Blue Team
December 4, 8.30 a.m.
It took four hours for Harper to piece the story together. He had been searching for names in directories and databases throughout the night. It was unlikely that Sebastian still called himself Hummel. At some point, the brothers must have decided to change their names again. Mo had changed his to Macy. But what had Sebastian changed his to? Harper’s list held over four hundred names already. He was looking for all the Fosters, Hummels, Dresdens, Dobermans, Quillers, Ashes and Macys across New York. All he had to do now was to go through the list one by one and check it out. It would take time. Maybe too much time. There had to be a quicker way. He drummed his thumb on the keyboard. Time was running out.
Harper now understood why the killer was after him, though. He had killed Sebastian’s brother.
Now, Harper could see how it had happened those first times. The murders of the Hummel girl and Chloe Mestella were even more horrific than the cops realized; too horrific for anyone to suspect. They were killed by a child. By Sebastian Hummel, a thirteen-year-old boy.
Harper looked again at the cold case details. The brothers were younger than anyone had thought. That’s why Eddie hadn’t found anyone in the yearbooks. Eddie’s maths had been two years out — the killer had been younger than Chloe Mestella, not older. They’d made a poor assumption and it cost them.
He had found the key to Sebastian — his raped and murdered sister. Tom knew what he had to do. He needed to find out what happened to the Hummels. He had called Eddie and asked him to sit on the door of the social security office in Pendleton County. He needed to know who fostered Sebastian after the Hummel family fell to pieces. He picked up his cell and was about to put in another call to Eddie, but Lafayette rang first.
‘What’s up?’ said Harper. ‘I hope it’s good news.’
‘Sure is, Harper. The woman from your basement? It’s not Denise. She could still be alive, Tom.’
Silence.
‘Tom, you there? It’s not her, man, you hear me?’
‘Yeah,’ Tom said weakly. ‘I hear you. Thank you.’
He put the phone down and sat still for about ten seconds, trying to stop the tide of relief from overwhelming him. Sebastian was true to his word. He wanted Tom to feel pain. More pain than he could imagine. He had to find Sebastian. He had to get Denise back. He called Eddie.
‘What’s up?’
‘It’s not Denise,’ said Harper. ‘It’s someone else he used to try to make us think she was dead.’
‘Sick fuck,’ said Eddie. ‘How are you feeling?’
‘It’s good it’s not her, Eddie, but we’ve got to nail this and find her. Are you in yet?’
The line started to crackle. Harper didn’t know it, but Eddie was following a young woman through a low door. ‘What you say, Harper?’
‘I want a name. Where are you?’
‘We’re in the stacks now. The lovely Julia is giving me a guided tour of their records. Nearly there, Harps.’
‘Call me,’ said Harper. ‘The moment you get a name.’
‘Sure thing. Julia and I are on it.’
Harper couldn’t count on Eddie’s news being good, so continued with his own checking. Twenty minutes in, when he was only a fraction of the way down the list, it occurred to him that he hadn’t even run these names through Blue Team’s database. Something might click. He took his list over to Garcia. ‘Stop the phoning for a moment. I want these entered on the database, see if anything comes up.’
‘Sure thing,’ said Garcia.
Twenty minutes later, he called over to Harper. ‘Listen up, we got a hit.’
Harper rushed across. ‘What is it?’
‘Nothing definite, but one of the names cross-referenced with a call we got from a lady in Queens.’
‘Which name?’
‘Dresden. Woman called in a potential domestic situation and blurted out that she thought her husband was the American Devil.’
‘When?’
‘Call came in under an hour ago. Patrol have been and gone. She was fine. She panicked. Look, Harper, don’t get your hopes up. We get fifty of these a day.’
‘Sure we do,’ said Harper, ‘but I got seven names that Mo Macy used when he was being fostered around and I’m thinking Sebastian lived there with him. This woman has one of those names. What’s the address?’
‘Just off the Triborough road, I think. Hang on while I check.’ A couple of minutes later he looked up from the database. ‘Got it. And guess what? Your botanical guys came up with five locations for winter-flowering cherry and this address is a couple of minutes from one of them.’
‘That’s good,’ said Harper. He looked at the address. Was this really him? He couldn’t believe that he’d just kept his name. He’d probably just been happy that he wasn’t a Hummel any more. He called Eddie.
‘What is it, Harps? We’re in the files,’ said Eddie.
‘Look up Dresden.’
Eddie was silent for a moment. Harper heard files moving and papers rustling. Then a woman’s voice in the background called out. ‘John and Jamie Dresden took two boys in August 1982. Sebastian and Maurice.’
‘You hear that, Harper? What you got?’
‘I heard it,’ said Harper. ‘I think we got him.’ He paused. ‘Remember this, Eddie. I want you to remember what it feels like just before we take down this bastard.’
They had Hostage Rescue Team running the show, led by Special Agent Baines and his fierce-looking colleagues in black uniform with a vast array of weaponry. He took control of the operation, keeping the vehicles quiet at both ends of Nick Dresden’s street. Then the teams moved slowly down the suburban road. Four armed men walking in the centre of the road from each direction, flanked by supporting officers running into each house as they passed, keeping the neighbours safe and quiet.
The rest of the team watched from the end of the street. Nick’s house was an ordinary working home. A couple of kids’ bicycles had been abandoned on the lawn. Nothing but plain everyday signs of normality.
The Hostage Rescue Team fell into position at the front and back of the house and suddenly rushed the doors. The front door splintered in two.
From afar, the detectives of Blue Team could hear almost nothing. The whole operation was over in under two minutes. Then the team appeared on the lawn and radioed to Baines.
‘House secured. Suspect is not present. I repeat. The suspect is not present. Wife and kids are unharmed but he’s gone.’