On the eve of his 10th birthday, Peter Kirkland's lifeless body was found curled amongst trash cans on the streets... And none of his family even knew he was missing.
"When was the last time you saw him?"
His father, Arthur Kirkland, shifts uncomfortably, eyes fixed anywhere but the detective.
"Peter's always been quiet... He prefers to hide away in his room, or play outside. He's a free spirit so... It's sometimes hard to keep track of him."
When the détective presses harder, the truth finally comes out. Arthur Kirkland doesn't even remember the last time he saw his son.
"Who?" The oldest son, Alfred, blinks at the detective, honestly befuddled. "I don't know that name." When reminded rather unngently of the boy's status as his own brother, Alfred only looks mildly annoyed. "Don't tell me Dad adopted another one!"
The eldest hasn't lived with his family in years, and doesn't make a habit of keeping in touch or visiting. His twin brother isn't much better.
"Um, Christmas, I guess? I don't really visit that much, and by the time Dad adopted Peter, I was already moved out, so I don't really know him that well."
It's already June, and the last confirmed sighting of the boy was December of the last year.
"Sorry...Try asking my younger brothers,they might know him better than me. The youngest, Leon has been living with his other family in China for years, so he probably won't be any help, but James and Jet might be able to help." Mathew provides what little information he knows apologetically, like he wishes he could tell the detectives more.
Is it an act? Or is there such a broken family that a ten year old could disappear one day and no one would notice?
James is no more helpful than Mathew, but Jet finally provides some answers.
"Peter? He was here a couple weeks ago. Me? No, he comes to play with my kids, Wendy and Liam. They're technically his nice and nephew, I think, but they're really just friends. Why? Is something wrong? Don't tell me Peter got into trouble?"
Five different family members questioned, and only one asked about the missing child. And only one grieves when he hears the news.
"Mr. Kirkland, I'm sorry to inform you-"
And Jet collapses onto his front step like his bones have disappeared, his facr as pale as a sheet.
"No, it can't be! He was just here! He... He was making soda rockets with Wendy and Liam, He can't just be-" He chokes. "How am I supposed to tell them? How could this even happen?"
"That's what we're trying to find out."
The autopsy reveals even more horrors.
"Are you aware that Peter was extremely malnourished?"
"Malnourished?" Arthur Kirkland repeats the words like they're an insult. "That's ridiculous! There may be things we're lacking in this house - common sense and indoor voices, for example - but I assure you, food is not one of them. All my boys eat like the world is ending tomorrow so we always have tons of food on hand."
At the very least, Arthur's cupboards and fridges were proof of that. The deetective has never seen a house with so many things to eat, like Arthur Kirkland is preparing for an apocalypse. But the overwhelmingly full cupboards do nothing to answer for the state of the child's severely malnourished form.
"He starved to death?" Alfred seems both appalled and shocked when he hear the news, "That's impossible! At Dad's?"
There's horror and sympathy, but no grief from one family member to another in Alfred's voice, just respect for a stranger's passing.
Mathew throws up when he hears the news, and sinks shakily to the floor.
"But he was fine at Christmas, he ate so much turkey and like eight slices of pie!"
À lot could change in a half a year, and eating a lot of food was not necessarily a sign the boy had been fine. In fact, it could have been an indicator that he wasn't. The detective makes this clear in short, sharp sentences. Mathew looks guilty. Is it because he didn't notice earlier? Or does he know something he's hiding?
"Malnourished?" James echoes the words like they're confusing, "But how? Dad could feed Alfred for two months without going grocery shopping! And he also snacks and eats with Jet's kids too. How bad is it?"
Finally, a second family member looks horrified and distraught at the news of Peter Kirkland's passing.
"He's dead? "
Something shutters in James's eyes, a shadow. It looks like he knows something, or at least suspects something. But James doesn't give the detectives anything else, he just excuses himself, saying he feels dizzy and needs to lie down as he shows the detective out.
"No, I never... I never noticed." Jet sounds depressed, and in the verge if tears as he answers the detectives questions. "He sometimes goes to McDonald's with the kids, he's never short of pocket money and if he needs some, I'd give him it. And he eats here sometimes too. He never seems - seemed- like he was starving," Jet Kirkland's voice breaks. "He was just an ordinary kid, he just ate like a growing boy."
