All the Navy has produced is a closed-out personnel file.”
“Which proves that he certainly did exist,” Karen interrupted.
“Yes, Commander,” the lieutenant said. “But did exist isn’t the same as does exist. Admiral Sherman, we need two things: We need to find this guy, or at least to establish that he didn’t die out there in Vietnam.
And secon(fly, we would like to ask your cooperation in allowing us to examine your personal situation.”
““Personal situation,’ ” Sherman repeated. “As in-“
“As in personal finances. Whether or not you are overextended or have a big tax problem. Or if there’s a pattern in your bank accounts that would indicate that you’re a big time gambler, or you’re being blackmailed, or you have other personal habits requiring more money than you make in the Navy. Stuff like that.”
” ‘ Stuff like that,’ ” Sherman repeated slowly, his face darkening. “I see. All of which you could do with a court order. If I werea suspect, that is.”
“That’s right, Admiral,” the lieutenant said smoothly
“But since you’re not, we’re asking nicely. If you have’ nothing to hide, your cooperation and the absence of any of these indicators would bolster your credibility. I’m sure an officer of your seniority and experience will understand where we’re coming from with this, right, sir? You know, sort of an easy way/hard way situation?”
Sherman and the lieutenant stared at each other, but then the admiral composed his face and sat back in his chair.
“Anything you want, Lieutenant,” he said in an icy tone.
“I am none of those things you mentioned. I’m not a closet gambler, I don’t have any debts other than my mortgage, I’m not being blackmailed, and I don’t have a drug habitalthough you’ll have to take the Bureau of Medicine’s word for that, as we’re all drug-tested in the Navy-but, yes, I’ll open the books for you. I’ll instruct my accountant to provide full disclosure and my last five years of tax returns.
You can even have a look inside my house if you wish, as long as you agree not to tear it up. How’s that sound?’; “Like the full cooperation of someone who is eager to help us solve two homicides,” the lieutenant replied, ignoring Sherman’s tone of voice.
“Okay. But I’d like to ask a favor in return.”
“Which is?”
“That you inform the Navy JAG-that’s Commander Lawrence’s boss, Admiral Carpenter-that I’m not a suspect.
Mcnair and the lieutenant looked at each other for a moment, but then the lieutenant nodded. “We can do that, Admiral,” Bettino said. Mcnair nodded his agreement.
Sherman stood up. “Then I think we’re done here,” he announced. “If you don’t mind, I want to go home and have a drink and try to wash this mess out of my mind’for a couple of hours.”
The two policemen stood up, as well. “We’ll call you to make those arrangements, Admiral,” Mcnair said. “Tomorrow morning okay?”
“I’ll call you, if that’s all right, Defective. I’m trying to keep this problem from becoming public knowledge in my office.”
“We understand, sir,” Mcnair said quickly, extracting his card case and handing him a card. “I’ll be in the office by eight o’clock. Commander Lawrence, thanks for letting us meet here.”
Karen nodded and escorted the two policemen to the front door. Train was still perched in his spot by the fireplace when she came back. Sherman was buttoning his uniform jacket when Karen asked him to stay for a few minutes. She needed to find out something, but she had not wanted to bring it up with Lieutenant Bettino there, showing teeth.
“I can offer you a drink,” she said. “In fact, I think I’ll join you.”
Sherman looked over at Train for a moment, then nodded.
“Oka . Scotch, if you have it.” They went out to the kitchen. Karen brought the admiral his scotch, Train a beer, and fixed herself a glass of white wine.
“That was a definite change of tone,” she said.
Sherman nodded. He looked dejected. “And that’s with me not a suspect,” he said. “I’d hate to see how they treat their suspects.
“Well, for one thing, you’d be meeting them on their turf, not out here on yours,” Train said. It was only the second time he had spoken all evening, and Sherman looked over at him. The admiral was getting that cornered look again., “Tell me, Mr. von Rensel, what do you think about the possibility that Galantz survived the Rung Sat, a Chinese jail in Saigon, and was able to make it back to the States?”
Train shrugged. “It’s possible, Admiral. gut notwithout some help, especially in Saigon.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning that there is a government agency that did some recruiting in that manner during the Vietnam War.
Think about it: A guy’s officially MIA, which is the same as dead in most people’s minds. He’s trained in the disciplines and techniques of Special Forces warfare. He’s field experienced. And if he survived the Rung Sat, he’s one tenacious sumbitch. Those are pretty formidable qualifications for the clandestine intelligence services.”
Sherman sipped his scotch, absorbing what Train had just said. One of the horses whickered from a back pasture, and another answered.
“I think I’m dead meat,” Sherman announced abruptly.
Karen remembered Train’s first reply when she told him that there was a SEAL after Sherman. The admiral’s face was grim. “A guy who doesn’t exist, and who is probably some kind of-what, assassination specialist or something? I might as well paint a target on my jacket and sit out on the front porch.
Train smiled then. “Think on the bright side, Admiral.
Guy like that, he could have done you a hundred times by now. He apparently wants to play with you first. That gives us time to find him.”
“Oh, that’s just wonderful,” Sherman said, but then he smiled himself “Sorry,” he said, “it’s just that I’m getting this boxed-in feeling.”
“Admiral,” Karen said after a moment. “Who was the young man up on the hill? At the cemetery in Annapolis?
Remember, you stood up right as the service was ending?”
Sherman’s smile vanished. He looked first at Train and then back at Karen. Which is when she remembered the kid on the motorcycle at Elizabeth Walsh’s service and realized that was where she had seen him before.
“Okay,” Sherman said, getting up and finishing his drink. “Okay. I think that was my son, Jack.”
