Silent Waters

Chapter 56

She was on dry land. In a hospital. Alive. But they weren’t allowing her to call her children or Barbara or her parents.

Amy was becoming increasingly annoyed.

Still, she couldn’t take it out on Lieutenant Connelly. The woman had been extremely pleasant to her while asking a thousand questions about each minute she’d been stuck on Hartford.

But Amy was starting to lose patience period. She sent the other woman a narrow glare.

“You want to run that last question by me again?”

“Between your arrival on board before the hijacking and the moment Commander McCann summoned you and Brody back to the control room, anyone could have been in charge in the control room and you wouldn’t have known.”

“This isn’t what you asked,” Amy said shortly.

“I’m trying to break the question into smaller pieces.”

“I’m not an infant. I can handle it.”

What the hell, Amy thought. Her head pounded. She’d ended up with God knew how many stitches on her forehead. Her stomach still felt queasy as a result of what the emergency room doctor said was a concussion she suffered at the time of the explosion.

“Whatever your question was, my understanding of it is that you’re accusing Commander McCann of being responsible for the hijacking. You’re trying to get me to say he ordered his people to lock him in the ship’s office. That he had them shoot at him. That he—”

“I’m not accusing him of anything,” the lieutenant said quickly. “At the same time, I think it’s important that we approach this from every possible angle. Neither you nor Brody saw who the leader was. What I’m trying to do is eliminate the possibility that Commander McCann could have been running the show when he wasn’t in your company. I’m trying to head off any future investigation.”

Amy sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Her head pounded even worse when she sat up, and the stupid hospital gown probably offered a clear glimpse of her ass to anyone walking behind her, but she didn’t care.

“You’re bringing out the shipyard in me.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“It means that I’m just about ready to start getting into your face.” Amy stonily returned the startled look Connelly sent her. “And I mean right now.”

“Amy, the last thing I want to do is upset you,” Lieutenant Connelly said softly.

“The last thing you should be doing is accusing one of your own, a man who bravely stopped at least another dozen weapons from being launched. The same man who took the whole lot of those hijackers on almost single-handedly, and succeeded in being such a pain in the ass to them that they ran with their tails between their legs. Commander McCann saved my life and Brody’s life more than once while we were trapped in that sub.” She threw both hands in the air, frustrated. “And the submarine itself. My God, I don’t know what’s left of it, but he brought it to the surface, didn’t he? You should celebrate him as a hero, not sit here questioning his honor.”

The navy investigator started to speak, but Amy remembered something else and interrupted. Her mind was a total jumble. She wasn’t willing to risk forgetting it.

“Wait a minute. In the ship’s office on the second level, there’s a laptop. It has one of those Electric Boat property stickers on it, so you won’t miss it. I suppose that area got wet. But even if it did, get your computer guys to check the memory. Check the e-mail McCann tried to send your people right after we were locked up in there. You read that and tell me if it’s from someone who’s masterminding a hijacking operation.”

Connelly nodded and wrote something on her pad of paper. “I appreciate your defense of him.”

It may have been the quiet way that she said it, but the words seemed to sprout wings, and Amy found herself looking for the meaning as they took flight in her head.

The lieutenant’s blue eyes shone with something that resembled affection when they looked up. “Ms. Russell. Like you, I believe he’s innocent. I believe he’s a hero.”

Amy bit her tongue to keep from asking the question. She already knew the answer. It was woman’s instinct. That sixth sense that told her there was something between Lieutenant Connelly and Commander McCann.

She was too tired, maybe even too doped up. Amy knew she wasn’t herself as a tightness squeezed her throat. This was madness. She didn’t know anything about McCann’s personal life. She had no right to feel any ties, any connection. Her attraction to him was a surprise and totally inappropriate. She was becoming emotional over nothing.

“Are we done?” Amy asked in what she hoped was a clear voice.

“For now.”

“Good. I want to call my son and daughter.” She had to ask, even if it was for the umpteenth time.

“I’m sorry, but that’s not possible yet. We’ll let you know when it’s safe.”

Safe for who? Amy asked herself. What was safe about letting two seven-year-olds think their mother might be dead?

She felt herself really choking up now. “You can close the frigging door on your way out.”

Amy lay back down and pulled the covers up to her chin. She closed her eyes, knowing sleep was hardly a possibility.