When Jet can't hold back the tears any longer, and his words become indistinguishable from the sobs, the detective takes pity on him and tries a different approach.
"When was the last time you saw Peter Kirkland?"
Wendy, only ten years old herself, puffs up her cheeks in a sulk when the detective asks her, clearly not yet putting together the implications yet.
"I don't know, I'm not talking to him anymore!"
She crossed her arms, and her older brother, only 15, cuts in, more cautiously, like he can sense something is wrong but doesn't quite know what.
"He was here a couple weeks ago, on Tuesday, I think? And he promised to come over again last weekend, but he never came."
"He didn't call or anything!" Wendy bursts out. "and then he ignored me! He never replied or called back or anything!"
The implications aren't good. A ten year old boy who suddenly went AWOL within three days, and stayed that way for another week before found starved to death amongst the trash. The detective's face darkens, and the older child notices.
"Is Peter in trouble?" Apparently the boy is a troublemaker, it's the first thing people ask. But the second question Liam tacks on answers more than anyone else had. "He didn't run away?"
"Run away?"
Little boys don't just run away from home for no reason, at least, not ten year old ones. Maybe if he was a teenager, overwhelmed with emotion and hormones, but children tend to stick closer to their family when upset. Unless they feel safer without them. The détective asks a new question.
"How was Peter's home life?"
Arthur Kirkland shrugs, not noticing the past tense.
"He's precocious, but he gets along with everyone for the most part. He can have little tantrums, now and then, but he's usually a quiet and polite child."
An assessment that interestingly contradicts everyone else's.
"I don't know much about him, but he's loud, loves to be the center of attention. James says Peter reminds him of me."
Mathew agrees with Alfred.
"He's a bit like Al, Loud, charismatic. He's really good at making friends, and I've never seen him get mad at anyone. His home life? Sorry...i don't..."
Neither of them can answer the question.
"Well, you know how it is when there's so many kids in the house," James offers, "you gotta be loud if you don't wanna be overlooked, but I don't really think he ever got in fights or anything. He's the kind of person that gets along with everyone. Was the kind of person who got along with everyone."
James doesn't make eye contact when he answers, and there's something bitter in the way he answered the question, like it wasn't this question he's answering, but one slightly different.
"Peter and my dad had their differences." Jet sheds some light on the issue, once he can speak again. "Dad's just got so many kids, and I mean, Alfred has always been his favourite. I know Peter got frustrated sometimes because he felt overlooked, but its not like dad ever hurt him or anything! He doesn't do that!"
There's an almost visible 'anymore ' dangling at the end of The sentence Jet suddenly cuts off, and the strange way James answered starts to make more sense. The détective changes the question a bit when he asks Wnedy and Liam.
"How was Peter's relationship with his dad?"
Wendy makes a sharp derisitive noise before the detective is even finished asking.
"Him? Granddad is a jerk. "
"How so?"
"He doesn't like Peter! He doesn't care!"
Alarming, but not unexpected words. Liam explains a but more.
"It's wierd, right? Because out of all his kids, Peter's the only one who's not adopted-"
New information to the detective. Not one of the other brothers has mentioned this, in fact Alfred seemed completely unaware.
"-but Its like Granddad likes Pete the least! "
"He doesn't spend time with him, or hug him, or anything!" Wendy protests, wrapping her arms around herself like she very much needs a hug right now. "He doesn't even hate Peter, he just doesn't care ."
Both siblings sound bitter, and Liam wraps his arms around her, like he's trying to give Peter the hugs he never got from his father through his sister.
"Grandad never hurt Peter or yelled at him or anything," Liam admits unhappily, 'But he doesn't do anything with Peter at all. He doesn't want Peter around, that's why he's over here so often."
Another new piece of information.
"Sometimes Granddad forgets to leave the door unlocked when he goes out, and then Peter can't get in after school." Wendy reveals more horrifying details one by one. "Or he forgets to make dinner for Peter, or doesn't wash his clothes - and all Peter's clothes are too small, you can see his ankles and Granddad doesn't get him more-"
As she talks, more and more puzzle pieces fall into place, painting a desolate picture for the detective. A neglectful father who finds his child a pain. Forgetting to open the door. No food. A malnourished body curled amongst trash cans.
"So whenever it gets bad, or he gets locked out, Peter stays with us." Liam finishes as his sister gets too distraught to continue. "Peter's not just our Uncle, he's basically our brother. If something's wrong with him, you have to let us know!"
