| Subject: Re: Little Details C6/8 |
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fananicfan
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Date Posted: 10:05:05 07/13/07 Fri
In reply to:
fananicfan
's message, "Little Details" on 11:25:09 07/08/07 Sun
CHAPTER 6 – A Change in Perspective
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Her day in Washington…
Mac waited for Harm to get in the shower before she got out of bed and slipped into her robe. She was tempted to join him in the shower, but was afraid that he wouldn't leave on time if she did. They sat and stared starry-eyed at each other over a cup of instant coffee before they hugged and kissed goodbye in case he wasn’t able to return to Washington before she had to leave for California. After their hug and kiss, they wished each other good luck in their work, and Mac said that she'd call him later to say goodnight. With those final words, he was on his way to Norfolk.
Mac had time to get a couple more hours of sleep and she did lay down, but sleep didn't come. Her mind was full of thoughts: their first fight, Tyler, and her meeting with General Cresswell, which was to be held later this morning.
The meeting with Cresswell was the least stressful item. Today, she was meeting with him to make sure that she was prepared to appear on Wednesday in front of the committee who was monitoring the JLS concept. The other two topics were more complicated. It was in the shower that her mind became clear enough to have an idea about Tyler and her struggle to want to adopt him. She’d look over the paperwork that she’d been given. Perhaps there'd be something in the information packet that would disqualify them, and then she’d be able to let go of the idea of adopting him. She’d left the packet on the breakfast bar last night. On her way to retrieve the envelope, the thought came to her of how it would complicate her life with Harm if there wasn’t a reason why they couldn't adopt him. She didn't know if she could stop wanting Tyler and she couldn't force Harm to want him and, to make matters worse, he had a good reason for not wanting to adopt him. The envelope wasn’t on the counter, so she thought that she must have left it in the car. No problem, they’d taken her rental car yesterday, so she'd get dressed, go out to breakfast and read over the papers over a real cup of coffee.
It was a good plan. However, when she searched the car for the envelope, there was no manila envelope to be found. Where was it?
Over breakfast, it occurred to her that Harm could’ve scooped it up with the files that he'd been reviewing last night. It was too early to reach Ms. LeMoine at her office, so she hoped that General Cresswell would want to take a long enough lunch break that she'd have time to call her then.
Mac met with the general and, during their lunch break, she called Ms. LeMoine. Ms. LeMoine didn’t answer, and, with Mac not knowing her schedule, opted not to leave a message for the time being.
By 1430, Cresswell was convinced that Mac was ready to meet with the committee, but before dismissing her for the day, he gave her some last minute advice: get a good night sleep, eat a hearty breakfast, and don’t be even a minute late for her 1000 meeting. Mac tried to call Ms. LeMoine again even before leaving the building, but she got no answer this time either. However, this time, she did leave a message. “I have a couple of questions about adopting Tyler, so if you could call me back anytime today, no matter how late, I'd appreciate it.”
Ms. LeMoine returned her called at 1615.
His day in Norfolk…
Leaving at that hour of the morning, Harm met with very little traffic until he neared Norfolk itself.
Harm and Bud met early enough to have time to review their plan of action for this morning and to meet with their client before court convened. They spoke to Eric about what they hoped would happen and what he could expect if they didn’t get the continuance. Eric looked anxious, but they assured him that, though they had no new information, they had several ideas, and that all possibilities hadn’t been exhausted and that it was too early in the process to give up.
The good news for Harm and Bud was that the judge for this case was Judge Sebring, so they thought that they had a good chance to get their continuance. They were ready with their argument and cited the fact that they’d been given this case five days ago and that three of those days had been part of the extended holiday weekend, which had interfered with them being able to speak with at least two people who were out of town on a camping trip. The argument garnered understanding from Judge Sebring. However, Judge Sebring felt that Captain Rabb should be capable of getting up to speed in short order and gave them only forty-eight hours to wrap up interviews and be ready for trial.
