collect himself.
“Well, enough of my sad story. What do we do next regarding this police matter?”
“We get the records on Galantz over to the cops. Train von Rensel will turn on an NIS search.”
“Von Rensel, yes. I think NIS is going to be crucial in this. Okay. And when next you see CONNTER, perhaps you can tell him that the cops and I are on the same’side for now.
The penitent was gone. The admiral was back. “Of course, sir,” she replied. If he caught the change in her tone, he gave no indication of it. He was looking at his watch.
“Reveille beckons. Thanks for brokering that meeting tonight. I think having you in the room probably predisposed that guy to be nicer than he had to be.”
She nodded. “I think you did the right thing in telling him the story behind the Galantz problem. As soon as the files come in, I’ll fax an extract to Mcnair so he can see that this is, or was, a real person.”
“He’s real enough.”
“I believe it, Admiral.”
He paid the bill and then excused himself to use the bathroom before they left. She waited by the front door. When he came out, they walked out to the car. ““Train’?”
“He said it was’a football nickname. He’s very different from most of the NIS people I’ve encountered. Not the typical exenlisted guy playing at gumshoe. He has a law degree, and he has worked in the counterintelligence world at ONI. Oh, and with the FBI too, I think. He appears to know his way around.”
“Going after Galantz, he’d better,” Sherman said as they reached her car. Only then did she remember Train’s warming about the ex-SEAL. She unlocked her car with the remote key, which activated the interior light. He made as if to open the door for her and then stopped. She was about to ask what was the matter when she saw what he was staring at.
There was a medium-sized syringe, its steel needle glittering in the light, lying in plain view on the driver’s seat.
They both stared down at the syringe. What was this evillooking thing doing in her car? Karen wondered. She looked quickly around the parking lot, as did Sherman. Only one of the cars in the lot appeared to be occupied, and that by a young woman trying unsuccessfully to control three squalling children. A thin, sloppy-looking young man came out to the car, unwrapping a fresh pack of cigarettes. He got in the car, cuffed one of the kids, and then drove off.
“Okay, I give up,” Sherman said. “Where the hell did that thing come from?” “And how?” she said. “This car was locked. I think I want to call a cop.”
“I agree, I guess.”
“You guess?”
“What if it’s loaded with heroin or cocaine or something?
And it’s in your locked car?”
That got her attention. She looked back down at the driver’s seat and felt a small tingle of alarm. A syringe. An empty syringe, from the looks of it. The plunger was depressed all the way into the barrel. She felt helpless. Call a cop? Or reach in there, pick it up, and throw it into that Dumpster over there? Where had this thing come from? She looked up at Sherman, who was obviously having the same thought that she was: Galantz. This was just like the note.
The cabin light in the car went out, as if the car was tired of Waiting for them. The admiral reached forward and opened the door. The light came back on.
“You’re sure you locked it?”
“I’m sure. I always lock it.”
“Just like I always lock my front door. So whoever did this was able to open the door without damaging it. Just like the front door of my house.”
“I still think we should call the cops,” she said again.
“Get word to Mcnair, or at least a patrol car.”
He reached in and picked up the syringe, touching only the edges of the flange nearest the needle. He smelled the needle, then withdrew the plunger a bit, again touching only the edges of the upper flange. She could see a tiny speck of red on the bottom of the barrel, below the zero line. He handed it to her gingerly, pointing out the speck.
“Do you suppose that’s blood?” she asked.
Suddenly, there was a blaze of bright headlights as a car came diagonally down the parking lot and headed directly for them. Only when it had pulled up fight next to her car did she realize that it was a police car. She suddenly felt very vulnerable, standing there in the parking lot, in uniform, with a, syringe in her hand. Two police officers got out and walked casually around the nose of the cruiser to the driver’s side of her car.
“Evening, sir. Ma’am. Got a problem here?” the taller one asked, eyeing the syringe. The other cop, a woman, was peering into Karen’s car with her flashlight.
“Yes, we do,” Sherman said. “I’m Admiral Sherman.
This is Commander Lawrence. We just had dinner in that Greek restaurant there. When we came out, we found this lying in the front seat.” Karen handed the syringe, point up, to the policeman, who took it and held it the same way Sherman had been holding it, by the edge of the top flange.
“We got a call that some Navy guy was shooting up drugs in the parking lot,” the cop said, looking first at the syringe and then at Sherman.
The policewoman had moved to the other side of the - car and was pointing her flashlight into the backseat area. Karen tried to remember what she might have back there.
“Well, I guess I can understand that,” Sherman said.
“We were just about to call you guys. This is Commander Lawrence’s car.
It was locked when we went into dinner, and there’s no sign of forced entry.”
“Yeah,” the cop said. “Can I see some ID there, Adimral?
Commander?”
Sherman fished his wallet out and flashed his Navy ID card. Karen fumbled in her purse for her wallet. She was angry to see that her hands were trembling. The policewoman came back around the rear of Sherman’s car and shook her head at the other cop.
“Give me an evidence bag, will you, Carrie?” . he said.
“One with one of those test-tube dealies in it. So, you found this thing where, exactly, Admiral?”
“Right on the driver’s seat. We saw it after Commander Lawrence activated the remote lock system and the interior light came on. It was out in plain view, as if whoever put it there wanted to make sure we saw it.”
“And you’re sure you locked the’doors, Commander?” ‘me cop sounded as if he was starting to get bored with it all. The policewoman was back with an evidence bag The cop handed the syringe to his partner, who dropped it gingerly into a tube in the evidence bag and took it back to the cruiser’ The cop took out his notebook.
“Yes, positive,” Karen said. Sherman asked him if he knew Detective Mcnair in the Homicide Section.
The cop stopped writing in his notebook and gave Sherman a suspicious look. A car went by, the driver slowing to gawk. Karen suddenly felt very conspicuous in her uniform. She could only imagine how the admiral felt.
“Mcnair? Sure. What’s he got to do with this, sir?”
“We just finished a meeting with him. This syringe may relate to a case he’s working, one that involves me. Can you make sure he knows about this?” -The cop put his finger in his notebook to hold his place and gave Sherman a perplexed look. “This something we should do right now, Admiral? Call the homicide people?”
Sherman shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. Well, actually, I don’t know. I’m involved in a stalking situation, which may be related to a possible homicide. That’s where Mcnair comes in. I know, this isn’t making much sense.”
The other cop came back with a clipboard full of forms and handed them to the first cop. “You want a Breathalyzer kit?” she asked. “If not, I’ll go ahead and clear us.”
The first cop shook his head, and she went back to the car and got on the radio. The first cop took down their identification data. When he was finished, he put away-his notebook.
“Well, okay, Admiral. We’ll turn this thing in as a suspicious-incident report, and I’ll make sure a copy gets to Mcnair and company. I’ll forward this item to the police lab for analysis. You understand, Commander, it’s your car:
