By the Book

By Janet Dawson

Accident? Or suicide?

That’s the question Navy Lieutenant Dinah Gray must answer when a sailor at her Navy command drives a car into San Francisco Bay.

In this short story, Dinah discovers people would rather she didn’t make waves, including the formidable captain Dinah calls The Dragon Lady. Despite the pressure, the young officer must go where the evidence, and her conscience, lead her.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Janet Dawson
• Release date: Jan 8, 2017
• ISBN: 9781944153007

Book preview

By the Book

By Janet Dawson

©1991 Janet Dawson.

Cover by Julia Turner. Photo used under Creative Commons from orchidgalore.

By the Book originally appeared in the anthology Sisters in Crime 4.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

It would make a lot of people happy if Slater didn’t commit suicide, Dinah Gray said.

Did she? Meg asked

I don’t know. Dinah toyed with her fork. That’s what my investigation is supposed to determine, if I remember what we were taught at Naval Justice School.

The two women, Navy lieutenants, had been roommates at Officer Candidate School, attending the short legal officer course afterwards. OCS friendships often disappeared after training, but Dinah and Meg kept in touch. Now they were both stationed at Bay Area Navy commands – Meg at Naval Air Station Alameda and Dinah at Treasure Island, the Navy base in the middle of San Francisco Bay. This Monday evening they sat at Dinah’s kitchen table sharing spaghetti and a bottle of wine. A third place had been laid for Dinah’s husband Rob, an attorney, but he was working late.

It’s not as though I’m a legal pro. Dinah ran her fingers through her short blond hair as Meg refilled the wine glasses. Command legal officer is a collateral duty, like public affairs officer. You know how it is at a small command. Anything major goes to the Navy lawyers, the ones who passed the bar exam. That’s what I get for being a junior lieutenant.

Other duties as assigned . . . Meg smiled and quoted the phrase inherent to the job description of any Navy unrestricted line officer. It meant that junior officers could be assigned any number of on specified tasks.

I never thought I’d have to investigate someone’s death. Dinah shook her head. I wish Slater hadn’t driven her car into San Francisco Bay.

But she had, last Friday, at approximately four o’clock on a