Authors note:
Thanks for all the reviews *grin* I apologise for not making it clear in the first part that this story is very tongue in cheek. But I can assure you, Bud's marital fidelity is intact!
1400 Zulu (0900 Virginia Eastern Standard time )
JAG Headquarters
Falls Church, Virginia
"You wanted to see me, Colonel?" Admiral Chegwiggen barely glanced up from his mound of paperwork.
"Yes, sir."
"At ease. Now, how are you going with the investigation? And where is Commander Rabb?"
"That's partly what I wanted to speak with you about, Sir. Permission to speak freely?"
"Permission granted."
"I don't appear to be getting anywhere. The whole investigation reeks of the Three Monkeys."
"And just what do our primate cousins have to do with the investigation at hand?"
"See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, sir. No one has seen, heard or done anything! If I didn't know better, I'd think Lt. Singer lived life as a nun."
"So you're telling me that no one has done anything to mitigate an investigation?" The admiral rose and began pacing the room.
"That's correct - if it weren't for the small case of Lt. Singer being pregnant."
"Which she couldn't have achieved by herself."
Mac decided that one didn't really need a response. After all, Harm had touched on reproductive education less than a week ago.
"So what has Commander Rabb got to do with all this?"
"Well, I didn't think he could be impartial."
AJ stopped his pacing in horror. "You don't think he could be the father, do you?"
"I don't know what to think!" Mac threw her hands in the air - a frustrated, but very un-marine-like, gesture. "They're all hiding something. The whole lot of them. If I had each of them as defendants, I'd say they were all guilty!"
"And just who do you mean by 'all'?"
"Well Sergei, but he's in Russia. Harm, Sturgis, Bud, Tiner, Webb... and..." Mac hestitated.
"And? Come on - spit it out, Colonel."
"Even you, Sir."
~*~*~*~*~
Tiner looked at Mac in horror as she quickly closed the admiral's office door behind her, mentally going through what he knew of legal punishments as laid out in the UCMJ. "Can he really do that to you, Ma'am?"
"Not in this century. But he might try." Still shaking a little inside from her encounter with the admiral, Mac headed for her office. Somehow she was getting to the bottom of this.
~*~*~*~*~*~
1800 ZULU (1300 Virginia Eastern Standard time )
McMurphy's Bar
Falls Church, Virginia
"We're closed." The barman spoke from behind the bar, his greying head inside the cooler.
"I'm hear to talk, Sam, not drink. Official business."
"Sorry Mac, didn't realise it was you. What can I help you with? Haven't had too many rowdy sailors in here lately. Well, not that I've needed to call the MP's for."
"It's about Lt. Singer from JAG."
"Lauren? What did she do? Haven't seen that little lady in here for awhile now."
"When did you last see her?"
"She's not... dead is she?" Sam looked faintly nauseated.
"No, sorry, Sam. She's fine. Just finding out a little about what she was up to recently. Can you tell me about the last few times you saw her?"
Sam stroked his chin in thought. "It'd be... oh, maybe 6 or 7 weeks back?"
"Who was she with?"
"Well she arrived alone. Always did. But she didn't always leave alone, if you get my drift. One time was Commander Sturgis. He was drunk over some fight he'd had with a congress woman. Never get involved with someone in politics - they'll sell your soul for a vote."
Mac started writing in her notebook. "Anyone else you remember?"
"Jason - Petty Officer Tiner. He was drunk too. Now that boy sure can't hold his liquor! Gets really friendly when he's had a few too many, as well."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"You do that. Now let me see. I seem to remember Lauren hooking up with Bud one night awhile back too. She took his keys and was going to drop him home." Sam paused thoughtfully. "No, that's not the way it went. She called Buds' little lady and handed the keys to her at the door. Lt. Sims is some firecracker. Got stuck into Bud about how she had to get little AJ out of bed just to come pick up his drunken carcass."
Mac relaxed with relief. Bud hadn't committed the ultimate sin of adultery - she'd hated to have been the bearer of bad tidings to Harriet, if it had been the case. "Anyone else?"
"That damn spook." Sam obviously wasn't fond of Clayton Webb.
"Webb doesn't usually drink too much."
"He sure did that night. Got all moody and just stared at the walls all night, til Lauren came over and started talking to him. A week after that is was that man of yours."
It was Mac's turn to feel queasy. She didn't even have to wonder who Sam meant by 'that man of hers'. Harm and Singer. Just what she had dreaded. She needed a drink.
"No, sorry, it was his brother. He was asking where his brother was, that was what made me think of him."
Mac's unsettled stomach returned to some semblance of normal, and the craving for alcohol subsided.
"Harm didn't go home with Lauren at all?"
"Not that I saw. In fact he avoided her like some type of plague. Can't stand the sight of her, I reckon."
//Hmmm// pondered Mac. //So just what was Harm hiding?//
TBC