July 17
COCHRANE TRIED TO GIRD himself emotionally for the forthcoming confrontation with the Kane men. Ellen was like a brilliant beam of sunlight in the late afternoon. He was dreading this interview and she looked like life personified in comparison. Her bright yellow dress and wild hair fueled him with an inner happiness. Cochrane applauded her spirit; it was such a contrast to his by-the-book Navy world. Her eyes gave her away, however. She had as much apprehension over today’s interview as he did. She sat at the opposite end of the long table, facing him. Earlier, she had placed the teddy bear on a file cabinet at the rear of the room.
Through the door, Cochrane saw Lieutenant Tommy Kane turn the corner and head in their direction, cap in hand. As the man approached, Cochrane could see the smudges beneath his eyes, as if he hadn’t slept well since Susan’s death. His expression was highly readable to Cochrane: anxious, worried and exhausted.
Tommy entered the room and stopped. “I guess I’m at the right place?”
“You are,” Ellen said gently, going over and shaking his hand. Tommy returned her smile.
He placed his cap on the table and headed for the coffee station. As he stood there pouring the steaming liquid into a white cup, he said, “I just got in. My squadron finished a series of night flights just before I left, so I’m dead on my feet.”
Cochrane nodded sympathetically as he watched the aviator. Tommy was all about sensitivity. His hands trembled when he poured in cream and sugar. His smile was vulnerable. But the pilot’s dark blue gaze turned assessing as he moved back to the table with his coffee.
“Have you been in touch with your brother or father since the funeral?” Ellen asked.
Tommy shook his head uneasily. “No, not really. Carrier duty doesn’t leave you much time to talk, think or feel.”
Cochrane was about to say something when both Brad and Robert Kane rounded the corner, walking with gestapo-like imperiousness toward the conference room. “Here they come,” he said, more in warning to Ellen than to Tommy. Ellen’s face lost its openness and he didn’t blame her. These two were ballbusters of the first order, hardened warriors who took no prisoners. Jim found himself bristling inwardly, wanting to somehow protect Ellen from the inevitable confrontation.
Robert Kane, dressed impeccably in an expensive suit and tie, entered first. Right behind him, in his summer whites, was Brad. The aviator had a short stub of an unlit cigar jammed into the left side of his mouth.
“Come in, gentlemen,” Cochrane invited, as Ellen quietly closed the door. “There’s coffee over there if you’d—”
“Let’s dispense with formalities, shall we, Lieutenant?” Robert Kane said crisply. He sat down at the table.
Brad Kane sat at his father’s shoulder. Both were opposite Tommy, who gave them a genuine smile of welcome. Neither man acknowledged the younger Kane.
Cochrane scowled, pushed the button on the tape recorder and began. “We’re reconvening to ask you more questions in regard to Susan’s death.”
“Her suicide,” Robert snapped, lifting his chin and glaring at him.
“Yes,” Cochrane said, “her suicide. We thought you’d like to know why she took her life.”
“Very well,” Robert snarled.
“New evidence has come to light,” Cochrane stated.
Brad Kane’s frosty blue gaze darted to Cochrane and then across the table to Tommy, who sat listening raptly.
Ellen zeroed in on Brad. “Commander Kane, we know you were at the Ares Conference earlier this year. We thought that it was probable you ran into Susan there. Did you?” she asked, her tone firm and unyielding.
The cigar shifted in Brad’s mouth. “I did not see her there.”
“All right,” Cochrane said, giving the man an equally cold look. “You do know a Lieutenant Commander Hodges?”
“Lieutenant Commander Hodges is a friend of long standing. He’s a fine officer and an excellent pilot.” Brad moved the cigar to the other side of his mouth. “So what?”
Cochrane cleared his throat. “And you’re very sure you hadn’t seen Susan in person for how long?”
“Two years.”
“Did you ever visit her at her La Mesa condo?” Ellen asked softly. She saw his eyes widen and then narrow like a hunter’s upon her. Would he lie, when they had his fingerprints showing he’d been at her condo?
