"Unit eleven to unit two." He turned away from me as if about to tell secrets.

"Two," floated back the reply.

I got a Dr. Scaylatta here." He mispronounced my name worse than most people did.

"Ten-four. We're standing by."

"Ma'am," the security guard said to me, "just drive through and you'll find a parking lot on your right." He pointed. "You need to leave your car there and walk to Pier Two, where you'll find Captain Green. That's who you need to see."

"And where will I find Detective Roche?" I asked.

"Captain Green's who you need to see," he repeated.

I rolled my window up as he opened a gate posted with signs warning that I was about to enter an industrial area where spray painting was an imminent hazard, safety equipment was required and parking was at my own risk. In the distance, dull gray cargo and tank landing ships, and mine sweepers, frigates and hydrofoils intimidated the cold horizon. On the second pier, emergency vehicles, police cars and a small group of men had gathered.

Leaving my car as instructed, I briskly walked toward them as they stated. I had left my medical bag and dive gear in the car, so I was an empty-handed, middle-aged woman in hiking boots, wool slacks and pale army-green Schoffel coat. The instant I set foot on the pier, a distinguished, graying man in uniform intercepted me as if I were trespassing. Unsmiling, he stepped in my path.

"May I help you?" he asked in a tone that said halt, as the wind lifted his hair and colored his cheeks.

I again explained who I was.

"Oh, good." He certainly did not sound as if he meant it. "I'm Captain Green with Navy Investigative Service.

We really do need to get on with this. Listen," he turned away from me and spoke to someone else. "We gotta get those CPs off…

"Excuse me. You're with NISI cut in, for I was going to get this cleared up now. "It was my belief that this shipyard is not Navy property. If it is Navy property, I shouldn't be here. The case should be the Navy's and autopsied by Navy pathologists."