Rule of Evidence (38 page)

McMasters left so quickly the bailiff barely had time to bring the people in the courtroom to their feet. The room erupted into a buzz of conversation, the neat lines of spectators dissolving into small clumps excitedly discussing what had just happened.

Jen seemed to be in shock, staring at Lieutenant Bashir, who was laughing quietly. Paul pushed forward. "What exactly does this mean? I can't remember what 'dismissed with prejudice' means but it sounds bad."

"Bad? Hell, no. Not for us." Bashir sobered enough to smile widely at Jen and Paul. "It means the government can't charge Ms. Shen with those offenses again. Ever."

"But she couldn't be tried twice for the same offense anyway."

"Uh-uh." Bashir shook his head. "This trial was never finished. Unless a verdict had been rendered, technically Jen wouldn't have been tried before. They could've brought the same charges later. I know that sounds screwy, so just accept that the judge's ruling means Jen is free and clear of this nightmare for this point forward."

The masters-at-arms who'd escorted Jen into court that morning appeared, looking ill at ease. One bent to remove the ankle restraint on Jen while the other looked into another corner of the courtroom. Jen glared at both until the first had finished removing her bond. "Get away from me," she ground out between clenched teeth.

Paul remembered what Sharpe had told him.
There's things guards can do to prisoners
. He stepped forward, commanding the attention of both of the masters-at-arms. "Remember this. They're not always guilty."

The guards exchanged glances, then the senior one answered without visible emotion. "Yes, sir."

Jen turned away so she couldn't see the guards. "Get out of here."

Another exchange of glances, then the guards walked toward the door of the courtroom.

Jen started to say something else, but her face went pale. Paul turned and saw Commander Carr standing close by, her own expression tightly controlled. Carr took a long breath before speaking. "Lieutenant Shen, I wish to offer my strongest and most sincere apologies for what you went through. I want to assure you that I would never have proceeded with this case had I known vital evidence had been withheld from me and from you. I
will
find out who was responsible and do everything I can to bring them to account."

Jen stared back at her, saying nothing.

"I wouldn't blame you if you refused to accept my apology for what could've been a gross miscarriage of justice. But I do want to ensure you know that duty or not I would not have done this knowingly, and that this man of yours," she pointed at Paul, "deserves every credit for this outcome." Jen nodded. Commander Carr waited a moment longer, watching Jen's unyielding face, then smiled tightly. "For what it's worth, I don't know that I'd accept an apology myself if our situations were reversed."

Paul watched Jen, trying to will her to respond graciously before Carr turned away.
C'mon, Jen. She did the right thing when the chips were down.

Jen's expression didn't change, but she slowly nodded again. Then she extended her hand. Carr eyed it with surprise, then reached to shake it. However, when Commander Carr's hand was just about to grasp hers, Jen yanked her own up and back, grinning fiercely. "Psych. Ma'am."

Carr returned the grin and the fierceness. "Want to try again, Ms. Shen?"

"Sure. If you do." This time the two women shook hands.

Paul looked from Jen to Commander Carr and mentally shook his head. He could see their hands quivering from the pressure they were exerting. He couldn't tell if they were also digging their nails into each other's hands as they shook, but he wouldn't have been surprised.
Man, if you ever locked those two into a room together they'd either kill each other or come out as fast friends
.

The two women broke their grip. Commander Carr took a step back. "Thank you, too, Paul, for uncovering that withheld evidence." Jen's eyes widened and she stared at Paul. "You didn't hear that, yet, Lieutenant Shen? Yes. At almost literally the last minute, your lover here found that site full of materiel I never saw, and talked your lawyer and I into getting the court to force it open. I'd hang on to him if I was you." Carr inclined her head toward the back of the courtroom. "I have to leave for a command performance with Judge McMasters. Good luck, Ms. Shen."

Jen massaged her hand as she watched Carr walk away. "She works out."

Paul nodded. "She's got a chin-up bar installed in her office."

"I could tell. I need to get one, too." She looked over at Bashir. "Thanks, Lieutenant. Now what?"

He waved toward the courtroom door, smiling broadly. "You're free. Charges are dropped. You can go anywhere and do anything you damn well please."

