Split Second skamm-1 Page 24

  “Like what?” Kate asked sharply.

  “Like someone else, someone he respected, asking him to. Asking him to join in killing Ritter, in fact.”

  “That’s impossible. My father was the only one who shot Ritter.”

  “What if the other person got cold feet and didn’t shoot?”

  Kate sat down at her desk, her nimble fingers once more playing their geometric games with the pencil and ruler.

  “You have evidence of that?” she asked without looking up.

  “What if we did? Would it jog your memory? Does it bring anyone to mind?”

  Kate started to say something, then stopped and shook her head.

  King glanced at a photo on the shelf and went over and picked it up. It was of Kate and her mother, Regina. It must have been a more recent picture than the one they’d seen in Jorst’s office, since Kate looked to be about nineteen or twenty. Regina was still a very lovely woman, but there was something in her eyes, a weariness that probably symbolized her life’s tragic circumstances.

  “I take it you miss your mother.”

  “Of course, I do. What sort of question is that?” Kate reached over and took the photo from him and put it back on the shelf.

  “I understand they were separated at the time of his death?”

  “Yeah, so? Lots of marriages break up.”

  “Any ideas why your parents’ did?” asked Michelle.

  “Maybe they’d grown apart. My dad was a borderline socialist. My mom was a Republican. Maybe that was it.”

  “Yet that was nothing new, was it?” said King.

  “Who knows for sure? They didn’t really talk about it that much. In her youth my mother was apparently some fabulous actress with a wonderful future. She gave up that dream to marry my dad and support his career. Maybe she came to regret that decision. Maybe she thought she’d wasted her life. I don’t really know, and at this point I don’t really care.”

  “Well, I guess she was depressed about Arnold’s death. Maybe that’s why she committed suicide.”

  “Well, if that was the reason, she waited years to get around to doing it.”

  “So you think it was something else?” asked King.

  “I really haven’t given it much thought, okay!”

  “I don’t believe that. I’m betting you think about it all the time, Kate.”

  One of her hands flew to her eyes. “The interview is over. Get out!”

  As they walked down Franklin Street to Michelle’s truck, King said, “She knows something.”

  “Yes, she does,” agreed Michelle. “The question is, how do we get it out of her?”

  “She’s pretty mature for her age. But she’s also got a lot wrapped up in that head of hers.”

  “I wonder how close Thornton Jorst and Kate are? He gave her the heads-up about us pretty fast.”

  “I was wondering that myself. I’m not thinking a romantic relationship.”

  “More like a surrogate father?” she suggested.

  “Maybe. And dads will do a lot to protect their daughters.”

  “So what do we do now?” asked Michelle.

  “We’ve clearly shaken up Kate Ramsey. Let’s see where she might lead us.”

  48

  Joan learned some interesting things about John Bruno from the support staff at his Philadelphia law firm. None of them had much good to say about Catherine Bruno.

  “Nose stuck so far up in the air it’s a wonder she doesn’t drown when it rains,” said one secretary about the blue-blooded Mrs. Bruno.

  Joan cornered another woman at the law firm who’d also worked with Bruno during his stint as a prosecutor in Washington. The woman remembered Bill and Mildred Martin and had read of their deaths.

  “An unlikely person to be murdered,” said the woman with a frightened expression. “Bill was so sweet and trusting.”

  Joan pounced on this. “Trusting, yes, he was trusting. Even when he shouldn’t have been perhaps.”

  “Well, I don’t like telling tales outside of school.”

  “We’re both grown; we can tell tales wherever and whenever we want,” Joan prompted. “Especially if it helps in the cause of justice and other things.”

  The woman remained silent.

  “So you actually worked for both Bill Martin and Bruno at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington?”

  “Yes. Yes, I did.”

  “And what was your impression of them?”

  “Bill was too nice for his position. We all said that, never to his face, of course. As for Bruno, his personality fit his job perfectly, if you ask me.”

