2347 ZULU
COMMANDER TURNER'S APARTMENT
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA
I'm hesitant to do this. I've rarely blown up at someone and then left angry. I usually apologize to Mac the instant I say something stupid. However, this isn't Mac, Sturgis isn't as likely to forgive, especially now. I know he's home, he took the day off and there isn't anything I can do for Lieutenant Maravalis tonight anyway. I only have to knock twice before Sturgis opens the door, clearly surprised to see me. "Harm, what are you doing here?"
"I'm here to apologize." Sturgis just glares at me. "I'm here to apologize and looking to split a six pack." I deftly bring the six-pack of Michelob Golden out from behind my back. Sturgis' frown disappears and he looks slightly amused, but he still isn't standing aside to let me in. "I'm here to apologize with beer and a pizza that's going to be here in five minutes."
Now he's smiling. "Come on in."
As soon as I'm in his kitchen, I turn to face him. "Sturgis..."
"I forgave you as soon as you walked through those gym doors." Really? That sounds like the old Sturgis, where's he been hiding? "Try not to look so surprised."
"Not its not that, it's just that the way I blew up at you I figured we'd be heading for a rough patch."
"No I understand; you were desperate, you couldn't find me when I'd sworn to help you and I'm sorry for that. Am I forgiven as well?"
I shake his outstretched hand. "Of course."
"How's Mattie?"
"She's fine."
"How does she like her apartment?" How does he... "Coates told me." Ah, now I see.
"She loves it."
"And you hate it." Damn right I do.
"Is it that obvious?"
"Maybe not to everyone, but I got the feeling getting her wasn't everything you'd envisioned." Isn't that the damn truth? I wanted her to do more than just thank her father for letting her stay with me. Of course, she doesn't want to discuss it and there's no way I'm going to be able to get Jen to talk her into it considering her own history with her father. Maybe Mac could do it; she managed to forgive her old man didn't she?
"I don't want a neighbor, I want a..."
"A daughter?" Damn it, I hesitate for a second and he jumps all over it.
"Something like that."
"Then why'd you hesitate?"
"I don't know, probably because she'll be gone in six months."
Sturgis looks utterly confused. "Why is that?"
This is going to be a long story. "Just before the custody hearing Mattie's father turned up and contested my claim to Mattie."
"We scoured the Earth for him. Exactly what rock did he come out from under?"
"I don't know. All I know is that in the end the Judge didn't award custody to either one of us."
"So how did you end up with Mattie?"
"Mac, she talked to Mattie's father and got him to step aside."
"Wow." Yeah, wow. "So how does this translate into Mattie leaving in six months?"
"Come on Sturgis, her old man stepped aside for her benefit. If he cleans himself up the court's are going to jump all over his selflessness and hand her over to him."
"And you're going to stand by and let that happen?"
"Well what can I do? Its not like Mattie's going to have a real choice in the matter. If I do anything crazy the judge is going to dismiss my claim before I even step foot in the courtroom. I think Mac's right, the only thing I can do is provided the best home I can for her, enjoy the time we have to together and hope for the best."
"Well there has to be some unexpected benefit you've gotten from having her."
"Yeah there is."
Sturgis laughs when he sees my smile approaching full force. "Uh-oh, what is it?"
I look away as if its not the big deal I think it is. "Well she's thinking about becoming a Naval Aviator."
"Oh, no. She wants to be like you?"
"What's wrong with that?"
"The Navy can only handle so many crazy people at time and you're crazier than most. You better be retired by the time she joins up."
"You first."
Sturgis grabs the first bottle of beer and opens it. "So what's it like?"
I grab the next one. "Having Mattie?"
"Well that and having someone follow in your footsteps."
"Well let's see if she actually goes through with it. She's only 15, there's plenty of time for her to change her mind. As for the other question, I don't quite know yet. Because she's living with Jen, she spends most of her time over there. Sometimes I feel like we went through all this effort for nothing." Our current living arrangements aren't going to win me any points with Child Services either.
"Get a house then."
"I'm already looking for one in Falls Church." Its then that the doorbell rings. He's right on time. "That's the pizza." I get up to answer it. "Hey isn't Connecticut is playing North Carolina tonight?"
2358 ZULU, TWO DAYS LATER
COMMANDER RABB'S APARTMENT
NORTH OF UNION STATION
"There you are. I turned around and you were gone." I'm surprised she even noticed at all. I'd nearly fallen asleep, a nearly empty beer bottle in my hand when Mac walked in through the door. Sitting up in my chair, I shake the cobwebs out of my head.
"Mac when the girl talk begins, guys know its best to clear out."
"Maybe you should have stayed, learned something." I did learn something; when Mac comes over it's going to be an instant three on one.
"Like what, some geek who has a crush on Mattie or exactly how many colors of fingernail polish Jen has?"
Mac smiles, but she rolls her eyes too. "It could've helped you to understand women a little better." The hell it could, I'm convinced I'm beyond help's reach in that department.
"Mac, no man ever truly understands a woman." That sounds familiar; I think I've said that before. I think she recognizes it too.
"Nor should he. That's what keeps us mysterious."
"Even the most complex mystery novel is meant to be solved in the end."
"A mystery can't grow beyond what it is either. Nor can it react to the reader." Why can't she just come out and say it; 'We will always be confusing to you.'
"That's why women are never boring." The last swallow of my beer confirms that it's gone flat. Resting my head against the cushion, I close my eyes.
Mac isn't about to let me sleep and kicks me with her shoe. "Hey, dinner."
"I thought you ate."
"Popcorn isn't my idea of dinner."
I set the bottle down on the table before rubbing my eyes. "Stir fry sound alright to you?"
"You got some?"
"With Mattie around, I needed to stock up on a few things."
Mac laughs. "Wow, you are domesticated now aren't you?"
"Not just yet, still missing the wife, the house and the dog pieces in the puzzle of domestic family bliss."
Mac picks up her car keys. "Well never let it be said you do things the easy way."
Is she leaving? "Where are you going?"
"You don't expect me to wear my uniform all night do you? I'm getting some clothes out of my car to change into." Mac disappears as I heat up a frying pan and dump the frozen stir-fry mix into it. Opening the fridge, I pull out another beer as well. I counted them earlier; they're all there. I had a rather frank discussion with Mattie about the beer in my fridge and the liquor in my cabinets. She samples any of it and there will be severe consequences. I'm under too much pressure to walk the straight and narrow with Child Services to let her do something stupid that would jeopardize our chances of staying together. Staying together became even more important to me when I found out she might be harboring dreams of becoming a Naval Aviator. Maybe its not just in my blood, apparently I ooze the desire to fly from every pore and kids who spend time around me pick it up on it. Granted I don't have a lot of evidence to support this, Josh wanted to fly long before Annie and I became involved. I merely fanned the flames. A.J seems to be coming around to my way of thinking though. He asks me for a flying story nearly every time I visit and not once have I heard him repeat any of the stories Bud might have told him to me. Mattie's old enough to be serious about it but I wish she'd get her friend Andre to relax. That kid is excessively anal about the Navy. He needs to seriously loosen up if he expects to become a fighter pilot. Even though I knew I was headed into the Navy to fly as well, I know I was never like that. I wouldn't say I was a normal high school kid; I was too busy trying to find dad, but I still played football and basketball, went to a few dances.
"That smells so good." Whoa! I never even noticed Mac come back in. Looking down I can see I was absently stirring the stir-fry just enough to prevent it from burning. I guess I was thinking about my high school years a little too intently. "Did I scare you?"
"No."
"Liar, you jumped back about a foot. What were you thinking about?"
"Its nothing. Go get changed this'll be ready in a few minutes."
As I transfer the pan over to the table, I can see the blurred image of her figure through the glass bending over and removing her uniform. Now I'm thinking about the look on her face when I saw her underwear folding clothes. The visual that comes to mind has me laughing. Through the glass, her figure suddenly stands up and remains still when she hears it. Suddenly she quickly begins moving again. "You're a dead man Harm."
"Why?"
"I know what you're doing."
"Yeah I'm laughing, why should I die because of that?"
"You're thinking about my underwear, you're dead."
I head back into the kitchen for something for us to drink. "Even if that was what I was thinking about you can't prove it. My boxers are in the top right drawer of my dresser. Feel free to search through it if you like." I can hear her take a few steps and then the sound of wood softly scraping against wood. Shit, she's actually going to do it. "Mac?"
"Oh, I like these."
"Mac?" She's giggling now.
"Red and white hearted boxers, very nice Harm." I got those years ago from Renee for Valentine's Day. I haven't worn them since she left.
I'm still in the kitchen, filling up the water pitcher. "Mac, out of there."
"You said I could search through your drawer. After what you saw of mine, I need all the leverage I can get."
"Nothing in there will even come close to what you had."
"I don't know about that, these are interesting too."
"Just don't put any of them on."
Mac pauses before answering back. "You don't think I'd look good in them?" Oh my God. She better not, if she comes out here walking around in my boxers I won't be able to control myself. In my opinion women can't help, but look sexy as hell in a man's... check that, my boxers. Any woman wandering around in my boxers is sexy my eyes and Mac looks sexier than most women anyway. There's a reason why I don't want Mattie answering the door in those boxers. I don't want some weird guy on the other side of the door seeing her like that. "Harm?"
"Just don't."
Her laughter increases, as I'm sure she detected the growing concern in my voice. "What are you going to do about it if I did?" I'd probably take her right here and now on the table.
Enough games, I can barely keep the pitcher steady as I reach the table. "Mac, we better eat. It won't be long before Mattie and Jen show up like a pack of famished wolves and clean us out." A great feeling of relief washes over me when I turn around at the sound of her footsteps to see her in jeans and an old sweater.
"Get a good look?"
"Of course I did."
"You didn't keep any of them did you?"
"I'm not the type to raid someone's underwear drawer." Of course she wouldn't, compared to hers anything else is probably too boring. I check the smile on her face carefully, but I don't see any guilt, only mischief. "Just making sure."
"You'd like that wouldn't you?"
