PART FOUR
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2007
JLS PARKING LOT
0725
MAC' POV
As I get out of my minivan, I hear a man chuckling. I look in the direction of the laughter and see none other than Bud Roberts.
"Do you need help with anything, Colonel?"
"No, Commander, but would you be kind enough to tell me what's so funny?" I ask.
"Seeing you get out of a minivan instead or your Corvette, Ma'am. Even though I was at the wedding and saw it with my own eyes, it's just hard for me to adjust to the fact that you and the captain are together ... and have children, too!"
He's smiling like the cat that swallowed the canary.
"I'm sorry, Ma'am," he says, biting his lip to keep from chuckling again.
I understand what he means. I'd certainly given up on Harm and me ever being more than friends ... right up until it happened.
"If you think that it's funny to see me get out of a minivan, you should see Harm get out of it."
"He drives the minivan?" he asks with surprise.
"Not often, but it's happened once or twice," I say with a chuckle. Then a thought strikes me. "Since it looks like you're going to be here for my retirement tomorrow, maybe I'll have Harm drive this so that you can see it for yourself," I say with a mischievous smile on my face.
With all the stuff that I have to bring with me these days, including a bag containing my breast pump, a cooler in which to transport the pumped milk and my briefcase in my hands, I close the car door with my hip.
Bud's face changes from lighthearted to serious.
"Colonel, if you don't mind me asking, are you ready for retirement?"
"The truth of it is, Bud, I haven't given retirement much thought." He looks shocked, so I quickly add, "Don't get me wrong. I gave retiring a lot of thought. I just haven't given much thought to what happens after the party tomorrow night."
"Harriet said that, at first, she felt like she was on leave, but, after a couple of weeks, it really sank in that she was never going back to JAG. She still misses it sometimes, but she says that the children keep her too busy to miss it for long," Bud says as we get closer to the building.
"Well, with the addition of Matthew, let's hope that the four children that I've got at home will keep me too busy to miss this place too much," I say with a smile as Bud reaches to open the door to the building for me.
Before I step inside, I look directly at Bud. "This morning, though, I know exactly what I'm doing ... providing you with enough information so that you won't charge my client with anything. So, are you ready to get to work, Commander?"
"Yes, Ma'am," he answers before I step inside the building.
CONFERENCE ROOM
0730
We exchanged pleasant conversation outside, but now, seated in the conference room with my client sitting beside me, and Bud and Major Richards on the opposite side of the table, it's time to get down to business.
I open the case file to pull out my notes and the evidence that I prepared last night for presentation this morning.
"Commander Roberts ... " I begin, lifting the stack of emails that we printed from Winston's email account yesterday. I offer the stack of paper-clipped documents to Bud while I continue, " ... at first, you'll believe that these emails are the same as those you gave to me. However, you'll find that I've highlighted two lines, the date that the email was sent and, at the bottom of the page, you'll find the time and date that these copies were printed. You'll also see that I've put my initials there as well, making it easier for me to quickly identify the stack that's part of my evidence."
Bud takes the offered documents.
I wait a few moments for him to flip through the pages, verifying that each page is marked as I described. When he flips back to the first page, I know that he's ready for me to continue to present my case.
"Next, I'd like to ask you, Major, did you ever receive emails from Commander Winston prior to the ones in evidence?"
"Yes, Ma'am. It was probably three or four months ago when we both had full case loads. The commander was prosecuting, and I was assigned to defend a petty officer on assault charges. The commander and I couldn't seem to find the time to meet, so we exchanged emails in order to work out a plea agreement ... but I don't see what that has to do with anything."
"Did you have those emails that you just mentioned sent to your office email address?"
"Yes, Ma'am," Major Richards replies.
"You said that you and the commander were busy and that's why you communicated by email. Is that when, for the convenience of communicating about the case that you mentioned, you gave him your personal email address?"
