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Sherman had gone well beyond dating. Von Rensel was also studying Sherman’s face.
    “The Homicide Section was called in as a matter of routine,” Mcnair continued. “As you probably know, we are required by law to investigate any unexplained death. We arrived at the scene within an hour of Mrs.
    Klein had a key, and she had let the EMTS in. was no sign of violence in the house, no sign of forced entry, or that anyone else had been in there other than Ms. Walsh and Mrs. Klein, who stated that she had not seen anything missing or out of order. The medical examiner’s preliminary judgment as to the cause of death was a fractured cervical vertebrae broken neck. Time of death was probably early Friday evening.”
    “And she just felt down the stairs?” Sherman asked.
    Mcnair gave him an appraising stare, which made her wonder if this was more than just a friendly little chat after all.
    She realized at that moment that the detective had not answered Carpenter’s other question about Sherman’s status.
    “Well, sir,” Mcnair replied, “there was one of those plastic laundry baskets at the bottom of the stairs. It looks like she was carrying it downstairs and maybe tripped. Hard to tell,.really.”
    “Laundry?” Sherman said, frowning.
    “It was clean laundry,” Mcnair said. “You are familiar with the layout of the town house.” It was a statement, not a question.
    “Yes, I am,” Sherman replied, staring back almost belligerently.
    “Could you tell us where you were on Friday evening, Admiral Sherman?”
    “Detective,” Carpenter interrupted. “An answer to my original question, if you please. Is Admiral Sherman a suspect in a homicide investigation?”
    “No, sir,” Mcnair answered immediately. “This isn’t really a homicide ‘ investigation. If it becomes one, we’ll of course have to start over. We can do the Miranda bit if you’d like, Admiral.” Sherman started to shake his head, but then he looked to Carpenter for guidance. Carpenter nodded, indicating to Sherman that he should go ahead and answer their questions.
    “Friday.” Sherman thought for a moment. “Friday, we were preparing for internal Navy budget hearings. I was here-I mean here in the Pentagon-until, oh, I’d say twenty-thirty. Sony. That’s eight-thirty.
    Then I drove home.
    I live in Mclean.”
    “We,’ meaning you and members of your staff?”
    “Yes.
    My deputy, Captain Gonzales, and two OP-32 branch heads-Captains Covington and Small.”
    “And home is at nineteen Cheshire Street, the Herrington Mews complex, is that right, sir? Off Old Dominion?”
    Mcnair was letting him know that he had done some checking.
    “Yes, that’s right. The traffic was pretty much done by then; it takes about forty minutes from the Pentagon to my house.”
    “So you were home by nine-fifteen, nine-thirty?”
    “Yes, somewhere in there. Then I changed clothes and went up to Pucinella’s. That’s a restaurant about a ten minute walk from my house.
    I had dinner there and went home, where I remained for the rest of the night.”
    “Did you pay with a credit card, by any chance?”
    Sherman paused. “I think I used cash. Oh, I see-if I’d used a card, you could verify that I was there, and at what time. Sorry. But I’m a regular there. They’d probably remember. Now, my turn. Why do you ask?”
    Mcnair frowned but then said, “Sir, as I told Admiral Carpenter yesterday, we have no probable cause to suspect foul play here, although there are some minor forensic ambiguities. It’s just that the only lead to other persons we turned up in our preliminary work was that Ms. Walsh had a life-insurance policy nan-thing you as beneficiary. Did you know about that policy, sir?”
    Sherman shook his head. “Not until Admiral Carpenter told me about it yesterday. Elizabeth and I didn’t talk much about personal business affairs. No, the insurance policy is news to me.”
    The detective looked straight at him. “The death benefit is two