“That was two weeks before we shipped out. I never knew she sold her paintings to the man in Santa Barbara until that night. I never had anything to do with the painting or selling of the paintings. It came as a total shock to me that she was doing this. We both knew it was against the law. Fraud, I would imagine it would be. That’s about it.”
Murdock looked at the woman. “Miss Jefferson, doesn’t the district attorney’s office insist on a good deal of evidence against a person before they issue an arrest warrant?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t see how you could possibly have such evidence against my squad member,” Murdock said. “Do you?”
“When the warrant was first issued, we had what we believed was enough evidence for the document.” She looked at Bradford, then back at Murdock. “Since that time, the police have done considerable backgrounding on Xenia, and we have talked to the other artists working and displaying their art at the showroom. We have determined that one of the others in fact did know that Xenia was copying old masters and selling them through a contact in Santa Barbara. They told us yesterday that they were sure that Mr. Bradford did not even know about this trade, and they were absolutely positive that he had nothing to do with the painting or selling of the pictures.”
“We tracked down Xenia when she lived in Sedona, Arizona,” Detective Jones said. “This morning we received back information that Xenia had two outstanding warrants in Sedona. One for defrauding an innkeeper. She skipped out on over a thousand dollars in back rent. The second was for copying and selling old-master paintings.”
The assistant district attorney stood. “Gentlemen, we are withdrawing the arrest warrant, and clearing any record there may have been of it. We find Mr. Bradford has committed no crime and he is free to go.”
“HoooRah!” Bill Bradford bellowed.
The three civilians turned and walked quickly out of the room.
The Navy men stood and grinned, and all shook Bradford’s hand. Then Price frowned. “Bradford, that picture of the two seagulls and the fishing boat. Is that for sale?”
“Oh, you bet. All of my paintings are for sale.”
“How much is that one?”
“Unmounted, it’s a hundred and twenty-five. But for you I’ll put it in a good frame and you can pick it up here at the commander’s office, if that’s all right with him.”
Price took out his billfold and counted out 130 dollars. “Forget the frame, Bradford, I’ll take it as is. I have exactly the right spot for it in my den and it needs a special frame.”
Price went to his car, and Murdock and Bradford walked back to the Third Platoon office. Bradford grinned.
“Hey, you look happy,” Murdock said.
“Haven’t felt this good since I sold my first painting,” he said. “Have a hundred and thirty to go on the rent. Now we need another painter to fill in the slot. Doesn’t look like Xenia’s gonna be there for a while.”
“I’d say three to five,” Murdock said.
“When’s the fish fry?” Bradford asked.
“Fish fry?”
“Sure, we have one after every hairy mission.”
“No fishing right now, let’s make it a hamburger burn, Saturday night. I’ll get the Senior Chief organizing it. Bring your own burgers. I’ve got everything else.”
“Lots of beer, Skipper, I feel like lots of beer.”
In the office, Murdock snorted when he saw DeWitt behind the desk.
“Couldn’t stay away?”
“Hell, somebody has to mind the store. We’ve got a killer schedule set up for tomorrow. Senior Chief is putting together the hamburger feed cookout at your place for Saturday night, and then we have six replacement candidates coming in Monday for interviews. I wouldn’t miss that.”
DeWitt moved, and Murdock dropped into the chair. “Is that all? Nothing important going on? Like how is the arm doing? What is Milly up to, and when are you going to have your first kid?”
DeWitt looked up sharply. “Milly been talking to you?”
“No, just probing. Ardith’s here. Maybe we can get together Sunday at your place and do something.”
“Yeah, sounds good. Whatever happened to those new rebreathers we were going to get in from England with the computer that automatically feeds the right air mixture into the system? The ones we can dive as deep as we want with and still have the right mix. Did we order them?”
“Give Stroh a call. That’s his baby.”
“Yeah, I will,” Ed said. “Senior Chief, get in here, we got work to do.”
Murdock settled back. Yes, the good old home base. Now if Don Stroh and the CIA just gave him two months of easy time to train and work in two new men, he’d be happy. The phone rang. He picked it up.
“Third Platoon, Murdock.”
“How did it go with Bradford?” Ardith asked.
“Let me tell you about that,” Murdock said. He kicked his feet up on the desk and leaned back in the chair and grinned. Oh, yeah, it didn’t get much better than this.
SEAL TALK
MILITARY GLOSSARY
Aalvin: Small U.S. two-man submarine.
Admin: Short for administration.
Aegis: Advanced Naval air defense radar system.
AH-1W Super Cobra: Has M179 undernose turret with 20mm Gatling gun.
AK-47: 7.63-round Russian Kalashnikov automatic rifle. Most widely used assault rifle in the world.
AK-74: New, improved version of the Kalashnikov. Fires the 5 .45mm round. Has 30-round magazine. Rate of fire: 600 rounds per minute. Many slight variations made for many different nations.
AN/PRC-117D: Radio, also called SATCOM. Works with Milstar satellite in 22,300-mile equatorial orbit for instant worldwide radio, voice, or video communications. Size: 15 inches high, 3 inches wide, 3 inches deep. Weighs 15 pounds. Microphone and voice output. Has encrypter, capable of burst transmissions of less than a second.
AN/PUS-7: Night Vision Goggles. Weighs 1.5 pounds.
ANVIS-6: Night Vision Goggles on air crewmen’s helmets.
APC: Armored Personnel Carrier.
ASROC: Nuclear-tipped antisubmarine rocket torpedoes launched by Navy ships.
Assault Vest: Combat vest with full loadouts of ammo, gear.
ASW: Anti-Submarine Warfare.
Attack Board: Molded plastic with two handgrips with bubble compass on it. Also depth gauge and Cyalume chemical lights with twist knob to regulate amount of light. Used for underwater guidance on long swim.
Aurora: Air Force recon plane. Can circle at 90,000 feet. Can’t be seen or heard from ground. Used for thermal imaging.
AWACS: Airborne Warning And Control System. Radar units in high-flying aircraft to scan for planes at any altitude out to 200 miles. Controls air-to-air engagements with enemy forces. Planes have a mass of communication and electronic equipment.
Balaclavas: Headgear worn by some SEALs.
Bent Spear: Less serious nuclear violation of safety.
BKA, Bundeskriminant: Germany’s federal investigation unit.
Black Talon: Lethal hollow-point ammunition made by Winchester. Outlawed some places.
Blivet: A collapsible fuel container. SEALs sometimes use it.