"Help me." " Damn it." " Help me." "Help me." " It's the padre." " Give him cover." "Through the holy anointing, may the Lord, in his love and mercy..." "Forgive him, please, great and holy..." "Help me." "Help me." "Help me." " Freeze!" "Get your hands in the air!" " She's my wife." "Get an ambulance." "Get your hands in the air!" "He says he's some kind of major sergeant in the Marines." "That's "sergeant major," detective." "A senior enlisted man." "Well, radio car found him at the crime scene kneeling over his wife," " the weapon six feet away." " What was the weapon?" "A brick." "We sent it to Forensics." " How is she?" " Doctors say she's gonna make it." "Subdural hematoma." "But they got to it before she bled out." "Another few minutes, and we'd be charging with murder instead of attempted murder." " Has she made a statement?" " No, not yet." "What about him?" "He made a statement?" "Yeah, said he didn't do it." "Left the house looking for his wife when she was late getting home, and happened to find her in an alley 80 miles from their house." "I'm surprised he didn't tell us he saw a one-armed man." "Look, detective, we generally like to prosecute our own." "Where you want him shipped?" "Sergeant Major Jarvis Krohn, the command sergeant major at Quantico." "Before that, he ran a scout sniper school there." "And before that, he was in charge of the Marine security detachment at the White House." "He's been awarded two Silver Stars and one Purple Heart." "A real poster Marine." "Except when he's bashing his wife's head in with a brick, if that's what he did." "Yeah, well, according to this, in 1995, PMO sent base security to his quarters at Camp Lejeune, found his wife with a bloody lip." "Sergeant Major Krohn received unofficial counselling." "Neighbours at Quantico say they've heard his raised voice from their house recently." " Tiner, what are you doing?" " Installing your screen saver, sir." "What screen saver?" "The one from the SETI programme, sir." "You agreed to take part." "Oh, yeah, I remember." "Is his wife awake yet?" "She regained consciousness this morning, sir." "And what did she say?" "They've had problems in the past, but she can't believe the sergeant major is capable of anything like this." "What do you mean she can't believe it?" " Doesn't she know?" " Well, the last thing she remembers is having egg salad for lunch yesterday alone." "Traumatic memory loss, sir, aggravated by the blow to the head." "Tiner, what'd the literature say?" "You volunteered to use your computer's downtime, sir, to analyse chunks of raw data picked up by the Arecibo radio telescope." "Looking for signals that might've come from intelligent life." "Sir." "From outer space?" "Well, it's a very exciting programme, sir." "Millions of people are using it." "I have it on both of my computers." "Well, you think you got room on your computer for this case file?" "Lieutenant, you'll prosecute." " Yes, sir." " Commander, you'll defend." " Aye, sir." " Here you go, sir." "You won't even notice." "Runs in the background." "Do you believe in God, commander?" "We have more productive things to discuss, sergeant major, than my religious preferences." "I'm innocent, sir." "Were you innocent in giving your wife a bloody lip in 1995?" "Because the prosecution is gonna bring that up." "I love my wife, commander, and she loves me." "And we both love God." "Then tell me what happened yesterday." "I got home at 1800." "I was a little late because I'd been going over monthly unit reports with the general." "Robin, my wife, was gonna make pork chops for dinner." "So she went to the market in Dumfries." "She should've been back in 20 minutes." "After a while, I got to be worried." "I had a terrible feeling." "So I went out looking for her." "And I found her." "You found your wife in an alley in Baltimore, sergeant major." "She was supposed to be at a market in Dumfries." "So how did you find her?" "I prayed, sir." "And my prayer was answered with a miracle." " Mac, hi." " Hi." " Harm isn't here, is he?" " I don't know." "I wanna put this on his desk." "It's a surprise." " The Roches?" " They're doing a benefit next month." " I'm doing the video." " Didn't they sing "Oh, Mr. Sellack"?" "Oh, Mr. Sellack Can I have my job back?" " I love them." " Well, you know, they're warming up at the Ten Spot in Georgetown next Friday." " I'm dragging Harm." "Why don't you...?" " Well, yeah, we'd..." "You know what?" "I have to be at Cherry Point on the 18th, three or four days." " Well, maybe next time." " Yeah." "Actually, you know, the 18th is the week after next." "Right." "You said that they were playing next Friday." "I think so." "You know, I could always, you know, double check." " Well, if they are..." " Then it's a date." "Chaplain Wiggins was a Catholic chaplain." "He was Ninth Marines, Vietnam, my unit." "Some of the chaplains over there, sir, they..." "Well, they kind of miss the point." "But Chaplain Wiggins, he'd have a beer with you, sir." "He'd come out into the field." "He carried the same pack we carried." " You never heard of him?" " I don't think so, no." "He got to be kind of famous, sir, for the way he died." "What does this have to do with you and your wife?" "I'm getting to that, sir." "Some of the guys who were shot, sir, were out in the open in plain sight of the enemy." "One Marine, Rosebrock, kept calling out, "Help me."" "But we couldn't get to him." "We were pinned down." "But Chaplain Wiggins went out anyway, sir." "He checked on a couple of the guys who were dead." "He got hit, but he kept going." "The Marine who was calling out, "Help me,"" "he gave him the last rites, bullets hitting all around." "And he got killed." "Nobody gave him the last rites." "Well, he sounds like a very brave man." "He's got a reputation for holiness, sir." "A group has been formed to honour him." "It has a newsletter, website." "People pray to him, sir." "You prayed to him when your wife was missing?" "Yes, sir." "And he interceded with God to answer my prayer." "I saw a vision of the padre right in front of me, sir." "And I followed him." "I followed him out to my car." "I followed him all the way into Baltimore." "And he led me to my wife." "Just in time to save her life." "Maybe you should plead him insane." "He's not insane, Renee." "He's religious." " Or delusional." " Or religious and delusional." " Or a liar and a murderer." " Or that." " You have Travel?" " Yeah." "You got Sports." "Hey, the comics are mine." "Yeah." "Yes, well, I think Sunday morning, we probably shouldn't get into that conversation." "Since when, if you don't go to church on Sunday, do they send a priest to your house?" " Hello." " Mrs. Rabb?" "No." "That would be his mother." " Come in." " I'm sorry to interrupt your breakfast." "I just got in from Rome, and I thought I'd get right to it." "I'm Harry O'R ourke." "Harmon Rabb." "This is Renee Peterson." "Hi." "I'm gonna go get dressed." "Excuse me." "Get right to what, Father?" "The alleged miracle granted through prayer to Walter Wiggins." " You heard about it?" " Well, his backers made sure I did." " Yeah." " His backers?" "You don't know what's going on here?" "Apparently not everything." "Well, the Vatican has already recognised one miracle performed as a result of prayer to Chaplain Walter Wiggins:" "A small child cured of cancer in Toledo 11 years ago." "As a result, the chaplain has been beatified." "Beatified?" "Proclaimed a blessed of the Church by the pope." "And, well, if this new miracle is verified, then Chaplain Walter Wiggins could well be declared a saint." "Your defence is going to be that God led him to the alley?" "Maybe." "And the Roman Catholic Church is gonna back this up?" "Possibly." "We don't accept that a miracle occurred just because someone said so." " I'm here to investigate." " Investigate what?" "If there's any other rational explanation for what happened." "How about this?" "The sergeant major tosses his wife in the car, drives her to an alley and tries to kill her." "Well, that is one explanation." " Yeah, I'd say so." " I'm sure you will." "Commander." "Father." "I gather you don't have much of a case." "Sergeant Major Krohn has no alibi." "I can find no witnesses to substantiate his story." "He was found at the scene of the crime with no reasonable explanation as to how he got there." "And you're not prepared to entertain an unreasonable one?" "Father, how exactly are you planning