::  Murder In Baltimore  ::

Chapter Nine

AJ had just pulled up to the police station and was sitting there trying to form a plan on how to approach the situation of the crime scene photos. He weighed his options carefully. One, he could go directly to Stark and accuse him of misconduct, but Stark could just tell him he hadn’t known that he hadn’t received the photos. Two, he could approach Detective O’Brien and ask her why she had omitted the crime scene photos. For some reason that option did not appeal to him at the moment. He still felt that she personally had betrayed him and he couldn’t figure out why he felt that way. Three, he could approach Anderson, point out that there must have been a mistake and they had somehow left out the photos. All he knew for certain was that he did not want to confront Grayson. The man had major problems, and AJ didn’t have time to explore them. He had just decided on the only course of action that made sense and had opened door into the cold Baltimore afternoon, when his cell phone chirped. Grabbing his briefcase in one hand and the phone in the other, he got out and used his hip to close the Expedition’s door. "Chegwidden."

"Admiral, its MacKenzie, Sir." The connection was not the best and he figured it had to do with the fact that he was in a police station parking lot, with all of the attendant communication devices and dishes associated with such a place.

"I can barely hear you Mac, what have you got for me?" AJ shouted into the phone.

As he walked up the steps he was barely able to hear her response. "Sir, I have located two of the three men that Galindez says he was with. One of them is a guard at the Navy offices downtown and the other is stationed out at Annapolis. I’m still looking for Master Sergeant London."

AJ paused at the top of the stairs afraid to go inside for fear of losing the connection entirely. He turned his back into the wind and asked, "Have you talked to either one of them yet?"

"No sir, do you want me to or should I set a meeting?"

"Let me get back to you on that, Colonel, after I have talked to Galindez this afternoon. I have another problem that I have to deal with, Mr. Webb will be stopping by sometime, let him into my office will you?"

Just then a burst of static finally killed the connect and AJ didn’t hear Sarah’s reply of, "He’s already here sir."

AJ muttered a mild curse and turned to open the door, when he saw that it was already being held open for him by Detective O’Brien. The look that he gave her had been known to make grown SeALs rethink their career choice, but she had merely smiled at him benignly and waited for him to proceed her into the station house. "What brings you here this afternoon Admiral Chegwidden, I would have thought you would be at the lockup talking to your client." She said this softly and AJ tried to gauge the tone of her words, but could read nothing into her words.

"I would have gone directly to the lockup, but you forgot to give me the entire file yesterday, didn’t you, Detective O’Brien?" he could not keep the anger from his voice.

She raised her eyebrow at him and led him up the stairs. "I’m not quite sure what you mean, Admiral, I gave you the file that I was told to give you. If there is a problem, may I suggest you talk to Lieutenant Anderson. I’m pretty sure he is in his office. Of course, you could asked Detective Grayson." This last statement brought a look to her face that AJ couldn’t decipher, but it was gone so swiftly that he couldn’t be sure that he really saw it.

He eyed her for a moment and replied, "I think I will talk to Lt. Anderson if you could arrange it."

She let her mouth quirk up just a fraction and said, "Have a seat." Indicating the chair next to what was obviously her desk. "I’ll go in and see if he will see you now."

As she walked back to end of the room towards a door marked "Lieutenant" in black letters, AJ allowed his eyes to follow her. He found that he was concentrating on her firm bottom and mentally pulled himself up short with the thought, Christ man, get a grip, you’d think you had never seen a fine ass before. She is probably laughing at you right now, thinking that they pulled a fast one on you. Even as he thought this, he had a feeling he was way off base. She just didn’t strike him as the type to do anything other than what she was ordered to do. That train of thought brought another picture to his mind and he quickly suppressed it with a sigh.

He watched her knock on the door, open it, enter and close the door behind her. She was gone only a minute, when the door opened up and AJ saw the lieutenant himself standing in the doorway, scanning the room for someone. He let his eyes rest on AJ for a moment then motioned for him to come into his office.

As AJ rose from the chair, Anderson spoke softly to another detective who shrugged in the negative and then quickly rose and left the room when Anderson very audibly said, "Then find him."

Anderson held the door open for AJ. As he entered the room he noted that the walls were very Spartan, only the obligatory political pictures graced the walls and then AJ noticed the boxes on the floor. He looked curiously at Lieutenant Anderson and raised his eyebrow in question? Anderson looked at him for a moment before answering somewhat gruffly, "Yes Admiral, I just got my promotion, and I just got this assignment and yes, I really want to make sure than Galindez pays for what he did. But," here he forcefully jabbed a finger in AJ’s direction, "that doesn’t mean that I need to keep evidence or information from you. I am trying to find out why the photos were not in the original case file. Or why Detective O’Brien only pulled copies of those six pictures." Right before he finished they all turned as they heard a knock at the door. "Enter" Anderson snapped.

The door opened to reveal the detective that had scurried off to "find him." The man cleared his throat and said, "Sir, the desk sergeant said Grayson called in sick today."

Anderson’s tone was very calm, but AJ recognized it as one he used whenever one of his people did something so wrong that he couldn’t put into words his anger. "Excuse me, Detective Darnell, but it is now 1:00 o’clock is it not?" At the man’s gulp and nod the very angry Anderson continued, "Did I miss something, have the regs changed? I do believe that I am supposed to be informed when one of my people call off." Darnell could only nod nervously and tried but was not successful in keeping in glance from Detective O’Brien. Both AJ and Anderson caught the glance and Anderson whirled on Grayson’s young partner. "You knew he had called in sick?"

O’Brien’s embarrassment was evident but she tried vainly put the best spin on the situation that she could, "Yes sir, he called me around 8:00 o’clock as I was leaving my apartment. He said that he was going to call you right after. Sir, I really thought you knew."

Anderson looked back and forth between his two detectives and picked up his phone and dialed a four-digit number, "Renaldi? It’s Anderson upstairs. What time did Grayson call in this morning? Uh-huh. So why didn’t you tell me when I came in? I see, yeah Renaldi, I’m sure that there is a phone message written down there, but Renaldi, you want to tell me why there is no voice mail message? Yeah, uhhuh, when you go on break this afternoon, come up and see me okay Renaldi." AJ kept the smile from his face but realized that Renaldi would learn an important lesson this afternoon.

As Anderson hung up the phone, he spared AJ a quick glance before saying, "That’s all Darnell, try Grayson at home though will you, I want to talk to him ASAP." Darnell nodded and closed the door behind him. "Now Detective O’Brien, do you have extra copies of the actual crime scene?" Anderson asked the redhead quietly. O’Brien only shook her head in the negative. "I see, well do you know where the originals are?"

"Our originals sir, or the forensic originals?" O’Brien managed to keep her voice equally calm and this impressed AJ. He would have expected her to be upset at having to take the brunt of her partner’s obvious screw up.

