Split Second

"That wasn't the issue. What wasn't nearly so obvious was the deal-making that was going on behind the scenes. Ritter had reached a critical mass in the polls, and that had started to make both the Republicans and the Democrats extremely nervous. He'd easily reached poll levels that enabled him to receive federal election funds and qualified him for national debate time. And whatever you could say about Ritter, he talked a good game. He was incredibly glib, and he connected with a certain element of the voting population. And you also have to understand that in addition to Ritter's own presidential campaign, he'd cobbled together an independent party coalition that had numerous candidates running for various offices in many of the larger states. That could have had disastrous consequences for the major party candidates."

"How so?" King asked.

"In many elections around the country his slate was splitting the traditional voting bases for the major-party candidates, in effect giving him control over the outcome of perhaps thirty percent of the seats in play. Now, when you have that much leverage in the political arena, well…"

"You get to pretty much name your price?" suggested King.

Jorst nodded. "What Ritter's price would have been is anyone's guess. After his death the wind went completely out of his party. The major parties really dodged a bullet there. Excuse me, poor choice of words. But I really believe that Arnold thought if Ritter weren't stopped, he'd end up destroying everything America stood for."

"And that was clearly something Ramsey didn't want to see happen," said King.

"Obviously not, considering he shot the man," Jorst said dryly.

"Did he ever talk about doing something like that?"

"As I told the authorities back then, he didn't. Yes, he'd come in here and rant and rave about Ritter, but he certainly never made any threats or anything. I mean that's what freedom of speech is all about. He was entitled to his opinion."

"But not entitled to kill for it."

"I didn't even know he had a gun."

"Was he close with other professors here?" asked Michelle.

"Not really. Arnold intimidated many of them. Schools like Atticus don't usually get such academic heavyweights."

"Friends outside the college?"

"None that I knew of."

"How about among his students?"

Jorst eyed King. "Excuse me, but this seems more like an investigation into Arnold personally, rather than a documentary on why he killed Clyde Ritter."

"Maybe it's a little of both," said Michelle quickly. "I mean it's difficult to understand motivation without understanding the man and how he went about his plan to assassinate Ritter."

Jorst considered this for a few moments and then shrugged. "Well, if he tried to recruit any student to help, I certainly never heard of it."

"He was married at the time of his death?" asked Michelle.

"Yes, but separated from his wife, Regina. They had one daughter, Kate." He rose and went over to a shelf containing numerous photos. He handed one to them.

"The Ramseys. In happier times," he commented.

King and Michelle looked at the three people in the photo.

"Regina Ramsey is very beautiful," remarked Michelle.

"Yes, she was."

King glanced up. "Was?"

"She's dead. Suicide. Not that long ago actually."

"I hadn't heard that," said King. "You said they were separated?"

"Yes. Regina was living in a small house nearby at the time of Arnold's death."

"Did they share custody of Kate?" asked Michelle.

"That's right. I don't know what the arrangements would have been if they'd divorced. Regina, of course, took full custody when Arnold died."

"Why were they separated?" asked Michelle.

"I don't know. Regina was beautiful and an extremely accomplished actress in her youth. She'd been a drama major in college, in fact. I believe she was going to make that her career, and then she met Arnold, fell in love, and that all changed. I'm sure she had many suitors, but Arnold was the man she loved. Part of me thinks she finally committed suicide because she could no longer live without him." He paused and added in a small voice, "I thought she was happy around that time. I guess she wasn't."

"But she apparently couldn't live with Ramsey either," commented King.

"Arnold had changed. His academic career had peaked. He'd lost his enthusiasm for teaching. He was very depressed. Perhaps that melancholy affected the marriage. But when Regina left him, his depression only worsened."

"So maybe in shooting Ritter he was trying to recapture his youth," Michelle said. "Change the world and go down as a martyr for the history books."

"Maybe. Unfortunately it cost him his life."

"What was the daughter's reaction to what her father did?"