Sherman got up, then sat down again, his hands flailing a little bit, as if he still couldn’t grasp it. “Elizabeth and I dated for nearly three years,” he said. “I’m divorced, you know. Well, hell, of course you don’t know.”
Carpenter nodded encouragingly. He felt like a clod for just dropping the bomb on this poor guy.
“But we saw each other in a pretty meaningful way until about six months ago. We-she-finally realized that our relationship wasn’t going where she wanted it to go. She’s a bright, attractive woman. She wanted to get married.”
“Ah. And you did not, I take it.”
“Right, sir. First time around cured me of that. And that’s something I had told her from the very start. Anyway, we agreed to part company.
Only fair thing to do, the way I saw it. But we missed each other. From time to time, we got together. We did well together. But the long-term relationship essentially was over. Now we’re just good friends, as they say. And I knew nothing about any insurance policy.
Carpenter waited.
“I mean, I guess we were just good friends. Hell, this is terrible.” He put his hands up to his face and rubbed his cheeks.
Carpenter got up and went over to the window, giving Sherman a minute to compose himself Then he came back and sat down.
“What he wanted to do is to meet with you,” he said.
“Informally. I told him I would arrange it, but only if I could be present. I also told him I would shut the meeting off if it started to look like anything but a friendly chat. I recommend you agree to this, and that we do it soon, like tomorrow. You understand that they don’t have to do it this way, right? They could just call you downtown or wherever the cops are headquartered in Fairfax County. But I think they’re actually trying to be discreet. Since you’re a flag officer, that is.”
Sherman nodded, although it was obvious that his thoughts were spiraling elsewhere.
“So why don’t I have my office coordinate with your office on the calendars, and then we’ll get this over and done with, okay?”
“Yes, of course,” Sherman said. “And I appreciate your intervention, Admiral.”
Carpenter nodded and stood up. Sherman remained seated until he realized the meeting was over. He stood up as well.
“I’m sorry for your loss, Admiral,” Carpenter said. “And I apologize for just dropping a bomb Re that.” Sherman nodded but said nothing as he left.
Carpenter scanned Sherman’s bio again while he waited for Sherman to get clear of his outer office. Something about the Vietnam assignment had ticked his memory, but he could not quite put his finger on it. He buzzed for Mccarty, who came in with his ever-present notebook at the ready.
“Dan, get back to that cop and set up a meeting for tomorrow. Coordinate with Sherman’s office. Plan for thirty minutes maximum. He and the woman were close, by the way. He didn’t know anything about this.’Took the wind right out of his sails.”
“He knew her and didn’t know the woman had died?
Damn. I guess I should have checked.”
Carpenter was silent just long enough to let his EA know that he agreed with that observation. “Yeah, well, those things happen,” he said finally. “He agreeing -away to talk to the cops. Didn’t seem to care about them, or the insurance business. More upset at what had happened to the woman. Said he was divorced and that they’d been dating for a couple of years and then broke it off, friendly like.”
Carpenter stood and gathered up his cap and briefcase.. “Let me get my hat and I’ll walk down the hall with you,” Mccarty said. “I assume you’re going to handle this one personally?”
That mental twitch about the bio bothered Carpenter.
“Yes, I think so. For now, anyway.”
“Yes, sir. Have you briefed the CNO on this issue?”
They walked through the outer office and into the corridor before Carpenter, not wanting to talk about this in front of the staff yeomen, replied. “No. Not yet. I want to see how this meeting develops. If it’s a firefly, the CNO doesn’t need to be bothered. If there’s something to it, we’ll need more facts before I approach the throne. Which reminds me. I’d like to have one of our staff attorneys present. Just in case that cop wasn’t telling the whole truth about the purpose of this little sdance. Like if it turns out Sherman needs a lawyer. I’d like to have someone there who can be in on it from the git-go.”
Mccarty had his notebook out again. “Somebody who could defend him? Or someone who will hold his hand and keep us in the loop at the same time?”
Carpenter smiled the way he did when his aides read his thoughts with such facility. “The latter,” he said. “And somebody who is perhaps underemployed at the moment.”
Mccarty smiled. “Oh-ho. A certain lady commander perhaps,” he said as they went down the stairs to the second floor.
“As always, you’re way ahead of me, Dan,” Carpenter said, laughing now.
Even the normally taciturn Mccarty managed a brief smile before he remembered something else. “Oh, Admiral, one last scheduling matter for tomorrow. Warren Beasely’s relief has reported-from NIS Carpenter stopped as they reached the second-floor landing leading into the A-ring. “This the guy we heard about?
Von something?”
“Yes, sir. A civilian named von Rensel. Wait till you see this guy. He’s huge.”
“He’s not a fat guy, is he?”
“No, sir. Just big. Not tall, either. But really big. He scared Chief O’Brien when he showed up this morning.
Didn’t say anything, just stood there at the chief’s desk until she turned around. I thought O’Brien was gonna faint.”
“Beasely was such a damn wimp,” Carpenter said. “This guy look like a player?”
“Yes, sir, I’d definitely say so. And in all fairness, Beasely was not a well man.”
Yeah, I know, but the net result was that I couldn’t use him the way I wanted to. Okay. Put this von Rensel on my calendar. And get the word to the lady commander, as you call her.”
“Yes, sir, I’ll put in a call this evening. I’m assuming you just want her there to observe the meeting?”
Mccarty asked. “Karen Lawrence is an investigations specialist, not an investigator.” Carpenter gave his EA a sideways look, inspiring Mccarty to backpedal a bit.
“I mean, I know she’s very good at what she does,” he added hastily.
“But her specialty is reviewing other people’s work, not doing investigations herself. Unless-“
“Unless I can get her interested in something long enough for her to pull her damn request for retirement papers,” Carpenter said.
Mccarty shook his head at that prospect. Comdr. Karen Lawrence was an expert lawyer who reviewed Navy field investigation reports to see if they had been conducted thoroughly, properly, and effectively. She was very, very good at it, having that rare ability to sense from the field reports when an investigation had missed something crucial, either because the field investigator was less than competent or because local command authorities were trying to hide something. The problem was that her husband, a wealthy Washington lobbyist, had died very unexpectedly of a heart attack about a year ago. Thereafter, she had simply lost interest in what had been shaping up as a brilliant career in the JAG Corps. Four months ago, she had put her papers in to take retirement on twenty. Admiral Carpenter wanted very much to change her mind about getting out, but he had had no luck at all in persuading her.
“I mean, I understand what she’s probably going through,” Carpenter said. “But as the JAG, I have to take the Navy’s point of view, not hers. With all these sexual harassment cases and the even bigger problem of female integration, I need to keep any lady lawyer who’s as sharp as she is. “