  “Tough, ruthless. Not above bending the rules to get results?”

  The woman shook her head. “No, I wouldn’t say that. He was tough, but I never knew him to cross the line.”

  “And yet I read that there were a lot of problems in the U.S. Attorney’s Office back then.”

  “There were. Like I said, Bill Martin was too nice sometimes. Some of the prosecutors did cross the line. But let me tell you, a lot of the police officers back then were doing it. There were shakedowns all the time. During the protests in the late sixties and early seventies, I recall dozens of cases of officers fabricating evidence, making arrests for nonexistent crimes, intimidating people, blackmailing them. It was bad, real bad. A disgrace.”

  “And yet you’re saying Bruno didn’t participate in any of that?”

  “Well, if he did, I certainly didn’t know about it.”

  “Did you know Bill Martin’s wife, Mildred?”

  “A piece of work, that one. Always wanted to live beyond her means. She wasn’t a fan of Bruno’s, I can tell you that.”

  “So I gathered. Then it wouldn’t surprise you if she bad-mouthed Bruno, made up lies about him?”

  “Not at all. She was like that. She wanted her husband to be this hard-charging man of justice, secretly hoping it would take him, and her, to the big time, meaning big money. Now, Bill wasn’t like that. Bruno was. I think she was jealous.”

  Joan sat back and digested this new information slowly. She studied the woman closely. She appeared to be telling the truth. If she was, this changed things.

  “Would it surprise you if Mildred was involved somehow in either her husband’s death or perhaps Bruno’s disappearance?”

  “It would about Bill. I really think she loved him. But about Bruno?” She shrugged. “Mildred could be vindictive as hell.”

  “Meaning what exactly?”

  “That given the opportunity, she might have shot him and not thought twice about it.”

  Joan flew back to Virginia and picked up her car. As she was about to head out of the airport, her phone rang. It was her office, reporting back on her inquiry about the whereabouts of Bob Scott and Doug Denby. The report was startling. The magnificent Agency, with all its expensive resources and high-level contacts, couldn’t find Bob Scott. About a year ago the former Secret Service agent had seemingly dropped off the planet. They’d traced him to Montana, where he’d apparently been living off the land. After that, nothing had been heard of him. He’d been divorced for years, was childless, and his ex-wife was remarried and knew nothing about her former husband’s whereabouts. The Agency had also checked with sources at the Secret Service, but even they could offer no help. The pension payment checks sent to the Montana address had been returned over the past year.

  Doug Denby had been easier to track. He’d returned to his native Mississippi after inheriting considerable property and money and was currently enjoying life as a country squire far from the bare-knuckled sphere of politics. He clearly wasn’t running around killing people.

  Joan clicked off her phone and was about to pull out onto the highway when the phone rang again. It was Jefferson Parks.

  “Let me tell you,” said the deputy marshal, “you still got a lot of admirers at the Secret Service. All I heard was how great you are. Made me want to puke.”

  Joan laughed. “I have that effect on lots of men.”<
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  “So any luck?”

  “None so far. Bruno’s law and campaign offices were pretty much dead ends.”

  “What are you going to do now?”

  “I’m not sure. I’ve had no luck tracking down Bob Scott. There’s been no trace of the guy from about a year ago.”

  “Okay, look, I know we’re just a little old underfunded federal law enforcement agency, and we don’t have the fancy stuff you folks have in the private sector, but how about I try to track down this guy from my end.”

  “Whatever you do will be very appreciated,” remarked Joan pleasantly.

  “But King doesn’t seem to think this guy could be involved. Sure, Scott might be ticked at King for what happened. But he had no reason to kill Ritter and ruin his career. And then there’s the gun thing.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that. Sean told me that the gun he found in Loretta’s backyard was a snub-nose .38 revolver.”

  “So?”

  “That’s not Secret Service standard issue. So while it might not be suspicious for Scott to be armed, it would be suspicious if he was carrying two weapons, particularly a snub-nose, in case someone did check.”

  Parks wasn’t convinced. “But why have two guns? If his plan was to shoot Ritter too, he could have used his own gun.”

  “What if another would-be assassin, Ramsey’s partner, got cold feet, didn’t fire and slipped the gun to the inside man, Bob Scott, to get rid of, thinking no one would suspect him. Then maybe Scott became nervous because he now had two guns, hid it in the closet, and that’s when Loretta saw him.”

  “And Loretta started her blackmail scheme. Okay, that would give Scott the incentive to kill her. But Ritter’s death wiped out Scott’s career. Why would he do it?”

  Joan sighed. “Why do anything? Money! And the fact that he’s disappeared doesn’t exactly reinforce his innocence.”

  “What more do you know about him?”

  “Vietnam vet before he joined the Service. Maybe he was carrying some baggage from that. He was sort of gun-happy too. He might have flipped to the dark side. See, that was never fully explored. It was officially concluded Ramsey acted alone. We’re the first people to really look at all the angles.”

  “Well, I guess it’s about damn time. I’ll call you if I hear anything. You going back to King’s place?”

  “Yes, or at the inn where I’m staying near there, the Cedars.”

  “Catch you later,” said Parks.

  Joan drove off, very much lost in thought.

  So much lost in thought that Joan didn’t notice the car following her, or the driver whose gaze was locked intently on her.

  49

  Dressed in a warm-up suit, Kate Ramsey finally left her office in the late afternoon, climbed into a VW bug and drove off. Michelle and King followed at a discreet distance as the VW drove to Bryan Park, on the outskirts of Richmond. Once there, Kate climbed out, stripped off her warm-up suit, revealing shorts and a long-sleeved T-shirt underneath. She did some quick stretching and took off running.

  “Great,” said King. “She could be meeting somebody, and we won’t be able to see a damn thing.”

  “Yes, we will.” Michelle climbed into the backseat of the truck.

  King looked at her. “What are you doing?”

  She grabbed his shoulder and turned him back around. “Just keep your eyes to the front, mister.”

  She started undressing. “I keep running stuff in a bag under the backseat. Never know when the urge might hit.”

  King’s gaze flitted to the rearview mirror, where one long bare leg and foot and then another appeared as pants came down and shorts were slid over muscled calves and sculpted thighs.

  “Yeah,” he said as he looked away when she started taking off her shirt, “you just never know about that old urge thing.” He glanced outside and watched as Kate Ramsey’s efficient strides ate up chunks of distance. She was almost out of sight.

  “Michelle, you better hurry up or you’ll never catch—”

  He stopped when the truck door opened and closed and he saw Michelle, in a jogging bra, shorts and track shoes, streak across the grass, her long legs pumping and her muscled arms churning. He could only stare in amazement as she effortlessly burned up the distance between her and Kate.

  “Friggin’ Olympians,” he muttered.

  At first Michelle kept well out of sight of Kate, until it appeared clear the young woman was out simply to run. Then Michelle changed tactics. Instead of shadowing Kate, she decided to take another shot at talking to her. When she pulled up beside her, Kate looked over, scowled and immediately picked up her pace. Michelle quickly matched her stride for stride. When Kate started to sprint and Michelle effortlessly kept pace with her, Kate slowed down.

  “What do you want?” Kate said in a very tight voice.

  “To talk.”

  “Where’s your friend?”

  “He’s not much into running.”

  “I told you everything I know.”

  “Did you, Kate? Look, I just want to try and understand you. I want to help.”

  “Don’t try and be my buddy, okay! This isn’t some lame TV cop show where we’re all of a sudden going to bond.”

  “You’re right, this is real life, and a number of people have lost their lives or been kidnapped. We’re trying to figure out what the hell is going on because we want to stop whoever’s doing this, and I think you can help.”

  “I can’t help you or anyone else.”