"No, we used our work, you know, our military email addresses to communicate about the case." She looks confused. "To be honest, I don't remember ever giving the commander my personal email address ... " Her posture changes and her tone turns defensive. " ... but he obviously has it because he's been sending me emails."
"I realize that someone's been sending you emails, but I don't believe that it's been Commander Winston," I say, addressing Major Richards. I turn my head to address Bud. "Commander Roberts, I'm sure that you noticed that, according to the NCIS preliminary report, some pretty fancy spyware was found on Commander Winston's computer."
"I did, Ma'am, but there's no way of knowing how long that spyware has been present. His wife, while they were still married, could've put it on there."
"Not on this laptop," I say, lifting a copy of a receipt from my evidence file and offering it to Bud. "Commander Winston purchased his computer only six months ago." I have Bud's attention, so I continue, "He purchased his new laptop two months after he moved from the BOQ to a loft apartment where he lives alone. Since he brings his computer to work almost daily so that it's handy for personal use, it makes this office the most logical place for someone to have installed the spyware on the commander's laptop."
"Are you suggesting that Major Richards put the spyware on his computer so that she could send herself emails?" Bud asks in a tone that I'd call irritation.
"That's one possibility, but certainly not the only one. Since I had to take medical leave several times in the last few months, Commander Winston undoubtedly allowed more than the usual amount of access to his office as acting CO. That means that anyone who knows that the commander brings his laptop and has computer knowledge could have put the spyware on the commander's laptop."
"Another possibility is that Commander Winston put the spyware on his laptop himself so that, if he got caught, he could use it as his defense - the emails were sent from my account, but I don't know how it happened," Bud says, offering a plausible counter theory.
"Again, a possibility, but I don't believe that's the case." I knew that he might say that, but I'm not going to acknowledge it any more than I just did. I want to stick with my plan of attack because I've got a time limit - Captain Turner is due here in an hour and twelve minutes.
"If I may direct your attention back to the emails that I gave you at the beginning of our meeting, I've taken the liberty, in order to speed our meeting along this morning, of putting together copies of your evidence emails in the same order as the ones that I've just given you for you to be able to quickly see the pattern."
I select the copies that are stapled together from my folder and present them to Bud.
After he accepts the offered documents, I continue, "You'll notice that the text of the emails is exactly the same, word for word. However, if you look at the dates, you'll see that the dates of the two emails are not the same, and when you've had time to review all of the emails that we were able to print yesterday, you'll find that each email that Major Richards received is dated one to two days after the same text email printed from Commander Winston's email provider. This led me to ask questions from someone with more computer knowledge than myself and, along with the preliminary report that we got yesterday afternoon, though I'm not sure who would have a motive for doing so, I believe that someone has been copying and pasting the text of the commander's emails ... " I pull out the copy of the short email that Commander Winston wrote yesterday morning and slide it across the table to Bud. " ... to a woman whom he met on the internet. This is a copy of an email that he sent to her yesterday morning."
I see Bud's eyes immediately scan the document. I'm sure that he's checking the email address and date. I know that's the first two things that I'd check if I were him. Not willing to give out information on my plan to completely clear my client in front of Major Richards in case she's the person responsible, I don't mention the other email that the commander sent yesterday under the watchful eyes of Agent Wong and myself. My hope is that whoever it is that's been framing the commander won't be able to resist sending Major Richards one more email.
"Your theory certainly sheds reasonable doubt on the case, Ma'am, but I don't know that you've given me enough to make me believe that he's innocent either. Since Commander Winston's rotation orders are for Monday, I know that we're all hoping to be able to come to a satisfactory resolution for all parties involved before the weekend. So, I believe that I should confer with Major Richards and General Cresswell before I make any final decision about filing charges."
"When you've reached a decision, you'll find me in my office ready to hear it." I stand, and Commander Winston follows suit.
"Aye, aye, Ma'am," Bud says before Commander Winston and I leave the conference room so that he can confer with Major Richards.
