Brandt turned. The five officers in navy dress blues stopped at the end of the lane Brandt had cleared. Gold stripes circled their cuffs. The man in front was silver at the temples and he looked at the handcuffs before he looked at anyone's face. "Vice Admiral Sutherland.
" he said. Nobody in the cleared lane moved. Brandt's hand was still on her elbow. Captain Holm and I and Duarte came through the doors behind them with a tablet and a folder. "Sergeant, I'm Vice Admiral Marcus Reed.
" the man said. "I'm not asking as her colleague, I'm asking as a guest on this ship. Why is she restrained? " "Sir, a $4 million necklace went missing. She concealed a device.
" "What was recovered from her? " Rear Admiral Alaina Brooks asked. "Nothing yet. Was the search documented? " That was Rear Admiral Thomas Hale.
"I have my report. May we see it? " Rear Admiral Curtis Bell. Brandt took the page from his vest. Rear Admiral Denise Whitlock read it without touching it the way you read a document you might someday testify about and passed it to Duarte.
"Chief. " Holm said. "Show them. " Duarte propped the tablet on the railing where the guests could see. The forward camera played the clutch, the open pocket 25414.
Nair's photograph 234. Pruitt's texts, Kessler's radio log, 2:19, the form's edit history, 2:47, Devon's video, Naomi asking for the record while Brandt read out his report. Brandt heard his own voice. "Nobody asked you. " come out of the tablet speaker.
He did not reach for his pad. Along the rail, the phones came down. The woman in champagne silk lowered hers. The teenager put his in his pocket. The man in the linen suit, who had moved three tables away, walked back to the edge of the lane and held out the gala program that had slid from her purse.
He said nothing. Someone near the stairs said, "I should have said something. " Someone else left. "Sergeant, " Reed said, "this is the moment to correct your report. " Brandt looked at the tablet, at the page in Duarte's hand, at the county lieutenant who had come up the gangway and stopped at the top.
"I acted on a complaint. " "You acted on a description, " Brooke said. "I'll take the cuffs off, Sarge, " Kessler said. "Don't. " Kessler took the key from his belt anyway, and his hand was steady.
He opened her left wrist, then her right, and put the steel in his pocket. He stayed where he was, eyes on the deck, until Naomi said, "Thank you, Officer Kessler. You logged it correctly. " The lieutenant stepped forward. Brandt handed over the evidence bag.
The lieutenant read the seal, the tag, and Kessler's photograph of it, then handed Naomi her phone. The screen was already lit. "That phone is government property, " Reed said. "And you had no authority to seize it on the basis you gave her. " "Admiral Reed, " Naomi said, "I'd like the record to show that the footage settled this, not my rank.