Split Second (Sean King & Michelle Maxwell 1)

“No! That’s why I never talked to the police about this. I… I was scared to. My father was dead, and I didn’t know if anyone else was involved, and I just didn’t want to drag anything up.”

“And the person had mentioned your mother, and you thought it might reflect badly on her somehow.”

Kate looked at her with hurt, swollen eyes. “People can write and say anything they want. They can destroy people.”

Michelle took her hand. “I’ll do everything I can to solve this case without doing any further harm. You have my word.”

Kate squeezed Michelle’s hand. “I don’t know why I should, but I believe you. Do you really think you can find out the truth, after all these years?”

“I’ll give it my best shot.”

As Michelle rose to leave, Kate said, “I did love my father. I still love my father. He was a good man. His life shouldn’t have ended that way. That it did makes you feel like there’s no hope for the rest of us.”

To Michelle, Kate sounded almost suicidal. She sat back dow

n and put her arm around her. “Listen to me. Your father’s life was his to do what he wanted with. Your life is exactly the same. You’ve endured so much, accomplished so much, you should have more hope than anyone. I’m not just saying that, Kate, I mean it.”

Kate finally let out a tiny smile. “Thanks.”

Michelle jogged back to the truck and climbed in. While King drove she filled him in on her conversation with Kate.

King slapped the steering wheel. “Damn, so there was someone. The guy who was talking to her father could have been the man with the gun in the closet.”

“Okay, let’s break this down. There were two assassins but only one followed through. Intentional or not? Cold feet, or was it all about setting up Ramsey?”

King shook his head. “If intentional and you know you’re not going to use your gun, why even bring it to the hotel?”

“Maybe he and Ramsey met beforehand, and the other guy had to at least make a pretense of intending to carry it off. Otherwise, maybe Ramsey gets suspicious.”

“Right, that could be. Okay, now we need to take a really hard look at Ramsey’s background, probably back to college. If the man knew Regina Ramsey, and Arnold Ramsey talked about times changing, the answer might lie in the past.”

“And it also might explain why a Berkeley superstar was teaching at a little college in the middle of nowhere.”

Michelle once again slid into the backseat. “You drive while I change back into my clothes.”

King focused on the road as his ears picked up the sounds of garments being pulled off and on. “By the way, do you often strip to your birthday suit in the company of strange men?”

“You’re not that strange. And, Sean, I’m really flattered.”

“Flattered? About what?”

“You snuck a peek.”

CHAPTER

50

THE FOUR MET back at King’s house late that afternoon. Parks placed a large file box on the kitchen table. “That’s the result of our search on Bob Scott,” he told Joan.

“That was pretty fast,” she commented.

“Hey, who you think you’re dealing with, some Mickey Mouse outfit?”

King looked at her. “Checking out Scott? I told you he couldn’t have been involved.”

Joan eyed him intently. “I like to verify things independently. It’s not like any of us are infallible.”

“Unfortunately the reason it came so fast,” said Parks a little sheepishly, “is because those dummies crammed practically everything in they could find about people named Bob Scott. So a lot of the paper is probably worthless. But there it is.” He put on his hat. “I’m heading back out. I’ll call if anything clicks, and I expect you to do the same.”