Jack and talk to him, see what the hell this is all about. What is-his full name, Admiral?”
“John Lee Sherman. Supposedly there are Virginia Lees in my ex-wife’s family.” He paused. “And what will you do if you get thesense that he is involved in these killings?”
“Then we will have to tell the cops. Actually, an argument could be made for doing that right now. You do understand where they’re focusing at the moment?”
“Yes indeed,” the admiral said. “And you’re suggesting that we give them my son’s possible involvement, thereby taking some of the heat off me?”
Train started to reply but thought better of it. Sherman was shaking his head, “I’m boxed,” he said. “Someone’s killed my ex-lover and my oldest friend and implicated me.
The powers that be in the Navy are starting to circle the wagons. The police are saying I’m not a suspect but that they want to execute a search of my life, and one of the ways out is to accuse my son of being involved in the homicides, the kid I neglected for most of his childhood? C’mon, guys! ” if
“Admiral, wait a minute,” Karen said.
“Think about it.
you’re in a box with no apparent way out, someone had to set this up. I mean, it’s just not likely that all of this just happened. And the police aren’t stupid: They’ll see that, tw.”
Train concurred. “A week ago, you were ops normal.
Now two people tied to you are suddenly dead, under suspicious circumstances. You are under suspicion, by both the cops and the Navy flag community. Your son, whom you haven’t seen for years, makes two appearances. Karen’s right. This mess didn’t just come out of the blue.
Somebody has set it motion.”
“Wonderful.”
“Then “s more, Admiral. We should expect something else to happen. I don’t know what, but somebody’s stepping through a plan. The momentum is with him right now. He’s not just goingto stop. You need to become vigilant. Be aware of your surroundings, your exposure. Be careful. Do you own a gun?”
The admiral stared at him. “Yes, I do. But-“
“Carry it-in your briefcase, in your car. I’m serious.”
“But I don’t have a permit, or anything like that.”
“Think of it this way, Admiral. You don’t want to be facing this guy in a dark parking lot and wishing you had put the god damned gun in your pocket that morning. Now, we could kick this thing around al . I night.
But I recommend you go home, and Karen. and I -will start in on finding Jack tomorrow. We’ll make sure the cops continue to receive everything we get on Galantz, and I’ve pulled some strings in the intelligence world to see if there is a connection there.
You concentrate on being vigilant. Let us work the problem.”
Sherman nodded slowly. Karen could see that he was struggling to keep his equanimity, but she thought Train had it right. Sherman was in the box. Someone outside the box would have to get him out. He straightened his uniform jacket, thanked her for the drink, and nodded good night to Train.
She . accompanied him to his car. He paused by the driver’s side door.
“I feel like I should be a whole lot angrier about this than I am,” he said. “But I feel more resigned than anything else. I guess it’s because I do own a big piece of what’s behind this. What happened to Galantz back there in Vietnam-leaving a guy behind in a combat situation is a major wrong.”
“But certainly you had operational justification-” she began, but-he was shaking his head. “we’re talking about an almost-sacrosanct law of the bat refield. You don’t leave your wounded; hell, you don’t even leave your dead. Men will fight on even in the most hopeless situations as long as they believe that. We did the wrong thing out there. And as for Jack … well, look ^at happened to his mother.”
“Whoever’s doing this is counting on your feeling that way, Admiral,”
Karen replied, sidesteppingthe immediate truth of what he had said.
“Train’s right: You need to focus right now on situational awareness.
You have little maneuvering room. We still do.”
“Unless Carpenter gets some direction from higher up and recalls you and von Rensel.”
She hadn’t thought about that. He saw her look and smiled, but his eyes were filled with sadness. “Even paranoids can have enemies, right? Good night, and . thank you for your help. I guess-I’m in your hands right now.”
She resisted a strong urge to comfort him somehow.
“We’ll figure it out, Admiral. Good night.”
He backed his car around and drove off down the driveway. Train came out onto the front porch and watched him go. The night was clear, but there was no moon up yet, leaving the grounds and fields around the house in dee shadow. Karen wondered where Harry, the Lab, was.
“Poor bastard,” Train was saying. “Assuming he is innocent, someone’s working quite a campaign on him. Tell me, is there somewhere to get a bite around here?”
They drove in separate cars to the shopping center in Great Falls and went into the Irish pub. They ordered drinks and made some quick decisions about the menu.
“Have you become a believer now?” she asked once the waitress had left.
Train reflected for a moment. “Yeah, I think so. There are still some bothersome inconsistencies, but -his overall situation points toward a setup. His wife shot herself. God, there’s the ultimate”I’ll show you.’ She shivered. “That son definitely sounds like -somebody we need to talk to.
Train nodded. “I’ll start beating the bushes tomorrow.
Then maybe we both go talk to him.”
“But do you think he would talk to us?”
“Ve Germans haff our methods, madame,” Train intoned. She smiled. He returned the smile. It was the first truly personal smile she had seen, and she suddenly wanted to talk about something besides this baffling Sherman case.
“So, do you live in Virginia?” she asked. He told her a little of his background, then briefly described his home on the Potomac, near.Aquia.
She became increasin ly intrigued as he described the household setup, beginning to wonder why someone with obvious financial security and a law degree would be working for the NIS. He sensed her question.
“I know it sounds a bit anomalous. But I think I’m making a contribution, and that’s been a big part of our family’s ethic over the generations. Can’t escape our Prussian heritage, I guess, although every time I’ve pulled the genealogical string, things get a little vague about exactly where the von came from in von Rensel. It may have been appropriated on the way over with von Steuben.”
She stiffed her Chardonnay with a fingernail. “And why no family? Is that part of the master plan?”
He looked discomfited, and she realized he was basically a very shy man.
“Not my master plan,” he said quietly.
“But, hell, look at me. Man Mountain Dean. Women find me-what’s the word? Exotic, I guess. I usually see two reactions from the ladies: downright fright at the thou4t of being with such a big guy, or salacious interest, for the same reason. I guess nobody ever wanted to take me home to meet the folks.”
She smiled at that. “When I was younger, it seemed like lots of Navy guys wanted to take me home to meet the folks,” she said. “But as a Navy lawyer, I saw too many mamages like the admiral’s: women left alone to cope with tight budgets, disaffected kids who thought that their daddies went away because they’d done something wrong, or the fallout from the randy sailor types who had to have a woman in every port; sometimes including home port.”
“Were there no civilians?”
“Not really. You know, when you’re in the Navy, you tend to socialize Navy. You were in the Marines; you didn’t associate with civilians, did you?”
“Nope,” he acknowledged. “Civilians were all hapless dolts who desperately needed the protection of the few, the strong, and the brave.”
She hummed a few bars of the Marine Corps hymn and he laughed. “Stop, or I’ll have to stand up and salute,” he said. Their eyes met for a momenl “This is much better, Mr. Man Mountain,” she said. “I think we’re going to do okay.” He raised his beer mug in a grave salute as the evening’s entertainment, a two-man band accompanied by a