  “I don’t think you’ve even tried.”

  Kate pulled up, hands on hips, sucking in quick breaths, and looked angrily at Michelle. “What the hell do you know about anything? You know nothing about me.”

  “That’s why I’m here. I want to know more. I want to know as much as you’re willing to tell.”

  “You just don’t get it, do you? I’ve put this all behind me. I don’t want to relive that part of my life.” They started to run again. “And besides, I don’t know anything.”

  “How do you know you don’t? Have you gone through every little detail, been asked every possible question, run down every line of possible inquiry?”

  “Look, I try not to think about the past, okay?”

  “So I take that as a no.”

  “Would you think about it much if he were your dad?”

  “What I wouldn’t do, Kate, is try to hide from the truth. Have you ever really talked about any of this? If you haven’t, I’m here to listen. I really am.”

  As tears started to trickle down the other woman’s cheeks, Michelle put a hand on Kate’s shoulder and they both stopped jogging. She led Kate over to a bench, and they sat down.

  Kate wiped her eyes with her hand and glared stubbornly at nothing. Michelle sat there patiently waiting.

  Kate started off hesitantly and in a small voice. “I was in algebra class when they came and got me. One minute I’m doing x plusy problems, and the next minute my dad is national news. Do you know what that feels like?”

  “Like your whole world is ending?”

  “Yes,” Kate said quietly.

  “Were you able to talk to your mother about it?”

  Kate waved her hand dismissively. “What was there to talk about? She’d already abandoned my father. That was her choice.”

  “Is that how you saw it?”

  “How else could I see it?”

  “You must have some idea why they separated beyond what you told us earlier.”

  “It wasn’t my father’s doing, I can tell you that.”

  “So it was your mother’s choice, and you’re saying you don’t know why—other than maybe feeling she’d wasted her life with your father?”

  “I do know that when my mother walked out, his life was basically over. He worshiped her. It wouldn’t have surprised me if he’d committed suicide.”

  “Well, maybe he did.”

  Kate stared at her. “And what, took Clyde Ritter with him?”

  “Two birds wit
h one stone.”

  Kate studied her hands. “It started out like a fairy tale. My father was an activist in college. Civil rights marches, war protests, sit-ins, the whole works. My mother was the beautiful actress poised for stardom. But they fell in love. My father was tall and handsome and smarter than everybody, and he wanted to do all this good. He was noble, he really was. He had great substance. All the people my mother knew were actors; people from the stage, basically all fluff. My father was something totally different. He didn’t just act the part, he went out and risked his life to make the world better.”

  “Pretty hard for a lady to resist,” Michelle said quietly.

  “I know my mom loved him. What I just told you are things I learned from her and some of her friends. And I also found some of her diaries from when she was in college. They really did love each other. So I don’t know why it didn’t work out. Maybe it lasted longer than it should have considering how different they were. But maybe if she hadn’t left, he wouldn’t have done what he did.”

  “But maybe he didn’t do it alone, Kate. That’s what we’re trying to get at.”

  “Your new evidence that you can’t tell me,” she said scornfully.

  “A gun,” said Michelle firmly. Kate looked startled but said nothing. “A gun that we found and that we believe was hidden in the Fairmount Hotel on the day Ritter was killed. We think there was a second assassin in the building, but that person didn’t fire.”

  “Why not?”

  “We don’t know. Maybe he lost his nerve. Maybe he and your father had a pact to do it together, and then he didn’t, leaving your dad with the full responsibility.” Michelle paused and then added quietly, “And maybe it was that person who talked your dad into doing what he did in the first place. And if he did, maybe you saw or overheard something that can help us.”

  Kate looked down at her hands and nervously picked at her nails. “My dad didn’t have many visitors and not any real friends.”

  “So if somebody did come to see him, you probably would have noticed,” Michelle suggested.

  Kate remained silent for so long that Michelle almost rose to leave.