nameless, drug-crazed addicts duking it out in a darkened alley between Pike and Pine at one o’clock in the morning. This is the bloody midday slaughter of a Seattle businessman who died in his downtown office at one o’clock on a sunny Saturday afternoon.
“ ”Broad daylight, folks.
“ ”And there aren’t any leads?
“ ”Come, come now, Seattle P.D. Certainly you can do better than that. Certainly you can afford to put more manpower into this case than just two measly detectives.
“ ”It’s ironic that Dr. Nielsen moved out of Pioneer Square to escape petty crime. Obviously it didn’t work. Crime—major, not petty— came right along with him, loaded into the moving van along with his office equipment and furniture.
“ ”Dr. Nielsen tried a geographical cure for crime. Geographical cures usually don’t work because they never deal with the underlying problem. In this case the bottom line is that crime is rampant in our city streets.
“ ”I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but I do have a suggestion or two. Maybe all the people who are planning to take a drive downtown to look at condominiums next weekend should call their real estate agents and cancel.
“ ”After all, if the mayor and the city council and the police department can’t make downtown Seattle safe to live in, if a law-abiding dentist can’t work there in his own office on a Saturday afternoon without putting his life in jeopardy, then maybe it’s time for people to vote with their feet, their moving vans, and their checkbooks.
“ ”The mayor’s office is busy promoting his In-Town-Living campaign. Maybe he should rename it. In-Town-Dying would be more to the point.“”
“That’s it?” I asked, when Peters stopped reading.
“Isn’t that enough? Why did he mention Nielsen by name? He claims to have talked to Arlo Hamilton. If that’s the truth, you can bet Max knew good and well that no next of kin notification had been made.”
“He did it to show off,” I told Peters. “To prove to himself and to us that he could do it with or without our help. And because he’s a first-class asshole.”
“What if the wife sees this article before your appointment this morning? Will she still show up?”
“That remains to be seen.” I didn’t say that LeAnn Nielsen’s appearance had never been a foregone conclusion. Now it was little more than a remote possibility.
“Speaking of which, I’d better hit the trail. Al doesn’t know we have an appointment at nine o’clock over in Madrona. I’d better get on the horn and tell him. By the way, were you able to come up with anything else on that Martin guy?”
“No such luck. Amy says she’s sorry but the name was all she could get.”
“Too bad,” I said, “but thanks for trying.”
As soon as I said good-bye to Peters, I called Al Lindstrom’s house in Ballard. Molly told me that Allen, as she calls him, was already on his way to the department, that I’d have to catch him there. So I hauled my tail out of bed, threw on some clothes, and headed for the Public Safety Building myself.
I didn’t bother to eat anything for the very good reason that there still wasn’t anything fit to eat in the house.
Al Lindstrom was on the phone when I came into our cubicle. His face was beet red. Veins stood out in a vivid blue pattern on his flushed forehead.
“What’s going on?” I asked when he slammed the receiver down, throwing the telephone halfway across his desk in the process.
“That was the prosecutor’s office. Remember that assault-with-intent case that was supposed to come up last week and never did?”
I nodded. “What about it?”
“It’s come up now, first thing this morning. The prosecutor’s office figures they’ll need us right around ten, maybe a little after.”
“What do you mean? We’ve got an appointment to meet with a lady from the shelter and possibly LeAnn Nielsen at nine o’clock. Where the hell do they get off not giving
“ ”Broad daylight, folks.
“ ”And there aren’t any leads?
“ ”Come, come now, Seattle P.D. Certainly you can do better than that. Certainly you can afford to put more manpower into this case than just two measly detectives.
“ ”It’s ironic that Dr. Nielsen moved out of Pioneer Square to escape petty crime. Obviously it didn’t work. Crime—major, not petty— came right along with him, loaded into the moving van along with his office equipment and furniture.
“ ”Dr. Nielsen tried a geographical cure for crime. Geographical cures usually don’t work because they never deal with the underlying problem. In this case the bottom line is that crime is rampant in our city streets.
“ ”I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but I do have a suggestion or two. Maybe all the people who are planning to take a drive downtown to look at condominiums next weekend should call their real estate agents and cancel.
“ ”After all, if the mayor and the city council and the police department can’t make downtown Seattle safe to live in, if a law-abiding dentist can’t work there in his own office on a Saturday afternoon without putting his life in jeopardy, then maybe it’s time for people to vote with their feet, their moving vans, and their checkbooks.
“ ”The mayor’s office is busy promoting his In-Town-Living campaign. Maybe he should rename it. In-Town-Dying would be more to the point.“”
“That’s it?” I asked, when Peters stopped reading.
“Isn’t that enough? Why did he mention Nielsen by name? He claims to have talked to Arlo Hamilton. If that’s the truth, you can bet Max knew good and well that no next of kin notification had been made.”
“He did it to show off,” I told Peters. “To prove to himself and to us that he could do it with or without our help. And because he’s a first-class asshole.”
“What if the wife sees this article before your appointment this morning? Will she still show up?”
“That remains to be seen.” I didn’t say that LeAnn Nielsen’s appearance had never been a foregone conclusion. Now it was little more than a remote possibility.
“Speaking of which, I’d better hit the trail. Al doesn’t know we have an appointment at nine o’clock over in Madrona. I’d better get on the horn and tell him. By the way, were you able to come up with anything else on that Martin guy?”
“No such luck. Amy says she’s sorry but the name was all she could get.”
“Too bad,” I said, “but thanks for trying.”
As soon as I said good-bye to Peters, I called Al Lindstrom’s house in Ballard. Molly told me that Allen, as she calls him, was already on his way to the department, that I’d have to catch him there. So I hauled my tail out of bed, threw on some clothes, and headed for the Public Safety Building myself.
I didn’t bother to eat anything for the very good reason that there still wasn’t anything fit to eat in the house.
Al Lindstrom was on the phone when I came into our cubicle. His face was beet red. Veins stood out in a vivid blue pattern on his flushed forehead.
“What’s going on?” I asked when he slammed the receiver down, throwing the telephone halfway across his desk in the process.
“That was the prosecutor’s office. Remember that assault-with-intent case that was supposed to come up last week and never did?”
I nodded. “What about it?”
“It’s come up now, first thing this morning. The prosecutor’s office figures they’ll need us right around ten, maybe a little after.”
“What do you mean? We’ve got an appointment to meet with a lady from the shelter and possibly LeAnn Nielsen at nine o’clock. Where the hell do they get off not giving
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