March 9, 9.09 p.m.
Harper sent out word to the team. They were hunting a man who went by the name of Martin Heming. He called Jack Carney with the same information. An hour later, Jack Carney turned up at North Manhattan Homicide carrying a box.
‘Jack,’ said Harper. ‘I didn’t expect a personal call.’
‘I needed to come, there’s so much shit on Heming.’
‘What have we got? Is he someone?’
‘We’ve got a pretty substantial file on him,’ said Carney. He dumped the box on Harper’s desk. ‘He’s a long-time agitator. A neo-Nazi. He’s got his own set-up – website, blog, pamphlets and publications. He even self-published a book called The Desire of the Will.’
‘What’s it about?’
‘Evolution, social science, politics, history. But in a nutshell, it’s about how bad the Jews are and why it’s true that they really are trying to destroy America.’
‘I get so angry at this stuff, Jack. This is hateful shit. How do you stand it?’
‘Same as you. We hate it, so we try to clean it up.’
Harper nodded. ‘Associates?’
‘He’s clever, Heming. He seems to be in charge of operations but there’s no direct link. He’s been arrested a couple of times, but for low-level offenses.’
‘Addresses and haunts?’
‘Yeah, a couple of places he goes to, and the apartment in Crown Heights.’
‘Thanks for this, Jack, I appreciate it.’
‘Listen, Harper, it’s not all altruistic. I want to jump into bed with you on this one.’
‘Your knowledge is going to be useful. What are you after?’
‘You’re going to be getting to the heart of some of these neo-Nazi groups. This could crack open a lot of our cases. And we might be useful to you. I can put the Hate Crime team at your disposal.’
Harper shook Carney’s hand. ‘Let’s find this sick bastard,’ he said.
The teams went out searching for the leader of Section 88, Martin Heming. They tried all the known haunts and addresses. Everyone came up blanks. There was no question about it, Heming knew and had gone into hiding.
Harper returned to his desk and received a report from Forest Park. They’d found blood on the bushes. Abby’s blood. Harper put the report down.
His plan was simple, but dangerous. He walked to Lafayette’s office, thinking it through. The Captain beckoned him in.
‘Any news?’ said Lafayette.
‘Denise has gone across to see Dr Goldenberg. We found Abby’s blood on the bushes.’
‘What about this Heming guy?’
‘The thing is,’ said Harper, ‘we’ve got this guy on the run. He knows we’re chasing him. We’ve got his place under surveillance and all known haunts, but he’s gone. He’s going to be difficult to find.’
‘You think he might have gone out of state?’
‘Denise and I think that he’s still here, and that Abby is somewhere close. I think he needs this. He killed Marisa after we arrested four of Section 88.’
‘What are you suggesting, Harper?’
‘We don’t sit and wait. We set a trap.’
‘What kind of trap?’
‘We release Lukanov and follow him. Either the killer will come to him or he’ll go to the killer.’
‘You think?’
‘Heming will know that Lukanov has said something. The killer’s got to be worried about these guys being inside, talking to us.’
‘You got a point. You think it’ll flush him out?’
‘They’ll make contact. Even if by phone or email, but that might be enough.’
Lafayette stared at Harper for a moment, then nodded. ‘Okay, get it done.’