Split Second

"I did him a favor. I knew Arnold hated Ritter. His academic career had peaked long ago. He was at rock bottom and ripe for the offer I made him. I let him relive his past glory as a radical protester. I let him go down in history as the assassin of an immoral, disgusting man, a martyr for the ages. What could be better?"

"You walking off with the real prize. The prize you tried to get thirty years ago when you set up Ramsey for killing a national guardsman. But that attempt failed and so did the Ritter plan. Even though Arnold was gone, you still weren't going to win."

Morse looked amused. "Go on, you're doing very well. What didn't I win?"

"The woman you loved, Regina Ramsey, the actress with a huge future. I'm betting she starred in some of your productions way back when. And it wasn't just business. You loved her. Only she loved Arnold Ramsey."

"Ironically I introduced them to each other. I'd met Arnold when I was doing a play having to do with the civil rights protests and needed some research. I never imagined two people so totally opposite… Well, he didn't deserve her, of course. Regina and Iwerea team, a truly great one with the whole world waiting. We were poised to hit the big time. The dominating presence she had onstage, she would have been a Broadway star, one of the greatest."

"And made you a star too."

"Every great impresario needs a muse. And don't be fooled, I brought out the best in her. We would have been unstoppable. Instead, my artistic power disappeared when she married him. So my career was destroyed even as Arnold wasted her life in his pathetic little academic world at a third-rate college."

"Well, that was your doing. You ruined his career."

"You've asked a lot of questions, let me ask one. What really turned your attention to me?"

"Something I heard pointed me in your direction. So I started digging into your family. I found out your father was the attorney who got Ramsey off the murder charge in D.C. I guess your plan was to make Ramsey appear guilty so Regina would stop loving him, then you'd swoop in as the white knight, save Arnold and take Regina as your prize. That's right out of a movie script."

Morse pursed his lips. "Only the script didn't work."

"Right, but then you waited until another opportunity came along."

Morse nodded and smiled. "I'm a very patient man. When Ritter announced his candidacy, I knew that opportunity had come."

"Why not just kill your romantic rival?"

"What's the fun in that? Where's the drama? I told you it's just not how I do things. And besides, if I'd simply done that, she would have loved him all the more. Yes, I had to kill Arnold Ramsey, but I didn't want her to mourn for him. I wanted her to loathe him. Then we could be a team again. Of course, Regina was older then, but the talent she had-that never goes away. We could still make the magic happen again. I just knew it."

"And so the Ritter assassination was your next major production."

"It was actually very easy to convince Arnold to do it. Regina and he had finally separated, but I knew she still loved him. Now was the time to show him as an unhinged killer, not the noble, brilliant activist she'd married. I secretly met with Arnold numerous times. I'd helped support them through the lean times. He saw me as a friend. I reminded him of his younger days looking to change the world. I challenged him to be a hero again. And then when I told him I was willing to join him, that Regina would be so proud, I knew I had him. And the plan worked beautifully."

"Except that the grieving widow rejected you once more. And this time it was far more devastating, because the reason was she didn't love you."

"That actually wasn't the whole story, which is why we're here today."

King looked at him quizzically. "And then later she committed suicide. Or did she?"

"She was getting remarried. To a man remarkably similar to Arnold Ramsey."

"Thornton Jorst."

"She must have had a defective gene for such people. I began to see that my ‘star' wasn't so perfect. But after all these years if I couldn't have her, no one else could either."

"So you killed her too."

"Let's put it this way: I let her join her miserable husband."

"And now we come to Bruno."

"You see, Agent King, every great play has at last three acts. The first was the national guardsman, the middle act was Ritter."

"And all this is the closing curtain. Bruno and me. But why? Regina is dead. What do you gain by doing all this now?"

"Agent King, you lack the vision to see what I've created here."

"Sorry, Sid, I'm more of a down-to-earth guy. And I'm not in the Secret Service anymore, so you can just drop the ‘agent.' "

"No, today you're a Secret Service agent," Morse said firmly.

"Right. And you're a psychopath. And when this is over, I'll make sure you're reunited with your brother. You can throw the tennis ball to him."