The Vanishing Act - 1. Chapter 1

It was one of those sombre days when the daylight had succumbed to an almost darkness. The rain lashed against the windowpanes, battering the glass, whipped up by the wind. The storm cast eerie shadows that danced across the dimly lit room. Eliott Carter sat at his desk, his brow furrowed in concentration as he studied the file and read the latest evidence. Two days had passed since the disappearance of the renowned art collector, Damien Moreau, and despite their best efforts the police team had yet to find any trace of him. Eliott had been drafted in, requisitioned, he'd put his vacation on hold. "You're the best detective for the job," Max Hainaught, his immediate superior of several years, had told him. Elliot had smiled, he knew Max's methods, they were old friends. Of course, he'd agreed, he always did, he had no very good argument for declining, and besides he was intrigued.

Damien Moreau was a man of impeccable taste, that much was obvious when Eliott stepped into the city apartment. His gallery in the best, most chic avenue of the city rubbed shoulders with the names of haute couture and jewellers, present in every capital across the globe. The apartment was peppered with some magnificent pieces of art, paintings and sculptures, which he had either decided to add to his personal collection or he was guarding temporarily. He had a collection that rivaled the world's finest museums. His disappearance had sent shock waves through the art world and left a multitude of unanswered questions.

The last person to have seen him alive was his lover, a young aspiring artist named Ethan Blake. Ethan had reported Damien missing after he failed to return home. From what the young man had said, Damien had a habit of taking a late-night stroll through the city centre park accompanied by his Shih-Tzu. The dog had turned up days later in the city animal pound, apparently found wandering in the same park, trailing a lead. That the little animal had been walking around alone for two days was odd, Eliott simply did not believe it. Nevertheless, suspicions about the dog where not enough alone to warrant any charge against Ethan, even if something prompted Eliott's six sense.

Eliott interviewed Ethan several times, but the young man's story remained consistent. He had not seen Damien that evening, but as Helios, the Shih-Tzu, was not in the apartment when he returned home, it seemed obvious Damien had taken the dog for his usual stroll in the park. He had waited for him to return, but when he didn't show up after more than two hours, he became concerned and had searched the park, but there was no sign of Damien or Helios. Ethan had said he phoned the local police, but their response was that nothing could be done immediately.

After 24 hours had passed the police did become involved and searched the park thoroughly, as well as Damien's home and studio. They interviewed his friends, family, and business associates, but they came up empty-handed. There were no signs of forced entry at Damien's home, and his bank accounts and credit cards had not been touched. It was as if he had simply vanished into thin air.

It was at this point Eliott became involved. Max Hainaught needed a conclusion to the affair, "People don't just disappear," he told Eliott, "especially not well known people. And if they do I need some answers."

Eliott couldn't shake the feeling that there was something off about Ethan's story. While he had no concrete evidence to support his suspicions, he couldn't help but wonder if the young man was hiding something. Ethan was a promising artist, and Damien had been his mentor. It was possible that Ethan had a motive for wanting to harm Damien, perhaps out of jealousy or greed. If Ethan really wasn't involved in the disappearance, and most of the time these crimes were committed by someone close, a family member, then who else was a suspect? One thing was certain, a crime had been committed, of that Eliott was convinced.

***

It had been four days since the disappearance when as Eliott sat at his desk, lost in thought, his phone rang. He picked it up and heard the voice of his partner, Detective Sarah Miller. "Eliott, I just got a call from the coroner," Sarah said. "They found Damien's body."

Eliott's heart sank. He had been expecting the worst, but it still came as a shock. "Where was he found?" he asked.

"In the park, near to where Ethan said he walked the dog," Sarah replied. "The medical examiner hasn't determined the cause of death yet, but judging by the state of the body, Mr. Moreau was tortured and murdered!"

Why, Eliott wondered, did it take four days to find the body when they had searched the park previously and found nothing. He knew that this was a major break in the case, but that something wasn't right. If Damien had been found in the park, it meant that Ethan's story was true, the man had been out walking his dog. But it also raised new questions. If Damien had been killed, who had done it? And why?

The next day, Eliott and Sarah accompanied Ethan to the morgue to identify Damien's body. The sight of the once vibrant man lying lifeless on the slab was a haunting reminder of the tragedy that had befallen him. As they left the morgue, Eliott couldn't help but feel a sense of dread. He knew that the investigation was far from over, but there were no more clues.

A day later Eliott received the coroner's report, Damien Moreau had been severely beaten, several fingers broken and burns on his body. He had indeed been tortured before being killed by suffocation. Immediately Eliott had the report he once more paid Ethan a visit at the apartment, he reasoned the only person who could provide answers was Damien's long-term boyfriend and lover.

There was one very important piece of evidence which had not yet been given to the public, although it was fairly obvious, but it was armed with this revelation that Eliott was about to confront Ethan.