Brad snapped out his answer. “No. I never went to her condo.”
Ellen got up and walked over to the file cabinet. Gently, she picked up Susan’s teddy bear and brought it to the table. “Then, Commander, how do you explain that we lifted your fingerprint off this bear’s eye? It’s the same teddy bear Susan was holding when she died.”
Brad’s lips tightened around the cigar. He stared at the bear and then at Ellen.
The silence lengthened.
Cochrane watched the family closely. Tommy’s expression was one of confusion as he looked from the stuffed toy to his brother.
Robert’s face grew icy.
Brad’s furrowed brow broke out in a sheen of sweat.
“Well?” Ellen demanded softly. “Can you tell us how your fingerprint got on this bear’s eye if you never were at Susan’s condo? How could it have gotten there, Commander?”
“Why should I fall for a stupid ruse like this?” Brad snapped, taking the cigar out of his mouth.
“Excuse me?” Ellen said, raising her brows.
“There’s no print on that bear’s eye. This is a setup, a frame.”
Cochrane produced a document and slid it down the table. “Take a look, Commander. It’s an official copy of the print the JAG lab recently lifted off the eye of the bear. There’s no denying that it’s yours.”
A fresh layer of sweat formed across Brad’s furrowed brow as he picked up the paper. His hands trembled and he cut a glance to his father.
“Why would your fingerprint be on Susan’s bear?” Tommy demanded, searching his brother’s face. “She’s had that bear ever since she was born. No one was ever allowed to touch it. Ever.”
Brad sat very still, his hand flattened on the damning document.
“Look,” Robert Kane said nastily to Cochrane, “you’re out of line, Lieutenant.”
“I think that your son knows a great deal more than he’s telling us. Maybe you know all about it, sir.”
Tommy sat back. “Captain? Brad? What’s going on here?” He pointed to the bear, which Ellen was still holding. “Brad, why would your print be on her bear if you weren’t at her condo? Did you see Susan and not tell me?”
“Shut up!” Robert hissed, jabbing a finger at Tommy. “Family business is family business. You don’t go around talking to strangers. Understand?”
“On the contrary,” Cochrane said, strengthening his voice, “I reckon this transcends so-called ‘family business,’ Mr. Kane. Your oldest son’s fingerprint is on the eye of that teddy bear found in Susan’s arms at the death scene. Now, that infers that he was at Susan’s condo.” Cochrane shifted his gaze to Brad, who was chewing hard on the end of his cigar while he stared at the document beneath his sprawled hand. “How about it, Commander? Are you going to come clean now? You were at Susan’s condo, and we know that. Do you want me to tell you when you were there?”
Brad’s eyes narrowed to slits. He slowly took the cigar out of his mouth and held it tensely between the fingers of his left hand. “I don’t have to answer your goddamn questions.”
Tommy lurched out of his chair. “Yes, you do, Brad.” He put his hands on his hips, his face flushed a dull red. “Just what the hell is going on here? You told me you hadn’t seen Susan—”
“Goddammit!” Robert roared as he launched himself to his feet. “I said shut the hell up! Sit down, Tommy!”
The young aviator trembled as he dropped his hands to his sides. “No, sir, I won’t. What’s going on here? Do you and Brad know something I don’t about Susan dying? Is this another family secret you’re keeping from me?”
Shaking with rage, the elder Kane whirled on Cochrane. “You have no business doing this! None whatsoever! Susan is dead. Let it be! She’s disgraced us enough.”
Cochrane eased out of his chair, his fingertips resting on the table, his attention focused on Brad. “Commander, we’re waiting. Or do you want me to tell everyone what happened? It’s your call.”
The silence lengthened. Tommy suddenly moved, making his way around the table. In one swift motion, he hauled Brad to his feet. Even though Tommy was several inches shorter than his brother, he grasped the collar of his brother’s uniform and jerked him hard. “Okay, Brad, what didn’t you tell me?” he breathed savagely. “What did you do? Dammit, you tell me!”
Robert cursed and pulled his sons apart. “Sit down,” he ordered. “Right now.”
