To Know A Man

Part 13

Tom reached for the phone and quickly dialed a number. On the second ring the call was answered, "District Attorney's office."

"Monica, this is Tom Ryan. Is Craig in?"

"Hi Tom," the voice responded pleasantly, "He just got off the phone. Let me see if he's available."

"It's important, Monica."

"About the captain?"

"Could be."

"Just a sec." The woman placed his call on hold.

After a few seconds, Craig Alexander's voice replaced the silence. "Tom, I need to make this quick. I have a hearing in thirty minutes."

"Have you heard from Kelvin Detmer lately?"

There was silence on the other end then Craig's voice returned. "Yeah. . .about a week ago he called me. Why?"

"He called Harry, too."

"I know. Harry and I talked."

"Why? What did Kelvin say to you?"

"Why are you asking?"

"I think it's possible that Kelvin is the one who shot Harry and took the shot at you." Silence returned, but this time it lasted long enough that Tom thought the line might have been disconnected. "Craig?"

"Yeah. . .I'm here."

"Why did he call you?"

"It's confidential, Tom," the District Attorney responded officially.

"What? Craig, come on. . .this is an investigation into Harry's shooting. You have to tell me." Tom's frustration was evident in his voice.

"I thought this wasn't your case," Craig countered.

"We're helping out. This is for Harry. Now come on."

Tom heard Craig blow out a puff of air, "Alright. He said that Harry and I betrayed him."

"Why?"

"You remember why he was asked to resign?"

"Yeah. . .drinking on the job. . .he attacked a nun." Tom remembered the facts all too well. It had been a tremendous departmental embarrassment.

"Harry promised him that he would keep the. . .incident. . .out of his file if he voluntarily resigned his position."

"And?"

"And there was a screw up. I had written a memorandum about the attack and about Detmer's hiring of a hit man to murder Harry. . .and my assessment of the legal issues that the city could face as a result of it. The memo ended up in his personnel file. It was pretty scathing."

Tom was silent for a moment, "So how did Kelvin find out it was there?"

"Kel said that he hadn't had a drink since he left the department and went into rehab. He had taken a job as head of security for a large corporation. The company got involved with a major federal defense contract and the FBI did a standard background check on all of the high-level employees. They discovered the incident with the nun and my memo. The company fired him on the spot."

Tom was silent. He already knew what would be coming next. "He had been drinking, Tom. I could hear it in his voice. He was furious. He said that Harry and I had set him up from the beginning. . .that we wanted nothing more than to see him fail. He blamed us for everything. . .for his drinking. . .for his inability to hold down a job since. He even said his fiancée was leaving him because of what we had done."

"And he wanted revenge," Tom completed quietly.

"Yes. I think so." Craig answered. "I never thought that this attack could be from him, though. I really thought that you were the target. But it makes sense. I mean he did try to have Harry killed the last time he went into a drunken rage."

"Any idea where he is now?"

"No. . .none. I'm not even sure why he called me, except to scream at me."

Tom rubbed a hand over tired eyes, trying to concentrate on a plan of action. "Craig. . .don't leave your office. I think it's possible that Kel is worse off now than he was before. I think he may have killed his fiancée today. We found the body of a woman. . .an Amanda Jacobs. . .at a motel this afternoon. She had called into the station about Harry's shooting. Before we could track her down, she had been murdered. We found an address for her out of Jacksonville. Isn't that where Kelvin went for rehab?"

Craig was silent for a moment then he answered, "Yes." He heard the attorney sigh, "I'll get someone else to cover the hearing for me. I'll stay here until I hear from you. What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to ask the chief to have a couple of officers come over to your office for additional security. I'm also going to warn the officers at the hospital to keep an eye out for another attack on Harry. Then Cassy and I are going to try to find Kel and put an end to this nightmare."

"Good luck, Tom."

"Thanks. I'll call you when we find something."

Tom started to hang up when Craig's voice stopped him, "Tom?"

"Yeah?"

"He needs help. If you can. . ."

"We'll try to help him, Craig."

"Thanks. If I can do anything, let me know."

"Will do." Tom heard the older man hang up the phone.

Tom mumbled a silent prayer that Kelvin Detmer could be helped. As he was hanging up the phone, Cassy's voice startled him, "So you think it's Kelvin?"

"You heard?"

"Yeah. I heard your voice and figured you were either having a heck of a time talking in your sleep or something else had come up. Why Kelvin?"

Tom handed her Harry's journal. As she read the entry about Kelvin, Tom continued, "Craig received a phone call from him also."

"So you think that he went off his rocker and decided to take both Harry and Craig out," Cassy concluded with a hint of skepticism.

"He tried to put a contract out on Harry before. . .he's not the most stable of individuals. . .especially if he's been drinking. And both Harry and Craig came to the conclusion that he had been hitting the bottle."

"And Amanda Jacobs. How does she figure into this?"

"Sounds like she could have been Detmer's girlfriend. He told Craig that his fiancée left him because Craig and Harry had broken their promise to him."

"Promise?"

"They were supposed to keep the incidents that led to his resignation out of the file. Apparently there was a departmental screw up and a memo that Craig had written found it's way to personnel. It showed up in Kelvin's work history when the FBI did a background check on him. His employer fired him and he hasn't been able to hold down a job since."

"And he blames Craig and Harry."

"Yep."

"So you think he went postal and decided to start taking pot shots at them."

"Do you think that's beyond his capabilities. The man has lost a lot in the past few years. He blamed Harry before for that loss. I think it's quite possible that he blames him now."

"I think you're reaching Tom."

"I might be. . .but do we have anything else to go on?"

Cassy shook her head, "Okay. So how do you want to play this?"

"Well, we know Detmer's drinking. And we know that he's not one to drink alone. I say we grab a picture of him from the files and start hitting the bar scene. We might get a lead to his whereabouts."

"What about Craig and Harry?"

"I'm going to call the Chief and see if he'll increase security for both of them."

"You gonna tell Ellen and Vic?"

"We'll call them from the station and let them know what's going down here. They might be able to help us out on finding a lead to Kel."

Cassy covered a yawn as she nodded in agreement, "I want to shower before we take off. I've got to wake up."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. But I don't want to waste a lot of time on this. Kelvin Detmer is a cocked gun ready to go off. And I want to make sure that when he does, Harry and Craig aren't in the line of fire."

End Part 13