MAC'S OFFICE
0823
I was looking for something to keep me busy while I waited for either a break in the Winston case or for Turner to arrive. The Ballinger case file, which I asked for yesterday but hadn't opened, has turned from busy work to an interesting read. However, a knock on my door causes me to put the file away for now.
"Enter," I say in a commanding voice.
The door opens, and Bud steps into my office, saying, "Colonel, Coates said that I should just come on in. I've spoken with General Cresswell and I've reached a decision."
"I have something that I'd like to share with you, too, Commander, before I meet with my replacement, so please come in and have a seat."
"You have news for me, Ma'am?" he asks, moving to take a seat in front of my desk.
"I didn't want to give this to you in front of Major Richards in case she sent the emails to herself, though I don't see that she'd have a motive ... " I reach for the copy of the email that I had Winston send yesterday afternoon. " ... but I wanted you to be aware that, in full view of myself and Agent Wong - his statement to that effect is the second page - I had my client send an email to the woman whom he's been trying to encourage to meet him in person. I highlighted the email address. I believe that, if the text of this email shows up in Major Richards email inbox, it'll prove that my client isn't the one who's been sending her the emails because Agent Wong put what he called a trap on this email."
"Very clever, Ma'am."
"Thank you, Commander," I say with a certain amount of pride. "Now, what's your decision concerning charging Commander Winston?"
"The general and I feel that, without the final NCIS report on Winston's computer, you've presented enough evidence to support his innocence, so I won't be preferring charges at this time. I've also informed Commander Winston that he's to continue to check out of this command because he'll be rotating to his new duty station as planned."
"Not the outcome that I was hoping for, but -" The intercom buzzes, interrupting me.
I reach over and depress the button.
"Yes, Coates?" I say like a question, though I'm sure that, with only thirty-one minutes left until the scheduled arrival of Captain Turner, she's going to tell me that he's arrived. It would be just like him to arrive ahead of schedule.
"There's an Agent Wong on the phone for you, Ma'am. He says that it's important. Do you want me to take a message?"
"No, Coates. What line?"
"Line two, Ma'am."
"Bud, this might be my lucky day. Agent Wong is on line two," I announce while pushing the button that will put the caller on speaker before I push the correct phone line to connect with the caller.
"Agent Wong, this is Colonel MacKenzie. Lt. Commander Roberts is here with me. I've just informed him of our visit to your office yesterday."
"Well, you sure didn't have to wait long, Ma'am. The trap was activated this morning. I've confirmed that the computer that was used to access Winston's email is located within JLS. I know that this case has a rush on it. If you want to save time, I'm sure that, by the time you can get here, I'll be able to pin it down for you."
"We're on our way, Agent Wong," I say to end the call while nodding to Bud.
Bud and I exit my office. "I'll be back as soon as I can, Coates."
"What about Captain Turner, Ma'am?" Coates asks with a hint of nervous fear.
"Colonel, maybe I should go alone, Ma'am, so that you can stay and meet with Captain Turner," Bud suggests.
I offer a half smile. "I'd rather go with you."
"But under the circumstances, Ma'am ... " Bud says, his voice full of sympathy regarding my situation of being stuck between acting on behalf of my client and being the CO.
"You'll inform me the moment that you know anything?" I ask, disappointed that he's right and that I need to stay here to meet with Turner.
"Of course, Ma'am."
I hate to let him go alone, but I know that Bud isn't the type to conceal or tamper with evidence. I can trust him.
"Then carry on, Commander."
"Aye, aye, Ma'am."
I watch Bud leave for NCIS before I turn back to Coates.
"I'll be in my office. Let me know when Captain Turner arrives, Petty Officer."
"Aye, aye, Ma'am."
MAC'S OFFICE
0853
I wasn't surprised that PO Coates has informed me that Sturgis has arrived. 'He's as punctual as ever,' I think as I open the door to my office to greet him.
"Captain Turner, please come in."
