“I forgot Betsy had a phone,” said Rita with a sigh.
Bev rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well, she lives a half-hour drive from Palau, so you win some, you lose some.”
“What’s going on with theChartridge?” said Laura, trying to get us back on track.
“The rumor flying around New London is that the sub ran aground.”
“Where?” I asked.
“Right here in La Madd.”
I could feel my pulse quicken. “If there’d been a grounding, wouldn’t we all know about it?”
“No way,” said Rita with a laugh. “Most of them don’t get reported. Not if the navy can possibly help it.”
“What does this have to do with the Greers?” asked Laura.
“Wait for it,” said Bev, holding up a finger.
Laura groaned.
“So the next day, Betsy goes to Siobhan.”
“Why Siobhan?” I asked.
“Oh, I see where this is going,” said Rita. “Siobhan’s husband, Mike, is a tugboat operator.”
“Mike told Siobhan that theChartridgewas moored alongside the tender, but that last Saturday night, the sub was given orders to do a berth shift because another sub was coming in and needed some kind of quick resupply.”
“There’s no such thing as a quick resupply,” said Rita.
“Maybe they were reloading missiles. Who knows? In any case, the commodore decides that theChartridgeneeds to go out to sea for a couple of hours while this other sub gets taken care of. But it’s hard to rustle up theChartridge’s crew because a bunch of them are on liberty, including the CO, who had rented a vacation house over in Moneta with a couple of other officers.”
“Who told you that?” I asked.
“One of the guys in Tim’s department rents the house next door.”
“You really have been sleuthing,” said Rita.
“Thank you,” said Bev with a small curtsy. “I’m guessing the CO either couldn’t be reached or wasn’t sober because, according to Mike, the commodore decided he was going to captain the boat.”
“Can he even do that?” I asked.
“Yeah, sure. He’s obviously qualified. But in this case, it was a bad idea.”
“Beverly Bamford, are you telling us the commodore grounded the sub?” asked Rita.
“That’s what Mike said. He had to tow it in.”
“How bad’s the damage?” I asked, thinking only of the reactor, which sat in the center of the boat.
“No idea,” said Bev. “But if crew members are calling their wives in New London and telling them that they’re going to be stuck in La Madd for the foreseeable future, it’s got to be pretty bad, right?”
I wondered whether Teo knew anything about the accident. He couldn’t possibly, I decided, because if he did, there’d already be coverage inLa Spedizione, and the entire archipelago would be rioting.
“This all happened last Saturday night?” asked Laura. “As in six days ago?”
“Yeah, why?”
