She ignored his tone. 'The agent configuration with Ritter. You had low manpower, which I guess I understand. But the way you guys were laid out was a disaster. You were the only agent within ten feet of the man.'
King took a sip of coffee and studied his hands.
'I know this is a huge imposition,' Michelle said apologetically. 'I just show up and start asking questions. Just tell me to leave and I will.'
Finally King shrugged. 'What the hell. You're getting a taste of what it's like with the Bruno kidnapping. That sort of makes us blood brothers, in a way.'
'In a way.'
'Meaning what?' he said testily. 'That I screwed up more than you and you don't want to be lumped with me?'
'Actually I think I messed up a lot more than you did. I was detail leader. I let a protectee out of my sight. I didn't have anyone shooting. I didn't have to kill anyone while pandemonium was breaking out all around me. You lost your focus for a few seconds. Unforgivable in a Secret Service agent, probably, but I blew it all along the way. I think you shouldn't want to be lumped with
King's expression softened and his voice grew calmer. 'We had barely half the usual complement of agents. That was partly Ritter's choice and partly the government. He was not well liked, and everyone knew he had no chance to win.'
'But wouldn't Ritter want as much security as possible?'
'He didn't trust us,' said King simply. 'We were representatives of the administration, insiders. Even though he was a member of Congress, he was an outsider. Way outside with a screwball platform and radical supporters. He even thought we were spying on him, I swear to God. Consequently they kept us in the dark oneverything. Changing schedules at the last minute without consulting us, it drove the detail leader, Bob Scott, crazy.'
'I actually can relate. But that wasn't really reflected in the official record.'
'Why would it be? They had their responsible parties. End of story.'
'But that doesn't fully explain why the security layout was so poor that day.'
'Ritter seemed to get along with me. Why, I don't know. Our politics were certainly not the same. But I was respectful, we joked some and I think to the degree he trusted any of us, he trusted me the most. Consequently, when I was on duty, I always covered his back. Other than that, he didn't like agents around him. He was convinced that the people loved him. That no one would want to hurt him. That false sense of security probably came from his days as a preacher. His campaign manager, guy named Sidney Morse-now, he was supersharp, and he didn't like that setup very much. He was a lot more realistic about things. He knew that there were people out there who might take a pop at his guy. Morse always wanted at least one agent right next to Ritter. But the rest of the guys were always strewn around the perimeter, way in the background.'
'And pretty much useless when the shot was fired and the crowd panicked.'
'You've seen the tape, I take it.'
'Yes. Now, the layout of the agents wasn't your fault. I would have thought the detail leader would have pushed harder on that.'
'Bob Scott was ex-army, fought in Vietnam, even was a POW. He was a good guy, but for my money he tended to pick the wrong battles to fight. He had a lot going on in his personal life at the time. His wife had filed for divorce a couple months before Ritter was killed. He wanted out of protection to go back into investigation. I think he regretted ever leaving the military. He fit in betterin a uniform than a suit. Sometimes he'd even salute people and he always used military time, while as you know, the Service used the standard clock. He just preferred that life.'
'Whatever happened to him?'
'Resigned from the Service. I took most of the heat, but as you found out, the buck stops with the detail leader. He'd pulled his time, so his pension was secure. I lost track of him. It's not like the guy would be sending me Christmas cards.' He paused and then said, 'He was also a bit of a barrel sucker.'
'Gun-happy? Not so unusual for a former soldier. Most law enforcement agencies have their share of those.'
'It was a little unhealthy with Bob. He was a real Second Amendment poster boy.'
'Was he at the hotel when it happened?'
'Yes. Sometimes he'd go ahead with the advance team to the next city, but he decided to stay put in Bowlington. I'm not sure why. It was a real one-horse town.'
'I saw Sidney Morse on the video; he was right by Ritter.'
'Always was. Ritter had a bad habit of losing track of time, and Morse kept him on a tight leash.'
'I heard Morse was quite a force.'
'He was. When the campaign started, a guy named Doug Denby was Ritter's chief of staff and also his de facto campaign manager. When the campaign started gaining momentum, Ritter needed someone full-time who was really seasoned. Morse fit that bill. The whole campaign was energized when he showed up. He was a fat guy with a motor that never quit, really flamboyant and theatrical. Always munching candy bars with his left hand and talking on a cell phone with his right, barking orders, working the media. I don't think he ever slept. Denby played second fiddle to Sidney Morse. Hell, I think even Ritter was intimidated by him.'
'How did Morse and Bob Scott get along?'
'They didn't see eye-to-eye on everything, but that was okay.Like I said, Bob was going through a rough divorce, and Morse had a younger brother-Peter, I think his name was-who was involved in some bad stuff that was really stressing Sidney out too. So he and Scott had some common ground there. They got along pretty well. Now, Morse and Doug Denby didn't really get along. Doug was the issues guy, sort of an old-school southerner with views that maybe would have been in the mainstream fifty years ago. Morse was the flash, the guy from the West Coast, the showman, getting Ritter in the public eye, on all the talk shows, putting on quite a production. Real quickly the flash became more important than the issues on the campaign trail. Ritter couldn't win anyway, but he was a big ham, not so unusual for a TV preacher. So the more his face and name got out, the better he liked it. From what I could tell, the main strategy was to shake up the big boys-and they sure did that, thanks to Morse-and work deals with them later on. It got so that Ritter just did what Morse told him to do.'
'I'm sure Denby didn't take that very well. What ever happened to him?'
'Who knows? Where do old chiefs of staff go? Anybody's guess.'
'I take it since you had morning duty, you probably went to bed early the night before?'
King stared at her for a long moment. 'After I was off duty, I hit the gym in the hotel with a couple of guys from my shift, had an early supper, and, yeah, I went to bed. Why are you interested in all this, Agent Maxwell?'
'Please, call me Michelle. I saw you on TV after Jennings was killed. I had heard of you at the Service. After what happened to me, I had an impulse to learn more about what happened to you. I felt a connection.'
'Some connection.'
'Who were the other agents assigned to Ritter?'
He looked sharply at her. 'Why?'
She looked at him with an innocent expression. 'Well, maybe Iknow some of them. I could go and talk to them. See how they dealt with what happened.'
'I'm sure it's printed in some report somewhere. Go look it up.'
'It would save me time if you'd just tell me.'
'Yeah, it would, wouldn't it?'
'Okay, was Joan Dillinger one of the members of the protection detail?'
At this King rose and went over to the window, peering out for a few moments. When he looked back, he was scowling. 'Are you wired? Either strip and show me you're not or you can just jump back in your scull and row your ass right out of my life.'
'I'm not wired. But I will strip if you really think it's necessary. Or I could go jump in the lake. Electronics and water don't really go well together,' she added pleasantly.
'What do you want from me?'
'I'd like an answer to my question. Was Joan assigned to the detail?'
'Yes! But on a different shift from mine.'