And how is the detective supposed to explain the situation to these two children who don't even know what child neglect is? How does he tell children that their brother is gone for good, and they'll never see him again. Jet saves the detective from making that choice, rudely pushing his way into the room, eyes rimmed in red, and pulling his kids into a tight embrace.
"Wendy, Liam..."
The detective chooses to remove himself from the room and give the family some privacy. The sound of two young voices raising up in wails of grief is almost as heartbreaking as the reason behind the grief. He closes the gate behind him, eyes hardening behind the glaze of unshed tears. Arthur Kirkland has a lot to answer for.
Arthur Kirkland has none of the answers Peter Kirkland deserves, and even when arrested, seems only mildly upset, like its all a big misunderstanding that is about to be resolved, and is less than cooperative.
"I would never hurt Peter!" Arthur Kirkland protests, "He's my son!"
There's something in his words, something Jet and James has skirted around the subject of, the reason none of his kids visit their father, now that they're grown and moved out. "I would never hurt Peter." Arthur Kirkland said. Not Peter, but maybe...
The detective decides it might be time to talk to Arthur's other children again.
"Did your father ever mistreat you?"
Alfred goes uncharacteristically quiet, suddenly shuttering off, and even his posture seems to go stiff, like a wall that the detective can't get over.
"None of your business."
Mathew goes even quieter, like he's hoping he'll fade into the background and the detective will forget he's there and just leave.
"Is it relevant?"
James doesnt make eye contact.
"No," He says. "Not me."
Not me, but the others, he leaves unspoken.
Jet Kirkland and his family turns away the detective, still grieving.
"Please," Jet almost begs over the phone, "Not now. Just give us space."
"It is relevant," The detective argues to Mathew, "so nothing like what happened to Peter - what happened to you- ever happens again."
Alfred crosses his arms.
"I don't have anything to say."
"What if it was your kid? Wouldn't you want someone to speak up?"
And Alfred glances outside to the seventeen-year-old in the garden, almost an adult but still a child, and swallows hard.
"Chris can't know."
Alfred has been wierdly protective of the child since the start, refusing to let the police interview the minor, refusing to let them tell him anything beyond "I'm sorry for your loss." Now, the detective thinks he understands why. He nods.
"You have my word."
And the stories the twins tell are almost as heartbreaking as the stories Peter can't tell.
"He's not usually like that!" Mathew pleads, "It's just sometimes he drinks, and he just gets so angry -"
"He's a dictator." Alfred says bluntly. "He just takes, and takes and takes and God forbid you have an opinion-"
"But he's changed! I wouldn't have left Jet and James alone with him if I thought it wasn't safe! He's different,"
"Changed? " Alfred scoffs. "No, he's the exact same, just uses different tactics. He hit me, and I ran away. So now he manipulates instead."
"James and Jet were always... Better." Mathew sounds fragile when he speaks. "Like us, but better. More well-behaved. More obedient."
"And then he adopted Leon, and-"
"The first time he yelled at Leon, Jet called Al, and he drove all the way there just to storm in and yelled at Arthur-"
"-I told him I'd break every single finger if he ever laid a hand on any of us, ever again-"
"-I'm not like Alfred, he's brave, strong. I can't... "
"He broke Mattie's arm once. Threw him down the stairs. He was only eight! "
James cracks when he hears his brother's have, like the reason he was staying silent was for their sake, and the detective hears all about how Arthur Kirkland had "changed".
"Well, he was angry, sometimes, but he never hit us - Well, Jet, sometimes, but Jet was Bad -
Yes, I know that now-
Pinches, mostly. Or the ruler across the palms. Or-
They didn't know! If I told them, Alfred would have killed Dad!
He wasn't always like that! Just sometimes!
No, Leon's different. He's still in touch with his birth family, Dad wouldn't dare touch him, if they found out-
He's my Dad!
No, it's just... He took us in when no one else wanted us. We.. We had nowhere else to go.
It was... It was fine , we're fine now. So-"
It hurts to see the obvious aftermath of child abuse, the unconditional love and affection they still hold for their father, even after all he's done. Even though they're all full grown adults, some even with families of their own, the detective can still see the children they used to be, the children whose adopted father wore them down emotionally, who told them everyday that they were lucky he took them in, that no one else would have wanted them. The children who had no choice to bear with their Father's abuse, mental, physical and verbal, because they didn't know they had another option.