"Mac it would mean I'd have to go out a buy more." I can't imagine how much clothing I've lost to women over the years. Sweatshirts, sweaters, and tee shirts are by far the worst. Diane was the most cunning thief I've ever known. I could go over to her place and pick out anywhere from eight to ten articles of clothing that I didn't leave there on my own.
"Yeah, but it'd also fuel that ego of yours if you knew I had a pair of yours in my drawers that I occasionally wore myself." It would be better if I didn't know that. Imagery like that has been known to kill men my age. Although, I would be curious to know how Webb would react if he found them.
I can feel my cheeks blushing as I turn back towards the kitchen. "No."
"You're lying." I try to force the redness from my cheeks as turn around, but that's like trying to hold back the tide.
"How would you know if I was?"
"Because you're blushing and because no man I've ever known hasn't wanted that." See? She knows all too well, what she could have done to me if she'd worn them. I could say something like I'm unlike any man you've ever met before, but that might lead us right back to our relationship and why it never worked. We don't need that conversation. I set down the plates, glasses, and silver wear in front of her. "Sit, eat."
Handing Mac her coffee cup I sit down next to her on the couch. We finished dinner a half an hour ago, thankfully of which, none of the conversation involved underwear. "Mac about that agent you said went Rouge?"
"I didn't say he went rouge, I said I think he did, what about him?"
"What even gave you that inclination?" Mac chews on her lip for a moment, why is she even debating this? "Come on Mac, my clearance is a lot higher than yours if that's what you're wondering about."
Mac shoots me a look of reproach first. I guess she doesn't like to be reminded of that. "Agent Van Dine told me he was going to send some documents to their field office in Brussels and..."
"What was in the files?"
Mac shakes her head at my interruption. "He said it was concerning their surveillance of Lieutenant Maravalis, but that's not the point, the point is that Van Dine never sent the documents. Then he disappears? I would think it should've raised a few red flags over there."
No, it wouldn't. "Mac nobody over there gets involved in anyone else's business unless their ordered to or it effects them personally or professionally."
"So nobody's monitoring all of these agents the CIA has under them?"
"Of course they're monitored."
"How well?"
"As well as deemed necessary."
"And who decides that?"
"Department heads."
"And what would it take for them to seriously investigate an agent?"
"They or someone under them would have to suspect a leak somewhere."
"So they could go in and plug it."
Exactly. "Well, we'd get whatever information we could out of them first."
Mac sets her cup down and raises her brow. "We"?
Oops. "Sorry, sometimes it's hard to remember I'm not on that team anymore."
"You're never going to tell me about you were doing over there are you?"
"Does Webb tell you what he's been up to?" Mac doesn't respond, and she doesn't have to. Of course Webb doesn't tell her anything. That's a nice benefit of dating Catherine. Her security clearance is such that I can tell her most everything I did and thankfully she can tell me most everything that runs across her desk if it isn't need to know. "Look I'll make some calls, relay the information you gave me, but I wouldn't expect a whole lot."
"Just how much pull do you have with the spooks over there?" More than enough, there are plenty of agents over there that owe their lives to me.
"Must you call them that? I know you find them irritating most of the time, but they do an important job over there. Your own mission should have taught you that."
"Harm all I did was survive the mission, you're the one who completed it." Not quite, Sadik is still out there.
"You're forgetting that you helped out aren't you?"
"If you call holding the plane steady helping, I guess I did."
"I do, besides, if you wouldn't have overheard the guards, we wouldn't have even been in a position to stop them in the first place." We continue like this for another half an hour until Mac gets up to leave, debating where Sadik might be and if he actually has any intentions of coming after us. I know its been seven month already, but he needs time to regroup, gather some forces and rearm if he wants to make an attempt to kill one of us.
"I'll see you later then. Good night Mac."
"Good night Harm."
1902 ZULU, FOUR DAYS LATER
JAG HEADQUARTERS
FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA
Good it's still empty, I've been working the conference room for the last two hours, but I had to go to the bathroom. This is so much better than yesterday when I camped out in here. Mac came in badgering me about how the police haven't considered any other suspects. She got upset that I wouldn't consider any other possibilities in the De La Torre murder either and left. I don't know why she's asking me, there's no one else and she knows it otherwise she'd be all over it. You can't blame every murder on a dealer or a user just because there's a drug presence in the neighborhood. That case is air tight and locked up, that's why I've already been working on another case for the past two days. For some reason that bothers me too, it shouldn't be this easy to convict someone. Then again maybe I'm just whiner. "Harm what are you doing here?"
Its Sturgis and isn't it obvious what I'm doing? "I just needed a quiet place to work, why?" "Because I already signed for this room."
When? I didn't see a notice. "You did?"
Sturgis sets down his materials, nodding. "Yesterday."
I guess I can find another hole in the wall. Hell that's all my office is, a hole in the wall. That's why I come in here to work; it lets me spread things out. "You need me to clear out this second?"
"No, the meeting's not for another half hour."
"How's your case coming?" I haven't heard much about it, just that it's about a SEAL Commander who decided to keep some of the Navy's money for himself.
"Better once this meeting begins. I've got a Commander coming over from supply, his testimony is going to sink Bud's case like the Titanic."
"It's always more fun prosecuting the idiots isn't it?"
Sturgis laughs, we've both been on the other side of the fence so we can appreciate our current position all the more. "Every time. How your case coming?"
"It's air tight. The guy has no alibi and all the physical evidence points at him. It's going to be a cake walk."
"I hope my next murder trial's that easy."
"Well let's hope that doesn't happen for a long time. Ensign De La Torre was far too young to die like that."
"Agreed." Our heads swivel towards the door in time to a Lieutenant Commander walking through. "Commander you're early."
"Yes sir, I wanted to review my materials before I gave my testimony." This is my cue to leave.
"Harm, I'd like you to meet Commander Philips. He's going to help me nail Commander Rainey."
I shake his hand briefly, "Commander. Good luck Sturgis."
"Don't need it."
I'm just out the door and into the hallway when I see Bud coming this way, briefcase in hand. "Good afternoon sir."
"You too Bud, and good luck in there."
"Why is what sir?"
"Sturgis seems to think you're holding the short end of the stick on this case."
"We'll see about that sir."
I pat him on the back as I move past him. "Give him hell."
"I intend to."
1724 ZULU CATHRINE GALE'S APARTMENT LANGLY, VIRGINIA
"Harm, help." When I walked in through the door I almost started laughing. The first thing I saw coming in was Catherine lying down on her couch. She's gotten big; it won't be long now. "What are you doing on the couch?" She doesn't use it anymore because she can't get up without help. Her couch is really soft; you just sink into that thing. It's the couch equivalent of the blob.
"I wasn't thinking, I came home and just sat down."
"Did you decide to lay down too?"
"No I was trying to get up."
"Well at least you're comfortable."
"Speak for yourself, I've gotta go to the bathroom."
Pulling her up, she rewards me with a kiss before heading to the bathroom while I make for the kitchen. I'm eating a bunch of saltines when she comes out and joins me. "How was your day?"
Catherine reaches around me for a bottle of water. "Good, yours?"
"It was good."
"How's that murder case of yours coming?"
"I'm already done."
Catherine wraps her arms around my neck pressing her lips to mine. "That's my Sailor, always the over achiever."
"Its flyboy, and the case is a slam dunk."
"You don't like 'sailor'?"
"I'm a fighter pilot Ms. Gale." I respond, kissing her back. I won't be associated with all those ground and sea dwellers. During my sea tours, I wasn't confined to the boat like all the rest of those poor bastards. My office might have been small, but it had a hell of a view from angels 20.
"And a good one." Good? I'm the best. Catherine steals my crackers and sits down at the table. "You don't seem that happy about the case though."
Pulling up a chair, I begin cutting slices off the block of cheese I took out of her frig. "It just seems too easy."
Catherine picks up a slice and begins nibbling on it. "I'm going to remind you of those words when you're struggling to convict the next guy."
"I know." Am I honestly complaining about an easy murder conviction? "Well what would you do?"
"Harm I don't really know what I'd do. I'm never in your position; I'm either defending or deigning for the company."
"Catherine, I'll take anything right now."
Catherine shrugs her shoulders, she's never had to convict anyone before, and it's not something to take lightly. "I'd go with the facts I had and convict him. Why are you second guessing yourself like this?"
"Its mostly because of Mac, she seems so sure of herself that there's something or someone we've over looked. I can't help it, this case just seems too easy."
To this Catherine leans back in her chair, her hands resting on her baby mound. "Are you confident about your witness' credibility?"
"Yes."
"Have you talked to that detective lately?"
"Why would I do that?"
"Maybe something like this has happened before." I'm not sure if she knows something or it just sound like she does.
"Has it?"
She smiles and holds up her hands in her defense. "No, I'm just saying maybe this hasn't been the only murder on the pier. I'm sure there's plenty of drug activity and other illegal activities going on down there. Maybe you should go talk to him if it'll make you feel better."
I never thought about that. "You deserve some kind of reward for being so brilliant."
Catherine's face lights up with anticipation. "I know just the thing."
"Lower, oh... right there." I've been massaging Catherine's back for the last ten minutes. She decided this was going to be her reward. I didn't know we could choose our rewards like that. If I had, I might have said something and picked a Navy Cross or even the Medal of Honor instead a Silver Star. "Where did you learn to do this anyway?"
"You don't want to know." At least I hope she doesn't and thankfully, she doesn't ask.
"How's Mattie doing in her new place?"
"She's doing fine." I'm not surprised that she asked, just that she asked this quickly. Mattie and I met Catherine when she came back from Paris. It was also the only day Mac would've been able to take Mattie to do something with her and Chloe. She was not pleased when I told her she was coming to the airport with me. It also explains why she was being a real pain in the ass.
"She doesn't like me." That was clear ten minutes after they met.
"Mattie takes a long time to warm up to anybody. She doubted me all the way up the custody hearing." That isn't true, but her sake it's...
"She likes Colonel MacKenzie." How would she know that?
"No better than anyone else."
"Mattie told me she's her favorite." I've already explained to her how it is that I got Mattie so Catherine understands why that is.
I stop rubbing her back for a moment, leaning forward to whisper in her ear. "You're my favorite and that's all that matters."
