Chapter 3 - The Sailor They Tried to Silence
The smoke was gray and thin.
Elena smelled burning plastic before the emergency response crew reached the storage room.
Firefighters forced the door after the building was evacuated.
Inside, an electrical panel had been damaged.
A small fire had destroyed several boxes stacked beside it.
But the pallet of temperature-monitoring devices remained intact.
One firefighter carried out a black recording unit in a protective container.
Its display was cracked.
The memory housing appeared undamaged.
Agent Brooks examined it from a distance without disturbing it.
"That gets documented and sent for forensic examination."
The warehouse supervisor stood beside the loading dock, trembling.
"I didn't do anything."
Brooks looked at him.
"Then you'll be able to explain what you know."
Elena watched an evidence technician photograph the burned panel.
Someone had wanted that room destroyed.
The question was whether the fire had been deliberate.
And whether the person responsible knew what the recording devices contained.
By late afternoon, Elena was back at the administrative building.
She found a handwritten note slipped beneath her office door.
Four words.
MERCER IS IN TROUBLE.
No signature.
No explanation.
She called Brooks immediately.
The agent answered on the second ring.
"Reyes?"
"I received a note about Seaman Mercer."
"What kind of note?"
Elena read it aloud.
Brooks was silent for a moment.
"Don't go looking for him yourself."
"He's being punished for reporting this."
"I understand."
"Then why is he still isolated?"
"Because administrative restrictions don't automatically disappear when somebody becomes a witness. I'm working through the chain of command to determine his status."
Elena gripped the phone.
"Agent Brooks, I'm afraid somebody is trying to make him confess to falsifying records he didn't falsify."
"That's precisely why you need to let me handle contact."
Elena closed her eyes.
"All right."
Brooks lowered her voice.
"One more thing."
"Yes?"
"Don't assume everyone helping you is telling the truth."
The call ended.
Elena stared at the note.
It was the same kind of ordinary white paper used throughout the administrative offices.
No identifying mark.
No clue.
Just a warning.
Thirty minutes later, her office telephone rang.
A woman spoke quietly.
"Lieutenant Reyes?"
"Speaking."
"My name is Petty Officer First Class Tessa Ward. I work in medical administration."
Elena straightened.
"How can I help you?"
"I don't know if I should have called."
"Are you in danger?"
A long silence followed.
Then Ward said, "I was told not to speak to you."
"By whom?"
"Commander Collins."
Elena felt her heartbeat quicken.
"What do you know?"
Ward's voice shook.
"Those three sailors weren't the first."
Elena went still.
"Explain that."
"There were earlier complaints. Nausea. Fever. Severe stomach pain. Most people recovered quickly, so the incidents were recorded separately."
"How many?"
"At least eleven reports over six weeks."
"Eleven?"
"And two civilians from the maintenance contractor."
Elena sat down.
The investigation had begun with three hospitalized sailors.
Now there were at least sixteen potential cases.
"Why didn't preventive medicine identify a cluster?"
"Because the reports weren't all coded under the same category."
"Why?"
"Some were entered as routine gastrointestinal illness. Others were marked as unrelated personal medical events."
"Who changed them?"
Ward lowered her voice further.
"I don't know. But I printed the original intake summaries before the classifications were changed."
Elena looked at the closed office door.
"Have you spoken to Agent Brooks?"
"I tried. Someone in administration told me she wasn't available."
"Call her directly. I'll give you the number."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
Ward began crying.
"Because the last person who reported something disappeared from the duty roster."
Elena stood.
"Who?"
"The civilian quality-control inspector assigned to Harborline Provisions."
"What was their name?"
"Rebecca Shaw."
Elena wrote it down.
"Where is she?"
"I don't know."
"Did she resign?"
"That's what everybody was told."
Ward took a shaky breath.
"But I saw her two nights ago."
"Where?"
"Outside the medical records office."
"What was she doing?"
"She was arguing with Commander Collins."
Elena's hand tightened around her pen.
"Did you hear anything?"
"Only one sentence."
"What sentence?"
Ward hesitated.
Then she repeated the words.
"Rebecca told him, 'If another sailor gets sick, I'm taking the originals to NCIS.'"
Elena stared at the name on her notepad.
"Did Collins answer?"
"Yes."
"What did he say?"
Ward's voice dropped to a whisper.
"He said, 'You should have stayed on the ship when you had the chance.'"
The line suddenly went dead.
Elena called back.
No answer.
She immediately contacted Brooks.
This time, the agent didn't tell her to stay calm.
"Give me Ward's duty location."
Elena did.
Brooks said she was sending personnel to check on her.
Then she asked a question Elena hadn't expected.
"Lieutenant, does the name Rebecca Shaw appear anywhere in the records you've reviewed?"
Elena opened the shipment summary on her computer.
She searched the name.
Nothing.
Then she checked the original electronic receiving log she'd saved three days earlier.
A user identification field appeared beside a deleted entry.
R. SHAW.
Elena leaned closer.
The deleted entry had been created Tuesday evening.
Two days before the suspicious shipment arrived.
Its description contained only six words.
TEMPERATURE DATA DOES NOT SUPPORT ACCEPTANCE.
Elena's pulse raced.
"Agent Brooks, I found her name."
"Where?"
"In the audit history."
"What's the entry?"
Elena read it aloud.
Brooks was quiet.
Then she said, "That matches a document we recovered from the fire-damaged storage room."
"What document?"
"A shipping exception report."
Elena stopped breathing.
Brooks continued.
"It contains Rebecca Shaw's signature."
"That's good, isn't it?"
"It would be."
"Why wouldn't it be?"
"Because the report was signed yesterday."
Elena stared at the wall.
Rebecca Shaw had supposedly disappeared from the duty roster days earlier.
Brooks spoke again.
"And according to the personnel system, Rebecca Shaw died in a vehicle accident last Friday."
Elena's mouth went dry.
"Then who signed the report yesterday?"
May you like
Brooks answered quietly.
"That's what we're trying to find out."
