Laura carefully took the large plain-coloured envelope.
"These were taken four days ago, Madam Secretary."
She slid the first photograph out. It showed a bright-eyed Bill Adama drinking at a bar. There was a woman in the background wrapped around a pole. Her only clothing was a g-string.
"He was offered the Galactica commission?"
"He accepted it yesterday, ma'am."
She shook out the other photographs onto her desk and poked at them with her pen. They all followed the same pattern: Bill Adama cradling a glass of alcohol while women waited topless or lap danced around him.
"And his son?"
"It's true; his son did perish in a routine Fleet training exercise about a year ago. However, I could find no records that Zachary Adama, or Adama's other son, Leland, placed his father's profile on any computer dating service in Caprica, Leonis or Picon."
"He added the profile himself?"
"Not that I could find. In fact, from my enquiries, I would very much doubt Adama would even think of such a thing. He is well-known for his complete opposition to computer use within the Fleet. Some people I spoke to joked that he's afraid of computers."
She jerked in her seat, accidentally knocking the desk.
"Madam Secretary, there's more."
"More?" she breathed, staring down at the photograph that lay at her feet. It showed Bill lying in a gutter covered with vomit.
"Adama met with Mike Sullivan two weeks prior to your vacation."
"Is that all?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Thank you."
Once she was alone, she opened her desk's drawer and removed the book that was the twin of the one Bill Adama had sat beside a bunch of flowers at Joe's. She slowly opened the front cover and re-read the inscription: "Laura, heard you like this author, happy birthday, Mike."