With only two days extension, there was no time to waste. First, they wanted to track down the sailors who'd gone camping, who still hadn’t gotten in touch with them. It was Tuesday, and they were supposed to return to duty today. So after court was dismissed, they were off to the ship to hunt them down.
Jonas was the married one, and said that he’d gone that night as a way of bonding with his shipmates before deployment. He’d gone in civilian attire because he thought the uniform drew too much attention. He didn’t fault the single guys for wanting to ‘hook up’ before leaving port, but he was happily married and wasn’t looking to make any 'shipping out' memories. Jonas said that Matthews, the other sailor, was in uniform. Around ten, Matthews hadn’t gotten any ‘bites’ at the Tango Club and he'd wanted to go to a strip club instead. Jonas said that he'd tagged along to make sure that Matthews got back to the ship. 'You know, the buddy system'. Jonas said that they’d left the Tango Club, turned right and stopped at the first strip club along the way. After a beer, they'd moved on, stopping at one or two more before going into the Wild Waves. The Wild Waves was crowded, and Jonas said that he’d wanted to leave, but they had some nice looking girls dancing, and Matthews didn’t want to leave. They ended up sitting at a table near the dancers with a couple of men they didn't know. As the beers disappeared, one of the guys at the table started to get loud and said that ‘he wanted the girls to quit teasing him and come take care of what they’d started.’ That had been around midnight and, within a minute or two, a security guy had arrived at their table.
"The other guy at the table was with him, and they must have assumed that we were, too, because they asked the whole table to leave. I told Matthews that it was late enough and, by the time we got back to the ship, we’d have been out a respectable amount of time for pre-deployment fun, so he agreed to leave. We left and caught a cab back to the base," Jonas explained.
Harm asked Jonas if the man who’d gotten out of hand at the table was in uniform and asked for a description of the guy. Jonas said that the man wasn’t in uniform.
"He was an ‘old’ guy – in his mid to late fifties at least. He was probably about five ten with a beer belly and short dark hair," Jonas said.
Matthews had the same basic story. His story didn’t vary from Jonas’ until the end when he claimed that Jonas was afraid that, if they got thrown out of the club, his wife would find out, and he didn’t want her mad at him before he shipped out.
The list of people who Harm wanted to interview was getting longer instead of shorter. After talking with Jonas and Matthews, he added two people to his list: the drunk, if they could track him down, and the security guy who’d thrown him out. The drunk’s comments made him someone of interest to Harm. The timeline was off, but Harm’s mind was able to quickly run through a couple of scenarios that would explain the missing time.
The time frame on this crime was so narrow. The victim had been seen leaving a dance club with their client around midnight, and her body had been found a few minutes before two. Harm searched the file for the name of the security people and dancers who’d help establish the timeline. No individual names were mentioned, just the notations, ‘Spoke to dancers that left a little before one and they said the car wasn’t there’ and ‘club security said he didn’t see the car when he walked the last of the dancers out or after he’d clocked out and left about ten minutes later.’
After leaving the ship, it was lunchtime. After a quick lunch, it was off to the local JAG office to claim their spot and have some room to work.
Bud was on the phone with Ken at the Wild Waves, and Harm passed him a note to get the names of the security personnel on duty that night. When Bud got off the phone, he said that he’d gotten the name of the drunk who'd been thrown out. Thank god for credit cards and the paper trial they leave. Ken had said that he didn’t make or keep schedules of the security staff, so they’d need to contact the company, Centurion Security, for that info.
Bud started to run a check on the drunk that now had a name, John Owens, while Harm called Centurion Security to request the names of the guards who worked at the Wild Waves the night of the murder, which the receptionist was hesitant to give until she'd spoken to her boss, and asked them to call her back.
Bud’s search found that the drunk had been arrested and convicted ten years ago of public drunkenness. He’d paid a fine and hadn’t been in trouble since. A check of his income tax records showed dependent children listed until seven years ago and a wife until four years ago. According to occupations listed on tax records, John Owens was a plumber, and a search of the military personnel database confirmed that he’d never been in the military, so there was little chance that he’d have a uniform.