Tommy took a couple of steps away from the other two, staring belligerently at them both.
“Commander?” Cochrane called. “We’re waiting.”
Brad jerked the chair away from the table and sat down. “Okay, so I saw her.”
“When?” Ellen demanded, sitting down in turn. Her self-assurance rose as she met Brad Kane’s desperate look. Susan would be vindicated today, and no one would stop it from happening. Not even this severely dysfunctional family.
“Just before she died,” Brad said finally.
Tommy gasped. “What? You saw her? Why didn’t you tell me? What did you say to her?”
With a curse, Brad shoved his brother away. Breathing hard, he said, “All right. All right, I’ll tell you.”
Tommy was shaking, his fists clenched. “Tell me all of it, Brad. None of this hiding stuff.” He gave his father a look of warning. “You two always hid things from me when I was growing up. Even at Annapolis, you kept things from me. This time isn’t any different, is it?”
“I got a call from Lieutenant Commander Hodges,” Brad began tightly. “He told me Susan was making trouble—again. She was always a pain in the ass to him at the Top Gun facility. This wasn’t the first time he’d called me about something she’d done to him or one of the other officers there. He asked me to take emergency leave on June 20th and go see her.”
“About what?” Tommy demanded.
“Hodges said Susan was going to report him and two other aviators on a minor incident that occurred at the Ares Conference. So I flew in to see her. I got emergency leave and arrived at her condo around 2000, June 22nd. I basically told her that Hodges was a friend of mine and he’d called me. I told her she had to resign. That she owed us on this one. If she didn’t, she was going to cause us a lot of humiliation. I told her to put it into perspective and let the incident at Ares go. If she didn’t resign, she’d sink our careers along with hers. I’ve worked so hard for so long, and then to hear she was going to squeal on our brother aviators over some stupid high jinks at the conference broke something deep inside me. I walked to the door. She started to cry and I saw her old teddy bear sitting on the couch. I picked it up and gave it to her. I guess to comfort her.”
Tommy stared at Brad. “Why didn’t you tell me about this?” he asked.
Brad shrugged wearily. “It was messy and I didn’t want to drag you into the situation. By not telling you, I was protecting you.”
“You told Father, though, didn’t you?”
“I had to.”
“Are you telling me Susan committed suicide because of what you told her, Brad? My God…my God…” Tommy whispered, his voice flooding with emotion.
“Hold it,” Cochrane said firmly. “There’s one more piece of information you need to have.” He settled his gaze on Brad’s crumpling features. “Why didn’t you come forward and tell us you were at her condo in the first place?”
“Because I didn’t want to tell you why I was there,” Brad said. He lifted his head and blinked rapidly, fighting back tears. “I had no sooner gotten back to the carrier when I received word Susan was dead.” He touched his brow with a shaking hand. “Christ, I killed her….” Rubbing his face harshly, he confessed to Tommy, “I’m sorry. I’ve had knots in my guts ever since it happened. I thought Susan would resign. I—I had no idea she’d take her life.”
“Just a minute,” Cochrane warned. “Before you go taking all the blame yourself for what happened, I want you to look at this photo.” He passed to each of them a copy of the photo of Susan lying naked on the hotel bed.
With a cry, Tommy gaped disbelievingly at the picture.
As the elder Kane stared down at the copy, his face bore an expression of disgust.
Brad jerked a glance up at Cochrane. “Just what the hell is this?”
“What none of you knew was that Hodges had deliberately devised a plan to drug Susan with Rohypnol, the date-rape drug. He put the drug in her glass of wine at the Ares Conference on the evening of May 16th. He and two other aviators, Lieutenants Michelson and Bassett, then carried Susan upstairs as soon as she lost consciousness, took off her clothes and tied her to Hodges’s bed. They took photos of her in the position you see. Hodges and Bassett then carried her, still unconscious, back to her hotel room. From that time until just recently, Susan had been living in terror of being exposed as having done something unacceptable at Ares. She was drugged and didn’t remember the photo session or who was with her, but she knew something terrible had happened. Rohypnol robs the person of their memory.