"No it isn't. Harm, if she's going to be a permanent part of your life its important we get along."
"I wouldn't force it."
"What?"
"My stepfather Frank always tried too hard to be my friend. I think the best thing you can do is just be good listener, eventually she'll come around. Besides, its not all your fault."
"How."
"I told her she had to come. She wanted to go out with Mac and Chloe."
"Wonderful".
I don't feel like doing this anymore. "I'm sorry." Catherine scoots over on the bed to make room for me. "I shouldn't have pushed her to meet you. You don't need this kind of stress. In a month we'll be having a baby and I don't want you worrying about something else on top of that."
Catherine arches an eyebrow in response. "What 'we' flyboy? Are you pregnant too or are you just going to take over for me when I go into labor?"
That pulls a laugh out of me when I was sure there wouldn't be any of it in this conversation. "You know what I mean."
"I do, and thanks for the massage."
Something's not right here. "Why do I get the feeling you're kicking me out?"
"Harm I'm going to shower, eat something, and then fall asleep. I'm beat. You can stay if you want but, don't you want to talk to that detective?"
"Yeah."
"You can still make Norfolk at a decent hour if you go now."
"Sure, but I won't get a lot of sleep, if any, by the time I get back."
Catherine slides over to the edge of the bed and get up. "Well, it's your conscience, not mine that's in overdrive right now is it?" I'm going to Norfolk and she knows it. I follow her out to the kitchen and retrieve my coat and gloves. "Are you taking your gun with you?"
"No."
"I'd feel better if you did."
"Okay. Kiss?"
Catherine smiles as she grabs two fistfuls of my shirt and pulls me in. "You're not allowed to leave without one."
0451 ZULU, TWO DAYS LATER
FISHERMAN'S WHARF
NORFOLK, VIRGINIA
What the hell am I doing here? To drive down here once is okay, twice is just plain crazy. Just couldn't leave it alone could you? Had to come here to make sure that the man is indeed guilty and that justice will prevail. After I left Mac's place, I went home, and then drove all the way down here again. The last time I was here was after I talked to Catherine, talked to the detective, and found out that another woman had been strangled without an arrest being made. I left his crime scene and came here, I didn't find anything, and I probably won't this time either. I'm just trying to make sense out of this. Okay, the cab driver sees her chase after him to this point before he drives off. Walking down the pier, I stop where they found Cumpiano's coat. This isn't the far edge of the pier. So, he sheds his coat trying to rape her... in the middle of the pier? Man, he'd have to be drunk to try something like that. Maybe he took it off because like he said, he wanted to swim back to the base. That doesn't make sense either, why would he kill her for trying to stop him? He's drunk moron, he's not going to think rationally. This is going nowhere. If she walked away from this point, she'd have to go this way past the shack on pier where she was killed to get to the street. This could imply two different things, either he ambushed her on her way to the spot where he lost his jacket or maybe she got away from him at that point, he chased after her, caught her and actually did try to rape her behind the shack. If he were trying to rape her, this would be the best place to do it. It's out of the way and you'd be hidden from view. So, he tries to rape her, but he's drunk. When he tries to quiet her down by compressing her throat, he kills her instead of shutting her up. He panics, and in a moment of humanitarian aid, tries to get her medical attention by carrying her from the shack, but then decides she's already dead and splits. No, that doesn't work either. If he'd dragged her body there, why wasn't there more physical evidence on it? Maybe he sanitized the body and tried to dump the body into the water. Someone comes along, scares him, and he drops the body and runs? What a mess.
As I near the shack, I ease up a bit and pull out my Beretta. I've already seen three guys who looked suspicious of drug trafficking and a kid who wanted to know if I had any pot to sell him. The last thing I need is to startle some meth dealer in there and to get into a predicament with only a flashlight in my hand. Nothing, I kicked the door in and barged in yelling for nothing. I'm glad for that much; easing the hammer back on my sidearm, I holster it before making another sweep of the place with my flashlight. There's obvious sign of recent drug activity in here. Some of it appears to have occurred between my last time out here two days ago and now. This isn't anything new; I'm not going to find any evidence relating to my case here. I just want to get a sense of what Cumpiano must have been thinking. Why wouldn't he try to rape her inside the shack instead of behind it? She wasn't drunk; she could've easily jumped into the water and swam away, so why doesn't he bring her in here where he can control her and the situation better? Walking out and around the shack, I search for the blood I know was found there. Not a whole lot of it remains; water has washed most of it that wasn't protected in some manner away. Still, there wasn't a whole lot of blood to begin with. I read the corner's report; she sustained multiple bruises and cuts around her face and neck consistent with a fall from standing height. Well aside from the bruises that were attributed to her strangulation. There was an especially large bruise on her cheek, she could've been punched or slapped I guess. None of this adds up, then again why should it? I'm trying to put an equation together that doesn't work, it doesn't work because the man's guilty as hell. This was a waste of time. The man did it, everybody needs to except it and move on. Now I'm looking at a five-hour drive back home just so I can interview the Marine guard who over heard Cumpiano's confession to Chaplin Stephens in the morning. I'm going to need a lot of coffee to keep me going through today. This guy deserves to be locked up, what kind of idiot confesses loud enough to be over heard by someone who can testify against them anyway?
1946 ZULU, SAME DAY
NORFOLK NAVAL BASE
NORFOLK, VIRGINIA
There she is, I've been looking for her for the past hour now. She's barking up the wrong tree if she thinks Cumpiano's wife did it. "Mac."
"Harm, what are you doing here?"
"I'm looking for you."
"This is ridiculous you can't interfere with...
"She didn't kill De La Torre Mac." She looks at me stunned, and then back at Alisa.
"What?"
This isn't the place to do this. "Get in the car Mac."
She doesn't look like she wants to. "Why?"
"Because I'm the one who's going to set your client free." That's intrigued her enough to get up and walk over; unfortunately, Cumpiano's wife does too.
"If you've got evidence I should know about..." Not here Mac.
"Get in and you'll have it."
"Why can't you tell us now!" Good grief, why on Earth did Cumpiano marry such a demanding woman?
"Mrs. Cumpiano, I can't tell you about our ongoing investigation."
She comes up along side the car and grips the door with her hands. "He's not guilty." That's what I just said didn't I?
"No he isn't, trust in that. Now if you'll excuse us." When she finally wraps her mind around that, she backs away and heads back inside the building. I roll up my window as we pull out onto the street.
Mac waits for few minutes before throwing her hands in the air. "Well don't keep me waiting Harm."
"This is a recording of part of my interview with the Marine guard, Sergeant Russell." I pull out my pocket tape recorder and hit play.
'He kept telling the Petty Officer that the Lord would have mercy on him no matter what happened, and that Ensign De La Torre was in a better place now. He said God had been behind that shack that night, that God saw everything.'
'Wha... say that again.'
'That God had taken her soul, and that she wouldn't be suffering...'
'No, no, no... about the shack.'
'He said that God had been behind the shack. He kept saying God saw everything.'
'Are you sure that's what you heard?'
'Yes sir, without a doubt.'
Mac doesn't say anything as I shut it off there and stick it back in my pocket. "What was I supposed to get out of that?" She doesn't get it. The base commissary is on the right so quickly pull in and stop in their parking lot.
"Mac, the Chaplin said that God had been behind the shack."
"So what?"
"Well how did he know that? Mac, besides those who've seen the case files and the Norfolk police who responded to the call, nobody knew she'd been killed behind that shack and moved post mortem." I can see the light dawning in her eyes. "So after the interview I came down here and started doing a little digging. Come to find out Chaplin Stephens was down there at the time of the murder."
Mac eyes widen at the possibility of another real suspect. "How do you know that?"
"Stopped by the Norfolk police station, I wanted anything they had on him, no matter how minor, turns out he got a parking ticket that night down at the pier at 1:12 in the morning."
Mac takes the copy of the parking ticket the police gave me. "This doesn't prove he killed her, and Cumpiano could have told him about the shack."
"Oh it gets better. The drug activity on the pier along with the fact that the Chaplin's in recovery got me interested. I know he wasn't in any of the bars that night so I took his service photo and had the police show it to any drug dealer or user they had in lock up..."
Mac face just lights up as she jumps to the conclusion that I was successful. "And you got one!"
"They picked him up three days ago. He's a cocaine dealer Mac, and he sold him about fifty dollars worth that night not more than two hundred yards from where Monica De La Torre was killed. An hour later I had this." I hand her the signed statement that he sold Commander Oliver Stephens cocaine on more than twenty different occasions in the past two months. "My guess is that De La Torre saw the Chaplin behind the shack, recognized who it was smoking cocaine, confronted him, and he killed her to shut her up. Mac nods her head in agreement, as she continues reading the statement. "Of course I still can't figure out how Petty Officer Cumpiano's skin got under De La Torre's fingernails."
"I think I can fill that in for you. His wife followed the two of them as they left the bar. When they got out, she said that De La Torre was trying to keep him from jumping off the end of the pier. He'd already removed his jacket exposing his arms, she could've easily scratched him during the struggle."
"Why the hell didn't she say something before?"
"She didn't think anyone would believe her."
"She doesn't think they were fooling around?"
"No, not any more."
"You know I think Chaplin Stephens picked Petty Officer Cumpiano up and dropped him off on his ship to protect him. He just didn't think base security would find him and turn him back over to the police."
Mac puts her seatbelt back on as I start the engine. "I doubt it Harm, that's a lot to ask of a man who's high on crack."
"Then how did he manage to kill a woman on crack?"
"He probably pinned her down with his body weight and simply strangled her."
"Leaving no physical evidence? That's impressive for a man who's higher than a kite."
Mac waves the statement in front of my face. "Who cares how Cumpiano got back to base or how Chaplin Stephens killed De La Torre, we've got our man." What's with all this 'we' business? I got him; I did all the legwork. "Where are we going anyway?"
"To confess our sins to the Chaplin of course, then I'm going to arrest his ass."
Mac stares at me over the roof of the car as Cumpiano and his wife drive off. "And what secrets would you be keeping?"
"All kinds."
Mac drums a rhythm on the roof with her fingers. "Any you feel like sharing?"
"Then they wouldn't be secrets."
