“Well, I’ve gotten a lot of what I need from the captain and crew here on the Atlaua, but there are a few…additionalthings that have come up in my debriefs that need…clarification.”
Tabitha raised her brows. “I have nothing to hide. Ask away.”
He consulted the notes he’d obviously taken—that were scribbled in a small binder—and began.
“It says here you’d never met anyone onboard the Atlaua before you arrived to take charge of your submersible yesterday morning. Is that correct?”
“It is,” she told him, not flinching when he lifted his head to stare at her, pointedly. She’d been in the military. She knew how superiors often attempted to pin you under a microscope like a bug when they were fishing for information.
“And the first time you met Spencer Sothard was during your initial evening meal, here in the mess?”
“It was,” she confirmed, trying to suss out where, exactly this was going. If her intuition was correct, the Commander was angling for informationbeyondthat of the earthquake and her rescue; something he entertained as the reason her surveying job had failed.
Well, if he really was going to dare that line of thinking…
Tabitha sucked in a deep breath. She’d give the man the benefit of the doubt, but if this was what she thought, an ambush of sorts, she’d gave him an earful.
The Commander cleared his throat. “It is my understanding that an interesting…connection was forged between the twoof you almost immediately, and it may have caused you to become…distracted.”
Tabitha wanted to snort.
“There was some language exchanged between you and Mr. Sothard that?—"
Oh, hell no.This is exactly what she’d just thought would happen. She was going to stomp on that fire before it blazed out of control.
“Who I do and do not flirt with is none of your concern, Commander,” she interrupted brusquely. “First of all, I’m a civilian, so I’m not under your jurisdiction. Nor do I have to play by your set of rules. And second of all, nothing I said or did during thisnaturaldisasterimpeded my ability to perform my underwater duties.”
She quickly switched things around. “Are you married, Commander?”
She knew he was. He wore a ring.
The man frowned, looking confused. “I am.”
“And do you love your wife very much?”
This time he scowled. “That has no bearing on?—”
“Oh, but I think it does,” Tabitha persisted, trying not to look beyond the Commander’s shoulder where both Shrinker and Buck were trying to keep straight faces. “Do you love her?” Tabitha persisted.
“Of course,” he stated gruffly, clearly a bit perplexed and discomfited.
“And were you in the Coast Guard when you two first started dating?”
Billingsgate finally caught on.
He sat back in his chair, shook his head, and crossed his arms over his chest. “I see where this is going. You’re going to ask me if I was distracted by thoughts of my wife when I was at sea inthose early days—or even if I am, now.” He glared. “The answer is no. I’m a professional, and?—”
“Oh. So what you’re saying is that I’m not? A professional I mean?” she rebutted. “Because, Commander Billingsgate, I can pull out several years’ worth of testimonials that say otherwise. No client I’ve taken on since I began my company haseverbeen dissatisfied with my work. No one has had anything but praise for the jobs I’ve completed.”
The Commander wasn’t giving up. “I’ll allow that, Ms. Miers, but did you everflirt—and I use that term loosely regarding what I’ve heard—while you were employed elsewhere?”
Tabitha went for total honesty.
“The answer to that is no. But I’ll do you one better. I’ll address the accusations you’re dancing around.” She leaned forward to stab him with a glower. “Did I feel an immediate attraction to Mr. Sothard? Yes. Did it in any way impeded my concentration or my ability to do my job? No. Just like you are able to compartmentalize what you feel for your wife so that it doesn’t intrude on your vocation, I have the same abilities,despitebeing a female.”
The last might have been a bit over the top, but Tabitha couldn’t help herself. It was her experience that there were plenty of women in the military, and likewise dedicated professions these days , but a lot of “old boys” still didn’t think they belonged.
The Commander sighed, scribbled something unintelligible in his notebook, and begrudgingly gave in. “Fine. I’ll drop that line of reasoning. Tell me in your own words exactly what happened.”
