Daddy's Gone a Hunting

18

The fire marshals did not catch up with Doug Connelly until later Thursday evening.

They called the hospital and learned that he had made a second visit there in the late afternoon. He had been accompanied by a young woman and had gone in with his daughter Hannah for a brief visit with Kate in the ICU.

The marshals had grabbed something to eat, then had gone to Doug’s apartment building and waited, but he did not show up until after nine o’clock, with the young woman, Sandra, on his arm.

He invited them upstairs and promptly prepared a drink for himself and Sandra. “I know when you’re on duty you can’t have any,” he said.

“That’s right.” Neither Ramsey nor Klein was unhappy to see the already slightly drunk man pour himself a strong scotch. In vino veritas, Ramsey thought. In scotch even more truth may come out.

As they sat down Sandra explained, “Poor Doug completely fell apart after seeing Kate. So I insisted we go out to dinner. He hardly had a bite all day.”

Unmoved, Ramsey and Klein began to question Douglas Connelly. His voice was slurred and hesitant as he groped to explain his differences with Kate. “The business hasn’t been doing that well, but I tried to tell Kate that’s not a big problem. Think how much all that land was worth in Long Island City thirty years ago. Peanuts compared to now. Long Island City is changing. People are moving there. They finally figured out how close it is to Manhattan. The arty types are flocking there, just like they settled in Williamsburg. Not long ago you could live in Williamsburg for next to nothing. Now it’s hot. Long Island City is the same way. Sure we have an offer on the land. Take it now and we’d be kicking ourselves in five years for all the money we lost.”

“But it seems from what others have said that your daughter Kate felt the company was losing money hand over fist,” Ramsey said.

“Kate’s stubborn. Even when she was a kid she wanted everything now… this minute… not tomorrow.”

“Do you think that in her frustration she might have teamed up with Gus Schmidt to destroy the complex?”

“Kate would never do that!”

To both marshals, Doug’s blustery tone was masking fear. They were sure they knew what he was thinking. If a member of the family set the fire and would benefit from the insurance, it was certain that the insurance company would refuse to pay the claim.

They switched to questions about Kate’s relationship with Gus. “We understand that she was very sympathetic to him when he was forced to retire.”

“Talk to the plant manager, Jack Worth. Gus’s work was getting downright sloppy. Everybody else his age had retired. He just didn’t want to give up. With all his other benefits, we even threw in a full year’s salary. He still wasn’t satisfied. He was a bitter old man.”

“Wasn’t it at Kate’s insistence that he got that year’s salary?” Ramsey shot the question at Doug.

“She may have suggested it.”

“Mr. Connelly, some other of your employees have come forth to volunteer what they know. Gus Schmidt was quoted as saying that there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for Kate…”

“Certainly Gus was very fond of Kate,” Doug replied.

At the end of the questioning, as they left, the marshals, even though they were keeping an open mind, had a gut feeling that Kate had found a willing partner to help her do what she had told several people she wanted to do.

Blow up the entire Connelly complex.