"You can trust me."
"Tell you what, you tell me a secret and if I like it, I'll tell you one of mine."
"I don't know, what if I don't like yours?"
"Those are my terms, take it, or leave it."
Mac licks her lips for a moment, thinking. "I took a picture of your red and white hearted boxers and hung the picture in the women's bathroom at JAG." She's lying, although I know she's capable, I would have heard about this if she did.
I lean over as far as I can over the car to whisper at her. "So, I took a pair of your underwear home with me and sold it on Ebay." I'm sure there's enough freaks running around out there who are infatuated enough with Mac, that I could've made a killing.
"Liar."
"So are you."
"Come on, give me a real secret, something nobody else knows, but you."
"Are you going to give me a real secret in return?"
"You first."
"Okay, Mattie told me she thinking about becoming a Naval Aviator."
Mac's reaction is split; part of her look disappointed that I didn't give her a juicier piece of information and the other looks surprised. "Really, she wants to be a pilot?"
"A 'Naval' Aviator." I just wanted to make sure she gets that right. Navy, not Marines Mac. "She said wanted to take after her old man."
"That's great Harm." Indeed.
"Thanks, now what's your secret?"
By the look she's giving me, I can tell she had no intention of giving me one. "Ah..."
"I know one."
Mac looks at me wide eyed. "You know one of my secrets?"
"Uh, huh." The look on her face when Chaplin Stephen broke down was clear as crystal.
"Oh, do tell."
"When Chaplin Stephens cracked, you realized I was right."
"About what?"
"About a person's true nature. Commander Stephens seems like a normal guy, but get him high or drunk and he becomes capable of violent crime."
Mac's tone rises as she becomes defensive. "Anybody's capable of murder Harm."
"True, but strangling someone is an aggressive way to kill someone Mac and a sober Chaplin Stephens doesn't strike me as the aggressive type."
"Maybe that was his only option at the time, did you ever think of that?"
"That's true too, but you saw how he broke down in his office. He might admit to himself and others that he's an alcoholic, but not that he's a murderer. He might one day admit as much that he's a cocaine addict, but he'll never believe himself capable of killing. He doesn't even know who he really is Mac."
"His ability to kill was always present."
"Very true, it just needed drugs to bring his true nature to the surface." Mac looks like she's about to protest, but I'm not going to let her without getting one more thing in. "Mac if the Chaplin's personality would have allowed for something like murder, Cumpiano and everyone else we talked to wouldn't have been so shocked to learn that their Chaplin was capable of doing something like this. Nobody saw it because it was buried too deep for anyone see or for him to understand. You saw how he insisted that it wasn't who he was." Mac shuts the door and takes a few steps away from the car.
"Where are you going?"
"To my car."
"Its all the way across the base, I'll give you a ride."
Mac slings her purse over her shoulder. "I'll walk, feels like a good day for it."
"Mac this is ridiculous, get in the car."
Mac turns around, and I can see the saddened expression on her face. "Just go Harm. I'll see you Monday."
Damn it, now she doubting herself and her what she might be capable of drunk. "Mac? Mac I'm not lumping you into that category with him."
" I know Harm, but please, just go." This is crazy, I get in the car to follow her, but when I catch up to her and slow down to let her in she makes no move towards me. She never changes her stride; in fact, she waves me off. If she needs time to sort this out in her head, fine, but I'm not going to wait around for her. I haven't seen Mattie in two days, that's not what parenting is supposed to be like.
2310 ZULU
COMMANDER RABB'S APARTMENT
NORTH OF UNION STATION
Resting my head against the steering wheel, I sigh in relief. Something to eat, a shower, and my bed are all singing a siren song to me. I didn't get any sleep last night and I've been logging more hours on the road than I have in my office at JAG this week. The argument with Mac, well I don't know if it was an argument, lets call it a disagreement. It didn't help matters either. She's probably fearful of what might lie below the surface of her own calm and cool, Marine green exterior. There's nothing there she needs to fear. I've seen her drunk and I've seen worse, a lot worse. Walking up the stairs, I hear the elevator stop on my floor, when I open the door I see Jen fumbling around with her keys, trying to get the right one. Eventually she drops the whole key chain, beats her fist, and leans her head against the door. Mattie's currently with her friend Andre, his mother called me on my way back home, and said she'd drop them off when they were finished with their school project. "You okay Jen?"
"I'm fine sir." Why does she even bother? We both know she's lying.
"You don't look it."
"It's nothing sir." More lies, and her voice sounds like she's been crying or about to.
"Jen, whatever it is, let me help."
Jen finally picks her head up off the door. "You've done enough for me already sir." How can she say that? There's not supposed to be a limit to that sort of thing with friendship.
"Jen I'm hear to listen, you'll probably feel better if you get it of your chest."
Jen stiffens as she hears that and bends down to retrieve her keys. "I'll think about it sir." Opening her door, she disappears from sight. Well shit, I can't follow her in there even if I do pay half the rent. Opening my own door I drag myself to the bedroom, strip off my uniform that I've been wearing for far too long today, and step into nice hot shower. This feels good, but now I'm hungry. I wander back into the kitchen wearing a pair of sweatpants and an old squadron tee shirt I got from the Patrick Henry. I pull out a fillet of smoked salmon and the tuna casserole I made two days ago from the frig. I'm surprised Mattie didn't clean my out. The casserole is almost done reheating in the oven when I hear the softest of knocks on the door. Jen's just about to turn away when I open the door. "You said you'd listen, that offer still on the table?"
"All night if you need it to be." I might need an adrenalin injection every so often to stay awake if this lasts longer than two hours though."
Jen follows me into the kitchen and watches me pull out the casserole. "Sir I shouldn't have interrupted your dinner, I'll..."
"Jen don't go, besides, you see anything on me that indicates I'm a Naval Officer right now? Its Harm."
A soft smile appears on her face as she points at my chest. "Your dog tags and tee-shirt are pretty good indicators that you are Harm." Damn, left myself wide open for that one, but at least it got her to smile and call me by name.
I carry the casserole and the smoked salmon to the table. "Sit down, and have something to eat with me."
"Are you sure Harm?"
Coming back from the kitchen, I hand her another plate, a fork, and a beer. "Would I ask if I wasn't?"
"Thank you." Jen sweeps her wet hair over one shoulder as she sits down with me and begins to eat. She must have thought a hot shower would've made her feel better. Obviously, it didn't or she wouldn't be over here. We make good small talk as we eat, but that's all it is, small talk. We're not addressing the real issue here, whatever that might be.
We ate the entire fillet and casserole between us and she still hasn't said anything, now I'm full and tired. Jen, quite casually, I might add, takes another pair of beers from the frig, hands me one, and stretches out on my couch as I take my chair. I don't mind, truth be told she's almost become like a little sister to me. Sure, I'm almost old enough to be her father, but I think the feeling's closer to sibling relationship than anything else. I think I would've liked having a little sister. I know I like having a brother. That's beside the point right now, after she opens her beer and takes a long drink she begins telling me everything that's happened between her and the Admiral over the past few days. "I just told him it might make him feel better. Why does he have to go and say things like that to me?" Because he's a horse's ass?
"I don't know Jen, I don't know. You of all people don't deserve something like that."
Jen looks at me, curious. "Why do you say that?"
"Because you've tried to do more for him then anyone else in that office ever has." I heard about that poem she wrote for the Admiral as Meredith's gift and that Jen had it read to her in Italy. I thought that was an unbelievable gesture on her part. "I think he's mad at you because he's afraid of you."
Jen, who was about to take another drink stops and stares. "What?"
"Sure, you've been taking those psychology classes right?"
"Got an A and two B's this semester." She's proud of her grades, and she should be.
"You challenge him. I've seen you make him do the things you want him to do even when he doesn't. You have a way with words and you play it off him with as much skill and grace as I've ever seen anyone do before."
That earns me another smile. "You think so?"
"Absolutely, Tiner's never done a fraction of the things you have in the years he spent behind that desk."
Jen snorts, swirling her beer around in the bottle. "Tiner was just the Admiral's monkey boy." Is she always this casual or is the beer just loosening her tongue? "I doubt he had the guts to do anything other than what he was told."
"That's Lieutenant j.g. Monkey Boy to you." Jen laughs at the deja vu' that brings back for both of us. Tiner still has my old cover, he can keep it, that one was nothing but bad luck for me anyway.
"You really think the Admiral's afraid of me?"
"Well I know I am. In a few years when you're actual psychologist, I'm going to scared shitless that you'll see right through me."
Jen gives me a sly smile. "Oh, and what are we hiding we hiding from the rest of the world Harm? Come, tell the nice doctor everything, you can trust me."
I nearly drop my bottle with laughter. "Not until you have a shingle of your own, and I'm seventy and senile."
Jen's laughter subsides quickly. "Then why does he have to say the things that he does, why can't be nicer to me?"
"Because he's afraid of you Jen, he knows he can't order you around because you'll just find away around it. So he's being hostile to keep you at a distance because it's the only thing he can think of that'll keep you away from him."
"Well it's working."
"You said they had a fight?"
Jen shrugs her shoulders. "That's the impression I've been getting all week."
"Did they break up?"
"I don't think so. If he'd broken up with her, he wouldn't have been so grumpy all week."
"Maybe she ended it."
"I don't think so either. She's been calling all week, trying to talk to him. If she'd dumped him, she wouldn't be trying to do that."
"I guess we can assume this fight's her fault though."
Jen nods her agreement. "I just wanted him to be happy." Good luck.
"That's a losing battle Jen, concentrate on your own happiness." Jen doesn't reply, but I can tell she's having difficulty accepting that.
We continue talking for I don't know how long, but by the end of my fourth beer I'm falling asleep and there's nothing I can do about it anymore. "I'll put these bottles away for you sir."
"Its Harm, and I'll be right here."
"Okay." I hear her moving about the apartment before everything shuts down and goes black. I'm not sure if I'm dreaming or not, but I swear I can hear Jen parting words, whispered in my ear before she leaves. "Mattie doesn't realize how lucky she is. I think you make a great dad Harm, and luckily for me, an even better friend." She drops a kiss on my forehead and softly shuts the door behind her on her way out.
