“What about your deal with Mcnair?”
“So far, we’ve kept it. Sherman came to us, not the other way around.
But here’s the problem: Mcnair knows the kid’s involved. He may have told the Navy. If he has, what use does Galantz have for the kid now?
Jack’s served his -purpose-another nail in Sherman’s political coffin.”
“Which makes Jack expendable?”
“Yeah, I think so. I think he plans to kill the kid and heap final insult to injury. Things of value, remember? Galantz knows that, despite the estrangement between father and son, it would just about crush Sherman if his son became the final victim.”
Karen shivered in the predawn air. “And we’re the ones who told Mcnair.
I’m beginning to feel a little like a puppet, aren’t you?”
“And the son thinks Galantz is more of a father to him than his real father. He’ll never see it coming.”
“Wow. Like he said, years of planning.”
Train nodded. “I’m starting to regret our deal. This stinks. We ought to do something.”
Karen paused to watch the morning twilight play on the broad silvery expanse of the river. An alert catbird discovered them and began to scold from one of the oaks. “We have company,” Karen said, glancing back over her shoulder.
Train looked. Admiral Sherman was coming across the lawn. Karen quietly disengaged her hand from Train’s. Even from a distance in the dawn twilight, they could see that his face was haggard and his eyes unnaturally bright, almost as if he might have a, fever. He was wearing his navy blue uniform trousers, shirt, and black tie, but he had a beige civilian car coat on over his uniform. Karen felt Train tensing up as the admiral came across the wet grass. She felt a pang of disappointment that Train was still suspicious of this man.
“Good morning to both of you,” Sherman said, the fatigue audible in his voice. There were dark pouches under his normally youthful eyes.
“Hiroshi said you were out here. Mr. von Rensel, I hope you’ll forgive this intrusion.”
“Good morning, Admiral,” Karen replied, jumping in before Train could say anything. “I hope your night wasn’t as interesting as ours.”
Sherman stared down at the grass for a moment and then out over the river. “I’ve been driving,” he said. “All night.
Never done that before. Just got in the car and drove. All the way east to the north side of Baltimore, then back down to D.C. Trying to sort some things out.”
“How did you end up here?” Train asked.
“Mcnair,” Sherman said. He looked from one to the other. “We need to talk. I want to know what my son has to do with all this.”
“Did Mcnair tell you about our being attacked last night?”
“Only that you had been. That you would fill me in—on that and on Jack.
He said that you and I needed to talk.”
“Where were you last night, Admiral?” Karen asked as gently as she could, trying not to sound 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.