“How did she handle it?” she asked.
“She didn’t. Jack defeated her. He was wary of me, and he learned not to push things when I was around. But he just plain defeated her. I wasn’t much help. I think I lost respect for her because this kid had her number. And, of course, because of the drinking. Anyway, we went off to our first shore-duty tour, up at the graduate school in Monterey. Other guys took advantage of graduate school to get reacquainted with their wives after a couple of sea-duty tours. I was first in my class instead.
I simply took advantage. I think that was when Beth lost hope.”
“Surely you’re being a little hard on yourself, aren’t you?
Most divorce stories I’ve listened to have two sides.”
“Perhaps, but I’ve had years to think about it. Upshot was that after three more assignments, it all finally came apart. We were divorced in 198 1, when I was enroute to my first ship command. Jack was almost fifteen, and solidly hooked up with the teenaged hoods in school. D student.
Not stupid, mind you, just rebellious, uncommunicative, cigarettes, then dope. Beth was sustaining herself on near y a bottle of vodka a day. I had to be sent home from the Mediterranean one time to straighten things out when the neighbors got the social workers into it. Not the sort of thing up-and-coming commanders in the Navy are supposed to have to deal with.”
“What happened to Jack?”
“He bummed his way through high’school, graduated, and then got picked up for some low-level stealing with his gang. Because Jack was the youngest, he was offered a shot at the county’s youthful offenders boot-camp program. It was a brand-new thing back then, but, amazingly, Jack took to it. They contacted me toward the end of his program and asked if I could pull some strings, maybe get him into one of the services. The Marines, of all people, took him.”’ “Are you in touch with him nowadays?”
After a slight hesitation, he said no, prompting Karen to wonder what he was holding back.
“No,” he repeated. “Not since he was in Marine boot camp. He told me in the one and only letter I ever got from him after the divorce that he had been selected for the Marine recon battalion-that’s their Special Forces group. But then something happened in his third year, and he apparently was discharged early. I never found out what it was. Jack and I have had no contact since then. I’m sure I’m not the guy in his life’s story.”
“How do you feel about that now?” she asked, looking at him over the rim of her wineglass.
“Sad, I guess. He is my son. I feel a duty to love him.
But I still don’t like him.”
“People can change. Have you ever tried to find him?”
Another moment of hesitation. Some evasion there. But it was such a personal and painful story, she was ready to forgive any omissions.
“For my own sanity, I have to consider it ancient history,” he said.
“Long story short, these experiences are what conditioned my response to Elizabeth’s marriage overtures. I know now that the whole mess was mostly my fault-for being gone, for being too centered on my career.
The career worked; the marriage didn’t. Now I know what I do best.”
She cringed mentally at the bitterness in his voice and decided not to say anything for a minute. When she did, she was being very careful. “I think,” she said, “that most of us get one free shot at the love-and-marriage prize. You had a wife and child, but the marriage did not succeed. I had a good marriage for almost ten years, or at least I thought it was good, but then he just .’.. died. I never did get to play mommy. I’ve been up and down the emotional hill over that, but the reality is, that chapter of my life is simply closed.
That’s the main reason I’m getting out of the Navy on twenty.
“What do you mean, at least you thought it was good?”
Damn, she thought. I didn’t mean to let that slip out. “I told you that Frank died in the lobby of a hotel down in Washington. It was a residential hotel. I could never get a satisfactory answer from anyone who was close to him in the office as to why he had been there. In fact, the harder I tried, the quicker the shields went up. His junior partner finally told me just to leave it alone, for my sake more than anything else.”
“Wow. And you had no idea?”
“None whatsoever. I’ve often wondered if I simply got too complacent. I know I’m a reasonably attractive woman.
But Frank was wealthy and influential, if not downright powerful in the energy-lobbying industry. You know Washington. What is it, seven eligible females for every one male? Power is stimulating.”
It was his turn to hold his tongue. But then he smiled at her. “You are more than just reasonably attractive, Commander. Notice I used your rank, so that was an official observation, not personal.”
She smiled back at him and there was an awkward pause.
“So what’s next for you?” he asked, opening the way for her to talk about something else. She realized then how smoothly he had steered her off his own story.
“I have no idea. Frank made a lot of money as a lobbyist, so I’m financially secure. Once my release from active duty comes around, I’m probably going to close up the house in Great Falls and do some traveling. See what happens next, I guess. If I was twenty-one, I’d probably be trying to plan everything out. Now I’m just going to roll with it, see what happens.”
“Sounds very sane, Karen. But be careful. What might happen next is the male version of an Elizabeth Walsh will move into your life. That’s one thing I’ve learned: Life doesn’t just leave you alone just because you feel like sitting next few dances.” He stopped. “Christ. I can’t be out the lieve Elizabeth is gone. I miss her.” He paused to 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.