He sees the adults that grew from those kids, desperately trying to rationalize what happened to them, to make it make sense, trying to distance themselves from the tragedy. He sees the shame, like what happened to them is their fault, like it's embarrassing and shameful. His heart aches for them, and he pities them for what happened to them.
But he doesn't forgive them.
For the sake of a ten year old who was missing for two weeks and no one noticed. For the sake of a ten year old who slowly starved to death on his own doorstep because his father locked him out. For the sake of a child's body found amongst the trash, and a stomach full of rocks and putrid compost, for the sake of a little boy who just wanted to be loved, the detective doesn't forgive them.
Not for their silence, nor their inaction. If someone had spoken up sooner, acted sooner, Peter Kirkland could have been saved. If Arthur's sons had told someone what happened to them. If Alfred and Jet had taught their own kids that they had options, that this shouldn't happen to kids. If Wendy and Liam had known what social services was, that Peter didn't have to live with his neglectful father, if Jet had paid more attention and realized rhe issue sooner-
If someone had taught these men that they had a chance when they were children, and they had taught their kids that.
If the neighbours had reported them, if social services had investigated, if the officer that found Peter Kirkland's body had been in that area only a few days earlier, if he-
If only someone had done something different, Peter Kirkland would still be here.
Arthur Kirkland breaks when he hears his crimes are revealed, but refuses to admit his wrongs.
"It was a mistake! I was different man back then! I would never hurt Peter! If I locked him out it was certainly a slip of the mind, he's my son-"
Even to the end, Arthur Kirkland doesn't claim to love Peter.
"The jury hearby sentences you to 20 years in prison, for the crime of neglect resulting in death."
The detective feels bitter. It's not enough, not enough to punish him only when it's too late, only for the sake of the last child to suffer. But the statue of limitations is long past on the three eldest, any evidence and bruises long gone, and though James could make a case, he refuses to, and the mysterious youngest son has clearly told them he had no interest in having anything to do with the case. So all they can do is punish him for the one crime they can prove he did. A part of the detective thinks the other children should still pay for their silence, the misdemeanour that led to their youngest brother's passing, but -
The detective takes a deep calming breath.
Abuse has taught shame when they should have learned to ask for help, and blurred the lines between what was acceptable treatment for a child and not. He knows that neither Alfred nor Mathew had lied when they said their little brothers were safe. They just didn't know what safe meant. And... Jet sat with his kids on his right, both he and his son squishing the youngest between them like a sandwich, and on Liam's right a familiar teen leaned against him, pressing their shoulders together in silent support. It seemed that his lecture had worked, and Alfred had realized he'd rather have his son know the dark side of the world, and how to fight it, then to know nothing and suffer like he had.
Alfred had an arm around Chris's shoulder, and a stone-tense look on his face. James sat to Jet's left, and Mathew next to him, both looking miserable and with bloodshot eyes. The detective's heart softened. He'd forgotten, for a moment, in his rage, what this was all for. Not just for the sake of justice for those hurt children, for the late Peter Kirkland, but also for children still here. So that one day, the police wouldn't find anymore starved corpses of children, thrown away like trash. So every family, every child, could be safe. It was a long way away, but each case like this, each day he found answers and helped them catch criminals, they got a step closer.
Detective Tino Väinämöinen, turned and left the courtroom, ignoring the young Asian boy, probably in his late teens, who started when he passed, and drooped when the detective clearly wasn't who he expected, and the Chinese man who dropped a hand on his shoulder comfortingly.
"Patience, Leon. They'll be out soon."
The name sparked a light of recognition in the back of his head, but the detective ignored it. All he wanted in this moment was to be back safe with his family, and hold his own little boy tight in his arms, and then collapse Into his partner's arms and try not to cry and to move past everything he'd just experienced. To spend the rest of the day, the rest of his life with his family, and to lavish so much love and affection onto them that his son never ended up like the Kirkland brothers.
His key clicked in the lock and the door slid open, and the sound of bare feet pattered down the hall, and a familiar voice called out for him-
"Papa!"
Arms wrapped around Tino's neck and he returned the hug tightly.
He tried not to think that in another world, Peter Kirkland could have been his son too.