“Admiral,” he said, “I assume there has been a misunderstanding.”
Admiral Cross remained beside the table.
“There has not.”
Richard glanced at the photographs.
“You cannot discuss classified procurement matters with my daughter.”
“This investigation concerns the equipment failure that injured Lieutenant Vale.
She is a material witness.”
“She is a patient with documented trauma.”
Daniel stepped toward him.
I touched Daniel’s arm, and he stopped.
Richard saw the gesture and mistook it for weakness again.
“My daughter has suffered memory problems since the accident,” he said.
“Ringing in the ears.
Nightmares.
Confusion.
Her testimony would never survive scrutiny.”
The words landed more painfully than his rejection outside the chapel.
He knew every symptom because I had trusted him with them.
Now he was using my recovery as a defense strategy.
Admiral Cross opened another section of the file.
“Lieutenant Vale’s medical evaluations show no cognitive impairment.
Her account also matches the ship’s internal sensor logs, the statements of the sailors she rescued, and physical evidence recovered from the compartment.”
Richard’s eyes moved toward me.
“You spoke to them again?”
“I answered every question they asked.”
“You should have come to me first.”
“I did come to you.
In the hospital.”
His expression changed for less than a second.
That was all Admiral Cross needed to see.
Camille folded her arms.
“This is still a family wedding,” she said.
“Can’t this be handled another day?”
The admiral turned to her.
“The fleet inspection has already begun.
Vessels are being removed from operation until their emergency systems are cleared.
This cannot wait for cake.”
Camille’s face reddened.
“I only meant that Dad has worked his entire life for that company.”
“So have hundreds of employees,” I said.
“Did they know what he was doing?”
Richard answered before she could.
“No one was doing anything.
We made a supplier adjustment.
Every manufacturer does it.”
“Not without retesting safety equipment,” Admiral Cross said.
“The material met commercial standards.”
“It did not meet naval standards.”
“Those standards are excessive.”
Daniel stared at him.
“Three people almost burned to death.”
“And they survived,” Richard snapped.
Silence filled the room.
My father seemed to hear himself only after the words had escaped.
Admiral Cross’s expression hardened.
“They survived because your daughter went back into the fire.”
