accusatory.
Sherman frowned, but then he answered. “Where? I was up in Maryland, near the Pennsylvania line. A little town called Hamey.”
“So were we, Admiral, courtesy of Detective Mcnair,” she said, giving him a moment to comprehend that they knew, that Mcnair also knew. “We do need to talk. Train, let’s all go back up to the house.”
Over coffee, fresh fruit, and hot rolls, Karen told the admiral about what had happened since Wednesday. She finessed what they knew about the hospice situation, limiting it to the fact that his wife was still alive. With one eye on Train, she told the admiral about Jack’s admissions. Train dutifully kept silent. Sherman’s face was grim when she was finished.
“Great God,” he snapped. tossing down his napkin. “I had no idea. This guy is on a god damned rampage.” He looked from one to the other. “How muqh of this does the JAG know?”
Karen looked at Train for a brief second. He picked right up.
“He knows about what happened out on the river,” Train said. “To my knowledge, he doesn’t know about the attack on the road last night, or your situation at the hospice. I’m not sure he knows of your son’s involvement.”
The admiral let out a long breath. “If he doesn’t, he will,” he said.
“Mcnair will probably be filling him in shortly. Perhaps it ought to come from me. Technically, I’m probably A.W.O.L. right now, anyway.”
“Why did you bail out, Admiral?” Karen asked.
His face tightened, but then he relaxed. “I felt everything closing in.
Usually, I go up there out of a sense of responsibility. She’s there because of me.” He stopped to take a deep breath. “But the second reason I go there is to seek. refuge. It’s the one place in this entire world I can go and never be judged.”
“Karen nodded slowly. Train continued to study the table cloth.
“Now tell me what Jack’s role is in all this. Did he help Galantz kill those two people?”
“From a legal standpoint, I think the police would say he was an accessory after the fact,” Train said. “But he did admit to being part of Karen’s abduction.”
“He was there? At Elizabeth’s? At Galen’s?”
Karen gave Train a reproving look. “He says he wasn’t.
He claims his only role was to show up at the funerals, so that you would see him. But we think he’s definitely working with Galantz. The attack on us out on the highway involved a machine Jack uses at work.”
“Damn,” Sherman said, rubbing his face. “And Mcnair knows this?”
“Yes, sir, he does,” Train said. “But we’re not sure what exactly he’s doing with it. Galantz is the guy Mcnair really wants.”
“My God,” Sherman muttered. “My own son.”
Train leaned forward. “We think that’s part of the plan, Admiral.
Galantz has been contemplating revenge for years.
He encounters your son at the recon training school, realizes who he is, befriends him, then sets something up that gets Jack thrown out of the Corps. Once Jack get’s out on his ass on civvy street with a bad discharge and a drinking problem, here comes his old buddy from recon school to make life interesting again.”
“And fold him into his master plan to destroy me.”
“We think so. Use Elizabeth’s homicide to frame you, or at least to get you in trouble with the Navy. We think Galen Schmidt became a target of opportunity.”
“Because I went to see him when I got the note,,” Sherman said, his face gray.
Train sidestepped that remark. “And if that didn’t do it,” he continued, “Galantz puts Jack in our faces. We focus on Jack, the cops are right behind us, and now you and your son are involved in homicides.”
“Jack was a hater,” Sherman said softly. “I never figured him as a dupe.”
Karen reluctantly began to shake her head. “No, sir. I think he’s in this willingly. I’m sorry, Admiral, but that’s what I -took away from talking to him’ “The admiral stared down at the ground. Karen’s heart went out to him when she saw the desolation in his eyes.
Galantz has won, she thought.
“Jack’s not exactly-how shall I say this-socially functional?” she said.
She described the living conditions at the trailer, and Jack’s physical state when she first found him.
Sherman shook his head and pushed back roughly from the table, causing Gutter to sit up. Sherman got up and stared out through the windows for a minute while Kyoko came in and silently cleared away the dishes.
“I told Mcnair I need to go resolve this,” he said finally.
“I’ll call the JAG. I had thought of maybe going to see Jack, alone, to try to sort this out. But … He didn’t finish this thought. Karen looked at Train. She could now see at least two problems with what Sherman was suggesting. If the police found the two of them together, the implications might be very disturbing for the police. But worse, she wasn’t sure the admiral would stand up under the emotional assault of his son’s boasting about helping Galantz, as he surely would. And then of course, there was Galantz. She was relieved when Train stood up.
“The phone’s in the study, Admiral,” he said. “Then if you’d like to shower and shave before you go in, Kyoko will show you to a guest room.”
The admiral rubbed the sides of his face with both hands, his characteristic gesture, and then nodded absently. He followed Train to the study, where Train showed him the phone. Then Train came out, closing the door behind him.
Karen met him in the hallway.
“He’s at the end of his rope, I think,” Train said. “Taking him to see Jack doesn’t seem like such a good idea just now.”
“1. agree. If the police showed up, they’d be very suspicious if they found the admiral there, especially if Jack seized the opportunity to deny Galantz’s existence and point the finger at his father.”
“Damn. He would, too.”
“That three-star is going to force Sherman out,” she said.
“And he knows it.”
“I hate to say this,” Train said, “but maybe you should go in with him.
He’s-going to need a friendly face.”
She smiled up at him. “About time you were nice to this poor mart-. And why, exactly, do you hate to say that?” she asked.
Train actually flushed a bit under her direct look. “I don’t want to let you out of my sight. Things of value, you know?”
She, smiled again and squeezed his hand. But then she thought about Sherman’s situation. “If they agree to see him this morning, on a Saturday, they’re not going to want any commanders in the room,” she said. “Especially commander lawyers. This will be a flags-only meeting.
No mere mortals allowed. At least not until they get all the blood off the walls.”
“Yeah, but I’m worried about what he might do afterward. Like try to go to find Jack, and maybe walk into Galantz in the process.”
Karen was not fooled. “And while we’re gone, kind sir?
You will be staying right here like you promised? Like a good Train, right?”
Train was looking over her head and squirming perceptibly. She grabbed his elbow and steered him away from the closed-study door. “You promise me, Train von Rensel. No Lone Ranger stuff. You be here when I bring this poor man back out here. You promise, right now, or I don’t go with him.”
“I wasn’t thinking of-“
“Oh yes you were,” she said. “Now you promise me-“
The study door opened and the admiral came out, running his left hand through his hair. They turned to see what he would say.
“It’s show time,” he announced. “At noon, I’m to meet with Admiral Kensington in his office. I think they’ve made some decisions.”
“Admiral, Karen thinks she should go with you,” Train said before Karen could speak. “Moral support, if