“Later, Hodges told Susan to resign from the Navy or else he would distribute these photos to you, as well as throughout the military.”
“Oh, God.” Tommy choked out the words, staring down at the photo. “Susan would never do something like that of her own free will.”
Brad picked up the photo. “Then why did Hodges have me fly in and tell her to resign if he’d done all this beforehand? I don’t understand,” he said.
“Our guess is that he wanted to make sure Susan would resign,” Ellen said. “He was afraid that her personal integrity would not allow her to quit the Navy, so he manipulated you to come in and read her the riot act. He wanted extra insurance and an airtight case to protect himself and the other two officers. He used you. He was betting family pressure would get her to leave. Hodges was right, unfortunately.”
Brad wavered. “I didn’t know…. Jesus, I didn’t know…. I had no reason to doubt what Hodges said. I had no idea he’d done this to her.”
Tommy sniffed and wiped his eyes. He jerked the photo off the table and waved it in Brad’s face. “You believed Hodges instead, didn’t you? You didn’t even give Susan a chance to explain! You were so busy defending yourself—the family, the code of silence—that you wouldn’t even let her tell you what Hodges had done to her.” The photo fluttered to the deck. Turning, Tommy hid his face in his hands and began to weep.
Cochrane watched the elder Kane’s hardened features begin to melt, first with grief and then with fury. The tension and shock in the room was palpable, so much so it made Cochrane reel. He saw Ellen sitting very still, clasping the teddy bear as if her life depended upon it. She was silently crying, the tears tracking down her pale cheeks. Brad Kane leaned forward, both fists planted on the table in front of him, his head hanging as he tried unsuccessfully to battle his own tears. Tommy had sagged against the bulkhead, his back to them, his entire body shaking as he wept.
Robert Kane’s features grew taut with grief as he stood up, straightening his suit. “Susan didn’t deserve this. She was just too damn independent…” His voice seemed to close off. His eyes filled with tears, though he clearly tried to fight them back.
Tommy whirled around, his eyes red. “Sir, that is pure bullshit!” His voice shook with rage. “You abused Susan all her life! Do you have to keep doing it after her death?”
Robert’s face went white.
“Be a man for once, will you, Captain? Quit denying the truth,” Tommy said, his voice cracking. “We all know what happened in our happy little alcoholic family.”
“Please,” Ellen interceded gently, “all of you, try to calm down. Don’t do this to yourselves. Don’t wound each other even more.”
Tommy sneered at his father, as if not even hearing Ellen’s soft plea. “That’s all you’re interested in, isn’t it? The Navy mask has to stay in place. It has to be perfect. You’d blame Susan for this rather than the institution or the family. Our family is as responsible for Susan taking her life as the man who drugged her.” Jabbing a finger toward his brother, Tommy said raggedly, “You’re as responsible for her death as Hodges, who staged this whole thing to get Susan to resign.”
Robert stood there, frozen.
Ellen moved toward Tommy, aching for the young aviator. She placed her hand on his tense shoulder. “There’s enough blame to go around for everyone involved, but blame isn’t the answer, Tommy.”
“It may not be, but it’s deserved,” he rasped, his narrowed gaze never leaving his father’s face. “Let’s start with the Navy as an institution. Boys will be boys, right, Captain? That’s what you drilled into us. Protect the Navy, not our sister. So what if she was being blackmailed? That’s okay with you, isn’t it, sir?”
“I won’t stand here and take this kind of disrespect from you,” Robert said unsteadily. “There was never abuse!”
Brad removed his hands from the table, straightened slowly and twisted to look at his father. “Don’t tell us about abuse. Susan’s suicide began the moment she took her first breath. Do you realize that?” He looked toward Tommy, who nodded tearfully in agreement.
“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” Robert said.