Train raised his eyebrows at Karen, who was trying to comprehend what the admiral had just revealed.
“Your son?”
Sherman stuck his hands in his uniform jacket pockets and walked over to the nearest window, keeping his back to both of them. He looked out into the dark yard for a minute before replying. “Yes. My son, Jack, whom I haven’t seen in years, as I think I told you Thursday night.
Except twice in the past week-once at Elizabeth’s memorial service, then again at Galen’s funeral. It’s as if he’s come out of nowhere-to gloat over these two deaths.”
“Are you sure that’s who he is, Admiral?” Train asked.
“I was down there at Annapolis, hanging out in the crowd.
I saw him, but at a distance, and I never did see his face.”
“I’M pretty sure,” Sherman said, sitting back down.
“Very sure about the first time; pretty sure about the second time.
“Have you detected any other surveillance?.” Train asked. “Cars following you, people in the neighborhood who aren’t normally there?
Noises on the phone?”
Sherman laughed. “Since that letter? Hell yes. Everywhere I go. I see bad guys behind every parked car, under every bush.” Sherman’s mouth was compressed into a flat line. “Karen, I told you something about my marriage, and that my only son was … problematical, I guess I can say.”
“Yes, sir,” Karen said, remembering the conversation in the’restaurant.
“You indicated you two were
estranged.”
“Yes, basically since the divorce. But I didn’t tell you the whole story. I told you we were divorced back in 1981.
My wife got custody, naturally, because I was in the Navy and perpetually on the move. But I didn’t tell you what happened after that.
The bare bones of it is that Beth hit bottom three years afterward with the drinking. She lost custody of Jack. He ended up in foster care.”
“What finally happened to your ex-wife, Admiral?” Train asked gently. He had moved into a chair closer to Sherman.
The admiral rattled the remaining ice cubes in his glass for a moment.
“She shot herself,” he declared finally.
Karen blinked. “She shot herselp My God, that’s-that’s terrible.
Sherman gave her another bleak look, then looked away.
“Yes. That was terrible. And, of course, Jack never forgave me. As you might imagine, he felt it was all my fault.
Elizabeth told me many times that Jack was being unreasonable and just lashing out at me. Because by divorcing my wife, I had rejected him.” He was silent for a moment.
“I can rationalize a lot of it, but I can’t really blame him for how he feels. Anyway, he wrote me a letter after she shot herself. Told me in no uncertain terms how he felt about the whole thing. Never wanted to see me again. Said that one day he’d find a way to repay me.” Sherman got up again and went back to the window. He stood there for a minute, his back to them, rubbing the sides of his face with his hands.
“Admiral,” Train said. “Was there anything on or in the note YOU got last week that would positively link it to Galantz?”
Sherman turned around and thought for a moment. “He told me-that night back in San Diego-that he’d be back when I had something of value to lose,” he replied. “He said he would give me one warning. The note said Walsh was the first. So I just Assumed Galantz. But to answer your question, no, there was no discreet identifier. Either way.”
“Postmark?”
“I didn’t notice. I read the note, read it again, and then called Galen Schmidt. Went over there. Talked to him about it. Came back, did some paperwork, looked for the note and the envelope, and both were gone.”
“Paper quality? Was it stationery, or a notepad?”
“Cheap stuff-something you’d buy in a Seven-Eleven if you were in a real hurry. Lined. Five by seven.”
Train nodded. “Was there a stamp?”
“A stamp.” Sherman wrinkled his brow. “You know, now that you mention it, I don’t think so. I’ve been trying to conjure up an image of the postmark since you asked, but now I think. there was no postmark, because there was no stamp.” He looked up. “Which means he just put it through the slot.”
“Back to your son, Jack,” Train prompted. “You said you’d had no contact with him for several years. Longer if you discount that last letter. Did you know where he was during that time?”
“Jack’s last letter came from Quantico, you know, South of here. I assumed that’s where he landed when he was thrown out of the Marines, but I have no idea if he stayed there or moved elsewhere.”
“Was his letter addressed here-I mean, to your house in Mclean?”
“No. It came to my office in Bupers, during my second tour there.”
Train nodded again. “My point is that he either knew or found out where you were stationed. He was keeping track of where you were, even if you didn’t know where he was.”
Sherman began pacing around the edges of the counters, nodding to himself. “I guess that’s right,” he said. “I mean, if you don’t suspect you’re a target, and take no precautions, somebody could know just about everything about you.”
He stopped as the implication of that reasoning penetrated.
Karen could see him visibly slump.
She got up and went to him. “Admiral, we’re ranging pretty far afield here. I think where Train’s going with this is that finding Galantz might be next to impossible, especially if he is a professional operative. But maybe we should go find your son instead. Find out what he was doing at those two funerals.”
Sherman stood there, his eyes staring down at nothing.
“He was there to gloat. He was grinning at me down in Annapolis. That’s what made me stand up. He was grinning-there isn’t any other word for it.”
Train stood up.’ “That doesn’t mean he’s a murderer. He may have been secretly keeping track of you constantly for all these years. Sons who’ve become disaffected from their fathers often do that. He may well have taken some pleasure in your loss-“
“Losses.”
“Well, yes, Sir, losses. I think we need to find your son, talk to him.”
“Does ‘we’ have to include the cops?”
Train looked at Karen, who shook her head imperceptibly.
Implicating Sherman’s son would compound the whole mess in the eyes of the Navy hierarchy.
“No, sir, not yet, anyway,” Train replied, taking her lead.
“Let the cops work Galantz. I will, too, and we’ll feed them what we get. Meanwhile, I’ll try to track down 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. Sherma
n 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.
Sweepers Page 19
