Mitch sat in his office, his team around him. His shirt was stained with blood and his eye bruised. He listened to Adam Forster’s report with disbelief.
“So the family never saw Eli Hoefer,” Mitch reiterated. “He came to pick up Benjamin, left a note and took the kid?”
“Precisely,” said Adam.
“The German mother …” Ellen looked to Adam.
“Antje,” he filled in the blanks.
“Yes, Antje,” Ellen continued, “she must have been worried sick. She’s looked after this little boy from the age of two to seven and suddenly he’s gone with no goodbye, no ensuring he has all he needs. It’s appallingly cruel.”
“Maybe he genuinely didn’t want them to see him like that, but I would have been so grateful to them for looking after Benjamin I’d want to thank them,” Nick said.
“It’s definitely odd,” Mitch agreed, “and it means no one can really verify that Eli Hoefer was the man who collected Benjamin Hoefer. Great work Adam, keep digging. Nick, want to fill them in on our visit to the first neo-Nazi group?” He instinctively touched his bruised face.
“You should put some ice or a steak on your eye,” Ellen said.
“I’d love a steak right now,” Nick said.
“Me too,” Adam agreed with a side serve of …” he saw Mitch’s expression. “Never mind.”
“Onto more important matters,” Nick continued. “We paid a visit to the UNP—United Nazi Party …”
While Nick filled the team in, Mitch glanced at Benjamin Hoefer’s schedule for the rest of the book launch. Benjamin had two days rest before his next speaking engagement. Excellent, I want to speak with him again.
Nick cleared his throat. “Finished here,” he said as Mitch continued to read.
“Oh right.” Mitch looked up. “Thanks.”
“Ellie, what have you got?”
“The case breaker,” she said.
Mitch looked up. “Really?”
“No, I just wanted your undivided attention.” She smiled.
“Funny.” Mitch smirked, closed the file he was reading and sat back.
“The CCTV footage from the Jewish Community Centre and neighboring buildings all feature the black van taking off but the plates have been blacked out. Every ticket holder was validated and none of the staff noticed anyone suspicious entering the building before the event to put the banners up,” she said.
“Which means they could be on staff,” Adam added.
“Except I checked out all the staff and no one stands out, or to be honest is young or slim enough to match the person I saw running away.” Ellen held up her hand. “Yes, they could have been a friend, ally or relative, but that’s casting a wide net. Also I ran checks against the Jewish Community Centre staff and the Holocaust Memorial Museum staff and …” she dragged the suspense out …“no connections,” Ellen finished.
“Damn,” Mitch sighed. “Okay, I’ve got to go and give John an update, so Adam can you stick to the ancestry line … are you okay doing that solo?”
“Sure,” Adam said, “happy to.”
Mitch continued, “Nick try and get us a meeting with The New Aryan Order tomorrow then, swing by Henri and ask what we would need if we wanted to do genetic testing on Benjamin Hoefer and his deceased father and how we can go about legally getting what we need.”
“Done,” Nick said.
“I’m on that track too—that they might not be related,” Adam interrupted, “I’ve got Dieter looking through his father’s attic to see if he can find any mementos from Eli, Yetta or Benjamin.”
“It’s a possibility; I want to put that question to Benjamin Hoefer and see his reaction. Ellie, can you try and get an audience with Benjamin this afternoon in an hour or so? You and I can swing by and see him.”
“Got a clean shirt?” she asked.
He looked down at the blood stains. “Good point, allow enough time for us to drop by my place, thanks. Then can you help Nick with research…run background checks on the key identities in The New Aryan Order and find out whatever you can about them and their platform.”
Mitch rose and headed to John’s office, and his team dispersed.
“So what have you got?” John Windsor pushed back from the desk and gave his attention to Mitch.
“I’ve got a ghost projectionist who is still screening the film nightly at Benjamin Hoefer’s memorabilia display at the Holocaust Memorial Museum; a slim person wearing black and driving around in a black van with no plates who unfurled banners at Benjamin Hoefer’s last book launch; a possibility that Eli Hoefer was not Benjamin Hoefer’s father which begs the question of who was he and could he have been a Nazi or fake as the ghost proclaims? I don’t think Benjamin Hoefer is being completely upfront with us; I’ve got another neo-Nazi group to see today and the one I have seen doesn’t have the smarts to pull off what is currently going on.”
“Okay, do you want back-up when you see the other Nazi group?” John asked.
“No. I want to know why we are on this case.”
John looked surprised. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know why we are on this case. Seriously, John, an author is getting a few threats, so what? We’re wasting our time.”
John exhaled.
Mitch leaned across the desk. “I’m handing this case back to you John unless you tell me why we’re on it. Who has requested it?”
“Close the door,” John said.
Mitch leaned over and swung the door closed.
“You don’t get to hand back cases, Mitch.”
“Then why give us something then tie our hands? I’ve got about three months of annual leave owing, and now seems a good time to take it if you don’t need me on the job.”
John’s eyes narrowed with annoyance. “It’s classified, Mitch, but we need to persist with this case.”
“It’s rubbish. We’re chasing our tails doing something the local police could be doing.”
John tapped his fingers on the desk and studied Mitch.
“Get security clearance for us, John. We’re ‘need-to-know’ if we’re running the case and it’s bullshit that they should expect anything less.”
“Leave it with me,” John said, “and close the door on your way out.”
Mitch left as John picked up the phone to make a call. He walked past his team and returned to his office. He glanced back towards John’s office and saw him rub his hand across his forehead while talking on the phone. Mitch logged in with his password and checked his email. There was a video sent to select staff titled ‘How to take out two baddies.’ He opened the file to find CCTV footage of himself knocking out the two parking lot assailants in four moves. As it finished, he watched as he turned and wiped a mark off the Audi. The words flashed up, ‘WARNING: don’t touch the Audi’. Mitch smirked and shook his head.
“Nick!” he called out and looked up just in time to see Nick disappearing down the stairs.
“Off to see Henri,” Nick yelled.
“You’ll keep,” he called after him.