Page 87 of Wild Justice

“Wait…does Lulu know you’re here asking for this?”

Kai didn’t answer for a moment. Lulu didn’t need this guy on her ass.

“No, she doesn’t. This is all about a feature for the newspaper. But as Henry pointed out, eventually someone else is going to ask you for the information.”

Kai and Henry exited the building silently, not speaking until they were in front of the sports bar.

“That was weird,” Henry said. “Or am I imagining it again? Because sometimes I don’t see things the way others do. That was weird, right?”

“It was weird,” Kai agreed. “He seemed hostile to anyone looking into Allie’s possible defense. The attorney will have to subpoena the information from Ramsey. The guy’s not going to give it up willingly.”

“The question is why,” Henry said. “Why is he hesitating? If Allie is guilty, he has no reason not to give the names.”

“Unless he doesn’t think Allie is guilty, and he’s protecting someone,” Kai observed.

“Why would he protect someone if he thinks Allie is guilty? Open and shut is how he described it,” Henry said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

“It doesn’t,” Kai replied. “We need to talk to Lulu about it. I also think that I’m going to call up my investigative journalist friend and see if he can help me do some digging into Ray Ramsey. He might be up to something that he’s trying to keep quiet.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, but he doesn’t like people looking into his real estate affairs. That’s where I’ll start. Maybe he’s doing something illegal. Or maybe he’s squeaky clean. If he is, I’ll be the first to apologize and buy him a beer. Either way, it wouldn’t hurt to look into his business dealings a bit.”

Ray Ramsey might simply be a garden-variety strange guy who just didn’t know how to act with people and was generally socially awkward.

But Kai was with Henry on this one. He didn’t trust the man.

24

Lulu was sweaty, grimy, and all she wanted was a shower and fresh clothes. When she stopped by the house, she stripped off and hopped under the steamy spray, washing the day away.

She would have luxuriated in it much longer, but she had to be mindful of Kai and Henry. She didn’t want to keep them waiting. Plus, she was starving. Because she’d been so busy, she hadn’t eaten much during the day.

Wrapping a robe around her, she padded into the kitchen in bare feet to grab a glass of water. From the front windows, she could see a familiar sedan pulling up in front of her house.

Ray Ramsey. What on earth was he doing here? She didn’t have any memories of members of the town council stopping by the house when she’d been a child.

There wasn’t time to duck behind the couch and pretend she wasn’t home, however. Ramsey had bounded up her front steps and looked through her living room window. He could see that she was there, albeit in her bathrobe. She wasn’t going to be able to get out of speaking with him. But she’d keep it brief.

“Hi,” she said when she opened the door. “This isn’t a good time right now. I need to finish getting ready. I have people waiting for me.”

“I’ll only be a few minutes,” Ray said. “We need to discuss the investigation.”

He didn’t specify what investigation he was talking about, but she assumed it was Dana Cartwright since nothing else of note was going on in Harper.

“This isn’t the best time,” she repeated. “We can talk tomorrow at the station. Whatever time you like.”

“We need to talk now. Your boyfriend stopped by my office to ask for the names of the people who had access to Allie Baker’s apartment. He says he’s writing an article, and he’s just looking into questions a defense attorney might ask.”

Kai was a smart man, and he hadn’t thrown her bodily under the bus, either. She made a note to thank him later.

“I don’t control the content of Kai’s newspaper,” Lulu replied. “That’s his business. He can ask, and you are free to answer as you wish. But why is it a big deal? Is it some sort of secret?”

“He’s wasting his time,” Ray said, his voice louder than before. “The case is closed. Done. Allie Baker did it, and she’s going to go to prison.”

“She hasn’t even had a trial yet,” Lulu pointed out. “We don’t know how that will go. There are some unanswered questions, and those could sway a jury on reasonable doubt.”

Her calm tone didn’t seem to help the situation in the least. If anything, Ramsey appeared more agitated than before. His usually smiling face was now contorted in an angry frown, his forehead wrinkled into a scowl.

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