COMMANDER TURNER'S APARTMENT
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA
I'm hesitant to do this. I've rarely blown up at someone and then left angry. I usually apologize to Mac the instant I say something stupid. However, this isn't Mac, Sturgis isn't as likely to forgive, especially now. I know he's home, he took the day off and there isn't anything I can do for Lieutenant Maravalis tonight anyway. I only have to knock twice before Sturgis opens the door, clearly surprised to see me. "Harm, what are you doing here?"
"I'm here to apologize." Sturgis just glares at me. "I'm here to apologize and looking to split a six pack." I deftly bring the six-pack of Michelob Golden out from behind my back. Sturgis' frown disappears and he looks slightly amused, but he still isn't standing aside to let me in. "I'm here to apologize with beer and a pizza that's going to be here in five minutes."
Now he's smiling. "Come on in."
As soon as I'm in his kitchen, I turn to face him. "Sturgis..."
"I forgave you as soon as you walked through those gym doors." Really? That sounds like the old Sturgis, where's he been hiding? "Try not to look so surprised."
"Not its not that, it's just that the way I blew up at you I figured we'd be heading for a rough patch."
"No I understand; you were desperate, you couldn't find me when I'd sworn to help you and I'm sorry for that. Am I forgiven as well?"
I shake his outstretched hand. "Of course."
"How's Mattie?"
"She's fine."
"How does she like her apartment?" How does he... "Coates told me." Ah, now I see.
"She loves it."
"And you hate it." Damn right I do.
"Is it that obvious?"
"Maybe not to everyone, but I got the feeling getting her wasn't everything you'd envisioned." Isn't that the damn truth? I wanted her to do more than just thank her father for letting her stay with me. Of course, she doesn't want to discuss it and there's no way I'm going to be able to get Jen to talk her into it considering her own history with her father. Maybe Mac could do it; she managed to forgive her old man didn't she?
"I don't want a neighbor, I want a..."
"A daughter?" Damn it, I hesitate for a second and he jumps all over it.
"Something like that."
"Then why'd you hesitate?"
"I don't know, probably because she'll be gone in six months."
Sturgis looks utterly confused. "Why is that?"
This is going to be a long story. "Just before the custody hearing Mattie's father turned up and contested my claim to Mattie."
"We scoured the Earth for him. Exactly what rock did he come out from under?"
"I don't know. All I know is that in the end the Judge didn't award custody to either one of us."
"So how did you end up with Mattie?"
"Mac, she talked to Mattie's father and got him to step aside."
"Wow." Yeah, wow. "So how does this translate into Mattie leaving in six months?"
"Come on Sturgis, her old man stepped aside for her benefit. If he cleans himself up the court's are going to jump all over his selflessness and hand her over to him."
"And you're going to stand by and let that happen?"
"Well what can I do? Its not like Mattie's going to have a real choice in the matter. If I do anything crazy the judge is going to dismiss my claim before I even step foot in the courtroom. I think Mac's right, the only thing I can do is provided the best home I can for her, enjoy the time we have to together and hope for the best."
"Well there has to be some unexpected benefit you've gotten from having her."
"Yeah there is."
Sturgis laughs when he sees my smile approaching full force. "Uh-oh, what is it?"
I look away as if its not the big deal I think it is. "Well she's thinking about becoming a Naval Aviator."
"Oh, no. She wants to be like you?"
"What's wrong with that?"
"The Navy can only handle so many crazy people at time and you're crazier than most. You better be retired by the time she joins up."
"You first."
Sturgis grabs the first bottle of beer and opens it. "So what's it like?"
I grab the next one. "Having Mattie?"
"Well that and having someone follow in your footsteps."
"Well let's see if she actually goes through with it. She's only 15, there's plenty of time for her to change her mind. As for the other question, I don't quite know yet. Because she's living with Jen, she spends most of her time over there. Sometimes I feel like we went through all this effort for nothing." Our current living arrangements aren't going to win me any points with Child Services either.
"Get a house then."
"I'm already looking for one in Falls Church." Its then that the doorbell rings. He's right on time. "That's the pizza." I get up to answer it. "Hey isn't Connecticut is playing North Carolina tonight?"
2358 ZULU, TWO DAYS LATER
COMMANDER RABB'S APARTMENT
NORTH OF UNION STATION
"There you are. I turned around and you were gone." I'm surprised she even noticed at all. I'd nearly fallen asleep, a nearly empty beer bottle in my hand when Mac walked in through the door. Sitting up in my chair, I shake the cobwebs out of my head.
"Mac when the girl talk begins, guys know its best to clear out."
"Maybe you should have stayed, learned something." I did learn something; when Mac comes over it's going to be an instant three on one.
"Like what, some geek who has a crush on Mattie or exactly how many colors of fingernail polish Jen has?"
Mac smiles, but she rolls her eyes too. "It could've helped you to understand women a little better." The hell it could, I'm convinced I'm beyond help's reach in that department.
"Mac, no man ever truly understands a woman." That sounds familiar; I think I've said that before. I think she recognizes it too.
"Nor should he. That's what keeps us mysterious."
"Even the most complex mystery novel is meant to be solved in the end."
"A mystery can't grow beyond what it is either. Nor can it react to the reader." Why can't she just come out and say it; 'We will always be confusing to you.'
"That's why women are never boring." The last swallow of my beer confirms that it's gone flat. Resting my head against the cushion, I close my eyes.
Mac isn't about to let me sleep and kicks me with her shoe. "Hey, dinner."
"I thought you ate."
"Popcorn isn't my idea of dinner."
I set the bottle down on the table before rubbing my eyes. "Stir fry sound alright to you?"
"You got some?"
"With Mattie around, I needed to stock up on a few things."
Mac laughs. "Wow, you are domesticated now aren't you?"
"Not just yet, still missing the wife, the house and the dog pieces in the puzzle of domestic family bliss."
Mac picks up her car keys. "Well never let it be said you do things the easy way."
Is she leaving? "Where are you going?"
"You don't expect me to wear my uniform all night do you? I'm getting some clothes out of my car to change into." Mac disappears as I heat up a frying pan and dump the frozen stir-fry mix into it. Opening the fridge, I pull out another beer as well. I counted them earlier; they're all there. I had a rather frank discussion with Mattie about the beer in my fridge and the liquor in my cabinets. She samples any of it and there will be severe consequences. I'm under too much pressure to walk the straight and narrow with Child Services to let her do something stupid that would jeopardize our chances of staying together. Staying together became even more important to me when I found out she might be harboring dreams of becoming a Naval Aviator. Maybe its not just in my blood, apparently I ooze the desire to fly from every pore and kids who spend time around me pick it up on it. Granted I don't have a lot of evidence to support this, Josh wanted to fly long before Annie and I became involved. I merely fanned the flames. A.J seems to be coming around to my way of thinking though. He asks me for a flying story nearly every time I visit and not once have I heard him repeat any of the stories Bud might have told him to me. Mattie's old enough to be serious about it but I wish she'd get her friend Andre to relax. That kid is excessively anal about the Navy. He needs to seriously loosen up if he expects to become a fighter pilot. Even though I knew I was headed into the Navy to fly as well, I know I was never like that. I wouldn't say I was a normal high school kid; I was too busy trying to find dad, but I still played football and basketball, went to a few dances.
"That smells so good." Whoa! I never even noticed Mac come back in. Looking down I can see I was absently stirring the stir-fry just enough to prevent it from burning. I guess I was thinking about my high school years a little too intently. "Did I scare you?"
"No."
"Liar, you jumped back about a foot. What were you thinking about?"
"Its nothing. Go get changed this'll be ready in a few minutes."
As I transfer the pan over to the table, I can see the blurred image of her figure through the glass bending over and removing her uniform. Now I'm thinking about the look on her face when I saw her underwear folding clothes. The visual that comes to mind has me laughing. Through the glass, her figure suddenly stands up and remains still when she hears it. Suddenly she quickly begins moving again. "You're a dead man Harm."
"Why?"
"I know what you're doing."
"Yeah I'm laughing, why should I die because of that?"
"You're thinking about my underwear, you're dead."
I head back into the kitchen for something for us to drink. "Even if that was what I was thinking about you can't prove it. My boxers are in the top right drawer of my dresser. Feel free to search through it if you like." I can hear her take a few steps and then the sound of wood softly scraping against wood. Shit, she's actually going to do it. "Mac?"
"Oh, I like these."
"Mac?" She's giggling now.
"Red and white hearted boxers, very nice Harm." I got those years ago from Renee for Valentine's Day. I haven't worn them since she left.
I'm still in the kitchen, filling up the water pitcher. "Mac, out of there."
"You said I could search through your drawer. After what you saw of mine, I need all the leverage I can get."
"Nothing in there will even come close to what you had."
"I don't know about that, these are interesting too."
"Just don't put any of them on."
Mac pauses before answering back. "You don't think I'd look good in them?" Oh my God. She better not, if she comes out here walking around in my boxers I won't be able to control myself. In my opinion women can't help, but look sexy as hell in a man's... check that, my boxers. Any woman wandering around in my boxers is sexy my eyes and Mac looks sexier than most women anyway. There's a reason why I don't want Mattie answering the door in those boxers. I don't want some weird guy on the other side of the door seeing her like that. "Harm?"
"Just don't."
Her laughter increases, as I'm sure she detected the growing concern in my voice. "What are you going to do about it if I did?" I'd probably take her right here and now on the table.
Enough games, I can barely keep the pitcher steady as I reach the table. "Mac, we better eat. It won't be long before Mattie and Jen show up like a pack of famished wolves and clean us out." A great feeling of relief washes over me when I turn around at the sound of her footsteps to see her in jeans and an old sweater.
"Get a good look?"
"Of course I did."
"You didn't keep any of them did you?"
"I'm not the type to raid someone's underwear drawer." Of course she wouldn't, compared to hers anything else is probably too boring. I check the smile on her face carefully, but I don't see any guilt, only mischief. "Just making sure."
"You'd like that wouldn't you?"
