“Maybe they would shoot up their neighbor’s house,” John said. “Some of these groups have engaged in a lot of violence over the years. Others of them just put out newsletters and self-published books and that kind of thing. As if they were giant role-playing games for middle-aged sad sacks in midlife crisis.”
“And?” Gregor said. “What was America on Alert?”
John laughed. “The reason Canfield and his partner were up here investigating was that they’d got information that America on Alert was stockpiling weapons. Big-time.”
“So? Why didn’t they get a warrant and search?”
“According to Canfield, because they didn’t know where to search. They could have searched all the houses of all the members they’d come across, and they tried doing that. The judge wouldn’t buy it. After Ruby Ridge and a couple of other well-publicized fiascos, the federal courts are not exactly eager to grant more warrants on incomplete information. And they’d never met the head guy, according to Canfield.”
“This would be Michael Harridan?” Gregor asked.
“Right,” John said.
“Are they sure he exists?” Gregor said.
John shrugged. “I don’t think anybody got into it that far. Not a bad question, though. It would be a cute trick, inventing a shadowy mastermind who didn’t exist and making yourself look less important and feel more safe. Still, you’d have to wonder how it was done. Think of the difficulties.”
“Like what?”
“Like the fact that you’d have to find a way to communicate without tipping off the rest of the group that one of them is never there when the contact happens,” John said. “And you couldn’t do it all by letter or e-mail, because people don’t bond to text, they bond to other people. There would at least have to be a voice, every once in a while. So now look how it works. You take off to make the phone call to be Michael Harridan, that means you’re not at the meeting as yourself. And that happens every time? It would be damned near impossible.”
“It is also silly, yes?” Tibor said. “It is a lot of work to no purpose.”
“If you really believed all the stories you told about conspiracies,” Gregor said, “you might think that it had a very important purpose. Keeping you alive.”
“Krekor, be sensible.”
“I am being sensible,” Gregor said. “You’ve got to try to think in the same terms as the people involved. If I believed that America was being ruled by a secret government that had managed to invade the private lives of all of us, and that that secret government was ready, at the first hint of rebellion, to do what it had to do to shut the rebels up—including, remember Waco and Ruby Ridge, kill them—well …”
“Tcha,” Tibor said.
“Whatever,” John said. “The bottom line is that they couldn’t get the warrants. Now that there’s been a shooting, they might be able to, but I wouldn’t count on it. John Ashcroft may talk a good game about expanding police powers, but the judges have responded to it by digging in their heels, at least out here.”
“Good,” Gregor said.
“There’s no better way to know that you’ve finally turned into a civilian,” John said.
“Get back to America on Alert,” Gregor said. “Canfield and his partner must have information on at least some of the members, right? They went to meetings?”
“The partner did,” John said. “Canfield stayed in the background and did backup.”
“Canfield still has names, though, doesn’t he? And you don’t need a warrant to talk to people. Granted, they don’t have to give you any information, but you can talk to them. I understand that Canfield was concerned about blowing his partner’s cover, but that can hardly be an issue with the Philadelphia police.”
“You mean you want me to ask my cops to go talk to the people at America on Alert,” John said.
“I don’t see where it would hurt,” Gregor said. “There has to be some connection, even if it’s only that the people who committed those murders in Bryn Mawr and whoever blew up Holy Trinity Church both seem to read either The Harridan Report itself or material very much like it. That’s what the woman gave Krystof Andrechev along with the gun.”
“Assuming she gave him anything at all,” John reminded him.
“Assuming she gave him anything at all,” Gregor agreed. “But he had the material. I saw it. And among other things he had copies of The Harridan Report. Charlotte Ross was actually mentioned in The Harridan Report. I saw the issue. Every time we turn around, no matter what we do, we get The Harridan Report. There must be something going on.”