Brad slowly thrust his shoulders back, as if he were carrying an invisible weight. He got to his feet and stared at his father. “I’ll never forget how you blamed Susan for our mother’s death. You repeated it often enough that I began to believe it, too. You never let Susan forget her innocent part in that terrible tragedy, even though it wasn’t her fault. Susan was made to feel less than worthy, far less, than Tommy and me. God knows, she tried to atone for Mother’s death with brilliant achievements in school as well as the Navy. I went along with it because I wanted your approval. What a fool I was.”
Tommy sobbed and said, “Susan was a sacrificial lamb on the altar of the military’s tradition. We’re all part of the reason why she chose to take her life. We’re all guilty of her death. She didn’t get support she needed from any of us. I know Susan well enough to know that she would’ve died if those photos had been circulated. No one ever protected her. Not ever.” He looked at Brad. “I’ll bet she thought you knew about the photos, that you were supporting the lie behind those pictures Hodges took of her.”
Brad shook his head. “I—I swear to you, I didn’t know….”
Tommy looked at Cochrane. “What are you doing about Hodges? He masterminded those photos. Aren’t you arresting him? He’s the one who set her up.”
“I can’t do anything,” Cochrane said in an apologetic tone.
“Nothing? He murdered Susan!” Tommy unceremoniously wiped at the tears in his eyes. “Why can’t you hang the son of a bitch?”
Cochrane said wearily, “Because I have no proof, no hard evidence of any kind. He supplied this information unofficially and would deny the picture had anything to do with him if I hauled him up on charges. Technically, all we could do is try him on circumstantial evidence. That photo should not be displayed in a court of law. The only loser would be Susan. She isn’t alive to tell us what really happened. And Hodges will not indict himself by volunteering the information in court. It’s a catch-22, legally.”
Brad took in a deep, ragged breath, his mouth a slash and his eyes blazing. “That bastard is going to pay for this one way or another.”
Robert leaped up and gripped his son’s shoulder. “Hold on, Brad.”
He wrenched away, glaring at his father through tear-filled eyes. “This is one time, sir, that you aren’t going to order me around. You’re no longer in control. You hear me?”
“Keep your nose clean,” Robert snarled. “And Tommy, you stay out of this, too. No revenge. Nothing we can do will bring Susan back! Do you hear me?”
Tommy looked over at Cochrane. “Is it true? Hodges is going to walk on this one?”
“Unfortunately, yes. I don’t believe he set out to make Susan commit suicide. He seemed as shaken by her decision to take sleeping pills as you are.”
Bitterly, Brad turned to his brother. “Susan had this thing about being perfect. We all know that.” He cleared his throat. “Hell, she always presented such a perfect, smiling face to the world. There was so much wrong in our family that she always pretended the outside world was the exact opposite of what we grew up in.”
“Now, just a minute,” Robert interrupted.
Brad whirled on him. “Sir, being part of our family was sheer, living hell. Frankly, I don’t know how Susan survived as a child. I got tired of being beaten with a belt every time you came home from carrier duty, for every transgression we made in your absence. I got tired of having Georgia keep a damn list of all the things we did wrong while you were absent from our lives. I used to count up how many beatings I’d get in a row for the stuff Susan and Tommy had done wrong, not to mention what I had.” His nostrils flared. “We didn’t get love. All we got was a goddamn belt and a lot of criticism.”
“That’s not true,” Robert snapped. “You were rewarded, too, mister, and don’t you ever forget that.”
“Oh, yes,” Brad said with a snarl as he stalked toward the door. “Let me count the ways. We might get a nod from you if we joined the football team or earned a sports letter. You got us into Annapolis. But what did Susan get? You never paid any attention to her except to criticize her, Captain.”
Tommy pulled a white handkerchief out of his back pocket and wiped his eyes. “What a sad testament to our family,” he said. “Susan took her life because no one would listen to her, protect her. Why else would she do it? She knew in her heart that none of us really loved or cared for her enough to listen. To be there for her…”
Cochrane held Ellen’s tearful gaze. “I reckon Susan Kane’s case is closed,” he told them quietly. “These photos will never be entered into the file. As far as the official word goes, it will be ruled suicide due to work related stress. Susan’s achievements are safe. It’s the least we can do for her. She was a good person caught in a very bad, twisted set of circumstances put in motion by others.” He pursed his mouth and then looked at the Kanes for a long moment before continuing. Tapping the top of the table lightly with his large, rawboned knuckles, he said, “I’m going after Hodges. I don’t know if I’ll get him or not. I know it won’t be on Susan’s death, because he’s covered his tracks pretty well. But if there’s a way I can get him, I will. This interview is concluded.”