"You have not told us the whole story," he accused, and watched Ethan' s reaction. The young man was visibly perturbed and fidgeting in his seat, not looking back at Eliott, his gaze wondering around the room. Eliott paused and a heavy silence filled the air. He knew from his experience as a detective that the well known saying, 'given enough rope he will hang himself,' was a truism, so he waited.

They had interviewed countless people and followed up on several leads, but despite their efforts, up until this point they were no closer to solving the case. There were however, two independent witnesses who had come forward to express their knowledge of an argument between Ethan and Damien. When pressed on why they had withheld this information both persons had said the same thing, they did not want to make any trouble.

For Eliott they were protecting their own positions, they either, in one case, didn't want to be dismissed and lose their job, or for the other person, lose their connection with the prestigious gallery. Their statements threw some light on the disappearance, but even if Ethan had argued with his mentor, Eliott did not for one minute believe he had tortured and killed Damien. Besides, the apartment had been searched and there were no traces of any physical fight between the two men, nothing broken or anything covered up, no traces of blood, and the scientific team had been thorough, like always.

"Damien," Eliott began, breaking the silence, "was tortured and his body dumped in the park days later." Ethan''s visage turned white. His hands tightly gripped each arm of the chair.

"Presumably," Eliott continued, "it was in the same place, or very close, to where he had been abducted." The detective paused once again, letting his words sink in.

It was late afternoon, the sun was strong in a cloudless blue sky, a stark contrast to the day Eliott had first taken on this case. He looked around the room at the plush carpets, the works of art and focused finally on the shards of sunlight penetrating the large bay window and striking lines across the room.

"I had nothing to do with that!" Ethan blurted out, his lips trembling.

Eliott looked at him. "Perhaps not, but withholding information, hindering an investigation, distorting the facts... these are all crimes." He waited before adding, "Two people have said you argued with Damien on the night he disappeared."

Again there was silence, but Eliott knew he had him, Ethan was about to crack and Eliott was going for the coup de grace. "What I think happened that night is you argued about something, something important, not just a lover's tiff, and Damien stormed out, taking the dog with him. When he didn't return you went looking for him. But I'm left with a question, the dog. What happened to Helios?"

Eliott did not wait for any reply, he was on a home run, he knew Ethan would cave and fill in the details, at least as far as he was involved. "You found the dog and you brought him back home. Because of whatever you argued about, your own involvement or not, you knew you couldn't keep the dog with you. You probably hid Helios away somewhere then later released him in the park, because... perhaps because you wanted him back. We get attached to our pets, even if he was Damien's, you lived together."

At that moment Ethan bowed his head, burying it in his hands as he sobbed uncontrollably. "I warned him about what he was getting himself involved with," Ethan began talking through his tears. "He wouldn't listen. We argued. He walked out. Taking Helios with him."

Eliott listened intently as Ethan told him his story. It turned out that Damien had been involved in a dangerous scheme to smuggle illegal antiquities into the country. Ethan had tried to convince Damien to give up the scheme, but Damien had refused.

In a fit of desperation, Ethan had confronted Damien, but Damien had retorted that he was just as involved as himself. Some of these antiques were in their apartment. He couldn't not know about what was going on. Damien had walked out, exactly as Eliott had worked out. Later, when he'd calmed down Ethan had gone to search for him and again as Eliott had figured, found the dog, but no Damien. He panicked and went home, then decided to call the police and say Damien was missing so they would begin a search. He had phoned the hospitals and Damien was not reported in any accident. He feared the worse, having some idea of the sort of people Damien was in contact with, but he had been too afraid about his own involvement to come forward, fearing that he would be accused along with Damien of the illegal smuggling.

Eliott understood now with Ethan's confession exactly what had happened, all the pieces fitted into place. He had never imagined that Damien had been involved in such a dangerous activity. But he also understood why Ethan had been afraid to come forward.

"I'm not going to judge you, Ethan," Eliott said. "Now you have come clean with me, I don't think there will be any consequences for you, but that very much depends on the next step."

Ethan looked up, a mixture of surprise and relief on his face. "The next step?" he asked.

"Well, there is a crime here. Two in fact, Damien's kidnapping, torture and murder, plus the smuggling of antiquities. Something obviously went wrong between Damien and his criminal contacts. It seems quite obvious those contacts wanted something Damien wasn't prepared to give up. It also seems obvious they aren't about to give up and that leaves you very much in the frame."

Ethan nodded. He knew that he had no choice, he was trapped by the very thing he had tried to extricate Damien from. With Ethan's confession, the mystery of Damien Moreau's death was finally solved. While the case had been a personal tragedy for Ethan, it had also been a professional triumph for Eliott. He had persevered and in the end he had solved the case, but only partially. The real criminals, those who tortured and murdered Damien Moreau were still at large, and the one person who could help to bring them to justice was Ethan Blake!