Anderson stared at her long and hard, but her gaze never wavered. He was no longer trying to conceal his anger or his frustration with the entire situation and he bit off, "Our case file is not complete O’Brien and that is not acceptable. Where are OUR COPIES."

O’Brien had the good sense to finally blush and lower her eyes. "I think that Grayson took them home with him last night to study. He wanted to make sure that we didn’t miss anything. Do you want me to go get them sir? I could run over to his apartment. I could take Admiral Chegwidden with me." At this last she looked at the towering navel officer. AJ saw that same look flicker across her face but he still couldn’t pin it down.

He looked at Anderson and asked, "Where does he live?"

Anderson closed his eyes and said, "Too far. Too far if you want to get there get the file, get back here, make copies and still get in to see your client." The man sighed deeply and picked up the phone again. This time he dialed a seven-digit number and when the call was answered he said, "May I speak with Andy Robins please." He waited while Robins was found. "Andy, hey. It’s Steve Anderson. Yeah, I’m moving in. Yeah it’s a righteous bust. Funny you should mention that. It seems that we only have one copy of the photos of the actual crime scene. Yeah, Andy I know we are supposed to. Look Andy I need a favor. I am sending the defense counsel down there with O’Brien." Anderson quickly glanced at the young detective and blushed. "Yeah, sure, if you say so Andy." It didn’t take much for both O’Brien and Chegwidden to figure out that Robins had made an inappropriate remark about the woman. O’Brien sighed and decided to study the ceiling. AJ tried hard to suppress a flash of anger at the mysterious Andy Robins. After the Tailhook scandal the Navy had tried valiantly to foster an atmosphere of respect for all of its personnel. Sometimes they failed and occasionally they failed miserably, but AJ personally had never put up with it and it irked him that Anderson let the remark slide, even if he did need a favor. "Please Andy, would you have one of your people make an extra set and I will have O’Brien make the appropriate copies and give them to the Admiral. What? Yes Andy a real Admiral. Yeah well I wouldn’t know about that. You will? Thanks." Anderson hung up the phone looked Chegwidden. "Seems you or at least the Navy has a fan at forensics. Lieutenant Robins will have a copy ready for you." Anderson held out his hand to AJ who took it immediately. Even though Anderson seemed to believe Galindez really did murder Sherilee Cloud, AJ couldn’t hold it against him. He liked the man and knew under different circumstances that they could have been friends.

He turned to leave the office, when he heard a soft voice, "Do you want to meet me there Admiral, or can I hitch a ride." He turned in surprise at the young woman and thought that she might be trying to get out of getting her ass chewed by her commanding officer, when Anderson said,

"Yeah, O’Brien go with him, you can show him the easiest way, and you can pickup our second set of pictures while you are there. I don’t want them to leave the office this time, is that understood." He said it in such a way that AJ knew he was more mad at Grayson for putting his partner in such a position than he was at O’Brien.

"How will you get back? The lock up is in the opposite direction and I don’t have time to run you back." AJ said abruptly.

She bristled at his tone, but said, "There are always guys going back and forth, I can hitch a ride."

AJ nodded, and held the door open for her, followed her out to the main office, closing it behind him. "Let me grab my coat," she said.

AJ followed her down the steps and out the door, placing his hand at the small of her back to lead her through. I hate when men do that usually, why do I like it when he does it? Damn woman, get a grip. She looked up into his face as they stood in the blowing November wind. "This way." AJ indicated where his car was parked. They rushed to the Expedition and he unlocked her door for her and helped her into the seat. At this last courtesy she leveled an amused look that said, ‘you’re pushing your luck here’ and AJ had the sense to blush as he hurried around to his side of the SUV. He got in and started the engine and finally looked at her and said, "What’s the best way to get there at this time of day?"

"Left out of the parking lot, down 3 blocks, right on 12^th, down 2 more blocks then there is an alley that we can use and we will be right at the back parking lot." Thinking of something she grinned at him and said, "I usually walk it in the summer."

As AJ waited for a break in the traffic, he looked over at her and asked, "And just how long have you been assigned to homicide?" Unfortunately, his tone left no doubt that he thought she was too young to be doing the job.

"Why, you think I’m sixteen or something?" She responded with a huff. "You know it’s not my fault that I look like a teenager at my age. Of course, that’s what got me into plain clothes, I looked so young they put me into vice almost right out the academy. A couple of good busts later, they gave me my shield. As soon as I could I got out of vice and…" Her agitation was evident to AJ and he figured he had hit on a sore spot and had better diffuse the situation. So he cut her off with,

"Wow, hold on. All I asked how long have you been assigned to homicide, not your entire service record, I’m sure that you earned every promotion." When she didn’t answer immediately, he stole another quick glance at her, even though traffic at 1400 hours in Baltimore was already starting to tighten up. What he saw surprised him. She didn’t look mad at all; in fact she looked somewhat amused. Unsure of this sudden shift in emotion he prodded, "So, are you going to tell me?"

In a subdued voice she finally answered, "Two months. This is my first assignment in homicide." AJ was finally making the right hand turn onto 12^th so he figured he could get a quick look at her face and gauge her emotion at this admission. He found himself staring straight into her incredible green eyes. He could have sworn an arch of electricity jumped between before she turned to look out the window. He did see the slow flush spread up her neck until it reached her ears. Dear God Chegwidden what is happening here.

"Just up ahead is the alley." She said in a very small voice. After he had navigated the narrow passage, she continued, "If you pull up in the spot that’s marked ‘authorized vehicles only’ I’ll clear it with the uniform at the door." She glanced over at him again and allowed him a small smile. When they got out of the car, they were met by an officer who looked closely at O’Brien’s shield and when she said, "We’ll only be a minute" nodded and motioned them up the steps.

::  Chapter 10  ::

It was after 1500 hours before Victor Galindez finally got the word that he had another visitor and that this time it "was his lawyer." Victor was so bored that he would have probably welcomed Grayson just to have someone to talk to. The newcomer had not moved much in his cell and hadn’t said a word since the shower room. Even Jimmy across the way seemed subdued after their run in. So Victor had laid there from breakfast at 0700 to lunch at 1130 to 1500 when he got the word to "get up and out here." He followed the guard into a different room this time. There was a table and two chairs. Chegwidden was sitting in one watching a guard thumb through two thick books before placing them on the table and advising the Admiral not to touch them again. As the guard turned he said to Galindez, "Your lawyer brought you reading material. I’ve checked them but if he touches them before you leave here they both go in the garbage, understand?"

Galindez nodded and looked at the covers of the two books and could have wept. One of the latest Tom Clancy novel and the other Stephen King’s. He looked at AJ and said, "Thank you, I thought I was going to go crazy with nothing to do but lay there and think about, well you know." His voice faltered.

