He met my eyes. “That’s what worries us the most. We don’t know what they want.”
“But they’re letting people go,” Marino said.
“I know. And that worries me, too,” Wesley stated.
“Terrorists generally don’t do that.” His telephone rang.
“This is different.” He picked up the receiver. “Yes,” he said. “Good. Send him in.”
Major General Lynwood Sessions was in the uniform of the Navy he served when he entered the office and shook hands with each of us. He was black, maybe forty-five and handsome in a way that was not to be dismissed. He did not take off his jacket or even loosen a button as he formally took a chair and set a fat briefcase beside him.
“General, thank you for coming,” Wesley began.
“I wish it were for a happier reason,” he said as he bent over to get out a file folder and legal pad.
“Don’t we all,” Wesley said. “This is Captain Pete Marino with Richmond, and Dr. Kay Scarpetta, the chief medical examiner of Virginia.” He looked at me and held my gaze. “They work with us. Dr. Scarpetta, as a matter of fact, is the medical examiner in the cases that we believe are related to what is happening today.”
General Sessions nodded and made no comment.
Wesley said to Marino and me, “Let me try to tell you what we know beyond the immediate crisis. We have reason to believe that vessels in the Inactive Ship Yard are being sold to countries that should not have them. This includes Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Algeria.”
“What sort of vessels?” Marino asked.
“Mainly submarines. We also suspect that this shipyard is buying vessels from places like Russia and then reselling them.”
“And why have we not been told this before?” I asked.
Wesley hesitated. “No one had proof.”
“Ted Eddings was diving in the Inactive Yard when he died,” I said. “He was near a submarine.”
No one replied.
Then the general said, “He was a reporter. It’s been suggested that he might have been looking for Civil War relics.”
“And what was Danny doing?” I measured my words because I was getting tired of this. “Exploring a historic train tunnel in Richmond?”
“It’s hard to know what Danny Webster was into,” he said. “But I understand the Chesapeake police found a bayonet in the trunk of his car, and it is consistent with the tool marks left on your slashed tires.”
I looked a long time at him. “I don’t know where you got your information, but if what you’ve said is true, then I suspect Detective Roche turned that evidence in.”
“I believe he turned in the bayonet, yes.”
“I believe all of us in this room can be trusted.” I kept my eyes on his. “If there is a nuclear disaster, I am mandated by law to take care of the dead. There are already too many dead at Old Point.” I paused. “General Sessions, now would be a very good time to tell the truth.”
The men were silent for a moment.
Then the general said, “NAVSEA has been concerned about that shipyard for a while.”
“NAVSEA? What the hell is that?” Marino asked.
“Naval Sea Systems Command,” he said. “They’re the people responsible for making certain that shipyards like the one in question abide by the appropriate standards.”
“Eddings had the label N-V-S-E programmed into his fax machine,” I said. “Was he in communication with them?”
“He had asked questions,” General Sessions said. “We were aware of Mr. Eddings. But we could not give him the answers he wanted. Just as we could not answer you, Dr. Scarpetta, when you sent us a fax asking who we were.”
His face was inscrutable. “I’m certain you can understand that.”
“What is D-R-M-S out of Memphis?” I then asked.
“Another fax number that Eddings called, as did you,” he said. “Defense Reutilization Marketing Service. They handle all surplus sales, which must be approved by NAVSEA.”
“This is making sense,” I said. “I can see why Eddings would have been in touch with these people. He was on to what was happening at the Inactive Yard, that the Navy’s standards were being violated in a rather shocking way.