Chapter 19

Chapter XIX

Pete was on the road at lunchtime so Ruby was on her own.  She and Jeanne decided to get a take-out sandwich and eat in the park.  As they sat at a picnic table, Jeanne was looking over Ruby’s shoulder.  Ruby turned to see who had Jeanne’s interest and was surprised to see Al Jogging past.

“Al?”

Al stopped and looked back.

“Ruby?  Am I back on the trail?” he joked, walking over to her.

Ruby introduced him to Jeanne and he didn’t wait for an invitation to join them.  He took a seat next to Jeanne.

“I always thought jogging was over rated, but it’s nice to have an excuse to rest,” he said.

“Are you another man Ruby pulled off the wondrous treadmill?” Jeanne asked, taking on a glow that made her seem more attractive.

“You might say that – literally,” Al said.

Al started to tell Jeanne the unbelievable story of how he met Ruby.

 Ruby pushed half a sandwich toward Al, and said, “Can you finish this?  I have to get back to work; I’m a little behind.  You two enjoy, and I will vouch for his story and would repeat it even without hearing it as preposterous as it sounds.”

Ruby left, knowing Jeanne would return to work full of questions.  She knew also she would not be missed at the picnic table.

The phone on Ruby’s desk rang as she was taking her seat.

“Hi, Pete, what’s up?” Ruby asked, hearing his voice on the phone.

“I’m going to be a little late tonight.”

“Oh, I can stall around and get caught up here, if you want me to wait for you.”

“I’ll call you when I see where I am at quitting time.  Maybe you can pick me up and we can go to dinner and hit the treadmill late tonight.”

“Sounds good to me,” Ruby said.  “Oh, guess who I met in the park.”

“Who?  I don’t have time to guess.”

“Al.  I think Jeanne is going to have a late lunch.  I’ll tell you when I see you.”

Porter had found the Mac Pearson file within an hour of leaving Ralph to search for the Stoker Campbell, stepfather file.  He and Ralph had spent the whole morning reading and rereading.  Linda their receptionist entered Ralph’s office with sandwiches.

“You have to eat guys.  No matter how good it gets,” Linda said.

“Thanks, Hon,” Ralph said, barely looking up.

Porter nodded his thanks and gave the file an irritated smack, “I don’t see any way in hell this Allan Campbell could have been a coal stoker.  He comes from money up the butt.  How can we be sure he is Stoker Campbell?”

Linda asked, “Why does he have to have worked with coal?”

“Nickname’s Stoker and guys at the Penn think he got it stoking coal.” Ralph explained.

“Stoker?  Sounds like a Mom and Dad thing – Butch, Stoker, Hammer,” Linda said.  “Kid gets sooty in a coal bin, mom starts to scold, daddy says, ‘that’s my little stoker,’ and it sticks.”

“Why let ‘em think you stoked coal?” Porter asked, munching his sandwich.

“Come on, Porter,” Ralph said. “You’re in the Penn, you gonna tell ‘em that’s what mommy called me?”

“Oh,” Porter said, “Hey, thanks for the input, Linda, you’re probably right, but where do we go from here?”

“Think we ought to talk to the prosecutor – see if Diether gave them something and if Stoker knew,” Ralph suggested, then asked, “Hey, what do we owe you for these sandwiches?”

“I took it out of the lunch box,” Linda replied.  “It was filling up.”

“Lunch box?” Ralph asked.

“You guys are always loosing change in the chairs.  When I find it I put it in a change box and use it for days like this,” Linda said.

“All that and a pretty face too,” Porter said.

Linda swatted at air and turned to go back to her desk.  Her wiggle, jokingly, showed them it wasn’t just her face that was pretty.

Spacer was at his desk late in the afternoon.  He hung up his phone and looked to Kurtis who had been headed for his office when the phone rang and had stopped to listen.

“Sounded like business,” Kurtis said.

“I guess Ralph found a lead.  That was the prosecuting attorney, who put Stoker Campbell away,” Spacer replied, “She wanted to know if she should be sharing information with a private detective and Ralph told her to call us.”

“Would have been nice if he had, had us call her,” Kurtis said.

“Now, do I share what she told me with Ralph?” Spacer asked.

Kurtis pondered a minute before saying, “Make sure he tells you everything first.”

Kurtis sat to eavesdrop on the conversation, as Spacer dialed.

Spacer nodded to Kurtis and said into the phone, “Ralph please.”

After a pause for the connection Spacer said, “Ralph, whachya got for me?” Spacer pushed the conference button so Kurtis could hear.

Ralph said, “Spacer?  Hey, thanks for clueing Christina in on the arrest of Campbell.  We were digging through ancient files, when she called.  Porter finally remembered Mac Pearson sending Diether back to Kansas to check on his stepson.  Only name we have is Allan Campbell and no way this kid was working on the railroad, but we think it’s Stoker.”

Ralph waited for Spacer to say something.  Spacer winked at Kurtis and waited for Ralph to go on.

“We checked charges against Campbell that Diether was called about.  Seems step-dad died in Kansas,” Ralph finally added.  “Have you had a call from the prosecutor?  She wouldn’t talk to me without checking with you.”

“Would have been nice if I’d expected her call,” Spacer said.  “I hate looking like I’m out of it.”

“I told her you were loaded with another case and we just dug this up,” Ralph said.

“We’re letting you stay in the loop because Diether was your man, but we are where this loop begins and ends,” Spacer said.

“Sorry – we have more time than you do,” Ralph paused, then blurted, “Porter wants to talk to Campbell’s mother.  That okay with you?”

“She is not on our list, unless you turn something up there,” Spacer said.

“We’ll let you know, one way or the other.  I can fax this file to you.”

“Make a copy and we’ll stop by and pick it up.”

“Right,” Ralph said, knowing a copy would last longer than a fax.  “Did the prosecutor tell you anything?”

“Seems Diether presented her with what he had turned over to Mac Pearson.  Gave them motive,” Spacer said. “When he saw what they had, Campbell pleaded out.  They took the premeditated off the murder.”

“And he met Diether?”

“Just the name.”

“Hard to tie him in then.  Maybe I could get my hands on him and…”

“Don’t say any more, Ralph.  I don’t want to have to testify, if this guy gets beat up,” Spacer warned.  “And, Kurtis is listening with me.”  Spacer added as he was hanging up, “Oh, Stokers’ mother sent Diether to the prosecutor.”

Another light on the phone blinked to say someone was holding, as Spacer hung up.

“Busy afternoon,” Kurtis said.

Spacer hit the button.  He was still on conference.

“Inspector Spacer, This is Liz Carter.  We spoke in the park this morning.”

“Yes, Ms Carter, have you thought of something we should know?” Spacer asked.

“You may know already.  Hope Styles often walked with a man from where she work, but he stopped walking with her.”

“Are we speaking of Al Johnson?”

“I just knew Al.”

“Did you see her with anyone after that?”

“It’s probably nothing and it’s a bit gossipy, but it seemed as though she ran into Harold Jensen more often than … well, I don’t run into anyone that often – especially married men.”

“Are you suggesting…”

“No, I am saying I saw them a few times,” she said quickly.  “He may know something.  I never saw anything indiscreet.  They were just walking the same trail – often.”

“We are speaking of Senator Harold Jensen?”

“Yes and he is married and I voted for him,” Ms Carter said, trying to convey her distaste for gossiping.

“We’ll be discreet,” Spacer said.  “We have no desire to disrupt the lives of the innocent.”

“Thank you,” she said.

“Thank you for calling.”

Spacer hung up and looked to Kurtis.

“Maybe we should just sit here and answer the phone,” Kurtis said.

1394