AJ cleared his throat and was pleased that he had thought to stop at the small bookstore he had seen and buy them for Galindez. He watched Galindez move the books to the side and then sit down.

Victor clasped his hands in front of him and waited for the Admiral to say something.

AJ couldn’t help it, he had to ask, "How did it go last night?"

Galindez looked at him and shrugged, "Okay. No real problems," he hesitated and then continued in a low voice, "a new guy showed up really early this morning. Big guy, maybe 6’6" looks like a linebacker." He grinned, "he looks like two linebackers. African-American, short cropped hair and looks like he can take care of himself, but doesn’t look like he has been too many fights if you get my meaning sir."

AJ looked at him for a moment and finally asked, "So you think he’s a plant? Why? I mean Gunny, I have read the reports. I have seen the evidence that they have collected. We are going to have to come up with a plan to find out who framed you and how because this is what they have. They have a record of your blood type from your last run-in with them; it matches the semen on the body. They also have hair samples that match those they found at the scene. They have witnesses that put you on Olive Street at the time of the murder." AJ paused for breath and to let everything sink in.

Galindez looked at him in puzzlement, "Olive Street, Sir? Why Olive Street? The house that she lived in was in Barre Circle. Scott Street I think. Olive Street seems a little dicey for Sherilee, Sir. She always liked the better neighborhoods and nicer restaurants."

AJ looked at the Marine, he started to get excited. "Do you remember the exact address? The one on Scott?"

Galindez looked at his hands still clasped in front of him. "No sir, I could probably find it, maybe, if I had to."

AJ asked desperately, "Well do you remember any detail of the house?"

Galindez closed his eyes and tried to remember, "Well it was brick." AJ’s snort made him pause. "Yes sir, I know they are all brick. It was two maybe three houses down from one of the parks, but I don’t remember which one." He looked brightly for a moment, "It did have a interesting garden, it had one of those stone gargoyles in the center of the garden; one with wings."

AJ’s sigh was audible. His earlier enthusiasm had diminished somewhat. "When was the last time you were on Olive Street?"

Galindez thought for a minute and said, "Sir I don’t know that I have ever been on Olive Street. South Baltimore yeah, I mean that’s were a lot of the bars are but Olive Street? I don’t remember?"

"Sergeant, exactly what do you remember about last Saturday?" AJ tried very hard not to sound completely depressed but after he had gotten the true crime scene photos from the forensics team, he found it hard. As Galindez pondered the question, AJ allowed his thoughts to his conversation earlier with Lieutenant Robins. Andy Robins was around AJ’s age and AJ found out that he was also a thirty year retiree from the Navy, hence his eagerness to cooperate. He had met them at the top of the stairs leading to the labs.

"Admiral Chegwidden, it’s a pleasure sir." Grasping AJ’s hand, and leading him into his office, he had barely spared O’Brien a glance. When she started to follow them into his office, he had said, "That’s okay Detective, I will give the Admiral his copies." He looked over the top of his glasses and the woman and said, "I made another copy for your office. Don’t lose this set. Oh and you can tell Anderson he owes me." With that he had closed the door and AJ was forced to endure 30 minutes of walking down a watery memory lane. But in the end he had gotten his crime scene pictures as well as a list of items taken to the lab for detailed study. He studied them for a few minutes before leaving to go to the lockup. What he saw as he sat in his car didn’t really clear up anything, but he figured there had to be something there; why else would he have gotten the e-mail. Galindez had finally cleared his voice bringing AJ back to the present.

"Sorry sir," he said when he had the man’s attention again, "I’ve had nothing to do but run it over in my head and I just can’t remember anything.

"What is the last thing you do remember?" AJ was beginning to think that his trip down here was a waste of time except for bring Galindez the books.

"Sir, the last thing that I remember was going into a bar, I don’t remember which one and I remember walking up to the bar and ordering a beer." Galindez had squeezed his eyes shut in memory. "I was already really drunk by then and I think I remember a blond, but I’m not sure if it was then or earlier or later." He shrugged and frowned and re-opened his eyes. "Sorry sir, did you talk to my Hanson, Powers, or London yet?"

"No Sergeant, Colonel MacKenzie is tracking them down. I will see them tonight before I go home." AJ reached down and grabbed his briefcase and rose. The guard outside the window went and opened the door and motioned for Galindez to leave first. When the guard came back, he led AJ back outside the secured area and left him to find his way out.

::  Chapter 11  ::

AJ sat in his SUV allowing it to warm up before starting back for DC. He looked at the clock on the dashboard and groaned. 1700 hours, it would take him at least two hours to get back to Falls Church. He knew he had to go in though. The paperwork would be impossible if he didn’t at least look at it tonight. He sighed, pulled out on to the street and once he was on 95 nicely stuck in traffic he speed dialed the office. He knew that Mac would still be there and wasn’t surprised when Tiner answered. "What have you got for me Tiner?"

"Good afternoon Admiral. Not much, Colonel MacKenzie is handling everything new that has come in. There’s a bunch of stuff on your desk ready for your review and signature. Oh and sir," Tiner’s voice dropped and he almost whispered, "Mr. Webb stopped by, Colonel MacKenzie let him into your office. But, she stayed with him the whole time, Sir."

<<<Indeed Mr. Tiner>>> "Anything else?" was all the comment AJ made.

"No Sir, Colonel MacKenzie said to get her has soon as you called." Tiner was eager to talk with the Admiral but knew that now was not the time.

"Then put her on Tiner." AJ shook his head in exasperation.

The next thing AJ heard was a breathless, "Admiral?"

"What’s wrong Colonel? You sound out of breath." AJ prayed that the elevators hadn’t gone out again.

"Nothing sir. I was just showing Kate where to put her stuff and then I had to run downstairs for a second. The guy is working on the elevators again." She was amused by the groan she heard but continued, "I’ve got a lot of information, do you want it now or when you get here?"

AJ looked at the slow moving traffic on either side of him and responded dryly, "Well Colonel, it’s not like I have to watch out for the cars speeding around me or anything. I think I can handle a hands-free conversation. Did you hear from Rabb?"

"Yes Sir, but he is still out interviewing people and he said he wanted to stay late tonight to talk to some of the bartenders that Sherilee might have known. He did say that she left Taos almost three years ago and that not a lot of people still remember her." When Sarah paused AJ cut in with,

"Galindez said he had a cousin named Manuel and that Manuel’s younger brother Caesar was there the night that Galindez walked away from Sherilee. When Rabb checks in again, have him see if he can track him down. I don’t have the last name, but maybe there’s something in the Gunny’s personnel record. What about the three friends from Saturday night?"

"I finally got a hold of London sir, he’s stationed at Quantico. I told all three Marines to make themselves available tonight. I thought we could have them come here Sir, maybe around 2100 hours. I can clear it with their base commanders if necessary."

