He shook Rob’s hand. There was a firmness in the policeman’s handshake which, Rob felt, went beyond professional reassurance: there was an empathy there. And there was something in the policeman’s glance, as well: a distinct pity, even pain, in the detective’s eyes.

Rob said thanks, then he turned and left the building, walking like a zombie to the bus-stop and then he caught the bus home to his tiny flat in Islington. The journey was gruelling. Everywhere he looked he saw young kids, little girls: playing with friends, skipping along pavements, shopping with their mothers. He wanted to keep looking at them in case, just in case one was Lizzie: even though he knew this was ludicrous. But he also wanted to avert his face: to not look at these girls. Because they reminded him of Lizzie. The smell of her hair after he had bathed her as a baby. The eyes of trusting blue. Rob felt the tidal wave of agony all over again: enormous and crushing.

When he got to the flat he ignored his unpacked suitcases and the decomposing milk on the kitchen counter and he walked straight to his laptop, plugged it in, booted it up, and checked his emails.

Nothing. He checked again, by refreshing the screen; still nothing.

He took a shower, then started to dress and stopped. He unpacked one suitcase, then stopped. He tried not to think about Lizzie and failed; he was so angry and tense. But all he could do was this one ludicrous thing: keep checking his emails.

Shirtless and barefoot he went back to the laptop and clicked. He flinched. There it was, sent ten minutes ago. An email from Jamie Cloncurry.

Rob stared in fear and hope at the title. Your Daughter.

Was it going to be some hideous image of her corpse? Burned or headless? Buried and dead? Or was it going to say she was safe?

The tension and anxiety was unfeasible. Perspiring heavily, Rob opened the email. There was no photo; just writing. It began tersely enough:

We have your daughter, Rob. If you want her back you must give us the Black Book. Or tell us exactly where it is. Otherwise she will die, in a manner I shall not confide. I am sure your imagination can do the rest. Your girlfriend is similarly unharmed, but we will likewise kill her if you do not assist us.

Rob wanted to throw the laptop at the wall. But he read on: there was more. A lot more.

By the by, I read your piece about the Palestinians. Very moving. Heart-wrenching. You do write some quite effective prose, when you aren’t being so predictably liberal. But I wonder if you have ever really thought about the Israeli situation, and what underlies it. Have you, Rob?

Look at it this way: who are you most scared of? In terms of race? Which race most unnerves you, deep down? I’d hazard a guess that it’s blacks-Africans -yes? I’m right, aren’t I? Do you cross the road when you see a gang of black youths in their hoodies, on the streets of London? If you do, you are hardly alone, Rob. We all do it. And fear of black men is statistically sensible-in terms of petty street crime. You are far more likely to be assaulted and robbed by a black man than by a white man, let alone a Japanese or a Korean-given the proportion of black people in the general populace.

But think a little deeper.

I’ve read your articles and I know you are not stupid. You may be an idiot in terms of politics, but you are not stupid. So think. Which race really kills the most? Which one of the human races is the most lethal?

It’s the smart ones, isn’t it?

Let’s go through it. You are scared of black people. But, really, how many people have been killed by Africans, globally? By African armies? By African power? A few thousand? Maybe a few hundred thousand? And that’s for the whole of Africa. So you see, Africans, per capita, are actually not that dangerous. They are wholly chaotic, and clearly incapable of self-government, but they are not dangerous on a global scale. Now take the Arabs. The Arabs have barely mastered the computer. They haven’t successfully invaded anyone since the 15th century. 9/11 was their best attempt at killing lots of people in two hundred years. And they killed three thousand. The Americans could napalm that many in a minute. By remote control.

So who are the organized people who do the real killing, Rob? For this we need to go north. Where the smart people live.

Amongst the European nations the British and the Germans have killed more than anyone else. Behold the British Empire. The British wiped out the Tasmanian aborigines, in toto. Completely killed them all. The British in Tasmania actually had a sport whereby they went out and hunted them down. A bloodsport: like foxhunting.

The only European people who can match the British in terms of sheer lethality, Rob, are the Germans. They were slow to catch up, not having an empire and all, but they did rather well in the 20th century. They butchered six million Jews. They killed five million Poles, maybe ten to twenty million Russians. Too many to count.

And what are the IQ levels of the British and the Germans? Around 102-105: significantly above average, and well above most other races. This small margin is significant enough to make the British and the Germans some of the most lethal people in the world, as well as some of the cleverest.

But let’s look further afield. Who is even smarter than the British and the Germans, Rob? The Chinese. They have an average IQ of 107. And the Chinese killed maybe 100 million in the 20th century alone. Of course they killed their own people, but there’s no accounting for taste.

Now let’s go straight to the top.

Per head of population, who is most likely to kill you? Is it the Krauts or the British? Is it a black man or a Chinaman? A Korean or a Kazakh? A nigger or a wop?

No, it’s the Jews. The Jews have killed more people on this planet than anyone else. Of course, given the tiny size of the Jewish population, they have had to do their massacring by proxy, as it were: by harnessing the power of other nations, or getting other countries to fight each other. They live and they kill by weaponizing their cleverness: and there’s no denying how many they have put to the sword. Think about it. Jews invented Christianity: how many died for and by the cross? Fifty million? Jews dreamed up communism. Another 100 million. Then there is the atom bomb. Invented by Jews. How many will that kill?

Jews, in the guise of neo-conservatives, even came up with the second Iraq war. Yes that was a smalltime operation by their standards: only killed a million. Positively picayune. But at least they are keeping their hand in. Perhaps because they are rehearsing for the big war between Islam and Christianity. Which we all know is coming, and which we all know the Jews will start. Because they start all wars; because they are so very clever.

What is the average Ashkenazim Jewish IQ? 115. They are by far the smartest race on earth. And Jews are more likely to take your life, historically, than anyone else. They just don’t do it on the street, with a knife, looking for ten bucks to buy crack.

Rob stared at the email. The racist filth was almost concussive in its psychosis. It was dizzyingly insane. Yet there might be clues in it.

He reread it twice. Then he picked up the phone and called Detective Forrester.