Free Sweepers by P. T. Deutermann

Lawrence. What can we do for you?”
    “As I said when I called, Detective, I’m working for Admiral Carpenter.
    He asked me to act as liaison between you and your efforts to solve the Walsh, um, situation and Navy headquarters.”
    Mcnair kept a neutral expression on his face. “And the reason for establishing this liaison, Commander?”
    Karen looked right at him. “To be perfectly frank, Detective, I think Admiral Carpenter wants to know right away if Admiral Sherman becomes a suspect in a murder case.”
    “I see,” Mcnair said with the hint of a smile now. “Forgive me, when someone says they’re being Perfectly frank, I usually expect quite the opposite. So you are not working for Admiral Sherman, then?”
    “No. I work for the JAG, Admiral Carpenter.” ‘5Tell me, that insignia on your sleeves means you’re a lawyer, right?”
    “That’s right.”
    “So, if this Admiral Sherman tells you something in confidence, is that privileged information? You know, lawyer client privilege and all that?”
    No. I’m not representing Admiral Sherman in the lawyer-client sense. I’m not operating ‘of counsel.’ I’m operating as a staff officer on the Navy headquarters staff.” Okay,” Mcnair said. “When you called this morning went in to see Lieutenant Bettino. He’s the boss of the Homicide Section. I explained about this liaison proposition, and he said he could understand the politics of it. But he needed to know what you were. If you were Sherman’s lawyer, then we wouldn’t talk to you, of course, until we either charged him or gave it up for Lent. But, secondly, he didn’t feel we needed a whole lot of help with this case as things stand.
    “Are you saying you would prefer there not be a parallel Navy investigation?”
    “Yes I guess I am. I mean, of course the Navy can run any, kind of investigation it wants on any of its personnel.
    You’ve got jurisdiction over naval personnel. But we’d prefer that any such investigation or related ‘activities not interfere with anything we might have going down in our jurisdiction.”
    Karen understood the implied warning immediately and moved to put his concerns to rest. “First, we wouldn’t think of interfering with your investigation, Detective. And, second, since Ms. Walsh died in Fairfax County and not aboard a naval installation, our position is that you have exclusive jurisdiction. Besides, we’re not conducting an investigation.
    I’m here to-“
    “Yeah, I know,” he interrupted, sitting back in his chair.
    “To establish liaison. So, let’s stop beating around the bushes here.
    You know we’re not going to reveal every little detail of what we’re working here with this case. But what I hear you saying is that you’d like a little heads-up, we decide to make Sherman for the perpetrator.
    Is that about it?”
    Karen decided this was the time to show him that they wanted a little more than that. “Not exactly,” she said. “We might be more useful than that. Let me fill you in on something. She told him about going to Elizabeth’s town house the night before with Admiral Sherman. He nodded slowly keeping his face a blank while she talked, taking it all in but mask. He was indeed a pro, Karen thought, but she did get a reaction when she told him about the slippers. He reached for his notebook and wrotd something down. He appeared to think for a moment when she was finished. “Lemme ask you,” he said. “Did Sherman authorize you to tell us this?”
    ““Authorize’? Wrong word. I told him that the police ought to know about this, and he agreed.”
    “Why did you go with Sherman last night?” he asked.
    “He asked me to. Personally, I think he thought it would look better if he had someone with him. There were no indications that the house Was a crime scene when we got there. That’s not a problem, is it?”
    “Nope,” he replied. “Did he appear to key on anything else when he went through the place?”
    Karen shook her