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turned around. I thought O’Brien was gonna faint.”
    “Beasely was such a damn wimp,” Carpenter said. “This guy look like a player?”
    “Yes, sir, I’d definitely say so. And in all fairness, Beasely was not a well man.”
    Yeah, I know, but the net result was that I couldn’t use him the way I wanted to. Okay. Put this von Rensel on my calendar. And get the word to the lady commander, as you call her.”
    “Yes, sir, I’ll put in a call this evening. I’m assuming you just want her there to observe the meeting?”
    Mccarty asked. “Karen Lawrence is an investigations specialist, not an investigator.” Carpenter gave his EA a sideways look, inspiring Mccarty to backpedal a bit.
    “I mean, I know she’s very good at what she does,” he added hastily.
    “But her specialty is reviewing other people’s work, not doing investigations herself. Unless-“
    “Unless I can get her interested in something long enough for her to pull her damn request for retirement papers,” Carpenter said.
    Mccarty shook his head at that prospect. Comdr. Karen Lawrence was an expert lawyer who reviewed Navy field investigation reports to see if they had been conducted thoroughly, properly, and effectively. She was very, very good at it, having that rare ability to sense from the field reports when an investigation had missed something crucial, either because the field investigator was less than competent or because local command authorities were trying to hide something. The problem was that her husband, a wealthy Washington lobbyist, had died very unexpectedly of a heart attack about a year ago. Thereafter, she had simply lost interest in what had been shaping up as a brilliant career in the JAG Corps. Four months ago, she had put her papers in to take retirement on twenty. Admiral Carpenter wanted very much to change her mind about getting out, but he had had no luck at all in persuading her.
    “I mean, I understand what she’s probably going through,” Carpenter said. “But as the JAG, I have to take the Navy’s point of view, not hers. With all these sexual harassment cases and the even bigger problem of female integration, I need to keep any lady lawyer who’s as sharp as she is. “
    “Yes, sir, I understand. I’m just not too optimistic this will do it. If there is a homicide investigation, she’d be out of her competence.”
    “Well,” Carpenter said as they reached the Mall entrance, “maybe put the new NIS guy into it. If it’s out of his competence, then send him back and tell them to try again.
    TUESDAY Comdr. Karen Lawrence arrived in her office at eight o’clock, thirty minutes later than everyone else. She had come in early to work out at the Pentagon Officers Athletic Club before work. Since Frank’s death, she had felt the need to get Out of the house’early in the morning, and the 7:00 A.m. athletic-club session offered a good excuse, not to mention the advantage of lighter traffic. But most important, it got her through that emotionally treacherous morning hour when they used to prepare for work together. Together was a nonword these days, and having to live alone again was unexpectedly painful.
    The Investigations Review Division of Navy JAG was on the D-ring of the fourth floor of the Pentagon. The office was typical of the Pentagon these days: An office suite designed to hold three officers in 1945 now held eight in a warren of modular furniture enclosed in crumbling ten-foot high plastered walls. Each staff legal officer had approximately an eight-foot-square cubicle. The division boss, Captain Pennington, had a slightly larger cubicle in one corner, under the only window.
    Karen said good morning to the staff yeoman and fixed a cup of coffee.
    The yeoman waved a telephone message slip at her as she reached her cubicle. “Presence is’re quested, Commander,” she called.
    Karen walked back over to pick up the slip, then returned to her cubicle. She flopped down at her desk, patting a damp