out the door.
Dan looked down at his uneaten sandwich. He began to wrap it up again, his appetite gone. The tears in Libby’s eyes had torn at him. “Sometimes, Ramsey, you can be a first-class jerk. Do you know that?”
“What?”
Dan looked up. Rose was at the door again.
“Nothing. What’s wrong now, Rose?”
She grinned. “You’re catching on fast, Captain. When I show up, you know trouble ain’t far behind.”
Dan sighed. “Come in and shut the door.” What he wanted to do was follow Libby to the parking lot and make an apology—somehow patch up the trust he’d broken between them. It was too late now. What a hell of a welcome to Reed.
Rose sat down with a file on her large lap. “You’ve got a new brig chaser under your command, Captain.”
“Let’s dispense with formality, Rose. Call me Dan when we’re alone, okay?”
“Fine. Anyway, this new kid is only eighteen and really green. He’s a potential problem, as I see it. His name is PFC David Shaw.”
Dan put the sandwich in the drawer and closed it. “Go on.”
Rose frowned. “This morning he was to escort a murderer by the name of Coughman from the brig up to Treasure Island on the other side of the San Francisco Bay. He’s driving the prisoner up right now. Just in case you don’t know it, TI is a major prison for military men who’ve committed serious crimes.”
Dan smiled to himself. “I’ve sent a few of them there, Rose. What else?”
“Well, when Shaw came up to me to get the paperwork this morning on this prisoner, he started acting real funny with the set of orders I prepared for him. I showed him what to read and where to sign his name. Shaw got real uneasy and started asking me a lot of questions, so I told him to read the orders. I mean, they were right in front of him, for heaven’s sake. He kinda did, but then he went over to Joe Donnally and started asking the same questions of him that I refused to answer.”
“Maybe the kid’s just nervous, Rose. You know—double-checking before making the drive up the coast with a prisoner. Being responsible for a prisoner isn’t easy, and if it’s his first time, some of his actions might be understandable.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe you’re right, Dan.” She tapped the file. “There’s something funny going on with the kid. He’s real tall and skinny and built like a rail.” She grinned. “If only that would have happened to me. Anyway, he’s not the brig-guard type of guy, if you know what I mean.”
Dan nodded. Brig chasers were usually big, strapping marines, even tougher and meaner than the criminals they had to guard and move from one brig or correctional place to another. “Keep an eye on him, Rose, but give him a chance. He was probably just intimidated by Coughman’s reputation.”
With a laugh, Rose got up. “You’re probably right. But if you’re going to square this office away, things like this need to be reported to you, Dan.”
“No argument from me, Rose. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.”
She hesitated at the door, giving him a coy look over her bifocals. “I saw Libby Tyler hurrying out of here. Looked like she was going to cry….”
Dan refused to take the bait. “She was a little upset,” he answered shortly.
Rose nodded. “I see.”
“I’m sure you do, Rose.”
She smiled. “Pretty lady, isn’t she?”
“Sure is.”
“She’s a widow, did you know that?”
Dan frowned and looked over at his secretary. “No, I didn’t.”
“Yeah, her husband was a marine helicopter pilot, a real fine officer here at Reed. Three years ago he was with his squad in a helicopter for a night patrol, and they crashed in the hills. Word is that the copilot was flying at the time and wearing those new night goggles. He flew the chopper into some power lines. All twelve men on board died instantly, including Captain Tyler.”
“Damn…”
“Libby really forced the hand of the crash investigators to find out why her husband had been killed. They hid the facts from her at first, but when she threatened a civilian lawsuit, they leveled with her. It was a problem with the night goggles.”
What a jerk he’d been. No wonder his lunch suggestion had proven painful to Libby. Chances were, Dan surmised, she didn’t want a damn thing to do with marines ever again. “They’ve had a lot of problems with those goggles,” he agreed quietly. He owed Libby a genuine apology.
“She’s a real special lady,” Rose went on. “Libby’s program to teach the dependent children how to ride has been a roaring success around here. She’s gotten them off the streets and out of the malls and interested in horses instead. She doesn’t have any children of her own, but the kids just love her. Word on the grapevine was that Libby wanted a child really badly.” The secretary shrugged. “Guess it wasn’t meant to be, but Libby’s really been a positive force here on Reed in the three years since his death.”
If it were possible to feel worse, Dan did. “I guess I’d better drop over to the stables and see her,” he muttered.
Rose’s smile was benevolent. “I knew you wouldn’t let her down, Dan.”
He gave her a pointed look. “Is Libby your daughter?”
She laughed. “No, but I’d be proud to have her as one.”
“Just wondering. The way you’re doting over her, I thought for sure she was a close relative.”
“In my book, Libby Tyler is a good-hearted person. We need more of them on this poor, suffering earth of ours. I just happen to think there’s something nice between the two of you. I saw the way she looked at you.”
Dan felt his skin heat up. This time he knew he was blushing. “Rose,” he said in a growly tone, “don’t you have something to do? Shouldn’t you be getting ready for our meeting with the MP’s this afternoon?”
Giggling, Rose nodded. “Yes, sir, Captain. Just pen some time in your appointment book to visit Libby in the next day or two. I’m sure it’ll do both of you good.”
Chapter Three
“Hey, Libby,” Jenny Stevens called from her horse in the middle of the riding ring, “do you know that marine standing over by the gate?”
Libby kept her gaze on the ten children walking their horses along the arena’s pipe-rail fence. Jenny was a navy corpswave nurse. On her days off, she helped Libby with her classes, acting as her assistant. Libby twisted around on Shiloh, her Trahkner gelding, a special breed of horses brought from Europe specifically for eventing because of their size and strength. She looked toward the gate. Her heart thudded hard in her breast. Dan Ramsey.
“Him,”