"Mac it would mean I'd have to go out a buy more." I can't imagine how much clothing I've lost to women over the years. Sweatshirts, sweaters, and tee shirts are by far the worst. Diane was the most cunning thief I've ever known. I could go over to her place and pick out anywhere from eight to ten articles of clothing that I didn't leave there on my own.
"Yeah, but it'd also fuel that ego of yours if you knew I had a pair of yours in my drawers that I occasionally wore myself." It would be better if I didn't know that. Imagery like that has been known to kill men my age. Although, I would be curious to know how Webb would react if he found them.
I can feel my cheeks blushing as I turn back towards the kitchen. "No."
"You're lying." I try to force the redness from my cheeks as turn around, but that's like trying to hold back the tide.
"How would you know if I was?"
"Because you're blushing and because no man I've ever known hasn't wanted that." See? She knows all too well, what she could have done to me if she'd worn them. I could say something like I'm unlike any man you've ever met before, but that might lead us right back to our relationship and why it never worked. We don't need that conversation. I set down the plates, glasses, and silver wear in front of her. "Sit, eat."
Handing Mac her coffee cup I sit down next to her on the couch. We finished dinner a half an hour ago, thankfully of which, none of the conversation involved underwear. "Mac about that agent you said went Rouge?"
"I didn't say he went rouge, I said I think he did, what about him?"
"What even gave you that inclination?" Mac chews on her lip for a moment, why is she even debating this? "Come on Mac, my clearance is a lot higher than yours if that's what you're wondering about."
Mac shoots me a look of reproach first. I guess she doesn't like to be reminded of that. "Agent Van Dine told me he was going to send some documents to their field office in Brussels and..."
"What was in the files?"
Mac shakes her head at my interruption. "He said it was concerning their surveillance of Lieutenant Maravalis, but that's not the point, the point is that Van Dine never sent the documents. Then he disappears? I would think it should've raised a few red flags over there."
No, it wouldn't. "Mac nobody over there gets involved in anyone else's business unless their ordered to or it effects them personally or professionally."
"So nobody's monitoring all of these agents the CIA has under them?"
"Of course they're monitored."
"How well?"
"As well as deemed necessary."
"And who decides that?"
"Department heads."
"And what would it take for them to seriously investigate an agent?"
"They or someone under them would have to suspect a leak somewhere."
"So they could go in and plug it."
Exactly. "Well, we'd get whatever information we could out of them first."
Mac sets her cup down and raises her brow. "We"?
Oops. "Sorry, sometimes it's hard to remember I'm not on that team anymore."
"You're never going to tell me about you were doing over there are you?"
"Does Webb tell you what he's been up to?" Mac doesn't respond, and she doesn't have to. Of course Webb doesn't tell her anything. That's a nice benefit of dating Catherine. Her security clearance is such that I can tell her most everything I did and thankfully she can tell me most everything that runs across her desk if it isn't need to know. "Look I'll make some calls, relay the information you gave me, but I wouldn't expect a whole lot."
"Just how much pull do you have with the spooks over there?" More than enough, there are plenty of agents over there that owe their lives to me.
"Must you call them that? I know you find them irritating most of the time, but they do an important job over there. Your own mission should have taught you that."
"Harm all I did was survive the mission, you're the one who completed it." Not quite, Sadik is still out there.
"You're forgetting that you helped out aren't you?"
"If you call holding the plane steady helping, I guess I did."
"I do, besides, if you wouldn't have overheard the guards, we wouldn't have even been in a position to stop them in the first place." We continue like this for another half an hour until Mac gets up to leave, debating where Sadik might be and if he actually has any intentions of coming after us. I know its been seven month already, but he needs time to regroup, gather some forces and rearm if he wants to make an attempt to kill one of us.
"I'll see you later then. Good night Mac."
"Good night Harm."
1902 ZULU, FOUR DAYS LATER
JAG HEADQUARTERS
FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA
Good it's still empty, I've been working the conference room for the last two hours, but I had to go to the bathroom. This is so much better than yesterday when I camped out in here. Mac came in badgering me about how the police haven't considered any other suspects. She got upset that I wouldn't consider any other possibilities in the De La Torre murder either and left. I don't know why she's asking me, there's no one else and she knows it otherwise she'd be all over it. You can't blame every murder on a dealer or a user just because there's a drug presence in the neighborhood. That case is air tight and locked up, that's why I've already been working on another case for the past two days. For some reason that bothers me too, it shouldn't be this easy to convict someone. Then again maybe I'm just whiner. "Harm what are you doing here?"
Its Sturgis and isn't it obvious what I'm doing? "I just needed a quiet place to work, why?" "Because I already signed for this room."
When? I didn't see a notice. "You did?"
Sturgis sets down his materials, nodding. "Yesterday."
I guess I can find another hole in the wall. Hell that's all my office is, a hole in the wall. That's why I come in here to work; it lets me spread things out. "You need me to clear out this second?"
"No, the meeting's not for another half hour."
"How's your case coming?" I haven't heard much about it, just that it's about a SEAL Commander who decided to keep some of the Navy's money for himself.
"Better once this meeting begins. I've got a Commander coming over from supply, his testimony is going to sink Bud's case like the Titanic."
"It's always more fun prosecuting the idiots isn't it?"
Sturgis laughs, we've both been on the other side of the fence so we can appreciate our current position all the more. "Every time. How your case coming?"
"It's air tight. The guy has no alibi and all the physical evidence points at him. It's going to be a cake walk."
"I hope my next murder trial's that easy."
"Well let's hope that doesn't happen for a long time. Ensign De La Torre was far too young to die like that."
"Agreed." Our heads swivel towards the door in time to a Lieutenant Commander walking through. "Commander you're early."
"Yes sir, I wanted to review my materials before I gave my testimony." This is my cue to leave.
"Harm, I'd like you to meet Commander Philips. He's going to help me nail Commander Rainey."
I shake his hand briefly, "Commander. Good luck Sturgis."
"Don't need it."
I'm just out the door and into the hallway when I see Bud coming this way, briefcase in hand. "Good afternoon sir."
"You too Bud, and good luck in there."
"Why is what sir?"
"Sturgis seems to think you're holding the short end of the stick on this case."
"We'll see about that sir."
I pat him on the back as I move past him. "Give him hell."
"I intend to."
1724 ZULU CATHRINE GALE'S APARTMENT LANGLY, VIRGINIA
"Harm, help." When I walked in through the door I almost started laughing. The first thing I saw coming in was Catherine lying down on her couch. She's gotten big; it won't be long now. "What are you doing on the couch?" She doesn't use it anymore because she can't get up without help. Her couch is really soft; you just sink into that thing. It's the couch equivalent of the blob.
"I wasn't thinking, I came home and just sat down."
"Did you decide to lay down too?"
"No I was trying to get up."
"Well at least you're comfortable."
"Speak for yourself, I've gotta go to the bathroom."
Pulling her up, she rewards me with a kiss before heading to the bathroom while I make for the kitchen. I'm eating a bunch of saltines when she comes out and joins me. "How was your day?"
Catherine reaches around me for a bottle of water. "Good, yours?"
"It was good."
"How's that murder case of yours coming?"
"I'm already done."
Catherine wraps her arms around my neck pressing her lips to mine. "That's my Sailor, always the over achiever."
"Its flyboy, and the case is a slam dunk."
"You don't like 'sailor'?"
"I'm a fighter pilot Ms. Gale." I respond, kissing her back. I won't be associated with all those ground and sea dwellers. During my sea tours, I wasn't confined to the boat like all the rest of those poor bastards. My office might have been small, but it had a hell of a view from angels 20.
"And a good one." Good? I'm the best. Catherine steals my crackers and sits down at the table. "You don't seem that happy about the case though."
Pulling up a chair, I begin cutting slices off the block of cheese I took out of her frig. "It just seems too easy."
Catherine picks up a slice and begins nibbling on it. "I'm going to remind you of those words when you're struggling to convict the next guy."
"I know." Am I honestly complaining about an easy murder conviction? "Well what would you do?"
"Harm I don't really know what I'd do. I'm never in your position; I'm either defending or deigning for the company."
"Catherine, I'll take anything right now."
Catherine shrugs her shoulders, she's never had to convict anyone before, and it's not something to take lightly. "I'd go with the facts I had and convict him. Why are you second guessing yourself like this?"
"Its mostly because of Mac, she seems so sure of herself that there's something or someone we've over looked. I can't help it, this case just seems too easy."
To this Catherine leans back in her chair, her hands resting on her baby mound. "Are you confident about your witness' credibility?"
"Yes."
"Have you talked to that detective lately?"
"Why would I do that?"
"Maybe something like this has happened before." I'm not sure if she knows something or it just sound like she does.
"Has it?"
She smiles and holds up her hands in her defense. "No, I'm just saying maybe this hasn't been the only murder on the pier. I'm sure there's plenty of drug activity and other illegal activities going on down there. Maybe you should go talk to him if it'll make you feel better."
I never thought about that. "You deserve some kind of reward for being so brilliant."
Catherine's face lights up with anticipation. "I know just the thing."
"Lower, oh... right there." I've been massaging Catherine's back for the last ten minutes. She decided this was going to be her reward. I didn't know we could choose our rewards like that. If I had, I might have said something and picked a Navy Cross or even the Medal of Honor instead a Silver Star. "Where did you learn to do this anyway?"
"You don't want to know." At least I hope she doesn't and thankfully, she doesn't ask.
"How's Mattie doing in her new place?"
"She's doing fine." I'm not surprised that she asked, just that she asked this quickly. Mattie and I met Catherine when she came back from Paris. It was also the only day Mac would've been able to take Mattie to do something with her and Chloe. She was not pleased when I told her she was coming to the airport with me. It also explains why she was being a real pain in the ass.
"She doesn't like me." That was clear ten minutes after they met.
"Mattie takes a long time to warm up to anybody. She doubted me all the way up the custody hearing." That isn't true, but her sake it's...
"She likes Colonel MacKenzie." How would she know that?
"No better than anyone else."
"Mattie told me she's her favorite." I've already explained to her how it is that I got Mattie so Catherine understands why that is.
I stop rubbing her back for a moment, leaning forward to whisper in her ear. "You're my favorite and that's all that matters."
"No it isn't. Harm, if she's going to be a permanent part of your life its important we get along."