AJ knew he had to do it, but he also knew that it would be another long night. He said, "Yes that probably is best. Hopefully, I will be there by 1930 at the latest and I can wade through some of the paperwork on my desk. What about Webb?"

"He stopped by here right after he left you at the Pentagon, Sir. He spent about an hour at your computer. He was on the phone with a couple of different guys and he finally just got up and said ‘I’ll be damned’ and left. I haven’t heard from him since."

Alert to a possible solution, AJ said with more calm than he felt, "Find him for me Colonel. Tell him I would appreciate it if he could be at the office by 2000 hours."

AJ finally pulled into the parking lot at JAG headquarters a little after 1900 hours. He noted that once again, the Roberts’ mini van was parked next to Sarah MacKenzie’s Corvette. As he got out of his vehicle, he stretched his back to try and work the kinks out. He nodded to the guard on duty and entered the warmth of the building wishing that it were his own house instead. He stepped off the now working elevator, into the bullpen and found most of the lights still on. Through the window in Rabb’s office, he spotted a hint of brown, obviously feminine hair behind the computer screen. He realized that it must be Commander Pike. He walked to the office and knocked at the door, and entered before hearing any response. Kate Pike looked up and quickly stood at attention. "At ease, Commander. I see we are working you late on your first day."

Kate just smiled and replied, "Well Admiral, I wanted to get into the cases, but regardless, it is still only 1400 hours on my internal clock."

AJ snorted, "Call it a day Commander, I don’t want you to burn out before you start."

Kate nodded and began to shut down her computer. She reached for her uniform coat and said, "I don’t get much of a chance to wear my cold weather coats." She picked up her brief case and slung her purse over her shoulder. "Good night Admiral, I’ll see you first thing tomorrow?" She voiced the question.

Before AJ could answer and as he turned to allow her to leave he was suddenly taken aback by a shrill shout of "Amral" and as he completed his turn barely had time to reach down and lift the small flying missile that was AJ Roberts. He swung the small boy in the air and laughed heartily for the first time in a long time. In fact, he realized that the last time he had actually laughed out loud had been the last time that he had been so attacked by young "Jay" Roberts.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" as he allowed the small child to hug him ferociously and giggle into his ear.

"Jay!" AJ looked over his namesake’s shoulder at the boy’s mother. Harriet ran up to remove her son from her commanding officer. "Sorry Sir," Harriet knew that the admiral didn’t mind and had roughhoused with the child on numerous occasions, but usually not at the office.

AJ looked fondly at Harriet and wondered if his own daughter would ever make him a grandfather. Not that he was really old enough, <<<Sigh, who are you kidding Chegwidden?>>> "Don’t worry about it Lieutenant. Why are you still here? I don’t want you to tire yourself out." AJ put on his Admiral face, but Harriet just smiled sweetly.

"Sir, I went home at 1600 today. I picked up Jay from the baby-sitter, gave him dinner and just now came back to pick up Bud." AJ smiled at the use of the child’s nickname. He had been worried that everyone would get into the habit of calling the boy "little AJ" and had cringed at the thought of the child being called that when he grew up.

"Well just so long as you are looking out for your health. Did you find everything in order, was Tiner a help?" He questioned her closely.

"Oh yes sir, GSgt. Galindez went over everything with me yester..." Harriet suddenly stopped and held her son close to her chest as the Admiral suddenly lost his benign look and put his hands on his hips and glared at her. She had not meant to mention her visit to the Baltimore City lockup yesterday. Bud hadn’t been real happy when he had found out but the fear and anger she saw on the admiral’s face almost scared her. Her voice rose a little, and she labored to keep from squeaking, but managed to get out, "I wanted to see Gunny sir, I thought I could talk him into letting us post bail for him."

AJ’s expression softened, he could never stay mad at Harriet for long. "Lieutenant, I just don’t think that you should be going down there by yourself. It’s not the best neighborhood and the people you meet there..." He let his voice trail off at the look in her eye.

"You’re right there sir." Harriet said huffily.

AJ immediately picked up on her agitation, "What happened?" he snapped.

"Oh, nothing sir, I just met that horrible man, the one that is trying to put the Gunny away. I really didn’t like him." Harriet’s look hardened at the memory of Grayson’s remarks and AJ started to get angry again.

"Grayson saw you? When? What did he say?" He rattled off the questions so quickly that Harriet was taken aback.

"Sir," she shifted Jay in her arms and continued, "He must have been watching me as I sat talking on the phone with Galindez. When I was leaving, he said some really nasty things to me, but I didn’t put up with it." She was going to continue when they both heard,

"Put up with what, Harriet?" Harriet and AJ turned to their right and saw Bud Roberts, looking pensive, standing in the doorway of the conference room where he and Colonel MacKenzie had been going over some of the forensic reports. He hadn’t paid much attention when his son had run out of the room when they heard the Admiral arrive. He had been engrossed in the toxicology report when Harriet had left to go retrieve Jay. But when he had heard the Admiral’s bark, his ears had picked up. When he heard the terse questions, he had looked at Mac and they both had risen. Ever since they had lost baby Sarah, Bud had been very protective of Harriet.

Harriet blushed deeply and looked at AJ who returned hers with one that said, ‘You’re on your own on this one Lieutenant.’

"I’ll tell you in the car, honey." Falling back on a time honored response that should have worked, but for some reason, tonight Bud wasn’t buying it. Maybe he had caught the tone of her earlier anxiety or maybe he was just so worried that she had come back to work too soon. Regardless he repeated,

"Put up with what, Harriet?" He walked up to her and took their son from her and placed him firmly on his crooked arm.

Harriet sighed deeply and repeated the conversation that she had had with Grayson. When she finished with her attack on the Detective, AJ and Bud had both raised their eyebrows in astonishment. Mac had a huge smile on her face and had said "Oorah, Lieutenant." On a roll, Harriet finished up by telling them of her encounter with Detective O’Brien.

AJ looked puzzled at this, but it was Mac that asked the question, "Why would both detectives be at the lockup, I wonder." AJ paced away from the group and turned back, a dozen questions unvoiced but showing clearly on his face.

Bud looked thoughtful and said; "It could be innocent. I mean they could be there for some other reason."

"Or they could have told the guard to let them know if anybody besides his lawyer came to see him." Mac added, her brow knitted in consternation.

AJ sighed and said, "This isn’t getting us anywhere. What do you have for me Mr. Roberts? I want you to get Harriet and Jay home."

Bud handed his son back to Harriet with a look that said he wouldn’t be long and followed the Admiral and Mac back into the conference room. Harriet sat at her desk holding her now sleepy son and rocking him against her breast gently cooing to him. She was tired, but she felt that she had been a real asset today. These past months, she had been feeling not only terribly, terribly sad over the loss of the baby, but restless. She enjoyed being with her son, but she also knew that she truly enjoyed working at the JAG’s office. She was glad to be back.