to investigate this?" "Talk to the police, the sergeant major." "Follow the trial." "Let you do the work." "Well, I'm not trying to prove that Chaplain Wiggins performed a miracle." "I'm trying to prove that Sergeant Krohn did not attempt to murder his wife." "Without anything else to work with, commander, aren't those two the same thing?" "Are you sure it's not in your briefcase?" " Very sure." " I don't see it here, sir." " Keep looking, Tiner." " Yes, sir." "Tiner?" "Tiner?" "Oh, my God." "I told the father that, while he was here, you might be able to help him out with something." "We've been trying to track down people who knew the chaplain in Vietnam, to add to his Positio, his spiritual biography." "Firsthand witnesses are very important." "Witnesses to what, Father?" "His virtues." "You know, faith, hope, charity." "You want me to find Marines who witnessed virtue in Vietnam?" "Yeah, there was a little bit of it going on there, Gunny." "Yes, sir." "I've never been to Colonial Williamsburg." "And since I'm marrying a genuine American..." "This weekend's no good, Mic." " You're not working." " No, I made us a date." "With Harm and Renee." "To see a singing group." "You know The Roches?" "They sang "The Married Man," "My Sick Mind."" " Renee and Harm, you and me?" " And The Roches." "The four of us?" " That's very couplish." " Exactly." "Couplish." "Thanks for lunch." "Hey, Mic." " How's the job hunting going?" " Interesting." "I'll tell you all about it Friday." " Friday?" " Yeah." "On our double date." "See you." "Double date?" "I looked over at the screen, and all of a sudden," "I started noticing these spikes emerging." "They'd never been there before." " Tiner?" " Attention on deck." " Is the carnival in town?" " It's your computer, sir." "Look." "Well, that's pretty." "At ease, Tiner." "Those are radio signals picked up from outer space, sir." "In a regular pattern." "Do you know what this means, admiral?" "Little green men are communicating with my computer?" "Most days, I can't get e-mail from Norfolk." "This is what the study programme is all about, sir." "Search for extraterrestrial intelligence." " Where does it come from?" " I don't know, sir." " Alpha Centauri?" " The programme." "The University of California, sir." "I've been trying to reach them." " Keep trying." " Yes, sir." " Gunny." " Yes, sir?" " Can I have my office back?" " Aye, aye, sir." "Dismissed." "You sure you wanna do this, sweetie?" "We can't just leave it in the closet forever." "It's been long enough, Bud." "Okay." "What better place for all this stuff to go but the children's hospital?" "You're right." "Brand-new." "Somebody can get some use out of that." "I'm sure they will." "Oh, not that." "My mother sent that to me." "It was mine." "Well, then, we can send it back to her." "Or we can keep it." "Good." "What?" "It has her name." "Sweetie, I'm sure there's a Sarah at children's hospital." "Can you do this?" "I'll take care of it." " Are you sure?" " Yeah, I'm fine." "The patrol officers at the scene called an ambulance for Mrs. Krohn, and they placed her husband under arrest." "Did the sergeant major offer any explanation for what had happened to his wife, detective?" "Yes." "He said he thought she'd been carjacked." " Did the patrol officer see a carjacker?" " No." "There was nobody else in the alley." "But they did find this brick." "Yes." "Our forensic laboratory found bits of Mrs. Krohn's scalp embedded in it." " It was a few feet from the victim." " And a few feet from the defendant." "That's correct." "There were also several spots of her blood on his jacket." "Thank you, detective." "Did you find fingerprints on the brick, detective?" "No." "The defendant was wearing gloves." "Were you wearing gloves when you arrived at the scene?" "Yes." "It was cold." "So then there's nothing suspicious about Sergeant Major Krohn wearing gloves, is there?" "It wasn't the gloves that made us suspicious." "Was it the blood on the jacket?" "Didn't he tell you, when he found his wife, he bent over her to feel if she was still breathing?" "Couldn't he have gotten blood on his jacket that way?" "Well, that's one way." "Detective, didn't the sergeant major tell the officers he