"I wouldn't force it."
"What?"
"My stepfather Frank always tried too hard to be my friend. I think the best thing you can do is just be good listener, eventually she'll come around. Besides, its not all your fault."
"How."
"I told her she had to come. She wanted to go out with Mac and Chloe."
"Wonderful".
I don't feel like doing this anymore. "I'm sorry." Catherine scoots over on the bed to make room for me. "I shouldn't have pushed her to meet you. You don't need this kind of stress. In a month we'll be having a baby and I don't want you worrying about something else on top of that."
Catherine arches an eyebrow in response. "What 'we' flyboy? Are you pregnant too or are you just going to take over for me when I go into labor?"
That pulls a laugh out of me when I was sure there wouldn't be any of it in this conversation. "You know what I mean."
"I do, and thanks for the massage."
Something's not right here. "Why do I get the feeling you're kicking me out?"
"Harm I'm going to shower, eat something, and then fall asleep. I'm beat. You can stay if you want but, don't you want to talk to that detective?"
"Yeah."
"You can still make Norfolk at a decent hour if you go now."
"Sure, but I won't get a lot of sleep, if any, by the time I get back."
Catherine slides over to the edge of the bed and get up. "Well, it's your conscience, not mine that's in overdrive right now is it?" I'm going to Norfolk and she knows it. I follow her out to the kitchen and retrieve my coat and gloves. "Are you taking your gun with you?"
"No."
"I'd feel better if you did."
"Okay. Kiss?"
Catherine smiles as she grabs two fistfuls of my shirt and pulls me in. "You're not allowed to leave without one."
0451 ZULU, TWO DAYS LATER
FISHERMAN'S WHARF
NORFOLK, VIRGINIA
What the hell am I doing here? To drive down here once is okay, twice is just plain crazy. Just couldn't leave it alone could you? Had to come here to make sure that the man is indeed guilty and that justice will prevail. After I left Mac's place, I went home, and then drove all the way down here again. The last time I was here was after I talked to Catherine, talked to the detective, and found out that another woman had been strangled without an arrest being made. I left his crime scene and came here, I didn't find anything, and I probably won't this time either. I'm just trying to make sense out of this. Okay, the cab driver sees her chase after him to this point before he drives off. Walking down the pier, I stop where they found Cumpiano's coat. This isn't the far edge of the pier. So, he sheds his coat trying to rape her... in the middle of the pier? Man, he'd have to be drunk to try something like that. Maybe he took it off because like he said, he wanted to swim back to the base. That doesn't make sense either, why would he kill her for trying to stop him? He's drunk moron, he's not going to think rationally. This is going nowhere. If she walked away from this point, she'd have to go this way past the shack on pier where she was killed to get to the street. This could imply two different things, either he ambushed her on her way to the spot where he lost his jacket or maybe she got away from him at that point, he chased after her, caught her and actually did try to rape her behind the shack. If he were trying to rape her, this would be the best place to do it. It's out of the way and you'd be hidden from view. So, he tries to rape her, but he's drunk. When he tries to quiet her down by compressing her throat, he kills her instead of shutting her up. He panics, and in a moment of humanitarian aid, tries to get her medical attention by carrying her from the shack, but then decides she's already dead and splits. No, that doesn't work either. If he'd dragged her body there, why wasn't there more physical evidence on it? Maybe he sanitized the body and tried to dump the body into the water. Someone comes along, scares him, and he drops the body and runs? What a mess.
As I near the shack, I ease up a bit and pull out my Beretta. I've already seen three guys who looked suspicious of drug trafficking and a kid who wanted to know if I had any pot to sell him. The last thing I need is to startle some meth dealer in there and to get into a predicament with only a flashlight in my hand. Nothing, I kicked the door in and barged in yelling for nothing. I'm glad for that much; easing the hammer back on my sidearm, I holster it before making another sweep of the place with my flashlight. There's obvious sign of recent drug activity in here. Some of it appears to have occurred between my last time out here two days ago and now. This isn't anything new; I'm not going to find any evidence relating to my case here. I just want to get a sense of what Cumpiano must have been thinking. Why wouldn't he try to rape her inside the shack instead of behind it? She wasn't drunk; she could've easily jumped into the water and swam away, so why doesn't he bring her in here where he can control her and the situation better? Walking out and around the shack, I search for the blood I know was found there. Not a whole lot of it remains; water has washed most of it that wasn't protected in some manner away. Still, there wasn't a whole lot of blood to begin with. I read the corner's report; she sustained multiple bruises and cuts around her face and neck consistent with a fall from standing height. Well aside from the bruises that were attributed to her strangulation. There was an especially large bruise on her cheek, she could've been punched or slapped I guess. None of this adds up, then again why should it? I'm trying to put an equation together that doesn't work, it doesn't work because the man's guilty as hell. This was a waste of time. The man did it, everybody needs to except it and move on. Now I'm looking at a five-hour drive back home just so I can interview the Marine guard who over heard Cumpiano's confession to Chaplin Stephens in the morning. I'm going to need a lot of coffee to keep me going through today. This guy deserves to be locked up, what kind of idiot confesses loud enough to be over heard by someone who can testify against them anyway?
1946 ZULU, SAME DAY
NORFOLK NAVAL BASE
NORFOLK, VIRGINIA
There she is, I've been looking for her for the past hour now. She's barking up the wrong tree if she thinks Cumpiano's wife did it. "Mac."
"Harm, what are you doing here?"
"I'm looking for you."
"This is ridiculous you can't interfere with...
"She didn't kill De La Torre Mac." She looks at me stunned, and then back at Alisa.
"What?"
This isn't the place to do this. "Get in the car Mac."
She doesn't look like she wants to. "Why?"
"Because I'm the one who's going to set your client free." That's intrigued her enough to get up and walk over; unfortunately, Cumpiano's wife does too.
"If you've got evidence I should know about..." Not here Mac.
"Get in and you'll have it."
"Why can't you tell us now!" Good grief, why on Earth did Cumpiano marry such a demanding woman?
"Mrs. Cumpiano, I can't tell you about our ongoing investigation."
She comes up along side the car and grips the door with her hands. "He's not guilty." That's what I just said didn't I?
"No he isn't, trust in that. Now if you'll excuse us." When she finally wraps her mind around that, she backs away and heads back inside the building. I roll up my window as we pull out onto the street.
Mac waits for few minutes before throwing her hands in the air. "Well don't keep me waiting Harm."
"This is a recording of part of my interview with the Marine guard, Sergeant Russell." I pull out my pocket tape recorder and hit play.
'He kept telling the Petty Officer that the Lord would have mercy on him no matter what happened, and that Ensign De La Torre was in a better place now. He said God had been behind that shack that night, that God saw everything.'
'Wha... say that again.'
'That God had taken her soul, and that she wouldn't be suffering...'
'No, no, no... about the shack.'
'He said that God had been behind the shack. He kept saying God saw everything.'
'Are you sure that's what you heard?'
'Yes sir, without a doubt.'
Mac doesn't say anything as I shut it off there and stick it back in my pocket. "What was I supposed to get out of that?" She doesn't get it. The base commissary is on the right so quickly pull in and stop in their parking lot.
"Mac, the Chaplin said that God had been behind the shack."
"So what?"
"Well how did he know that? Mac, besides those who've seen the case files and the Norfolk police who responded to the call, nobody knew she'd been killed behind that shack and moved post mortem." I can see the light dawning in her eyes. "So after the interview I came down here and started doing a little digging. Come to find out Chaplin Stephens was down there at the time of the murder."
Mac eyes widen at the possibility of another real suspect. "How do you know that?"
"Stopped by the Norfolk police station, I wanted anything they had on him, no matter how minor, turns out he got a parking ticket that night down at the pier at 1:12 in the morning."
Mac takes the copy of the parking ticket the police gave me. "This doesn't prove he killed her, and Cumpiano could have told him about the shack."
"Oh it gets better. The drug activity on the pier along with the fact that the Chaplin's in recovery got me interested. I know he wasn't in any of the bars that night so I took his service photo and had the police show it to any drug dealer or user they had in lock up..."
Mac face just lights up as she jumps to the conclusion that I was successful. "And you got one!"
"They picked him up three days ago. He's a cocaine dealer Mac, and he sold him about fifty dollars worth that night not more than two hundred yards from where Monica De La Torre was killed. An hour later I had this." I hand her the signed statement that he sold Commander Oliver Stephens cocaine on more than twenty different occasions in the past two months. "My guess is that De La Torre saw the Chaplin behind the shack, recognized who it was smoking cocaine, confronted him, and he killed her to shut her up. Mac nods her head in agreement, as she continues reading the statement. "Of course I still can't figure out how Petty Officer Cumpiano's skin got under De La Torre's fingernails."
"I think I can fill that in for you. His wife followed the two of them as they left the bar. When they got out, she said that De La Torre was trying to keep him from jumping off the end of the pier. He'd already removed his jacket exposing his arms, she could've easily scratched him during the struggle."
"Why the hell didn't she say something before?"
"She didn't think anyone would believe her."
"She doesn't think they were fooling around?"
"No, not any more."
"You know I think Chaplin Stephens picked Petty Officer Cumpiano up and dropped him off on his ship to protect him. He just didn't think base security would find him and turn him back over to the police."
Mac puts her seatbelt back on as I start the engine. "I doubt it Harm, that's a lot to ask of a man who's high on crack."
"Then how did he manage to kill a woman on crack?"
"He probably pinned her down with his body weight and simply strangled her."
"Leaving no physical evidence? That's impressive for a man who's higher than a kite."
Mac waves the statement in front of my face. "Who cares how Cumpiano got back to base or how Chaplin Stephens killed De La Torre, we've got our man." What's with all this 'we' business? I got him; I did all the legwork. "Where are we going anyway?"
"To confess our sins to the Chaplin of course, then I'm going to arrest his ass."
Mac stares at me over the roof of the car as Cumpiano and his wife drive off. "And what secrets would you be keeping?"
"All kinds."
Mac drums a rhythm on the roof with her fingers. "Any you feel like sharing?"
"Then they wouldn't be secrets."
"You can trust me."