Bud waited until AJ had a chance to sit down then he started "Sir I have gone over the reports and I have found some anomalies."

AJ leaned toward his lieutenant, "Anomalies? Because Gunny couldn’t do it or anomalies in the actual reports?"

Bud looked at his commanding officer and weighed his response before answering. "Anomalies if Charles Manson was accused of the crime, sir." He looked at his report and continued. "For one thing, there was a great deal of damage at the crime scene, chairs thrown, posters ripped from the walls, several pieces of glass and china thrown and broken, but the only thing that had any of the Gunny’s fingerprints was one glass in the sink."

AJ sat back in his chair and decided to play devil’s advocate, "The prosecution can say that he wiped everything else, but missed the glass." Bud looked at the admiral with his eyebrow cocked and AJ was happy that his explanation sounded as lame as it was. "What else?"

"Well, there is all the damage to the body sir. If he had hit her with his fists, particularly in the face, there would be bruising and swelling on his knuckles. I didn’t notice anything during the week? Did you see anything when you were interviewing him?" AJ shook his head. "Of course he could have been wearing gloves, but the report doesn’t say they found anything. And when they came by with the warrant to search his place yesterday, the Colonel had me go with and watch. They weren’t real happy but no gloves were found at his apartment."

AJ looked wondering at Sarah, who had bowed her head in embarrassment when Bud mentioned the search. "Sir, I’m sorry, with everything that has been going on and since they didn’t find anything, I, I forgot to mention it last night."

"Well I don’t see that it matters, Colonel." AJ sighed and knew that this oversight was a sign that they were all getting tired; he should have realized that the police would need to search Gunny’s apartment. He was glad that MacKenzie had taken the initiative to make sure that one of them was there at the time. He looked at Bud and said with a deep sigh, "Please don’t tell me that I might have to use the OJ defense."

Bud blushed and said, "I hope not sir. There is one more thing." AJ waited and watched, as the blush grew deeper. "Well sir there is the question of the semen."

AJ and Mac both sat up in their chairs; AJ finally said, "Well?"

"Sir there was just a smear of semen on her stomach. I know it looks like he tried to clean it up, but it just doesn’t make any sense. I called Cmdr. Coulter like the Colonel asked and she said she would fly in late tomorrow or Sunday and take a look at what we have and go over to the lab in Baltimore and check their stuff, if you can get the court order."

AJ was finally starting to see some hope but was cautious when he said, "So you are saying that the semen would have been wiped on her from somewhere else." He looked at Sarah and continued, "Well I guess we need to speak to the men Galindez was out with on Saturday night then, Colonel. When are they due here?"

"I told them that I needed them here around 2200 hours sir." Sarah responded.

Bud had one more thing to report, "Sir, I understand that Miss Cloud was supposed to be a drug addict?" AJ nodded. "Well, sir, according to the toxicology reports, she had a great deal of heroin in her system but the autopsy itself doesn’t indicate a long history of hard drug use, just nasal tissue damage from cocaine and lung damage from marijuana use. That’s the main reason why I wanted Cmdr. Coulter to have a look. Maybe she can look at the body too?"

AJ stood up and both Mac and Bud followed suit, "Lieutenant, go home, but first thing tomorrow, draft up the paperwork and I will go in to see the judge tomorrow afternoon if I can find the time." He paused and pondered something for a moment and then said, "I probably will want to take a look at the actual crime scene tomorrow." Turning his attention to Mac he continued, "Colonel, find Rabb, tell him I need him back here no later than tomorrow afternoon early. I want to get him to talk to some of these witnesses for me."

Mac bristled, "Sir, I will be more than happy to…"

AJ cut her off, "No Mac. Someone has to be here to run things. I need you here." <<<And Marine or no Marine, you aren’t going down there by yourself.>>>

Sarah looked at him long and hard and wasn’t fooled for a minute, but she also knew it was useless to argue the point. She stood at attention and said "Aye-Aye Sir." Letting him know that she was following orders but wasn’t real happy about it.

Bud decided that now was the time to make his exit, so he turned and walked to the door, as he was passing through, he suddenly turned and slapped his forehead. "I almost forgot, Caesar Rocha." When both Mac and AJ looked at him like he had grown two heads he repeated, "Caesar Rocha, the cousin’s brother." Mac nodded and reached for the phone when he stopped her, "Ma’am if you are calling the Commander, I already left the information on his voice mail."

"Thank you Bud, I will walk out with you and give Jay a hug before you guys go." Mac walked around the table just as the phone on the far side of the room rang. AJ reached it first, picked up the receiver and barked, "Chegwidden. Webb! You were supposed to be here 20 minutes ago. What? Oh, yeah that’s a good idea, hold on a minute. Colonel, Mr. Webb wants to know if you have eaten yet." Mac shook her head no and AJ said into the receiver, "No Webb she hasn’t either. Dear lord no, anything but that." This last was said in horror and keeping his eyes firmly locked on his Lt. Colonel said, "Anything but Beltway burgers." This last elicited a laugh from Bud Roberts and a "Hey" from the lady, but she gracefully turned, and laughing, left the room. AJ then spoke back into the phone, "Now what did you find… Damn" he muttered, "he hung up."

Sarah walked back into the room as AJ hung up the phone. "So if we aren’t getting Beltway Burgers, what are we having, pizza again?" AJ merely grunted and motioned her to follow him into his office. He wasn’t sure if the Marines would be hungry, but Webb had mentioned he would bring enough to feed an army. He needed to get through some of the work piling up on his desk and he wanted a few minutes to go over what Mac could do and what he would have to handle tomorrow first thing before going into Baltimore.

As he walked around to sit at his desk, Mac sat in the chair in front. It has been a long day, and they usually didn’t stand on precise formality as they did during the day. AJ was pleased but not really surprised that Tiner had arranged his work into separate piles. Tiner might be a pain about many things but he did do a good job when it came to organizing the Admiral’s paperwork. AJ went first to his unopened mail. This meant that it was either "eyes only" or looked like personal stuff to Tiner. It was also the smallest pile. There was a letter from Francesca, which he pocketed. There was one envelope that was marked "eyes only" and there was what appeared to be the first of many invitations for holiday parties. He sighed, and thought <<<this will be fun. Another season of going to parties I don’t want to be at with women that I don’t want to be with>>>. He put this in his pocket too. <<<Maybe I can lose it on the way home.>>> He then moved on to the reports pile and noticed that this pile was unusually small. He looked up at Mac who raised her eyebrow at him. "Don’t know sir, maybe we caught a break. I wouldn’t have Tiner route any of your reports to me without you seeing them first."