"Thank you, Colonel MacKenzie," he says before stepping inside.
I close the door behind him.
"Please make yourself comfortable," I say before turning to find that he's already taken a seat in one of the leather chairs in front of my desk.
I start towards my desk as I speak. "Congratulations on your promotion, Sturgis."
"Thank you ... and congratulations to you on making colonel."
"Thank you," I say, realizing that I feel no need to continue with small talk. "You've got good people here, but, as with any other command, there are a few who stand out."
He waits until I've rounded the corner of my desk before he speaks.
"Are any of them in your league?" he asks.
His tone doesn't sit well with me, but I choose to keep my response low-key in case I'm overreacting.
"I think that there are several who show potential." I pause until after I've sat down in my chair. "I usually hold a staff meeting on Monday and Friday mornings. However, with everything that's already planned for tomorrow, I scheduled a staff meeting for this afternoon at 1500. It's completely up to you if you'd like to attend. I haven't cancelled tomorrow's staff meeting, so if you'd like to skip today's and preside over the usual staff meeting in the morning, that's an option open to you as well. It really depends on what you'd prefer. In fact, except for a rehearsal of the change of command ceremony at 1300, everything on your schedule is open to what you want to do and when you want to do it. Here's a copy of the things that we thought that you might like to do today," I say, handing him a sheet of paper with six or seven items listed on it."
After taking the paper from me, I watch as his eyes scan over the sheet.
"Of course, if there's something that you'd like to do that isn't on the list, my people and I will do what we can to accommodate you, Captain."
"Looking at the list, it seems to be a full day, but if I think of something, I'll let you know," he responds.
"Very well. I'm sure that you're ready to start with the transition. So let's begin by going over the plans for the change of command ceremony. If there are any changes to be made, we can inform them at the meeting this afternoon."
"Sounds good."
0930
"Well, it sounds as if we're off to a good start to a smooth transition, so why don't we take a little break? I've assigned Lt. Graves to be your aide for these two days of transition."
I reach over and press the intercom button.
After ordering Coates to have Graves report to my office, I address Turner again.
"I figure that you can kill two birds with one stone. You can stretch your legs while Lt. Graves gives you a tour of the place, and then we can talk about what you'd like to do next, talk about personnel, cases or whatever you'd like to discuss."
Lt. Graves' knock on the door is a welcome relief, not just because I'm dying to know if Bud has tried to get in touch with me, but it's past time for me to pump milk, and I need the break to relieve my discomfort.
0948
I'm feeling much better after having relieved the pressure in my breasts.
I've also had time to visit the ladies room and make myself a cup of tea.
I started to have a cup of coffee, but I haven't heard from Bud and, with Turner here, I don't need the caffeine. I need a calming cup of herbal tea.
There's a quick knock on my door and then Coates enters.
"I'm sorry to barge in, Ma'am, but I wasn't sure when you were expecting Captain Turner to return. Commander Roberts just called, Ma'am. He said that, since he didn't have a name to give you, he just wanted me to give you a message. He said that NCIS couldn't get a name because the computer is assigned to the government, JLS in particular, but that Agent Wong had been prepared for something like that and had attached a programming scrambler to the trap so that the guilty party will have trouble with their computer. It's just a matter of them reporting the need for a tech."
"Let's speed the process along, Jennifer. Get the list of equipment issued to JLS at its inception and begin an inventory check. If anyone asks you, you're conducting a simple inventory check of major equipment before the new commander takes over. When you check the equipment, make sure that you ask if the equipment is in working order. I'm sure that Bud has given Major Lafferty the latest news, so I'm sure that he'll be happy to help you with it."
"Aye, aye, Ma'am, right way," she says before disappearing from my office to begin her assignment.
I lean back in my chair. I hate that someone in my command is guilty, but I'm thankful that they were dumb enough to use government equipment. I don't need a search warrant to examine the evidence because they have no right to privacy when they use government issued equipment on government property.