"Tell you what, you tell me a secret and if I like it, I'll tell you one of mine."
"I don't know, what if I don't like yours?"
"Those are my terms, take it, or leave it."
Mac licks her lips for a moment, thinking. "I took a picture of your red and white hearted boxers and hung the picture in the women's bathroom at JAG." She's lying, although I know she's capable, I would have heard about this if she did.
I lean over as far as I can over the car to whisper at her. "So, I took a pair of your underwear home with me and sold it on Ebay." I'm sure there's enough freaks running around out there who are infatuated enough with Mac, that I could've made a killing.
"Liar."
"So are you."
"Come on, give me a real secret, something nobody else knows, but you."
"Are you going to give me a real secret in return?"
"You first."
"Okay, Mattie told me she thinking about becoming a Naval Aviator."
Mac's reaction is split; part of her look disappointed that I didn't give her a juicier piece of information and the other looks surprised. "Really, she wants to be a pilot?"
"A 'Naval' Aviator." I just wanted to make sure she gets that right. Navy, not Marines Mac. "She said wanted to take after her old man."
"That's great Harm." Indeed.
"Thanks, now what's your secret?"
By the look she's giving me, I can tell she had no intention of giving me one. "Ah..."
"I know one."
Mac looks at me wide eyed. "You know one of my secrets?"
"Uh, huh." The look on her face when Chaplin Stephen broke down was clear as crystal.
"Oh, do tell."
"When Chaplin Stephens cracked, you realized I was right."
"About what?"
"About a person's true nature. Commander Stephens seems like a normal guy, but get him high or drunk and he becomes capable of violent crime."
Mac's tone rises as she becomes defensive. "Anybody's capable of murder Harm."
"True, but strangling someone is an aggressive way to kill someone Mac and a sober Chaplin Stephens doesn't strike me as the aggressive type."
"Maybe that was his only option at the time, did you ever think of that?"
"That's true too, but you saw how he broke down in his office. He might admit to himself and others that he's an alcoholic, but not that he's a murderer. He might one day admit as much that he's a cocaine addict, but he'll never believe himself capable of killing. He doesn't even know who he really is Mac."
"His ability to kill was always present."
"Very true, it just needed drugs to bring his true nature to the surface." Mac looks like she's about to protest, but I'm not going to let her without getting one more thing in. "Mac if the Chaplin's personality would have allowed for something like murder, Cumpiano and everyone else we talked to wouldn't have been so shocked to learn that their Chaplin was capable of doing something like this. Nobody saw it because it was buried too deep for anyone see or for him to understand. You saw how he insisted that it wasn't who he was." Mac shuts the door and takes a few steps away from the car.
"Where are you going?"
"To my car."
"Its all the way across the base, I'll give you a ride."
Mac slings her purse over her shoulder. "I'll walk, feels like a good day for it."
"Mac this is ridiculous, get in the car."
Mac turns around, and I can see the saddened expression on her face. "Just go Harm. I'll see you Monday."
Damn it, now she doubting herself and her what she might be capable of drunk. "Mac? Mac I'm not lumping you into that category with him."
" I know Harm, but please, just go." This is crazy, I get in the car to follow her, but when I catch up to her and slow down to let her in she makes no move towards me. She never changes her stride; in fact, she waves me off. If she needs time to sort this out in her head, fine, but I'm not going to wait around for her. I haven't seen Mattie in two days, that's not what parenting is supposed to be like.
2310 ZULU
COMMANDER RABB'S APARTMENT
NORTH OF UNION STATION
Resting my head against the steering wheel, I sigh in relief. Something to eat, a shower, and my bed are all singing a siren song to me. I didn't get any sleep last night and I've been logging more hours on the road than I have in my office at JAG this week. The argument with Mac, well I don't know if it was an argument, lets call it a disagreement. It didn't help matters either. She's probably fearful of what might lie below the surface of her own calm and cool, Marine green exterior. There's nothing there she needs to fear. I've seen her drunk and I've seen worse, a lot worse. Walking up the stairs, I hear the elevator stop on my floor, when I open the door I see Jen fumbling around with her keys, trying to get the right one. Eventually she drops the whole key chain, beats her fist, and leans her head against the door. Mattie's currently with her friend Andre, his mother called me on my way back home, and said she'd drop them off when they were finished with their school project. "You okay Jen?"
"I'm fine sir." Why does she even bother? We both know she's lying.
"You don't look it."
"It's nothing sir." More lies, and her voice sounds like she's been crying or about to.
"Jen, whatever it is, let me help."
Jen finally picks her head up off the door. "You've done enough for me already sir." How can she say that? There's not supposed to be a limit to that sort of thing with friendship.
"Jen I'm hear to listen, you'll probably feel better if you get it of your chest."
Jen stiffens as she hears that and bends down to retrieve her keys. "I'll think about it sir." Opening her door, she disappears from sight. Well shit, I can't follow her in there even if I do pay half the rent. Opening my own door I drag myself to the bedroom, strip off my uniform that I've been wearing for far too long today, and step into nice hot shower. This feels good, but now I'm hungry. I wander back into the kitchen wearing a pair of sweatpants and an old squadron tee shirt I got from the Patrick Henry. I pull out a fillet of smoked salmon and the tuna casserole I made two days ago from the frig. I'm surprised Mattie didn't clean my out. The casserole is almost done reheating in the oven when I hear the softest of knocks on the door. Jen's just about to turn away when I open the door. "You said you'd listen, that offer still on the table?"
"All night if you need it to be." I might need an adrenalin injection every so often to stay awake if this lasts longer than two hours though."
Jen follows me into the kitchen and watches me pull out the casserole. "Sir I shouldn't have interrupted your dinner, I'll..."
"Jen don't go, besides, you see anything on me that indicates I'm a Naval Officer right now? Its Harm."
A soft smile appears on her face as she points at my chest. "Your dog tags and tee-shirt are pretty good indicators that you are Harm." Damn, left myself wide open for that one, but at least it got her to smile and call me by name.
I carry the casserole and the smoked salmon to the table. "Sit down, and have something to eat with me."
"Are you sure Harm?"
Coming back from the kitchen, I hand her another plate, a fork, and a beer. "Would I ask if I wasn't?"
"Thank you." Jen sweeps her wet hair over one shoulder as she sits down with me and begins to eat. She must have thought a hot shower would've made her feel better. Obviously, it didn't or she wouldn't be over here. We make good small talk as we eat, but that's all it is, small talk. We're not addressing the real issue here, whatever that might be.
We ate the entire fillet and casserole between us and she still hasn't said anything, now I'm full and tired. Jen, quite casually, I might add, takes another pair of beers from the frig, hands me one, and stretches out on my couch as I take my chair. I don't mind, truth be told she's almost become like a little sister to me. Sure, I'm almost old enough to be her father, but I think the feeling's closer to sibling relationship than anything else. I think I would've liked having a little sister. I know I like having a brother. That's beside the point right now, after she opens her beer and takes a long drink she begins telling me everything that's happened between her and the Admiral over the past few days. "I just told him it might make him feel better. Why does he have to go and say things like that to me?" Because he's a horse's ass?
"I don't know Jen, I don't know. You of all people don't deserve something like that."
Jen looks at me, curious. "Why do you say that?"
"Because you've tried to do more for him then anyone else in that office ever has." I heard about that poem she wrote for the Admiral as Meredith's gift and that Jen had it read to her in Italy. I thought that was an unbelievable gesture on her part. "I think he's mad at you because he's afraid of you."
Jen, who was about to take another drink stops and stares. "What?"
"Sure, you've been taking those psychology classes right?"
"Got an A and two B's this semester." She's proud of her grades, and she should be.
"You challenge him. I've seen you make him do the things you want him to do even when he doesn't. You have a way with words and you play it off him with as much skill and grace as I've ever seen anyone do before."
That earns me another smile. "You think so?"
"Absolutely, Tiner's never done a fraction of the things you have in the years he spent behind that desk."
Jen snorts, swirling her beer around in the bottle. "Tiner was just the Admiral's monkey boy." Is she always this casual or is the beer just loosening her tongue? "I doubt he had the guts to do anything other than what he was told."
"That's Lieutenant j.g. Monkey Boy to you." Jen laughs at the deja vu' that brings back for both of us. Tiner still has my old cover, he can keep it, that one was nothing but bad luck for me anyway.
"You really think the Admiral's afraid of me?"
"Well I know I am. In a few years when you're actual psychologist, I'm going to scared shitless that you'll see right through me."
Jen gives me a sly smile. "Oh, and what are we hiding we hiding from the rest of the world Harm? Come, tell the nice doctor everything, you can trust me."
I nearly drop my bottle with laughter. "Not until you have a shingle of your own, and I'm seventy and senile."
Jen's laughter subsides quickly. "Then why does he have to say the things that he does, why can't be nicer to me?"
"Because he's afraid of you Jen, he knows he can't order you around because you'll just find away around it. So he's being hostile to keep you at a distance because it's the only thing he can think of that'll keep you away from him."
"Well it's working."
"You said they had a fight?"
Jen shrugs her shoulders. "That's the impression I've been getting all week."
"Did they break up?"
"I don't think so. If he'd broken up with her, he wouldn't have been so grumpy all week."
"Maybe she ended it."
"I don't think so either. She's been calling all week, trying to talk to him. If she'd dumped him, she wouldn't be trying to do that."
"I guess we can assume this fight's her fault though."
Jen nods her agreement. "I just wanted him to be happy." Good luck.
"That's a losing battle Jen, concentrate on your own happiness." Jen doesn't reply, but I can tell she's having difficulty accepting that.
We continue talking for I don't know how long, but by the end of my fourth beer I'm falling asleep and there's nothing I can do about it anymore. "I'll put these bottles away for you sir."
"Its Harm, and I'll be right here."
"Okay." I hear her moving about the apartment before everything shuts down and goes black. I'm not sure if I'm dreaming or not, but I swear I can hear Jen parting words, whispered in my ear before she leaves. "Mattie doesn't realize how lucky she is. I think you make a great dad Harm, and luckily for me, an even better friend." She drops a kiss on my forehead and softly shuts the door behind her on her way out.