Jim responded, “Our guys are working on trying to determine what type of explosive was used… Kincaid thinks that it was dropped into a tote bag by the bench where they were sitting. It did a lot of damage.
They were lucky… apparently Charlene left the tote by the bench and didn’t realize it. They had crossed the street when she remembered the bag and was trying to go back to get it when the thing blew up. We’re still not sure how bad she’s hurt… she’s still unconscious. There was a couple in a car that had just passed and they were pretty badly injured too. The rear end of the car took the brunt of the blast; it was a miracle that the gas tank on the car didn’t explode. Whatever it was, it wasn’t designed to take a wide area, otherwise nobody would be around.
“Andrew said he has some idea of who could be responsible. Oh, by the way, he and I cleaned ‘bugs’ out of his apartment last night; just thought you should know.”
Klein responded, “Yes, he told me that too. Detective Savalza, please tell Andrew that we’re investigating at this end and that we have ideas too.”
As Jim was concluding his call to Neil Klein, Ed Peterson stuck his head in the office.
“Got a minute, Savalza?” he asked.
“Sure, what’s up?” Jim replied pleasantly.
Ed slid into a chair and spoke privately. “I had this call yesterday from Dora Maxwell.”
“Oh yeah? What did she want?” he responded, his curiosity aroused.
Ed produced a scrap of paper with what looked like a telephone number written on it and handed it to Savalza saying, “She asked if I could come by the house sometime yesterday and I did. She said she had been going through some of Monte’s clothes before sending them to Goodwill and she found this in the pocket of a suit that Monte had worn the week he was killed.”
Savalza shrugged saying, “Well it could have been in there for months…”
“No,” Ed replied, “Dora said it had just come from the cleaners…”
Savalza looked at the writing on scrap of paper; there was the letter ‘R’ and what looked like a local telephone number.
“What do you think?” Ed questioned as he looked over Savalza’s shoulder at the paper. “Do you think it means anything?”
“I don’t know—let’s dial it and find out.”
Ed smiled, he loved a mystery, “You remember Dora said that Monte told her he was on a stake-out with me. I have to wonder if that number had anything to do with…”
Jim was dialing; he waved Ed to silence. He heard a cold voice answer on the second ring, “Ramsey… hello,” he said again, impatiently.
“Hello, who did you say?” Jim asked innocently.
“This is Lyle Ramsey, who is this?” he demanded.
“This is Detective James Savalza, Seattle PD.”
Ramsey paused and then said coolly, “This is Lyle Ramsey of Ramsey and Carr. Your call came in on my private line, Detective, who were you calling and how did you get this number?”
“I’m very sorry, Mr. Ramsey, it’s obviously the wrong number or I must have misdialed. Please excuse the call; I’m very sorry to have disturbed you,” Jim offered apologetically.
He quickly hung up and looked up at Ed Peterson, “I got Lyle Ramsey on his private line—now why do you suppose Monte would have Ramsey’s private number?”
Ed scratched his head, “Beats me, Monte sure couldn’t have afforded a high powered law dog like that and why would he need one anyway? Do you think this could have anything to do with him being killed?”
“I don’t know, Ed, but I think it raises some interesting possibilities. You’re right, it certainly doesn’t fit Monte’s profile.”
“I have a meeting so I’ve got to get going, Jim, keep me posted and if you want me to do anything, just holler,” Ed said as he left the office.
“Thanks, Ed, I will, definitely.”
In his office Ramsey pondered the call and drew an uneasy breath. “It could have been a misdial.” Lyle shook his head in disgust thinking of Maxwell’s failure, “It is also possible that my number could have surfaced in some of that idiot’s belongings. This will bear watching,” he said to the portrait staring down at him.
Jim took the scrap of paper, tucked it into a plastic bag pocketed it and left for Harborview. He figured he could kill two birds with one stone; check on Charlene and talk with Andrew in the same visit.
He found Andrew in Charlene’s room…, “Any change?” he asked.
Andrew shook his head, but said quietly, “I think she had a good night.”
“That’s good. Let me buy you a cup of coffee,” he urged; seeing that Andrew was reluctant to leave he added, “This won’t take long.” In the corridor Jim spoke softly, “Had an interesting development this morning, I think you’ll find it very interesting as well.”
They reached the cafeteria and after getting coffee they took a table in the mostly empty room.
“What’s going on?” Andrew asked, “What is this new development?”
“Ed Peterson came in to see me this morning to give me this,” he removed the scrap of paper from the plastic bag and placed it in Andrew’s hands saying, “Ed had a call from Dora Maxwell yesterday asking him to stop by… she thought it might mean something. It came out of one of Monte’s suit pockets—a suit that he had worn the same week he was killed. Dora said the suit had just been cleaned.
“I don’t know what it means, but I called the number and guess who answered the phone? I rang in on the private line of Lyle Ramsey… you know, the Lyle Ramsey of Ramsey & Carr.”
Andrew stared at the name, “Hmmn,” Andrew puzzled over the telephone number written on the scrap of paper. “Why would Monte Maxwell have access to the private number of Lyle Ramsey? Unless…” Suddenly Neil Klein’s words ‘large and local’ loomed in Andrew’s consciousness.
“Jim, if Monte had this number I would be willing to bet the farm that it’s connected to the murder of George Kelshaw. Now the question is how and what would Ramsey have to gain? Unless…” Andrew continued, “I think I’d better let Neil Klein know about this little development.”
“Good idea Andy, and in the meantime I’ll do some quiet investigating of Mr. Ramsey at my end.”
“Thanks, Jim… I’ll see you later and I’ll call you after I talk to Klein, but right now I’d better get back.”
10:00 AM
Andrew had just reached Charlene’s room when he saw Father Ben and Jack approaching. He noted Jack’s bloodshot eyes and haggard appearance. Andrew looked at Ben questioning. Ben returned his gaze without expression.
“Hi,” Jack said to Andrew, “How are you—you don’t look so good, buddy.”
“You don’t look all that good either, friend,” Andrew replied. I know what happened to me—but what happened to you?”
At that, Father Ben shook his head at Andrew with a “Don’t go there,” expression. “How is Charlene?” he asked.
“I don’t know; the doctor’s with her now.”
One of the nurses came out and called, “Mr. Kincaid would you step in here for a moment?”
Andrew immediately followed the nurse into Charlene’s room while Father Ben and Jack waited. To his surprise and delight Charlene’s lips were moving asking for Andrew and when he spoke she seemed to recognize his voice.
“Hey,” he said, “It’s about time you woke up… how are you feeling?”
The doctor broke in, “You can have a couple of minutes with her, Mr. Kincaid; now that she’s awake we have a few tests that we would like to do; then we’ll see where we are.”
The staff left leaving Andrew and Charlene alone. He leaned over the bed and lightly kissed her forehead, “You really gave me a scare,” he told her.