Chapter 3 - The most simple hypotheses

Chapter 3 - The most simple hypotheses

Francisco Meireles reflects upon the material that he has compiled about the case, so far. He knows that the most simple explanations have to be exhausted, before the more complicated theories can be considered. He looks at the possibility that the explanation for the disappearance of the child lies within that group of people.

The contradictions in their statements about the events of that late afternoon and evening, could be due to the stress of the situation, but they could also indicate something else.

Francisco tries to keep it simple.

What if... the child was involved in a domestic accident? Something went wrong... here in this third world country... nobody would believe it was just an accident... we would spend years and years in jail... what about our reputation? The children? Our families? It is done now, let's live with it and adapt to the situation.

For Francisco, everything fits, but all other possibilities have to be discarded first. This should be the last one, as it is the most difficult and the most hideous one: the participation of the parents in the disappearance of their daughter. As a father, he finds it hard to believe, but statistics support the possibility.

While it seems the most simple hypothesis to him, Francisco knows it will be the one that may become the most difficult to investigate and to prove.

Francisco returns to the location, at 3.30 a.m., when the reporters are not around.

He stands on the street where Jane Tanner was walking that night. He tries to imagine Gerry talking to his friend, near the little gate. Where would an abductor park his car? It is possible to park close to the window of the bedroom. But the area is completely visible from the balconies of other apartments. 'I don't think so'.

Paedophiles have a huge 'market' in the eastern European countries, where they can buy children without major hassles. The sexual predator does not like to take chances. He carefully studies the situation, and here, there was not enough time for that. Less than a week, with people who were enjoying themselves, free of schedules and routines. And how would someone know when there would be checks on the children? How lucky that person would have to be, not to be caught by the comings and goings, and to enter and leave that apartment unseen? So many factors out of control, just do not seem to fit the profile of a cold, calculating paedophile, no matter how excited he was about his prey.

Even if it was a paedophile who had acted without a plan, this would be precisely the type of situation that would have left traces, yet absolutely nothing had been found.

It makes no sense at all. The twins would have been taken if this was a case of illegal adoption. The parents' past offers no clues to a crime of vengeance.

Francisco tries to think about all the aspects. He cannot understand the relationship between Malinka and Murat, and the phonecall between them that night. What if something happened, late that afternoon, that only the family knows about? The twins sleeping like champions, yet nobody takes them. A guy took advantage of the intervals between the checks, and risked taking the child away, who could have woken and started crying for her parents? It makes no sense.