In October of 1978 a message was received by the US Embassy and sent to the State Department that an American POW identified as George Kelshaw had escaped a forced labor crew of the Pathet Lao and had made his way to Bangkok. It was reported and forwarded to the DIA office that he had first been seen in Vientiane and later Bangkok, but had now dropped out of sight.
The on-site DIA investigative staff in Bangkok attempted to verify his whereabouts and confirm that it was American George Kelshaw, but they were unable to locate Kelshaw or their own sources of the reported sighting. It was posited that he could be hiding out of fear; possibly that he was ill and might have gone underground to recover or had died. Nothing more was heard about George Kelshaw.
Spring of 1980, word reached Brad that the GCI offices in Bangkok had been broken into. No thought of a connection with George Kelshaw crossed his mind until he realized that the forced labor crew from which Kelshaw had escaped, was in fact a GCI road building project guarded by Pathet Lao soldiers and that many of the laborers were prisoners of the Pathet Lao.
Coleman had over the last several years, as GCI’s Schneiderman suggested, ignored rumors of POWs being used for slave labor in Laos and North Vietnam. His office had been unable to verify such reports and the DIA had been urged to parrot the administration’s position that all live POW’s had been returned, even in the face of a growing body of evidence to the contrary.
After a call to GCI Bangkok it took a short time for Brad to verify his suspicions that it was Kelshaw who had broken into Bangkok’s GCI offices and had accessed important information. He remembered George Kelshaw and his rock hard determination.
GCI security assured Brad that steps were being taken to locate and terminate the intruder. Weeks later Coleman was notified that Kelshaw had eluded discovery and it was believed that he had escaped on a freighter bound for the United States. Her name was the Tsein-Maru and one of her destinations was the Port of Seattle, to arrive in September.
Although it was late when Brad reached home, Olivia was waiting in the den reading the newspaper. He noticed her luggage in the entryway and felt a knot in his stomach. “I’m sorry to be so late, my dear, why are your bags here, Olivia?” he asked tenuously.
“I’ll be leaving for Seattle right after George Kelshaw’s service tomorrow.”
“You’re going to his service?” He was incredulous.
“Yes, Brad. Dr. Kelshaw, George’s father asked if I would accompany him and I said yes. I won’t ask if you plan to attend.”
“Why are you going to Seattle?”
“I’m sure you know, Brad; I am going to see Charlene Thayer. I called her house today and her phone was answered by a friend, a Sister Ruth Myers, who told me that Charlene had been injured in an explosion and was going to be staying at the Episcopal Convent while she was recuperating. It seems her eyes were injured and she will need someone to be with her until she is well. I think I can be of help to her.”
“I forbid you to go…” Brad sputtered.
“What did you say? I don’t think I heard you correctly, Bradley—“
“I’m sorry, Livy, I just don’t want you to go… I need you here. Things are not good—I really want you to stay; I need you very much.”
“I’m sorry. You’ll be alright, Brad,” Olivia said wearily. “Mrs. Ridgeway will be here to see to the house. I must get away from here and you for a time; perhaps Charlene and I can help each other. I’m going to bed now, goodnight, Brad.”
He followed her forlornly up the stairs, “When will you be back?”
She turned and looked at him, “I don’t know, I have a lot of thinking to do, Brad, and some things to work through. I’ll let you know.”
Wednesday morning
Lyle Ramsey’s private line was ringing, “Hello, Lyle this is Brad. I told you I would call when I found out about Evan Scott; he works for Neil Klein at the State Department in the office of intelligence. We may have a problem, Lyle. The packet of information that George Kelshaw was carrying reached Neil Klein.”
“What was in it, Brad?” Lyle was nervous.
“I’m not certain, I’m afraid that there may be some information about GCI. We know that it was Kelshaw that burgled the Bangkok office.”
Lyle asked, “What do you want me to do, Brad?”
“Call your Tokyo office alerting them to what has happened and make certain that all of the contract information is secured. Does Carr know about the break-in?” Brad asked.
“Possibly, although we haven’t discussed it; nothing escapes him for long.”
“I was hoping that getting rid of Kelshaw would take care of the problem, the information in that damned packet could hurt us, Lyle.”
“Lyle responded, “We must find out how widespread the damage is. I’ll do what I can at this end, Brad. I’ll call Tokyo and tighten security.”
Coleman didn’t tell Ramsey about his encounter with Neil Klein at the Watergate the night before.
Chapter 18
Seattle
Thursday, October 2, 1980
Andrew arrived at the Times at 6:30 AM to place a call to Neil Klein. Hearing Klein’s deep “Hello”, Andrew immediately started, “Neil, we need to talk,” he said excitedly. “Have you gone all through the information in Aunt Martha’s luggage?”
“We’re still decoding items. Why do you ask?”
“What about the microfilm?” Andrew asked as he heard a voice in the background interrupting Neil; Nancy his secretary was urging him not to be late.
“Sorry, Andrew, I have to go. I’m catching a flight to Phoenix.”
“Phoenix? That’s where people go to retire and die.”
“None of the above, Andrew… I’ll call you later today.”
Andrew shrugged, hung up, refilled his coffee mug and looked at his watch. Harry Browne would not be in until 10:30 or 11:00 and he had some time to kill. He thought about Savalza and decided to wait until later and call him when the phone rang.
“Andy, this is Jim, I have news. I’ll pick you up, we need to talk privately.”
“Okay, Jim, but I can’t be away from here too long. There’s a lot going on today, plus I’m taking Charlene from the hospital to the Convent.”
“That’s fine. I’ll pick you up in front of your shop in about ten minutes.”
“Andrew was waiting and jumped into Jim’s car suggesting, “Why don’t we pull into the Times parking lot; you can use my parking spot while we talk. While we’re on that subject, Detective Savalza, what about my car?”
“What about it?”
“I need it.”
“Are you referring to that beat up piece of metal that transports you from point A to point B? Is that a car?”
“Wait a minute—my Land Cruiser is only eight years old even if it’s a little funky—it’s a classic!” he said indignantly.
“Ohh, I see a classic! How could I have been so blind and insensitive,” Jim chortled. “Okay, I’ll see if it’s drivable. You know it took a beating, that is, a further beating, from the explosion, but I’ll check. I think the wind screen is gone…”
Andrew just groaned and shook his head, “All right, do what you can, now, what’s the good news?”
“The news is about the Ramsey number,” as Jim said and related his conversation with Captain Martin.
After hearing about Ramsey contacting the police department for the body of a transient who turned out to be George Kelshaw, Andrew looked at Jim in amazement, “Remember that farm I was willing to bet? I’ll throw in all the equipment with it if Monte Maxwell, Jake Schultz and Leo Tanner and Ramsey are not all connected to George Kelshaw’s murder!”