AJ opened the first of the reports, saw it was a manpower report and handed it over to her immediately. He opened the next one and thought that Harriet could find the necessary information to complete the office equipment inventory. The last report was a performance review request on Rabb, MacKenzie and Immes. AJ sighed and thought <<<and I’ll have one more of these each week until the end of the year.>>> While confidential, he knew he could work on them at home and only have to have the interviews at the office. He looked up and Mac and said, "I need to schedule performance reviews, I want to be a little flexible so tell Rabb to be ready next week and I will fit him in when I can. When is Commander Immes due back from France?"

Mac thought for a moment and replied, "The Franklin case is coming to a close, she and Mattoni should be back by the end of next week, if everything goes smoothly. I’ll make sure that she knows it is that time of year and to be prepared for it before she leaves for vacation."

AJ silently cursed. He hated to tell anyone that they couldn’t take planned vacation, and he knew that Carolyn Immes was going out west for her last week of vacation of the year. He hoped that with Mattoni back and Pike helping out he would not have to have her rearrange her schedule.

"I’m going to take your paperwork home tonight, do you think we can have your review tomorrow?" He liked to give his people more of a warning, but he didn’t think he had the time in this case.

Sarah looked at him and nodded. "I don’t see that there should be a problem with that sir."

Finally, he moved onto the pile of papers that needed his signature. He glanced up at Sarah and said, "If there is anything you need to get done before the three men get here you better do it now. Oh and Colonel, if Webb sneaks upstairs without being announced by the guard, have him come right in."

Sarah smiled at this and as she left his office said, "Yes sir."

::  Chapter 12  ::

Clayton Webb pulled into the JAG headquarters parking lot. The guard at the front gate hadn’t known Webb. Corporal Wong had checked with Colonel MacKenzie, who had cleared the visitor and now Webb was getting out of his small BMW sports car. He straightened but turned and bent back over to reach into the front passenger seat to remove two huge shopping bags; one with steam rising from it. He approached the guard at the front door and smiled in recognition. "Kelly, what are you doing pulling late night duty?"

Corporal Kelly smiled at Webb. "Johnson’s sister is getting married tonight, Mr. Webb. I took his shift. What have you got there sir?"

Webb knew exactly when and where to make friends and he had known that there would be two guards on duty that night. He reached into the bag that was steaming and pulled out two small covered foil dishes and handed them to Kelly. "This is for you and the new kid in the guard shack, Corporal Kelly. Enjoy!" Kelly stole a glance at the bag and saw the well-known script "Angelinos Catering". Even Kelly, who had never been there, knew of the expensive Italian eatery and that unless you were a senator or congressman or someone very important, you just didn’t get a reservation without a five week wait during "the season". Kelly didn’t think you could get ‘carry-out’ from such a fancy place and was suitably impressed.

"Wow, Mr. Webb, thanks. Corporal Wong goes home in an hour; he can take his with him. I’ll have mine in a minute." He let Webb in past the desk and watched him approach the elevators and realized that this was the first time he had seen the man dressed in anything but a three-piece suit.

Webb stepped out of the elevator and walked into the bullpen area where he spotted Sarah coming toward him. He put on a neutral smile on his face but felt his heart lurch as it always did when he saw her. He couldn’t even remember how long he had been in love with her. He had checked her out all those years ago when he had realized out deep his feelings ran for her. He had discovered the truth about Farrow and about Chris Ragle, even before the murder and the trial. But the thing that kept him quiet was that he had also known and even understood her attraction for Harman Rabb. Webb considered himself an astute judge of human nature; in his line of work it was essential. And he knew Rabb was just not the type to ever commit to any one woman for very long. What he had come to respect was the fact that Rabb also seemed to understand that part of himself. Webb had always thought that Rabb would one day bed, or worse, marry his adoring partner and friend and then have to deal with the aftermath when his interest waned or he did something unforgivable like he always did. Webb had been glad when Sarah herself had finally begun to see the man’s character flaw for what it was. During that long drive he had listened to Sarah’s long list of grievances against men in general and Rabb and Brumby in particular. When she had gotten to the time that Rabb had offered to father a child by her if "after five years we both aren’t attached to anyone else", he couldn’t believe that she hadn’t punched Rabb in the gut and found someone else. But then of course, she finally had. Webb couldn’t believe that she had not seen Mic Brumby for what he was. Webb firmly believed that the only reason why Brumby had gone after her was because of her obvious attraction to Rabb. Brumby was one of the few things that he and Rabb actually saw eye-to-eye on and he wasn’t in the least surprised when the Australian had gone after Renee. Webb felt that Mic viewed it as part of the on-going competition that he had with Rabb; Webb was only surprised that Brumby hadn’t made a play for Jordan Parker or Bobbie Latham.

Webb sighed, he knew that no other woman would hold the fascination for him that Sarah MacKenzie did. But he wasn’t going to push it. He knew that some part of her still distrusted him and he knew it had to be her decision. In his business he had learned patience and he was willing to wait for her to see him as something more than a friend.

Sarah had been waiting for Webb to come up with the pizza or whatever he had decided was better than her precious Beltway Burgers. When she heard the elevator ping and the doors open, she left her office where she had been working on the Filmore files. She saw him coming towards her with both hands filled with shopping bags, his lithe body encased not in the concealing three-piece suit, but in snug fitting jeans, a grey long sleeved henley and a well-worn leather bomber jacket. Her gait slowed and she allowed her thoughts to focus on the man before her. She sighed and knew she would have to examine her feelings one of these days, but she was still afraid of her own motivations. She knew she enjoyed being with him, which in and of itself surprised her to no end. When he was in town he often stopped by for lunch and he was always witty and always attentive to her. But he was never pushy. He had never sent her flowers and never asked her out on a date. Just sometimes he was there. It was almost like the old days with Harm, but not really. This just felt different and she was enjoying the times they had together without wanting it to go further too fast.

As they met halfway, her smile of welcome slowly morphed into a look of pure ecstasy. Webb laughed out loud because he knew that she had finally gotten a whiff of the smell coming form the bag. She looked quickly at the bag, as Kelly downstairs had done, and breathed "Angelinos! You got Angelinos to make carryout? Webb! They don’t do carryout! Oh my. Come on!" She grabbed one of the bags and took his free hand into hers and pulled him into the conference room. They put their respective bags down on the table and then she stood back and watched with glee as he unloaded first one and then the other bag. He named each delicacy as he pulled it out of the bag with flourish like a magician. She let herself get lost in the moment, clapping appreciatively at his efforts, until the entire spread was laid out like a banquet before her. "Clay, I love Angelinos, Mic was always promising to take me there but we just never could keep the reservations for one reason or another." She stopped and looked at him and said in almost a whisper, "But you knew that didn’t you? I remember that I mentioned it once when we passed by there on our way to lunch." They both stared at each other but the moment was lost when they heard from the doorway,

"Well Webb, leave it to you to find an acceptable alternative to Beltway Burgers." Both of them turned and watched AJ approach the table. In an amused voice he continued, "How did you manage to get Butch Wayman to break his hard and fast rule of no carryout?" AJ stood surveying the spread and suddenly realized just how hungry he was.

