Part 6
Disclaimer: I do not own the JAG characters nor do I receive any money for doing this.
1822 Hours Local Time
Bethesda Naval Hospital
Baltimore, Maryland
Harm and Mac met up with Fontenot in the visiting area of the hospital's psych ward.
"It was the base paly offs, sir. Every time I stepped to the plate, the catcher was talking trash. Eight innings of stuff about my intelligence, my mother, my sexual preferences."
"So, you hit him with a baseball bat."
"He was wearing a mask and a chest protector, Sir." Fontenot complained as if wearing said safety equipment made it okay for him to hit the officer in question.
"Fontenot, your records indicate that you recently shoved a Private." Bud interjected.
"The Private was unruly and I did receive official counseling for that."
"With Commander Parker." Mac inferred.
"Yes Ma'am." Fontenot answered.
"Witnesses tell us that you called the commander on her cell phone a week and a half ago. He heard you screaming on the other end." Mac added.
"She canceled my appointment for that afternoon by leaving a message on the phone." Fontenot answered, becoming increasingly agitated by Mac's line of questioning.
"Was that a yes, Lieutenant?"
Fontenot stepped back, ran his fingers through his hair and he tried to calm himself down. "Your right. I'm sorry. I was probably taking it personally."
"Your wife died recently, didn't she Lieutenant?" Harm asked and almost immediately, the lieutenant's shoulders drooped. "In a car crash." Harm continued. "Did you talk to Lieutenant Commander Parker about this?"
"Yes, Sir." Fontenot answered.
"Did you get angry then? Is there something you want to tell us, Lieutenant?"
"That I would like to speak to an attorney, sir." Fontenot answered
As soon as he asked for an attorney, the meeting with Fontenot was over. Mac, Harm, and Bud left the hospital and drove back to JAG where they had set up a meeting with Commander Coulter before calling it quits for the night.
"Lieutenant Fontenot's last appointment with Jordan was April 27." Harm reported, reading from the patient records that they had received from Bethesda.
"I still can't believe you were able to get these patient files released." Teresa said in disbelief.
"By the exception in rule 313.11–this allows for disclosure of normally privileged information. If the communication contemplates the future commission of a crime." Bud explained.
"But the lieutenant is in custody." Teresa stated, wondering if they might be crossing a fine line.
"Yeah, for the moment." Harm agreed.
Mac picked up Fontenot's medical record and began to read, "April 27–Remains in a sensitive state of mind due to wife's death, which had a stabilizing influence. Condition exasperated by a painful adolescence. Mother passed away when he was twelve. Frequently bullied. Need for material guidance significant. Leading to an uncommonly respectful attitude towards women in general."
Bud sighed, "Takes the wind out of that sail. His wife was gone and he was clearly depending on Commander Parker for help. Why would he want to kill her?"
"Maybe she wasn't helping him and his patients got the best of him. This is a man who attacks people." Mac added, not wanting them to lose track of the fact that he had already attacked two people.
"The direction has always been focused towards men, Mac. He has always been more responsive to your questions."
"I agree, Harm." Commander Coulter, put in.
"If Commander Parker felt as if she was in danger from him she would have made note of it but she confirmed the opposite." This from Bud.
"Yeah, he was on duty that night. He would have had to sneak away from his post just to get near her." Harm said, pretty much excluding Fontenot from their list of suspects.
Just then, the door to the conference room opened and all four individuals sitting around the table turned to see that it was a very angry looking Renee.
"Excuse me." Renee said as she stepped into the room.
"Renee. Hey, how are you." Harm said as he pushed himself up from the table and walked over to greet her.
"You tell me." Renee said her tone cold and malicious. The elephant in the room grew exponentially as her anger increased.
Harm sucked in a deep breath as he realized why Renee was there and why she was so angry with him. "Movie night." He said, sounding as contrite as he possibly could have given the situation. "Ah, I'm sorry. I got caught up, here. How was it?" He let out a little chuckle trying to lighten the situation, which clearly wasn't working.
"I wouldn't know. I was waiting outside for my date." Renee said rather angrily and then turned and walked out of the room.
"Renee, wait." Harm called out, running out after her.
By the time he caught up to Renee, she had already disappeared behind the elevator doors. Sulking, he went back to his office and sat down. A few minutes later, he heard a knock on his door and looked up just in time to see Teresa standing there.
"Everything alright?" She asked, moving to lean against the doorframe.
"Yeah, she went home." He sighed.
"Angry?"
"Oh, yeah." Harm answered, wondering how he was going to make it up to her.
"You probably don't want company."
"No, have a seat. We still need to catch up. She thinks I'm self-absorbed."
Teresa smiled, "Well you are and for good reason."
"When your mother died–did you feel guilty?" Harm asked, Jordan's death starting to weigh heavily on him.
"Harm, Jordan didn't kill herself."
Harm sighed, "I don't know. The gun, the fact that she was trying to get ahold of me. The break-up…"
This time it was Teresa's turn to sigh, "Those aren't the reason she's dead."
"You don't know that." The anguish was clearly written across Harm's face.
"Why was she trying to reach you?" Teresa asked.
"I think she needed help with something." Harm answered truthfully.
"Well, you are working her case. How did the two of you meet?"
As that particular memory washed over him, Harm almost lost it completely, "She ahhhh…she just walked in." He finally said his voice shaky.
"You never said goodbye. I see…." Teresa said, coming to some conclusions herself about Harm's emotional investment in Jordan's death.
"Anyway, so how are you doing?" Harm asked, trying to steer the conversation away from Jordan and back onto a safer topic.
"I'm fine." Teresa said and the two of them spent the next hour engaged in friendly conversation.
After that, Harm left and went home. He was dog tired but sleep still didn't claim him. By the time morning came, even coffee wasn't enough to get him going. He pulled his sleep-deprived body out of bed. Shoulder's hunched, he made his way to the bathroom. After a long hot shower, he felt marginally better but was far from his normal self. Who could be normal, anyway? He thought to himself as he warmed up a bowl of oatmeal in the microwave.
The next person on their list of suspects was Jordan's boyfriend, Major Lynch. After doing some research they had found out that, he had lied about going to the Jewelry store. Unfortunately, he worked second shift, so they weren't able to catch up to him until around seven, that evening. Harm and Mac ate dinner together before they headed over to the Public Affairs building, in Quantico.