After a second call to Centurion Security, Harm had the names, addresses and phone numbers of the two guards who'd been scheduled to work the night of the murder.
The first guard he called answered his phone on the second ring. He confirmed that he'd escorted the drunk to the door and passed him off to his partner for that night. When he was asked to explain, he said that he'd worked the ID door and left around midnight when things slowed down. His partner had come on at dusk and stayed outside to keep an eye on the parking lot. The guard said that he was supposed to watch the door, too. For instance, if he saw a patron staggering and suspected that the guy was drunk, the guard was suppose to talk the guy into taking a cab. The outside guard was also the guy who was to make sure that, if someone was kicked out of the club, he didn’t hang around the door and actually left the premises without causing any trouble. The outside guy would take over the ID door at midnight when he left, and that guard would leave around one or whenever the last of the dancers left. The staff bouncer stayed to help close up, and the closers all left together. This guard had one more tidbit of information. He didn't know the other guard’s name from that night because, that night, the regular second guy didn’t work because his wife was in labor.
Harm called Centurion Security back to see if he could get the name of the person with whom they'd replaced the regular guy that night at the Wild Waves Club. The young lady who answered the phone said that she wouldn't give out that information until she'd talked to the boss, and he was gone for the day. They'd have to call back tomorrow. She also said that it would take her awhile to find out the name because they'd had a system's glitch around that time so she'd have to search for everyone who'd been paid for working that day and narrow the search down from there. Harm suggested that she start working on it now so that, when she got approval to tell him tomorrow, she'd already have the information, but given the fact it was 1645, he doubted that she'd get started on it. She'd probably been on her way out the door when he'd called.
Harm and Bud figured that they weren’t going to get much more done because of the hour and decided to call it a day. Harm figured that, if the secretary got permission to give them the name, they wouldn't have it until late in the day. With Bud having been away from home last night and Mac in Washington only through tomorrow night, it seemed that the best plan was to go home and meet in Bud's office in the morning.
Harm had to stop for gas and, after filling up, he called Mac to let her know that he was headed home. When she inquired when he thought that he'd be there, he said that he was just getting on the road, so it would be several hours, depending on traffic. His best guess was, too late for dinner, but not too late.
A Washington night...
It was 2027 when Harm's key went into the lock on the apartment door. He'd stopped about halfway for dinner and a break from the traffic. When Harm came in, the only light on in the place was the lamp in the bedroom. He moved towards the light and climbed the stairs to see her sitting in bed and reading a book. He was glad to be home. He put down his bags and tried to conceal his excitement at seeing her. "Hey," he said.
"Hey, yourself...have a good day?"
Harm had come over and placed a peck on her lips in greeting. "Okay, I guess. How about you?"
"Good, Cresswell thinks that I'm ready to face the committee." Harm had begun to unbutton his shirt as she spoke. "How are you feeling about your case?" She watched as he pulled open his shirt, tugging it from the waistband of his pants.
“Frustrated,” he said as he pulled the shirt off his shoulders. “You know how it is. Once in a while, you read over a case and the answer jumps out at you from the page, and you wonder why they needed you to point it out. However, more often than not, the key to uncovering the truth is found in the little details. I don't believe my client committed the murder, but I don’t have any way to prove it.” By the time he’d finished talking, his shirt and tee shirt were off and he’d turned and begun to toe off his shoes.
She continued to watch him as he undressed. The sight of him sliding his pants down over his six made it hard for her to speak, but she had something to say. It had been on her mind all day. “Harm, I know that we made up last night, but I know that I hurt you when I said that our marriage was a mistake. I need to know that you understand that I said it because you let me imagine the worst reasons possible for you not wanting to adopt Tyler. I understand you’re viewpoint now that I know what it is. I shouldn’t have let myself get so worked up that I'd say something that would hurt you. I want to make sure that you and I are okay before I leave.”
