P Deutermann - Darkside

“Would he show up for practice sessions here at the Academy?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Does the team practice every day?”

“During the competition season, yes.”

“So it would be fair to say that you had daily contact with Midshipman Dell during the competition swimming season?” Branner asked, a tiny gleam of triumph in her eye. But the lawyer was ready.

“Don’t answer that,” Liz instructed. Julie said nothing.

“Why not?” Branner asked.

“Because I didn’t like the way you phrased that, Agent Branner. Plus, she’s already told you that she had little or no contact with Dell, that he helped out with the plebe members of the team, not the seniors.”

Branner started to say something, tapped her pencil three times, and then Thompson picked up the questions. Definitely rehearsed, Jim thought.

“Is the swim team a close-knit organization?” he asked.

Liz nodded. “Fairly close,” Julie said. “I mean, we all cheer one another on during the various events. We practice two, sometimes three hours a day, early in the morning and again after class. Swimming is extremely competitive, both within and among the teams.”

“Do the women on the swim team tend to hang out with the men on the swim team?”

Julie looked at Liz, who hesitated but then nodded. “Some do,” she said. “But most midshipmen date outside of the Academy.”

“How about you?”

Liz told her not to answer that. “That’s not germane here,” she declared.

Thompson, unlike Branner, appeared to take that in stride. “Okay. Do you know if Dell formed any close associations on the swim team?”

“No,” Julie said before Liz could give her permission.

“No, what? No he didn’t, or no, you don’t know?”

“No, I don’t know. He was a plebe. He wouldn’t have much time for dating in any event. And never an upperclassman.”

Thompson consulted his notes. Liz tapped Julie on the arm and pointed to her previous note about answering questions. Julie nodded and mouthed the word sorry.

“Are plebes allowed to date upperclassmen?” he asked.

“No.”

“Are plebes allowed to date anybody?”

“Dahlgren dates on Saturdays,” Julie said. “There are lots of rules. You really have to want to be with someone.”

“Did Dell date anyone that you know of?”

“Don’t know,” Julie said. “He was a plebe. Unless he was in my company, I wouldn’t know and wouldn’t care.”

Thompson nodded equably. “I’m done,” he said, looking to Branner.

“I’m not,” she said. “Midshipman Markham, are you involved romantically with anyone here at the Academy now?”

“She’s still not going to answer that, Agent Branner.”

“I think it might be pertinent to our investigation,” Branner snapped.

“Then go find out by yourselves,” Liz replied. “But based on the tone and drift of this interview, I’m assuming certain things about your view of my client.”

“Such as?” Branner snapped.

“Meaning that I think you’re investigating her, not Dell. So from now on out, there won’t be any more of these interviews. Is that understood?”

“You don’t get it, do you?” Branner said, her voice rising. Jim watched with growing interest. “We have the authority to interview Midshipman Markham anytime we please, as long as we execute the Article Thirty-one form. This is military law we’re talking about.”

“Fine,” Liz said. “You can, of course, interview her all you want, but she’ll have nothing to say, will she? Nor can you draw any inference from her silence, to which she is entitled under American law. As for now, this interview is concluded.”

Liz stood up and nudged a surprised Julie to do the same. She retrieved her recorder and indicated to Julie that she was to follow her. Neither agent said anything as the two women left the conference room. Jim saw Julie start to speak, but Liz put a finger to her lips until they had walked out of the commandant’s office area. Jim got up to stretch while Branner spoke into the recorder, stating that the interview was concluded. Then she turned it off. Branner swore.

“Wasn’t all that bad,” Thompson said.

Branner tossed her head impatiently. “Goddamned lawyers,” she said. “Mr. Hall, what was your take?”

“My job doesn’t involve real police work,” he said. “The only interviews I’ve seen are on television. That said, I think you hit the old blue-and-gold wall.”

“Is that like the cops’ big blue wall?” Thompson asked. “Like when Internal Affairs comes around?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Jim said. “I mean, I can’t feature one mid killing another for any reason. But there’s always been a cops and robbers atmosphere here, what with all the regulations, rules, laws, procedures. You ever heard the expression, You rate what you skate?”

“No,” Branner said, interested now.

“Well, it means basically that you can do what you can get away with. Usually applies to the chickenshit end of the book, as opposed to honor offenses and the serious stuff. And there’s a serious taboo against bilging a classmate. You know, ratting out.”

“She was a very uncooperative witness,” Branner said.

“For what it’s worth, I think the lady lawyer was right,” Jim said. “You kinda made it sound like Markham was a suspect, not a witness. There was one point, though-when you asked if she’d been in her room all night. I thought she hesitated.”

“Thought you said you hadn’t done interviews?” Branner said.

“You said you wanted my impressions. You just got one.”

Ev heard the phone ringing as he went up the back walk from his boat dock, but it went to voice mail before he got into the house. He’d gone out rowing on the Severn again to take advantage of an almost-perfect afternoon calm. The Academy’s varsity eights had swept by in a glorious echelon formation, but he hadn’t even tried to keep up. There was a message from Liz to please call her. He showered, changed clothes, and then made a drink. He called her back from the study. She told him that there had been another short-notice interview that afternoon, which is why she hadn’t had time to alert him beforehand.

“Interesting. So, how’d it go?”

“Just fair,” she said.

That got his attention. “Only fair?”

“Well, it was definitely adversarial. Part of that was a function of my MO when dealing with police interviews: I try real hard to control the flow, and I can be abrasive about it. Part of the problem was that Agent Branner. She came in with a pretty big chip on her shoulder.”

“But what were they looking for?”

“As I anticipated, some connection between Julie and Dell. Something besides the underwear thing. Julie did get it on the record that he could have obtained the underwear in a laundry mix-up. Apparently, that happens.”

“That’s true. Or it did in my day. Although they usually just lost it, period. Or sent it back full of holes. Is this a homicide?”

“They’re acting like it, and yet I’m not sure they’re sure.” She reviewed the questions and answers, and explained why she’d shut some of the questions off. “Based on some of the questions, I think they’re case building.”

“Against Julie?”

“Against whoever emerges out of the fog of evidence. With some cops, it’s often a toss-up as to whether they want to find the truth or just close the case. The latter outcome is often preferable.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah. Look, you said you wanted to help.”

Ev put down his drink. A mission. “Shoot,” he said.

“I learned some things today that neither you nor I knew. For starters, Dell was a manager on the swim team. Which means that Julie could have had daily contact with him during the competition season.”