March 10, 11.51 p.m.
‘Thanks for meeting me here,’ said Denise. ‘I can’t imagine how hard it is to come back here.’
Aaron Goldenberg stared out glassy-eyed. ‘What can I do? My only daughter is out there – I must do everything I can.’
Denise felt the rise of tears but pushed them away. It wouldn’t help to be emotional. ‘The police won’t give you the whole story,’ she said, ‘because everyone’s afraid to speak.’
‘What about?’
‘A serial killer attacking Jewish victims.’
She saw something move behind Aaron Goldenberg’s eyes. ‘Killer? But my daughter was kidnapped.’
‘I can’t tell you a lie,’ said Denise. ‘We now think your daughter’s kidnapping is linked to three other murders. David Capske, Esther Haeber and Marisa Cohen.’
Aaron Goldenberg shook his head as if it was the only thing keeping him from being swallowed alive by the yawning abyss. ‘My only daughter.’
Denise watched him fall forward on to the glass case. Beneath his outstretched arms and tearful eyes, were photographs from Auschwitz and Belsen. Naked Jewish men, women and children, lining up for execution, modestly covering themselves although they were moments from death. The look of agony and uncertainty in their faces.
‘What do you know?’ he said.
‘Not enough. Your daughter and David Capske had consecutive numbers used to label them. Abby had the number 144002 on her report, David had 144003 scratched on his chest. Do you have any idea what the number 144004 means?’
‘No. I can look for you.’
‘Please,’ said Denise.
Aaron Goldenberg thought for a moment then let out a sigh. ‘The number of Jews who will be saved.’
‘What is?’
‘Maybe the 144 refers to 144,000. It is in Revelation. It is a contested number. It may refer to many things or nothing at all, but it is said that it related to 144,000 Jews converted to Christianity.’ Goldenberg walked to the side of the room and entered his office. He came out with a copy of the New Testament. He spent a minute flicking through it, then showed it to Denise:
Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with Him 144,000 who had His name and His Father’s name written on their foreheads.
Denise read the passage. She looked up. ‘The 88 Killer is trying to save Jews?’
‘There are some who see the number like that, to mean that 144,000 Jews will be redeemed.’
‘Our killer’s a delusional fanatic. The bullets they found in three of the bodies were original Nazi bullets.’ Denise lowered her head. In the museum, they were surrounded by examples of the horrors of the Holocaust, the mindless and ruthlessly inhuman destruction of millions of people. It was hard to imagine that the lessons of history had been lost so quickly.
‘What do you want from me?’ said Goldenberg.
Denise put out a hand. It rested on his shoulder. ‘You need to help me profile this killer. If he’s delusional, then I need to profile the projection as well as the man. I need to know what he’s doing.’
‘Committing crimes against Jews!’ said Goldenberg. ‘Playing God. Perhaps he thinks he is working in a concentration camp or a ghetto.’
‘The ghettos were just holding compounds for the camps,’ said Denise.
‘That’s right, Dr Levene. And it was happening all across Eastern Europe. When the Nazis invaded and took over areas, they created walled cities within cities. Policed by vicious soldiers, sometimes Jewish police. People were crammed into these ghettos, disease spread – but you knew this. The Nazis liked to associate the Jews with disease. Infected bodies were kept behind barbed wire. There were outbreaks of typhoid and cholera. They starved the populations, feeding them so little that they had to burrow out through the walls to find some food. You once said that one of the victims was found without a coat.’
‘Esther Haeber.’
‘In the bitter winter, they outlawed winter coats and fur coats.’ Dr Goldenberg sighed heavily. ‘In the Warsaw Ghetto, the Nazis outlawed the owning and wearing of winter coats upon pain of death.’
Denise listened. The full horror of what she was hearing opening inside her mind.
‘He’s doing the same.’
‘So it would seem,’ said Goldenberg. ‘It doesn’t end.’
An hour later, Denise dropped Aaron Goldenberg back at his house and called Harper.
When Harper answered, his voice was strained and tired. ‘How did you get on?’
‘Good,’ said Denise.’ ‘He’s not just a Nazi.’
‘So what is he?’ said Harper.
‘He’s living like a Nazi. I think he’s a copycat.’
‘Of what?’
‘Of Nazi crimes, Nazi murders.’
‘A copycat. These are real historical crimes?’
‘I think so. They echo what happened in the ghettos. I think he’s delusional. I think he even thinks he’s policing the ghettos and punishing crimes. The number 144 might be a Biblical reference to 144,000 Jews who would be saved.’
‘He thinks he’s saving them? What about Abby?’
‘Starvation. It’s how they killed great numbers in the ghetto. But there’s something else.’
‘What?’
‘Aaron Goldenberg told me something he feared. They sometimes used Jewish women for prostitutes. They kept these women in brothels.’
‘You think that’s why he took Abby?’
Denise paused and then whispered her answer.