Simple Genius (Sean King & Michelle Maxwell 3)

“Sometimes the abuse history makes a person incredibly driven and that ambition allows them to achieve a great deal. But underneath the success lies a very different picture. It represents a stark imbalance in life. And at some point that imbalance can bring everything crashing down.”

“That sounds like what happened to Michelle,” Sean pointed out.

“I know.”

Sean glanced out the window. “If Michelle saw her mom with another man or was abused by that guy and then told her dad about it?”

Horatio let out a long, troubled sigh. “Then you’re getting into some serious mental shit. Hazel did say the Army guy just stopped coming around. Maybe he couldn’t come around because he was dead.”

Sean blurted out, “Wait a minute. Army guy! The guy she beat up in the bar. He was dressed in military-style clothing when I saw him.”

“Then that makes sense,” Horatio said slowly.

“What do you mean it makes sense?”

“I talked to people who worked with Michelle over the years, as well as friends, athletes. Some of them spoke about the fights she’d gotten in.”

“Let me guess. They were all military people?”

“Yes, as far as I could find out.”

“Horatio, we need to find out if anything happened to the Army guy.”

“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,” Horatio said.

“When is the truth not a good idea?”

“This isn’t one of your investigations, Sean. This is about a person’s head. Sometimes the truth can do more harm than good.”

“At the very least I think we need to know so you can decide what to do next with her. She said you wanted to hypnotize her. If you do and you start asking questions you might end up somewhere you don’t want to be. Better you know all the facts before you do that.”

Horatio said, “Actually, you’re right. But how do I find out?”

“I bet South Freeman knows somebody that knows somebody that could help us out in Tennessee.”

“I’ll give him a call.”

A knock on the door interrupted them. It was Michelle. She immediately noted their gloomy faces.

“You two look like you’re planning a funeral and getting ready to go to war at the same time,” she said.

Sean said quickly, “Horatio was just filling me in on his talk with South Freeman. It appears those secret flights might be bringing in some folks that officially were never there. They have a black area there for secret diplomacy.”

“And potentially fatal for Monk Turing if that’s what he was witness to,” Michelle commented.

Sean continued, “And that’s not all. Before Camp Peary existed, the Navy held German prisoners of war there.”

Michelle said, “German POWs? That’s funny. Champ showed me a beer stein from Germany that he said Monk brought him.”

Sean sat up in his chair. “Monk Turing was in Germany?”

“Well, I can’t be a hundred percent positive. But he brought the stein back with him on the trip he took overseas while he was working here. I can try and find out if Monk did go to Germany by talking to Sheriff Hayes. He might have convinced Ventris to let him have a look-see at Monk’s passport.”

“Germans at Camp Peary and Monk visited Germany,” Sean said thoughtfully.

“What else did Champ tell you?” Horatio asked.

She filled them in on the rest and added, “And he very clearly has a schoolboy crush on me.”