Silent Waters

Chapter 17

If Bruce Dunn had any reservations about working with Sarah Connelly on this investigation, they were gone in the course of the first hour. On the professional side — an area in which he considered himself a good judge — she was smart, efficient, persistent, and obviously a mover and shaker. She knew how to get people do what she wanted. On the unprofessional side — an area in which he considered himself even more of an expert — she was five-ten, had blue eyes, sexy short dark hair, and an athletic build that could have been on the cover of a glossy magazine, not in the strict confines of the navy uniform.

And this wasn’t the first time he’d admired this specific facet of her personality. He’d attended at least three different navy functions where he could remember Lieutenant Connelly being there. He’d never been able to get within an arm’s length of her because of her other eager admirers. But he’d made sure to ask a few questions about who she was. It never hurt to learn a thing or two about a beautiful woman.

Bottom line, she had it all. But if the telephone call Bruce had gotten this morning had been any indication, the navy brass wasn’t giving Sarah her due. He’d been told that she’d been chosen for the job because of her personal relationship with McCann. Moreover, to learn more about the sub commander, Dunn was to use her however he needed.

“Eleven of them. They’re all here.” Sarah dropped a stack of folders in the middle of the conference table and took the seat across from him. “A personnel file for everyone that we know is on the boat, including Amy Russell.”

“Where did you get her file?”

“EB faxed what they had, and I got the rest from files the FBI keeps on defense contractor employees who have top secret clearance,” she told him. “Anything on the surveillance cameras?”

“They have clear pictures of McCann in the parking lot, by the security booth, and going in and out of the NAVSEA barge,” Bruce explained. “The cameras in the North Yard Ways were supposedly destroyed by the fire. I have one of my NCIS guys ready to go over the tape from the cameras that were trained on Hartford.”

“Are there problems with those, too?”

“We don’t know yet. The bad weather, time of night, they’re all factors. They told me on the phone from Groton that they can see some shadows. There’s a lot more digital enhancement we can do, though.”

“Have they sent them over?”

“They’re here, being analyzed.”

She had shed her jacket, and the sleeves of her white shirt were rolled up to the elbows. His gaze lingered briefly on her forearm. The muscle beneath the smooth skin was firm and toned.

Sarah reached for the folders she’d dropped on the conference table. Bruce noticed that she chose Amy Russell’s first. He couldn’t help but wonder if the navy lieutenant still carried a torch for her ex-boyfriend.

Bruce turned his attention back to the laptop screen and the list he was putting together. Submarine skippers and experts, both retired and still in the navy. He didn’t personally believe that an American sub driver had to be the only one capable of engineering this kind of hijacking. His list already included British and Russian commanders.

Unfortunately, what he had before him was a long and impressive collection of names. The difficult part would be to narrow it down to those who might have a bone of contention.

“This is interesting,” Sarah said under her breath.

Bruce realized she was still paging through Amy Russell’s files. “What did you find?”

“This woman. Amy Russell.” Sarah looked up. “She could easily be connected.”