In her enthusiasm, Coates left my door open. I stand to close it, but before I can even get out from behind my desk, Turner appears.
"I've heard of an open-door policy, but to have your yeoman MIA and the door wide open seems like you're taking it too far," Sturgis says cynically as he enters.
"I gave Coates an assignment. She's personally overseeing the inventory check of major equipment, including computers, printers, copy and fax machines, and verifying that they're all in good working order."
"You're being very thorough, Colonel."
"You sound surprised, Captain."
"In a way, only because, as you once admitted to me, you aren't a very detail oriented person. I would have thought that an up-to-date equipment list would be a detail that would have slipped through the cracks for you."
I'm not going to admit to the smug captain that the only reason why I thought of it is because I'm out to solve my case before he takes command.
No wonder he was starting to get under Harm's skin. His air of superiority is starting to get under my skin at the moment as well.
"I'm happy to hear that I exceeded your expectations, Captain," I say before plopping down in my chair and changing the subject. "Do you have a preference of what we cover next or would you like to take off for lunch now?"
"I've been here for less than an hour. Why would I leave for lunch now?" he asks, confused.
"I just thought that you might want to go pick up Varese and take her to lunch. You won't have much time for that once you take over here."
"She's probably taking a nap, so I'm sure that she won't mind if I put in at least a full morning," he says with just a hint of sarcasm.
"Well, how was the tour?" I ask, changing the subject again.
A knock on the door keeps him from answering. "Enter," I say, hoping that whoever it is takes a few minutes of my time because I really don't want to talk about personnel with Turner until I find out which one of my staff has been emailing Major Richards. Now that I'm sure that I can resolve the case involving my XO, I don't want to discuss cases with him just yet either.
In walks a person from the maintenance staff who's carrying a box. "Sorry to bother you, Colonel MacKenzie, but there's no one at the desk. I was told that I should bring up a box for you. Is this one okay?"
"Yes, thank you. That box is fine. I have just a couple of personal items and a few pictures to take home today so that Captain Turner can move in tomorrow."
"Yes, Ma'am. Captain," he says, addressing Turner before leaving the office in a hurry.
"I think there was too much brass in the room for his comfort," I say with a chuckle.
"Yes, I believe you're right," Turner agrees. "If you'd like to take some time to pack, I can find something else to do for a few minutes, Mac," he continues.
"No, I think it'll be easier if I pack towards the end of the day," I say, looking at the pictures of my family that are setting on my desk. "So, what would you like to cover next, Sturgis?" I say, pulling my eyes away from the pictures.
"The pictures ... I count five children. I think that I'm behind a couple of kids," Sturgis says with surprise.
He's opened the door to a conversation about one of my favorite subjects, my family.
"Let's catch you up then. You probably recognize Mattie. She's attending Virginia Tech now and isn't living here, but she's child number one. I don't know if you remember that we adopted a boy that we met at Mattie's foster home. His name is Tyler," I say, pointing to him in the picture from Mother's Day before pointing to the picture next to that one. "Then, we were in the process of adopting the two little girls in this picture, Abigail and Samantha, when we found out that I was pregnant. We were already in love with them, so we went ahead with the adoption ... and child number five is our son, Matthew. He's five weeks old today," I say, looking at the photo of him that I brought with me on Monday. Even though it was going to set here for less than a week, I needed his picture here with me, too.
"Wow!" he says with a smile.
"I know that you're probably busy settling in, but I do hope that you and Varese will attend my retirement party tomorrow night," I say sincerely.
"I'm sure that Varese would love to get out for a little socializing, so we'd love to come, but are you sure that Harm will be okay with me attending the event? I know that you both came to my wedding, but I'm still not sure that he and I are on good terms."
"You'll find that fatherhood has mellowed him ... or maybe with five children, he's just exhausted," I say jokingly.
I can actually see the tension leave his face. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who was apprehensive about him taking over from me.