Clay smiled and said, "Well let’s just say, Butch and I go way back. Besides this isn’t carryout, I told him I was catering an important conference for some bigwigs."

AJ decided to let it pass. He was long past being surprised by the people that Webb knew and he was just too damn hungry to care. "Well I for one have dibbs on the Pasta Piccante Con Pomodori e Rucola, choosing the simple but spicy dish from out of Webb’s grasp." Webb grinned because Butch had told him it was one of AJ’s favorites. "But sit and talk while we eat. What did you find out?"

Webb grew very still and looked at Sarah and then at AJ and sighed. "Grab your food Sarah and sit." Sarah was confused by his tone, but grabbed the container marked ‘wild mushroom alfredo’ and sat. She found the container with the Angelinos signature salad and passed the plates. Webb grabbed one of the containers and sat on the other side of Sarah so that she was between he and AJ.

AJ eyed the spy with consternation but waited until they all food in front of them. Finally he said, "Out with it Webb."

Clay pointed to his full mouth, but AJ was not to be distracted anymore. He had had several mouthfuls of the spicy pasta and the edge was off his hunger and he wanted to know exactly who had sent the message to him. Clay realized that he wasn’t going to be let off the hook and swallowed. He looked around Sarah at AJ, trying to judge just how mad the man was going to be. He began "You remember last year when everybody had thought that Rabb had written that op-ed about the President?"

AJ looked confused, "What the hell does that have to do with this?"

Webb suddenly wished that he had gone ahead and brought wine to have with the meal and wondered what AJ’s reaction would be if he suddenly offered to go get a bottle or two from, say Italy. He decided to bite the bullet and in one breath said, "Well you aren’t going to believe if but the farthest we could trace it was back to the directoroftheciasoffice." He finished and took another bite of his pasta, keeping his eyes on his plate.

"Excuse, me?" AJ put down his fork and said, "I could have sworn you said,"

Clay swallowed again and interrupted the Admiral, "AJ, we don’t know how it happened, the entire agency is in a uproar. We are checking it out and we will find out who sent the message."

"Webb, damn it, it doesn’t make any sense. Why would anyone use the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency computer to send me that message? This is getting too weird for a simple murder investigation. Who the hell was Sherilee Cloud? Was she one of yours?" AJ was more confused than angry and he felt rather like Alice through the Looking Glass at the moment. He looked at his plate as if he couldn’t remember how it had gotten there.

Webb sighed and stood up, "That’s just it AJ, she wasn’t; not ever. From what we can piece together on short notice, she is exactly who she appears to be. A small time hooker and girl friend of one ‘Tino’ AKA Michael Smith, a small time drug dealer and pimp; formerly engaged to one Gunnery Sergeant Victor Galindez who is accused of murdering her in a fit of anger. Trust me, we been checking this out as fast as we can, but our hands are tied here by our Mandate. We can’t investigate citizens of the United States on US soil. It killed the old man, but he had to call in the FBI to advise them of a breach of security. The Director of that Agency has assured us that they will do everything they can to find the problem."

AJ put his head in hands, <<<Great; the FBI is investigating the CIA. Just what I need mucking up my case.>>> Before he could continue on that vein the elevator doors dinged open and Corporal Kelly escorted in three Marine Sergeants, two Master and one Gunnery Sergeant. AJ stood up and went to greet them. Sarah quickly took her now empty dish and looked at AJ's half eaten plate and Clay’s barely touched one. She put the lids back on both and went to take them into the kitchen. As she came back into the conference room, she watched as the three Marines, directed by the Admiral, were helping themselves to the remaining dishes on the table. She said, "Excuse me Admiral but there’s fresh coffee, should I bring in the pot?"

AJ looked her and merely shook his head, "Gentlemen, if you want coffee, the kitchen is around the corner, help yourselves. But let’s get down to business quickly." Clay was nowhere to be found.

Once the Marines were settled with their food and coffee, AJ stood and started to pace. "Gentlemen, I realize that as an Admiral I make you uncomfortable, but I am speaking to you now as GSgt. Galindez attorney and I need your help. I need to know where you went and who you saw two Saturday nights ago. I want complete details. Who wants to start?" His pacing had brought him back to stand in front of the three men who were seated next to each other with their backs to the door of the conference room. Sarah stood with her back to wall and watched.

The Marines traded glances; each expected one of the others to start. AJ tried to gauge each man, one so very different from the next. MSgt. Hanson was short, stocky and when he had walked in AJ had pegged him as a drill instructor or someone so impressed by his own DI that he had emulated his hero down to his strut. Hanson had a ‘Marines don’t rat on other Marines’ look. GSgt. Powers was the exact opposite, tall, thin and with hair so blond that, with his buzz cut he looked as bald as AJ. He looked like he wanted to tell his story, but was concerned with what the other two would think of him. MSgt. London was another matter entirely. AJ had taken an instant dislike to the man as soon as he had come through the door and was hard pressed to understand why. London looked like the Marine on the recruitment ad that Galindez had called the ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ campaign. He was very clean cut, and very good looking. <<<Hell he is damn near perfect.>>> AJ thought derisively and realize then the problem he was having. The man was too perfect, but with an air of insolence that irked the Admiral to no end.

AJ grew tired of waiting and finally barked at Hanson, "Talk to me Hanson. When did you meet up with Galindez Saturday night?"

Hanson tried to meet the Admiral’s gaze and then sighed and told his story. "Sir, me and Powers were at Petey’s, over on 4th Street, throwin back a couple of brews on that Saturday. We didn’t have duty till Monday morning so we had decided to pretty much make a night of it. We had called Vic around 1800 hours and told him to meet us, but he had said he didn’t feel like it. We were really surprised when he showed up around 2000. He came up to us slapped us on the back and said, ‘screw it and screw her, let’s have some fun’ and then he bought a round." Hanson had blushed when describing Gunny’s speech to the Admiral and AJ figured that he had probably cleaned it up for his sake, but then again, knowing Galindez, maybe not.

"Then what happened?" AJ prompted.

Hanson looked at Powers, as if to say ‘your turn’, so Powers took up the story. "Nothing really happened for awhile Admiral, we were sitting there and just knocking back a few, like Hanson said. We weren’t really drunk, but happy, you know." Powers paused, half expecting the Admiral to agree. When AJ merely glowered at him, he gulped and continued. "Around 0200 we realized that it was getting time for Petey to close up and me and Hanson had decided to call it a night. Only Vic didn’t want to. He said something about he didn’t need somebody." Powers looked first at Hanson and then at AJ and continued, "Sir he was really drunk and we decided to try and get him back to his place when London came in." Powers stopped at Hanson’s snort and looked at the Master Sergeant expectantly, as did the others in the room.