believed his wife had been carjacked from a market in Dumfries?" "Yes." "Now, isn't it true that somebody has been abducting women from parking lots in the Baltimore-Washington area, assaulting them, and dumping them out of their cars?" "It's happened three times in the last seven months." " Including this one?" " No." "Our carjacker stabs his victims." "He doesn't hit them with bricks." "And he always dumps them in rural areas." "After abducting them and stealing their cars, which is consistent with this case." "Isn't it possible he just changed some of the details?" "Or somebody did a bad job of imitating him to throw us off the scent." "Your Honour, would you instruct the witness to answer the questions, sir?" "Detective, please answer the questions you're asked." "I think we've still managed to get your drift, commander." "Detective, does anybody know the whereabouts of Mrs. Krohn's car?" "We're still looking." "We haven't found it." "Which is consistent with the carjacker having stolen it and disposed of it." " Yes." " Detective, if the officers had not called an ambulance when they did, at the urging of Sergeant Major Krohn, would his wife be alive today?" "The doctors say no." "Would the patrol officers have seen her if Sergeant Major Krohn had not been kneeling over her" " in the headlights of his car?" " Probably not." "So if Sergeant Major Krohn had not been there just then, and the patrol officers had not come by just then, would she have died?" " Yes." " Pretty good timing, wouldn't you say?" " Well, sometimes we catch a break." " Sometimes somebody gives us one." " Your Honour..." " Withdrawn." "Nothing further." "Redirect." "Has any major crime suspect told you that he was led to the scene of a crime by a miracle from God?" " Objection." "Relevance." " I'll allow it." "Well, one guy who killed his girlfriend told me that Jesus helped him do it because she was a sinner." " Was that the truth?" " Jesus wasn't the one we convicted." "Detective, did you or any of the other patrolmen see anything unusual in the alley where you found Mrs. Krohn?" " Like what?" " Celestial glowing?" "Fluttering angels?" "Images of a dead chaplain?" " Objection." " Sustained." "Detective, what did you see in the alley?" "Dumpsters, condoms, liquor bottles, and him and his wife." "Pretty powerful stuff in there, lieutenant." "Well, I didn't hit my wife with a brick." "Your client did." " Fluttering angels, huh?" " Well, that is your defence," " isn't it, commander?" " Not exactly." "Well, then tell me." "I'm interested, Father." "What is the theology here?" "Well, the Church's position, and I suppose now Commander Rabb's, is that it's not inconceivable for a faithful servant of God, ascended to heaven, at God's right hand, can intercede for a miracle on behalf of a deserving soul." "Like a cure for a fatal illness?" " It happens." " Saving a drowning man?" "Helping little babies?" " Bud." " What?" "All Harriet and I needed to do was pray to Walter Wiggins?" "The lieutenant and his wife recently lost a baby, Father." "Oh, I'm sorry." "Sergeant Major Krohn's wife is worth saving, and our...?" "Our baby daughter isn't?" "Nobody can explain these things, lieutenant." "Then why are you here, Father?" "I started praying to Chaplain Wiggins a couple years ago, sir." "And what led you to do that?" "I had a friend with a drinking problem, and he prayed for the strength to stop, and he got it." "Well, you don't always need a miracle from God to stop drinking." "My friend did, sir." "He was in pretty bad shape." "Now, you knew Chaplain Wiggins personally, didn't you?" " Yes, sir, in Vietnam." " That must seem odd to pray to somebody who you used to drink beer with, who would stand next to you in line waiting for chow." "Well, there was always something pretty special about the padre, sir." "You witnessed his last moments, didn't you, sergeant major?" "Yes, sir." "Helping dying men after he was shot seven times." "Must've left a pretty powerful image in your mind." "Yes, sir." "The..." "The night that my wife was attacked, that's the way he appeared to me, sir." "His helmet, his pack." "The way he was when he died." "Now, you realise, sergeant major, that some people are gonna find this