"Does that mean I report back to the
Maury
?"

Bashir looked surprised, then nodded. "Well, yes."

"Just like I've been on temporary duty and am checking back in, huh? 'Hi, guys. I'm back.' 'So, Jen, how was the brig?' 'It sucked.' 'Really?'" Jen shook her head and looked at Paul. "I can't believe I'm already joking about this."

"It's a coping mechanism."

"You've been talking to that chaplain, haven't you?" Jen grinned and raised her arms. "I'm
free
. Damn it feels good. C'mon, Paul, let's take a walk, just you and me and no guards or surveillance systems. Thanks, Lieutenant Bashir."

"Hey, it's my job." Bashir smiled even wider. "I beat Alex Carr! I've got to tell everybody at the office. Excuse me!" He rushed off.

Jen took a few tentative steps toward the door, then paused as someone else approached. Lieutenant Kalin's face reflected distress. "Lieutenant Shen, I wanted to apologize."

"You, too?" Jen managed another smile.

"I'm sorry? I just mean . . . we would've voted to convict. I know we would've. There just . . ." Kalin gestured helplessly. "I would've done the very best I could and I still would've done the wrong thing and I'm so very sorry I came so close to doing that."

Paul looked at Jen again, but this time she seemed unable to muster a response. "Lieutenant, I'm sure Ms. Shen appreciates that." Jen nodded mutely.

"Thank you." Lieutenant Kalin looked back to where Captain Carney and the other members of the court were standing and arguing with each other. "I'd better get back."

Jen closed her eyes for a moment, then started walking again. "I thought she'd vote for me," Jen whispered just loudly enough for Paul to hear.

Me, too. I bet Captain Carney's kissing goodbye those rear admiral stars he's been dreaming about
.

"It's funny," Jen continued. "You always think, if I was accused of something I didn't do, I'd just show everyone I didn't do it and everything'd be fine. But it's not that way. It's a lot harder."

Paul nodded. "I never really thought about it this way before. I guess there's a reason it's been made hard to convict people."

"Not hard enough. And I never thought I'd say that. Maybe I'll change my mind again, some day. But it'll take a while. A long while." They cleared the door of the courtroom, Jen looking around, her expression gradually brightening. "Oh, this feels good. You never know how important it is to be able to walk out a door until you're not allowed to do it. But I'm free again."

Paul nodded, smiling.
I can't tell her yet about all the news coverage of the charges against her. She's been through so much and deserves not to have this moment ruined. The media spent weeks going over the awful things she supposedly did. How much time will the news media spend telling everybody she was innocent
?

Jen glanced at him, her expression suddenly rueful. "Okay. Say it."

"Say what?"

"I was a horrible bitch. I yelled and screamed at you and told you to shut up and go away while you were literally saving me."

Paul shrugged. "It's not like you weren't under a lot of stress."

"Are you trying to say you weren't bothered by it?"

"Uh, no. It bothered me. Truth to tell, it hurt. A lot."

Jen looked at him, her eyes searching his. "I'll make it up to you. I swear."

"I don't want—"

"That blasted sweet little lawyer of yours is right."

"Commander Carr? About what? And she's not—"

"I need to hang on to you. You deserve your answer by now. You deserved it a long time ago."

"My answer? To what?"

Jen buried her face in her hands. "He's forgotten. Marriage?
Remember
?"

"Oh, I, uh, Jen, I . . ."

"Never mind."

"But, Jen!"

She dropped her hands and peered at him. "I must really be crazy. Yes."

"Yes?" Paul hesitated, not entirely certain if he'd heard right, or what question it now applied to.

"I'll spell it phonetically for you, sailor." Jen leaned close, her eyes looking directly into Paul's. "Yankee. Echo. Sierra. Yes. I want to marry you. I've wanted to marry you for a long time."

"Jen, I . . . I . . ."

"You're so articulate at times like this." She glanced to either side, then risked a quick kiss. "I don't care if we're in uniform. Technically, I'm not, since I need to get my ribbons and all back. I take it you're happy?"

"Incredibly happy." Paul imagined he had a big, goofy smile on his face, but didn't particularly care.

