What did it mean? And now, again, he’d written it near the corpse of a woman whose identity he dared not think about. As a reminder, maybe? As a clue?
Abaddon, the name of the angel of destruction. Was that all it meant? What was Sebastian trying to tell him? Then it came all at once. Elaine’s voice. Elaine Fittas. Just before he heard the news about the body in his basement. What did she say?
‘Maybe he loved him.’
Abaddon wasn’t a name, was it? It was a place. It was the place where he and Mo started all this. They knew each other all right. They knew each other damn well!
Suddenly, the only sound on the vast dock was the heavy slap of Harper’s running footfalls.
Chapter One Hundred and Seven
Blue Team
December 4, 2.28 a.m.
Harper arrived back at Blue Team and ran up to Mark Garcia. ‘Garcia, how far have you got on Macy’s background?’
‘Nowhere beyond a few names,’ said Garcia. ‘No address as yet.’
‘Come on, I need to know where he lived in West Virginia.’
‘Why does it matter right now?’
‘Maybe Mo had a partner in crime back then, someone who also fucked up.’
‘What are you saying?’
‘I’m saying that I think Sebastian and Mo knew each other back then. If I can get Mo’s details, then I can get closer to Sebastian’s, you understand?’
Garcia was nodding. He got it all right. ‘I’ll make the calls.’
‘What about these names? Is Macy his name? Is it his original name?’
‘No. He took the name of whatever family he was with, as far as I can tell. I’ve got six names in his file.’
‘Let me see them.’
Garcia handed over the file. Harper looked down the list of Mo’s surnames: Foster, Hummel, Dresden, Doberman, Quiller, Ash and Macy. ‘You got any details on any of these?’
‘Not yet, but I can ask. Thing is, no one’s going to be at work now. It’s the middle of the night.’
‘Call the local police, go county by county, see if you can get to the files that way,’ said Harper.
‘Okay, I’m on it.’
Harper paused for a half-second. ‘Any more on the girl in my building?’
‘Sorry, Harper, but they don’t know. Her prints are being checked against the database as we speak.’
Harper nodded and headed off back to his computer, trying not to think about the report from Latent Prints that would soon tell him the identity of the latest victim. He started to search again for Abaddon. Every web reference was to some thrash metal band or some images of the dark destroyer. He wanted something else: a meaning beyond the obvious. He knew this was a message from Sebastian. He found an original definition soon enough; Abaddon meant ‘a place of destruction’ not a person. That made sense. Sebastian was the American Devil and wherever he was was Abaddon. That’s what he meant. He was re-creating Abaddon again, collecting parts of his destruction in one place. But where was the original Abaddon?
Harper stared at the screen. Mo and Sebastian. If they had known each other and they were bad news, then there might be a quicker way to find them than calling every local sheriff’s office in West Virginia.
Harper called the West Virginia State Police. A gruff trooper answered and Harper explained who he was and what he was doing.
‘What’s the American Devil case got to do with us?’ said the trooper.
‘A girl called Chloe Mestella was murdered in West Virginia in 1982. That murder could have been the American Devil’s work. It might be his first kill, back when he was a kid. Listen, I’ve got a lead on a guy I’m trying to trace. He was arrested for attempted rape in New York but he grew up in West Virginia, and I’ve got no records for him. My guess is that he might have got in trouble a lot back then.’
‘Give me his name. I can see if our database can drag anything up for you.’
‘Thank you,’ said Harper. ‘Okay, his DOB is December 8, 1969. He was twelve at the time of the Chloe Mestella murder. His first name is Maurice or Mo, but I’ve got six possible surnames.’
‘We can run them all through,’ said the trooper.
‘He went under the following: Foster, Hummel, Dresden, Doberman, Quiller, Ash and Macy.’
‘I’ll try them all, Detective. Give me your number, I’ll call you back.’
Harper gave his number and thanked him. Like with everything in life, he’d have to wait. He sank back into his chair and started to trawl again through the details of the Chloe Mestella murder. The online archives gave the story he already knew. Another unsolved murder, a cold case.
Twenty minutes passed before the trooper called back. ‘Sorry, no arrest records for any of those names.’
‘None of them?’
‘Nothing. Sorry.’
Harper was about to hang up but he was desperate for a break and panicking at the thought that Denise might be dead. He looked at his notebook in front of him, the word Abaddon scrawled across the page. He threw out the line.
‘Does the word “Abaddon” mean anything to you?’
‘Can’t say it does. You want me to run that through our local database?’
‘That would be great.’
‘Okay, stay on the line, it’ll take a moment.’
Three minutes passed. Five. Then the trooper returned.
‘You still there, Detective Harper?’
‘I’m still here.’
‘We got nothing on record for Abaddon. It’s not a name or a place around here.’
‘Shit,’ said Harper.
‘Hold on, feller, listen up. The word threw up a link through to the local Cold Case Unit, but I can’t tell from this what it’s for. You want me to put you through?’
‘Yeah,’ said Harper.
The ringing tone went on and on. The trooper came back on the line. ‘Sorry, buddy, looks like you chose the wrong time of day, but you can take a look yourself.’
‘How?’
‘Well, the system’s showing a hit, Detective. Take a look on the cold case website and call me back. The details are up there. I’ll give you the link.’
Harper quickly typed in the link and the case came up before his eyes:
The Cold Case Unit of the West Virginia State Police is seeking information concerning the murder of Bethany Hummel, aged 14. The murder occurred on February 6, 1982. The victim was murdered in an abandoned fishing cabin on Abaddon farmstead in Pendleton County, West Virginia. Bethany was one of three sisters. The other two girls, the girls’ father, Mr Ned Hummel, and his two adopted sons were not hurt in the attack.
Mr Hummel became a farmer after retiring from business after the death of his wife. The Cold Case Unit is seeking anyone who may have information concerning Mr Hummel’s daughter and this investigation.
If you have information, please contact Sergeant John Eigen or contact your local State Police Detachment. If you wish to remain anonymous, you may submit a tip by clicking on Submit Online Tips on the main page.
Tom Harper’s head was spinning with the possibilities. Abaddon! Fucking Abaddon. It was the farmstead. It was a message and Harper had found it, right at its source. The American Devil had killed before Chloe Mestella. This was his first kill.
The whole case clicked together in his mind like a jigsaw puzzle that’d been keeping him at work all night. He saw it with crystal clarity. Harper called the state trooper right back. He wanted to know exactly what had
