys went out to play at the park. The day before they had been playing with some of the neighbours' kids, but the next day it was just the two of them.'

'How many of the neighbours' kids?' Fred asked.

Willa shrugged, 'I think about 4 or 5 of them, I don't know.'

Fred quickly wrote it down before Willa continued.

'They went out to play, my friend was over and we were listening to music. It was just after 12 PM when the boys left, mom had just made us all lunch before my friend arrived. Afterwards, the boys left. My friend left just after 2 o'clock, she and her family were going to her grandmother's house in California for a week. She didn't live far from the beach. Anyway, it came to about 4 o'clock and the boys hadn't come home. Mom wasn't worried because the sun was still out and they had probably bumped into their friends or they lost track of time. We were joking that the boys were useless at timekeeping.'

Willa smiled a little. Daphne and Fred felt sorry for her; her brother was dead and her mother, her other brother hadn't been seen in over 20 years.

Willa's smile fell from her face and she carried on with her story, 'It happened so quickly. A few minutes after mom and I were joking around, I saw Luca running along the street, I was expecting Milo to be just behind him. Sometimes they raced each other home, but I didn't see Milo. Luca ran up the path to the house and burst open and was screaming that Milo was gone. Mom told him not to mess around and Luca said that someone took Milo. Luca explained that he had his back turned for just a few minutes whilst he tied his shoes and he thought Milo was behind him but he was gone. He said looked for him but when he couldn't find him he came home. Mom stayed home in case he came back, but Luca and I went to find him, but there was no sigh. And when we returned home, mom called the police. A lot of the neighbours came out to help us look, along with the police. But a few hours into the search, a man with his dogs found Milo…he found Milo's body at the back of the park.'

Willa wiped her eyes, 'The police took a statement from my mom, but they said that Luca was too much in a state of shock to talk to him, so they basically used the information my mom and I told him.'

'We were told the commissioner that you didn't give a statement either?' Daphne asked.

'I didn't sign anything to say that I had given a statement, nor did I sit down on my own with a police officer and give a statement. I was with my mom when she gave her statement.'

Daphne thought that was odd. Any witnesses must give a statement. She and Fred once worked on a case where a 6-year-old girl had to give a statement against her father who was using drugs during her visitation. She was on her own with the policewoman who wrote everything the little girl said onto the forms.

'We were told that Milo had been strangled and that was it. The police had no leads. We had Milo's funeral and then we left town a few weeks afterwards and the police still knew nothing.'

Fred had wondered, if it was his child who had been killed so harshly, he would want to say in town until the killer was found. He thought it was strange that the family left so quickly after the funeral, but then thought if it was his mother who was experiencing the same thing, he knew she would want to be away from it all as soon as possible.

'And nobody stuck out to you? Nobody strange, you hadn't seen before? Killers often pretend to be involved with the search as to make themselves look useful and unsuspecting to others.' Daphne explained.

Willa shook her head, 'Not that I can remember.'

'Did your mother know anyone who would want to hurt your brother?' Daphne asked, and again Willa shook her head, 'I don't think so.'

'And Luca didn't see who the kidnapper was?' Fred asked. 'No,' Willa spoke, 'He said he didn't see anyone.'

'Do you know where Luca is now?' Daphne asked.

Willa shrugged, 'I don't know.'

'But he was in Sacramento the last time you saw him?' Daphne asked.

'Yes, he was. It was shortly after Paul and I got married. I haven't spoken to him since 1999, as far as I'm aware he doesn't even know out mother dead.' Willa explained.

'He could be anywhere?' Fred asked.

'He could be anywhere.' Willa said.

'Ok, well thank you for your time, Willa.' Daphne smiled and she and Fred stood up and Willa showed them to the door.

When they climbed back into the car and headed back to Sandpoint, Daphne was going over the meeting in her head, and rereading the case file and their notes.

'Ok?' Fred asked.

Daphne shook her head, 'No.'

'What is it?' He asked.

'I don't know. Something about Milo's disappearance is just…not sitting right with me.' Daphne explained. She rested her chin on her knuckles and she looked out the window.

As he drove, Fred tried to think what it was about the case that Daphne didn't agree with. Was it the police not interviewing Willa and Luca? Or how quickly Milo was found? Did they need to find out who the man was who found Milo? But he might be dead by now.

'Can we stop by the park where Milo went missing from?' Daphne asked.

'Sure, I don't think it's that far from Tudor's house.' Fred replied.

Fred and Daphne arrived at the park and they were surprised at how spacious the area was.

Daphne sighed heavily, 'I don't what it is but it's not right.'

Fred studied her, he knew she was right, there was something wrong with the case. Something that someone missed.

'The police said that Luca was tieing his shoes up when he said Milo was taken and that he had his back to his brother.' Fred said, looking around.

'He didn't say exactly where he was though.' Daphne added. 'But he was just a kid at the time.' Fred commented, 'And he was panicked.'

'It's not a very big playground.' Daphne noted, looking back at the single slide, the swing set and the round-a-bout. She tried to guess how far there were from the playground, she thought roughly about 200 yards.

'How could he not have seen someone?' Fred asked looking around them. 'You took the words right out of my mouth.' Daphne replied with a smirk.

She knelt to the ground, looking down at her shoes as if she was trying to reenact what Luca would have done. If Milo had been behind him like Luca had said, he would have heard someone coming behind him, taking his brother and he definitely would have seen him running away with a 9-year-old boy.

Fred was stood behind Daphne and she could hear him breathing.

She got to her feet, turned to Fred and said very bluntly, 'The kid was lying.'

'Huh?' Fred asked.

'I can hear you breathing behind me. Luca would have for sure heard someone taking Milo and I can't believe that with all this clear space around them, Luca didn't see anyone running away with his brother, near them before he tied his shoes up. And the fact that the police didn't look further into this was just crappy police work.'

Fred smirked, 'You wanna be the one to tell Fischer that?'

Daphne smiled, 'I'm serious. Look around Freddie, think that it was the middle of Summer when this happened. Nothing was stopping Luca from seeing anyone.'

'What are you thinking?' Fred asked.

'I don't think anyone else was involved.'