story hard to believe?" "It happened, sir." "I'd never even been to that part of Baltimore." "If he hadn't led me, how would I have found her?" "The prosecution says that you took her there to kill her and to dump her body." "I have no reason to kill her, sir." "I love my wife." "That's why I prayed for help to find her." "That's why it was granted." "Thank you, sergeant major." "Nothing further." "How did Chaplain Wiggins give you signals to turn on the beltway?" "Was it with hand gestures?" "Or did this vision of yours have flashing turn indicators?" " Objection." "Argumentative." " Overruled." "He just led me, sir." "It's..." "It's hard to explain." "Now, you say that you'd never been to that part of Baltimore." " But have you ever been to Baltimore?" " Yes, sir." "So you could've gotten to the city on your own." " Yes, sir." " Sergeant major, have you read any articles in the newspaper about the carjacker that we've heard testimony about?" "Yes, sir." "That's why I was so worried when my wife didn't come home." "And didn't those articles give you the idea to pretend that your wife was a victim of a carjacking?" " No, sir." " So you just went out looking for her when she was late coming home from the market?" "That's right, sir." "Well, then why doesn't anybody at the market remember seeing you?" "Because I didn't go to the market, sir." "The padre, what I saw, led me to Baltimore." "Wait." "Your wife is late coming home from the market, so you decide to go look for her." "But you don't look for her at the market?" " That wasn't where I was led." " How stupid do you think we are," " sergeant major?" " Objection." "Sustained." "Dial it back, lieutenant." " My religion means something to me." " Didn't you make up this story?" "If you don't have faith, you can't understand." "Aren't you the one that tried to kill your wife?" "I got there just in time to save her, before she bled to death inside her brain." "That was a miracle." "Miracles happen." "They are a sign of the power and the presence of God." "That's what we believe, and about a billion other Roman Catholics around the world as well." "Your Honour, I renew my objection to this line of questioning." "We're trying to consider the facts here, and miracles, by definition, transcend the factual." "Not when they occur." "And whether one has occurred here is exactly what we're supposed to be discussing, Your Honour." "I'll let you run with it, commander, as long as you keep a few degrees south of the supernatural." "Aye, sir." "Father O'R ourke, do you take the existence of miracles strictly on faith?" "On faith?" "No, I don't." "My job as a postulator is to investigate proposed saints." " And the miracles attributed to them?" " Aye, that's right." "So it does, scientifically." "Most common miracles are unexpected medical recoveries." "When one allegedly occurs, we get the patient's complete medical records, interview doctors, collect x-rays, slides of biopsies, test results, things of that nature." "We have the whole package reviewed by a panel of physicians who must find that that recovery was not caused by any medical treatment." " And that makes it a miracle?" " Not necessarily." "Lymphoma and renal-cell cancer cures, for example, don't qualify since those diseases have a high rate of natural remission." "Father, have any miracles accepted by the Vatican been attributed through prayer to Chaplain Walter Wiggins?" "Yes." "Clay Norberg, age 7, lay dying in a Toledo hospital with a neuroblastoma that had spread to his bones." "Drug and radiation treatment had failed the boy, and he slipped into a coma." "Now, his father, who had served with Chaplain Wiggins, prayed all night." "In the morning, Clay woke up, the tumour was gone, and there was no further sign of the disease." "Clay's now a freshman in Notre Dame." "Plays trombone in the school band." "Now, what about non-medical miracles, Father, like the one we're discussing here?" "In the eyes of the Church, can they occur?" "They have." "In 1949, a cook in a Spanish orphanage didn't have enough rice to feed everybody who was hungry." "She prayed to John Massias, a monk who'd been born in the village in the 16th century and was most revered there." "And