"I'll check with Varese and let you know for certain if she's feeling up to going out."
"Feeling up to it ... is Varese ill?" I ask, concerned.
"She's just been feeling a bit off."
"Is she pregnant?" I blurt out, not sure why it was my first thought.
"We haven't announced it, so I hope that you'll let us do that, but yes, we're expecting our first child," he says with a grin.
"Well, congratulations to you both. Speaking from experience, there's nothing more wonderful than being a parent," I tell him.
Work related topics go out the window, and our discussion stays on children and babies until I get out of him that Varese is ten weeks along. I suggest that he go ahead and go to lunch, that he should stop and pick up something for his wife and make sure that she eats something to keep up her strength. This time, he acquiesces and, at 1030, he's on his way to stop by one of the local places that I suggested to pick up something for his pregnant wife for lunch.
1045
I know that Coates is still carrying out her assignment, so with Turner out from underfoot for a couple of hours, I step out of my office to go in search of Lt. Commander Roberts, but I nearly collide with PO Coates.
"Colonel, I was just coming to see if you could join Commander Roberts and Major Lafferty in Lt. Lincoln's office, Ma'am," Coates says to me.
I nod, and Jennifer turns on her heel, leading the way through the bullpen to Lt. Lincoln's office.
LT. LINCOLN'S OFFICE
MOMENTS LATER
"What's going on in here?" I ask as I get to the doorway, not that I don't have a pretty good idea.
Bud replies to my inquiry.
"Colonel, we believe that the lieutenant's computer is the one that was used. The ID number matches the one that Agent Wong gave us, and the computer is locked in a pattern that Agent Wong said that it would be when I spoke with him earlier. I thought that you should be here when I entered the code that Agent Wong gave me. If it corrects the computer problem, we can be sure that this computer was used to email Major Richards this morning."
I move closer to the desk so that I can see the computer screen.
"Go ahead, Commander. Let's see if the code that you have corrects the computer problem."
Bud's fingers move across the keyboard and, moments later, the computer screen returns to a normal desktop display.
"Coates, get security and have them take Lt. Lincoln into custody."
"Yes, Ma'am," she says before disappearing to carry out her orders.
"Just because it was the computer in my office doesn't mean that I did it," Lt. Lincoln snaps. "What motive would I have?"
"The Ballinger case," I say with certainty, following a hunch that I'd had the moment that I'd heard that we were headed to Lt. Lincoln's office. "You were struggling to defend your client against not only a strong case, but a strong attorney. By sending Major Richards those emails, you were hoping to throw her off her game and give yourself an advantage."
Lt. Lincoln's posture changes to one of defeat, and he can no longer make eye contact with any of us.
STAFF MEETING
CONFERENCE ROOM
JLS
1535
After the arrest of Lt. Lincoln, Bud and I spoke to Major Richards to ask her if she'd ever given the lieutenant her personal email address. She told us that she hadn't. However, she and the lieutenant's present girlfriend are friends, and it was entirely possible that the lieutenant had gotten her email address from his girlfriend.
As far as I was concerned, that filled in the last piece of the puzzle, and though the final report from NCIS is still pending at the moment, the case is, for all practical purposes, resolved, and that made me feel good. Not only did I solve the case, but I accomplished it before I turned over command of this unit and retired.
Realizing that I'm near the end of the items on my list to cover in this afternoon's meeting, I find that the euphoric feelings that stemmed from discovering the truth so that justice could be served are giving way to the more reflective and nostalgic feelings that I've been having off and on all week, making me thankful that today is almost over.