"Good. That makes two of us. Did you arrange for Herdez to be there on Friday, too?"

"Not really. I did ask her to let you know she supported you."

"So she came as a favor to you. It was still a nice gesture."

"No, Jen, she came because she wanted to show she supported
you
."

Jen laughed. "Herdez? Uh-huh. Right. She was probably thinking 'that no-load Shen is just one problem after another.'"

"Herdez thinks you're a good officer!"

"She thinks
you're
a good officer. Not that it matters all that much right now. I'll even invite her to the wedding if you want."

Paul grinned.
The wedding
. Then something occurred to him.
Herdez wants me to go back on ship duty after a year on shore. But now I know I'm going to be married to Jen. Well, I'll just have to explain that to Herdez
.

"What're you thinking about?"

"Planning. For the future."

"Oh, yeah. A big family get-together. Did you ever try to tell my father about the charges against me?"

"No. You told me not to."

"Yeah." She sighed and looked outward as if she could somehow see her father's ship. "The
Mahan
probably heard anyway. Somehow. I'll need to send him an update and tell him he won't have to worry about visiting hours at Leavenworth. And I'm telling him that I'm marrying you whether he likes it or not."

Captain Shen's probably going to have a hard time deciding which is worse, having Jen sent to Leavenworth or having her marry me
.

"What about your parents?" Jen continued. "I haven't had much opportunity to get to know them. Are you sure they'll be all that thrilled about this?"

"Positive." Paul stopped at a public phone and punched in a number. His mother's face appeared. "That stuff you didn't give me? It worked. Jen's free."

Julia Sinclair smiled brightly. "That was fast."

"It had to be. SEERS was installed on the
Maury
even though it hadn't passed its tests. Why would anyone have allowed that, Mom? Have something sent on to ships when they knew it might literally blow up someday?"
She looked down and shook her head. "It does happen. This certainly isn't the first time. No one gets a reward for stopping a program in its tracks, Paul. No one in government gets thanked for killing a program, and no one in industry gets bonuses for finding big problems with something that's already over-budget and behind schedule. They try to bury the evidence and wave the program though and cross their fingers. I'd never do it. Your father wouldn't. But there are sometimes people who will. I'm afraid the sailors on the
Maury
aren't the first victims of that sort of thing, and they won't be the last. Buyer beware, Paul. It applies to the military, too."

"I won't forget that."

"Is Jen with you?"

"Yes. Uh, you remember that thing you asked me about earlier, Mom?"

"What thing?"

"The are-you-already-engaged thing."

"Oh. That thing."

"Yes, um . . ."

As Paul hesitated, Jen pushed her way in front of the phone. "I said yes. We're engaged, ma'am. Surprise!"

Paul's mother's smile got a little brighter. "I'm not all that surprised. Welcome to the family." Julia Sinclair paused for just a moment. "And no more ma'am, please. From now on, just call me 'Commander.'" She laughed. "I've waited so long to say that to a daughter-in-law!"

"I'm going to out-rank you someday, Commander."

"Oh, no, you won't! Seniority will stay firmly with me, young lady. In perpetuity. The governing instruction for mothers-in-law lays it out very clearly."

"I've never seen that instruction."

"You won't need it for a while. Paul, I'll let your father know the good news."

Paul looked at Jen after he'd broken the connection. "And they lived happily ever after." He wasn't sure himself how much he was joking.

She laughed. "Oh, yeah. That sounds just like you and me. Right now, all we have to do is find out a time when your and my father's ships are both in port, I'm here as well, your parents can make it up to Franklin again, and anyone else we really want to have at the wedding also can be here."

Paul exhaled. "Maybe if we put that problem to the fleet scheduling mainframes they can come up with a solution. Eventually."

"It'll probably take a while." Jen checked her data unit, biting her lower lip in concentration. "As long as we can find a four-hour long window where everybody's available, I say we go for it."

"Yeah. I guess that'll be the hardest part of setting up the wedding."

Jen stared at him for a moment. "No," she finally stated. "Not even close. Think of it as a military exercise, Paul. A big one. With lots of things to set up and coordinate."

"Oh." Paul grinned. "Maybe we ought to give it a code name, then. How about Operation Wedded Bliss?"