Tommy tried to gather himself. He wiped his eyes one more time and stuffed the handkerchief into his pocket. “I’ve had it,” he muttered, more to himself than to them. He grabbed the naval aviator’s wings on his left breast pocket and ripped them off his shirt with disgust. He threw them on the table. The wings bounced twice, slid off the surface of the table and fell to the deck. “I’m resigning right now.”
Robert Kane gasped. “You can’t do that! Tommy, think, will you? Good God, son, you’ve got—”
“Screw this outfit and screw our happy little family,” Tommy barked, his eyes dark with fury. “I won’t be a part of this place anymore. This farce took so much out of me when I was growing up. Now it’s taken my sister! I loved her! I hurt so much for her when we were growing up, did you know that? Did you know how many times Susan cried herself to sleep, Captain? No, you wouldn’t. You weren’t there. You were always gone, months at a time. I don’t think you ever cared.” He threw up his hands. “I’ve had it with you. With the Navy. I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do, but I won’t be part and parcel of this stinking family anymore.” Without looking at anyone, he left the room, hat in hand.
Brad turned and looked at his father, disdain and rage in his eyes. Without another word, he, too, spun on his heel and marched out of the room.
Robert Kane looked at Jim and Ellen. His mouth hardened into a thin line. As he walked to the end of the table, Ellen held out the teddy bear to him.
“Do you want this, Mr. Kane?”
He looked at the bear and swallowed hard. “No,” he said unsteadily. “Give it to my son Tommy. He’ll take better care of it than I ever could.” Tears trickled down his cheek as he left.
Cochrane witnessed the man’s sorrow, a father exposed. He turned his attention to Ellen. Tears were freely flowing down her own face as she wrapped her arms around the bear, hugging it against her breast. He blinked back tears of his own as he gathered up the papers and shut off the tape recorder. After stuffing everything into his briefcase, he walked slowly to the end of the table.
He put copies of the photo and the tape to be transcribed into his briefcase and snapped it shut.
“Come on, gal,” he murmured, as he slung an arm around Ellen’s slumped shoulders. “Let’s get outta here. We’ll get an early dinner at O’Leary’s here on the station, and then drive back to JAG to write up a final report on this sorry mess.”
“I—I’m not hungry, Jim….” She wiped her tears away with the back of her hand as she held the teddy bear close to her.
“I know. Me neither. But we need to eat something. It will give us the strength to complete the last mile on this case.” He gave her a tender look. “Besides, right now I need you, Ellen. I need you near me. I just want to hear your voice. Be with you…” Everyone was gone so Cochrane reached over and grazed her hand with his. Her fingers were icy cold. He squeezed them gently, trying to warm them up. When she returned his touch, he leaned over and pressed a kiss to her curly hair. It was all he dared to, with the door open. Someone might unexpectedly show up, see their fraternization and turn them in. Neither of them needed that right now. He released her hand and stepped away.
Nodding jerkily, Ellen retrieved a tissue from her purse and wiped her eyes and nose. Her scalp tingled where he’d planted the kiss, and her fingers ached to caress him. How badly Ellen wanted to walk into Jim’s arms and be held. Seeing the burning look in his gray eyes, she knew that was what he wanted, too. But yet again, it was the wrong place and time. Softly, she whispered, “I feel the same, Jim. When this is done…”
He picked up his briefcase and held her shadowy green eyes. “We’ll have some downtime, gal. Time to talk. Maybe hold one another.”
Her smile was wobbly, her face filled with hope. For the first time in two years, Cochrane felt that even though the world was falling apart around him, he was going to survive it. And he knew it had to do with Ellen being in his life.