AJ waited none to patiently for London to pick up the thread of the story. Finally the man, pushed his cup of coffee out the way, and pushed back on his chair. It wasn’t that he so much sprawled but he looked like a cat getting ready to stretch out. He gauged his audience and then started in a leisurely drawl, "Well, Admiral Sir, you see, it was like this. I had just gotten off duty at Quantico and had decided to unwind for a bit, before turning in, you know. Sooooo I got me over to Petey’s cause a lot of the guys hang there but by the time I got there, there was just these two and Galindez. Only I didn’t think Galindez was really all that drunk. He seemed kinda disgusted with these two bailing out on him so early so I said I would go with him for a couple more drinks. These two split and we went in my car to a little place I had heard about in South Baltimore."

Over 30 years of service to his country in some pretty tense and ugly situations allowed AJ enough mental strength to keep his face immobile and his breathing in check. Sarah MacKenzie wasn't that experienced yet. Her very audible gasp made three heads turn her way. AJ’s glare brought her some semblance of control and she said quickly, "I pinched my finger here on the drawer." Indicating the cabinet she was next to. It was a lame excuse but the only one she could come up with. "Would you excuse me sir while I put some ice on it?" At AJ’s nod, she quickly left the room to completely gain control of her emotions. London’s statement had thrown her for a loop. Gunny had sworn that he had not been in Baltimore in over three weeks. London put him in the town the night before the crime had been committed. Between that and Clay’s information about where the phantom e-mail had "appeared" to have come from, the case was rapidly turning into something that put them all on a brand new playing field.

Back in the conference room, AJ regained London’s attention and probed further. "What time did you arrive at this bar? What was the name of the bar, Master Sergeant? What time did you leave?" AJ rattled off the questions, pulled out a chair on his side of the table and sat down with as much calm as he could muster, but he waited anxiously for London’s response.

London seemed to relish being the center of attention and straighten himself in his chair before continuing, "Well, sir, that time of night it barely took us 40 minutes to get to Baltimore. I guess we were there around 0300 hours. The place was really jumping. It’s called The Depot, don’t know why. But it was a real drag, didn’t turn out to be the kind of place I usually hang out at. But we went up to the bar and we had a beer and then I decided I wanted to leave, only by this time Galindez had hooked up with a real weirdo, Sir."

AJ was getting more and more pissed off by MSgt. London who had just pretty much flushed Galindez’s earlier statement to him right down the toilet. He snapped, "Weird in What Way Master Sergeant?"

London finally seemed to get the point and while he didn’t stand up, he came to attention in his chair, "Sir, I mean that the whole bar was pretty weird, it looked like they were a bunch of vampires or something. Only fake you know, pretty pathetic, if you get my drift?" All three men were astounded when AJ dryly supplied,

"You mean it was a Goth Club?"

London fought to keep his composure. The fact that an Admiral in the U.S. Navy even knew the word ‘Goth’ struck London as pretty funny. "Uhm, yes sir, if you say so. Anyway, I tried to pull Galindez out of there, but he was hanging on this Goth chick for dear life and I couldn’t get him away. In fact, it looked like one of the chick’s buddies was going to give me a hard time, so I asked Vic if he was sure he wanted to stay and when he said yeah, I left him."

AJ looked up and saw Sarah come back in at the tail end of London’s admission and the look on her face pretty much expressed how AJ felt at the moment, "You left him, Master Sergeant?" AJ voice was very quite, "You left a fellow Marine, who these to men say, was pretty DAMN drunk. That doesn’t sound like what a Marine does, Master Sergeant." AJ cocked his head at London and waited for him to continue.

London allowed some anger to creep into his voice, "Sir, we rode all the way from D.C. to Baltimore together and he didn’t appear very drunk to me." He glared at his fellow NCO's and then back at AJ. "He didn’t stagger when we went into the club and he looked darn happy to be with the blond chick."

AJ had heard more than he wanted to hear at this point, he straighten and then looked at the three men and said, "Gentlemen, its getting late. Thank you for coming in." AJ waited as Powers and Hanson got up and left. MSgt. London appeared to want to stay. AJ glared and him and spat out, "Well Master Sergeant?"

"Sir is there any thing I can do to help? Would you like me to go back to that bar and ask some questions?" His tone, while sincere, suddenly reminded AJ of Danny Walden. London continued, "I could round up some witnesses for you and bring them down here sir."

AJ dismissed him curtly, "No thank you London. You can report back to your post now." London got up to leave and looked like he was going to say something, but turned and walked through the conference room doorway. When he was gone, AJ ran his hands over his face. He didn’t hear Mac come up and sit in the chair recently vacated by Powers. When he finally removed his hand from his face and opened his eyes, he found her regarding him. He then noticed that she had brought in the coffee pot from the kitchen and had refreshed his cup. He looked back at her and finally let loose, "Damn him, Colonel. He lied to me." Sarah knew exactly who the Admiral had felt lied to him and she wanted to stick up for Gunny, but she waited a bit, making sure that AJ was finished, then she slowly shook her head and said quietly but firmly, "No Sir, I don’t believe it."

AJ slapped his hand on the table and growled, "You heard London. Why would he lie?"

Mac sighed, "Sir, I don’t know that London did lie. But Gunny told you he was too drunk to remember where he was." Sarah blushed a deep red, remembering some of her own blackouts, but finished, "Trust me sir, he might not remember going to Baltimore. If London had just told him they were going to another bar, Gunny might never have realized where they went."

"That’s a real long shot Colonel." AJ allowed just a hint of approval to show on his face and reach for his coffee cup and took and deep drink.

Mac smiled and stood up and said, "Perhaps, Sir, but it is 2236 and I need my beauty sleep if my commanding officer is going to give me my performance review tomorrow. And frankly sir, I don’t think its fair if said commanding officer is in a grumpy mood because he didn’t get enough sleep." This last remark was said with amusement, but AJ also saw the determination in her eyes and he nodded.

"You are right of course Colonel. But when I had mentioned your performance review I had forgotten that tomorrow was Saturday. I can’t see you coming in for just that."

Sarah had begun to exit the room before he had begun his comment. She had turned back to listen and said rapidly, "Nonsense, Sir, both Pike and I planned on being here." A Mona Lisa smile graced her features, "Cmdr. Rabb called and advised he would be taking the red-eye back from New Mexico. Cmdr. Pike said she wanted a chance to work on her case files before Monday. And I wanted to be here to get the review out of the way and to be available to hear what Cmdr. Rabb has to say. Unless of course you aren’t ready for my review, Sir, then…"

AJ threw up his hands and laughed, "Enough Colonel. You win. I’ll be here by 0800."

Mac sighed in relief. "Aye-Aye, Sir."

Chapters 13 - 16

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