the single pot of rice overflowed for hours." "That miracle was later verified in 1975, and John Massias was declared a saint." "So, what happened to Sergeant Major Krohn could have been a miracle?" "Aye." "An unusual one, but so it could." " Oh, sorry, honey." " No problem." " Can you believe this place?" " Yeah, full house." "I think we had more elbowroom on that submarine." "Yeah." "God, 15 days under the polar ice, very close quarters." "So how's the case going, Harm?" "Piece of cake." "All I have to do is prove that there's a God and a dead Navy chaplain named Walter Wiggins is sitting by his side in heaven." "Piece of cake." "Ladies and gentlemen," "The Roches' train has been delayed again." "So..." "I know." "We expect them within an hour or so." "Thank you." "Well, this is a natural case for Harm." "He's always believed in miracles." "He has?" "Yeah, he believed his father might be alive when no one else did." "He saw his father at least once after his father died." " You never told me that." " Harm open up?" " That would be a miracle." " Yeah, I'll pray to Saint Wiggins." "When you're talking to him, you might ask him to send Mac..." "Wedgwood china." "We're starting to get our wish list together." "Oh, did you guys set a date?" "Mic wants a formal wedding." "Sarah wants to get married on a hillside with a minister, and two goats as witnesses." "Yeah, yeah." "He wants to invite half the population of Sydney." "You're the one who says you miss Australia." "Mic." "Oh, I love The Roches." "Did they sing their a cappella "Hallelujah Chorus"?" "I used to sneak women up to my dorm room, listen to that one." " Father." " I wasn't born a priest." "Commander, Father, this is Mr. Hamill." "He drove down from Wilmington." "You the one talking about making Chaplain Wiggins a saint?" "God makes the saints, Mr. Hamill." "The Church identifies them." "Well, I gotta tell you, Father, the Church is barking up the wrong tree on this one." "Father O'R ourke, is the defendant's wife in the courtroom today?" "I don't believe so." "She hasn't been here during this trial, has she?" "No, she's in the rehabilitation centre recovering from her injury." "Well, if God granted a miracle to save her, why does she need rehabilitation?" "Her doctors expect her to make a full recovery." " With the help of her doctors." " Yes." "Father, on direct examination, you stated that every medical miracle is documented by expert physicians." " That's right." " Interesting." "How many people is St. Louis of Anjou credited with raising from the dead?" "Well, I don't know." "Twelve." "It's in a Catholic encyclopaedia." "Are these miracles documented by expert physicians?" "That was the 13th century." "The Church had different procedures then." "Well, St. Louis of Anjou is still credited with the 12 miracles." "Once a saint's been canonised, it's not revocable." "And you're sure that, some day, Saint Walter Wiggins will be in that holy company?" "No." "No?" "Why not?" "Well, I've received new evidence that puts Chaplain Wiggins' cause in doubt." " What evidence?" " Objection." "Counsel is asking the witness to repeat what someone has told him." " It's hearsay." " This is your witness, commander." "And I've given you a great deal of leeway." "Overruled." "What evidence, Father?" "A new witness to the battle where Chaplain Wiggins died." " What is he talking about?" " We'll discuss it later." "He said that Chaplain Wiggins was panicked, that he was crying, and that he lost his faith." "So, what about ministering to the dead and wounded?" "This is just one witness." "Others contradict him." "Tell us what the one witness said, Father?" "That Chaplain Wiggins threw down his gear." "He tried to run back to the surviving Marines." "That he stopped by the dead and the dying to use them for cover." "Well, if that's true, Father, then Walter Wiggins can't be a saint, can he?" "No." "And if he isn't a saint, could he have performed the alleged miracle?" "No, he could not have been responsible for any miracle." "Which makes Sergeant Major Krohn a liar and a would-be murderer." " Objection." "Calls for a conclusion." " Withdrawn." "I'm finished." "That can't be true, sir." "It was a battlefield, sergeant