Harm was down to only his boxers by the time she'd finished, and he turned to face her. “I promised to work on talking to you more the other night, but you need to promise that, until I get better at it, you won’t let your mind jump to the conclusion that I’m not talking because I don’t want to break bad news to you.”
“I promise to try,” she said with a big grin. “So, we’re okay?”
“Yeah, we’re okay.”
“Good, then come to bed. The general told me that I should get a good night's sleep, and I will if I’m sleeping with you.”
“Not so fast.” She was confused and concerned at his response. He reached into his briefcase and pulled out a manila envelope. “I must have picked this up along with the files that I was working on last night."
He moved towards the bed and slipped the envelope onto the nightstand by her, then proceeded to move around to his side of the bed. “I want you to know that you were right about something. Sometimes just saying things out loud gives you a different perspective on the subject without anyone expressing a view or opinion about it.”
He was getting into bed as Mac said, "I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean that you've gained a new outlook on something?”
“Yes, adopting Tyler,” he said as he positioned himself on his side, facing her with his torso propped up by his foreman.
She let silence hang in the air for a few moments while she put her book on the nightstand and rolled to face him, propping her head up against her palm. “I’m all ears, fill me in.”
“I was driving back to Washington tonight when I thought of it from a different angle…Tyler’s. If we adopt Tyler, he’ll have a permanent home and be living with a loving mother and big sister. I may not be living with you, but it isn’t like he won’t know that I exist. So perhaps the best way to decide is to leave it to fate. We can apply to adopt him and, if it's meant to be, then the court will decide in our favor. If it isn’t meant to be, we’ll know that we tried.”
“I’d like that, but are you sure?” she asked with nervous excitement.
“Sure enough that, when I stopped for dinner, I filled out my section of the application.”
Mac moved in quickly to kiss him. He dropped back onto the bed, and she stayed with the kiss, following him down. Then she abruptly cut off the kiss and looked into his eyes. “If we get Tyler, you'll still want a baby, right?"
"Yes -" Her lips were on his again in a second, indulging in another taste of him.
Her warm body ignited a flame in him, and it soon, as it does in the case of most newlyweds, escalated to being more than just kissing. His Marine was in top form as she mounted him and regulated the pace of their lovemaking until she'd taken them both over the edge.
Mac lay on top of him, breathless, and Harm's rapid breathing was a sign of an enjoyable union. Mac was feeling a new kind of happiness. Was she really going to have a family? She must be dreaming, she thought. She felt him move before feeling the kiss that he placed on the top of her head. Not sure that she should mention it now, but wanting him to know, she spoke. "I talked to Ms. LeMoine earlier. I asked her, if I had time, if I could come out to see Tyler tomorrow to say goodbye since I'll be leaving on Thursday morning."
"What did she say?"
"She said that she'd call Mrs. Potter in the morning and let her know that I might be by and that it was okay for me to see him for a few minutes. She also asked that I call Mrs. Potter before I headed that way to be sure that my arrival time wasn't inconvenient for her."
"Call me before you head that way. Bud and I will be working out of his office tomorrow, so I might be able to get away and come with you. If we give her a call in the morning, maybe we can hand deliver the application to Ms. LeMoine tomorrow...if you get up and fill in your part of the application in the morning."
"I'll do it now."
"No, I'm comfortable now. Please do it in the morning?"
"Okay, sleep now, paperwork later," Mac replied. "Are you going to Norfolk tomorrow night or Thursday morning?"
"I want to stay with you while I can, so I'll leave Thursday morning at dawn again."
Mac stayed with him until she was sure that he'd fallen asleep. Then she got out of bed, grabbed the envelope and started filling in the blank lines on the form.
After she'd finished the form, she slipped it in the envelope and put the envelope into her briefcase before she went back to bed. Once back in bed, she got as close to him as humanly possible, closed her eyes and was soon fast asleep.
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