"Just a couple of more things ... for anyone who got a chance to meet the new CO and is curious as to why he didn't join us this afternoon, he said that you'll have plenty of time to get to know him, so he felt that this should be my farewell staff meeting. He also sees no reason to hold a staff meeting tomorrow. However, he said that he wants everyone in this conference room at 0800 sharp on Monday for what will probably be an extended staff meeting. So that we're clear, it means that everyone is to report to the ceremony site at 1000 tomorrow. Now, to conclude this meeting so that we can all go home and make sure that our uniforms are ready for tomorrow, I'd like to say that it's been my privilege and a pleasure to serve with all of you, and no matter whether you're staying here at JLS or moving to a new duty station, I wish you continued career success and happiness. You're dismissed."
The group stands, comes to attention and salutes me.
I'm filled with pride and return the salute.
MAC'S OFFICE
1550
I have one more piece of JLS business to take care of today - reassigning the Ballinger case.
While gathering my things to secure for the day, my door is open because I'm waiting for Major Lafferty.
I'm doing a double check of my office to make sure that I've collected all of my personal things when I hear Major Lafferty's voice.
"Colonel MacKenzie, Coates said that you wanted to see me, Ma'am?"
"Yes, Major, please come in and close the hatch," I order because we'll be talking about a case. I want the door closed for privacy.
"I know that you aren't officially assigned to JLS until Monday, but are you ready for a case?"
"Yes, Ma'am," he answers without hesitation.
My desk is stacked with the items that I need to take to my car after I've wrapped up this last piece of business, so I believe that either the box with my personal items in it or the cooler in which I transport breast milk that I've pumped throughout the day is blocking his view of the file that's setting on the corner of my desk until I lift the file above those items.
"I'd like for you to take over as defense counsel in the Ballinger case," I explain.
"Aye, aye, Ma'am," he says as he takes the case file from me.
"If the lieutenant had spent more time reading and less time trying to mess with the prosecutor's head, he might have figured out that the witness didn't actually see the crime being committed. What he saw was the defendant holding the knife while leaning over the victim. My first step would be to find out if the blood on the defendant's clothes is consistent with someone who'd just stabbed someone five times or with someone who'd just picked up a bloody murder weapon."
"It sounds like you've already got a defense strategy in mind. Maybe you should take the case, Ma'am."
"No, Major Lafferty," I say with a smile. "I'm retiring tomorrow. However, if you'd like to bounce ideas off of someone, don't hesitate to give me a call."
"I'm going to hold you to that, Ma'am," he says, returning my smile.
"One last thing, Major, I'd like for you to attend my retirement dinner party tomorrow evening."
"I'd consider it an honor, Ma'am. Thank you. Is the uniform of the day the required attire, Ma'am?"
"Your Class A uniform or appropriate civilian attire, the choice is yours. Have PO Coates give you the where and when. She and Lt. Graves have been organizing the soiree for me, so anything that you need to know, I'll bet that one of them can give you the answer faster than I can."
"Aye, aye, Ma'am," he responds.
"That'll be all, Major," I say, dismissing him.
"Yes, Ma'am." He turns on his heel and heads for the door, but pauses and turns back around. "Ma'am, if you're leaving, I'd be happy to help you carry some of your things to your car, Ma'am."
"If you don't mind, Major, I'd really appreciate the help."
MASTER BEDROOM
2135
I expect to find Harm propped up in bed, reading a book as usual, but when I enter our bedroom, I find that he's sitting up, but he isn't reading this evening.
"I thought that you might want to talk tonight," he says.
I guess that he sensed my surprise at not seeing him reading.
"Talk about what?" I ask, confused.
"I don't know, maybe about how you're feeling about tomorrow being your last day as a Marine," he says as I slip into bed.
"With defending Winston and giving some tips on a defense strategy to Major Lafferty concerning the murder case that I assigned him late today, I can't say that the fact that tomorrow is my last day at JLS has really sunk in yet," I say solemnly, but then my hackles rise a bit. "And for your information, Sailor, once a Marine, always a Marine," I say defensively, reminding him of a Marine's commitment to the Corps.
Harm laughs.
"Then let's get some sleep, Jarhead." He's smiling, so I know that he's teasing me. "We've both got a busy day tomorrow."
