“Where did you see it?”
“On Ted Ross’s phone.”
“Why does it matter?”
“Because I saw the same number somewhere else.”
He held up his phone for her to see.
She said, “The phone number belongs to Fred Ross, Ted’s father?”
“Yes.”
“Not unusual for a fatherto call his son.”
“No, but it is unusual that a son doesn’t have his father in his contacts list, even if they don’t get along all that well. If he had the number in his contacts, Fred Ross’s name would have come up on the screen, not his number.”
“Thatisodd. Wait a minute. You said you saw that number somewhere else.”
“I did.”
“Where?”
“On awall.”
“Whose wall?”
“Alice Martin’s phone number wall.”
“Well, theyareneighbors.”
“She told me that she only kept phone numbers up there that she called frequently, because otherwise she couldn’t remember them.”
“Okay, but again, they’re neighbors.”
“Only Martin told me that she despises Ross and has for decades. And after meetingthe guy I can see why. Even his own son can’t stand him. And he’s a criminal!”
Jamison said, “So why have his number up on her wall?”
“Well, I can think of at least one reason.”