major." "It was dark." "People see different things." "I saw what the padre did, sir, and he was not running scared." "It's hurt our case." "If there's anything else, any other way you wanna go..." "I did not try to kill my wife." "Who'd the priest hear this from, anyway?" "His name's Hamill." "Randy Hamill." "He was in your platoon." "Hamill." "Was he there?" "Was he in a position to see the chaplain?" "Better than any of us, sir." "He was with us for a month." "He was being transferred out because he was a coward." "Maybe I can use that." " Prosecution..." " But not that day, sir." "That day, he saved our lives." "Mr. Hamill, do you have a grudge against Sergeant Major Krohn?" "No, sir." "Do you have, or did you have, a grudge against Chaplain Walter Wiggins?" "No, sir." "I always liked the padre." "So then why did you decide to come forward now?" "Well, it was disgraceful what he did that night, sir." "And then when I saw in the papers about this trial and the idea of making him a saint..." "I'm Catholic, sir." "No way he's a saint." "And you're sure of what you saw that night?" "Yes, sir." "Well, when we got to the village, and the shooting started," "I jumped into an empty hooch with the padre." "The gooks never saw us." "So there was no reason for either one of you to leave?" "Well, I didn't think so." "I mean, the enemy was hiding right behind the hooch, right next to us." "I mean, we could hear them:" "Firing, reloading, talking." "The padre just panicked and ran out." " To save the wounded and dying?" " No, sir." "He was not performing his duties as chaplain, or even as a Christian." "He was just running away." "After you saw that, what'd you do?" "Well, one of the men that was killed, Malkovich, he was carrying an M79." "I ran out, picked it up, and fired a couple of grenades at the spot where we'd heard the gooks." "Which cleared the way for you and your squad to escape." "That's right, sir." "And for that action you were awarded the Silver Star," " weren't you?" " Yes, sir." "Thank you, Mr. Hamill." "Mr. Hamill, by your testimony," "Chaplain Wiggins left the place of safety, ran across exposed ground during a fierce firefight." "Is this the act of a coward?" "Well, I guess he figured it was just a matter of time before the enemy figured out we were in that hooch, and we were dead." " You stayed." " For a while." "I took off my pack and pulled out some ammunition while I was trying to figure out what to do." " You took off your pack?" " Yes, sir." "I didn't see any need to be slowed down by C rations and a shelter hat." "Now, you told Father O'R ourke that Chaplain Wiggins took off his pack too." " Yeah, that's right, sir." " But Sergeant Major Krohn testified that Chaplain Wiggins was wearing his pack." "Well, that's not what I saw, sir." "Mr. Hamill, you were in a unique position to help your squad that night, weren't you?" "What do you mean, sir?" "Well, you were near the fallen man with the M79." "You heard the enemy." "You knew where they were." "Yet you did nothing." "Well, at first, no, sir." "Now, isn't it a fact, Mr. Hamill, that, until that night, you were considered by your fellow Marines to be a coward?" "Yes, sir." "Seemed I wasn't cut out to be a Marine." "And when your squad was ambushed, you stayed hidden in the hooch while your fellow Marines were being killed, and you had the means to protect them, didn't you?" "I didn't have the 79." "It was out in the open." "It was a miracle I wasn't killed trying to get it." "You saw the chaplain flee in fear at a time when you were feeling fear, isn't that right?" "I suppose." "But seeing him act like that," "I got so disgusted, I stopped being afraid and just did what I did." "After you saw what he did." " Yeah." " You saw your cowardice acted out in the chaplain, and it motivated you to overcome it." "Objection, Your Honour." "Is Commander Rabb now testifying as an expert psychiatrist?" "I'm only suggesting he didn't really see the chaplain..." "But he saw himself?" "I mean, why stop there?" " Maybe he saw the Easter bunny." " Lieutenant, you're out of line." "I apologise, Your Honour." "This is stretching things to the absurd if Commander Rabb is suggesting that Chaplain Wiggins miraculously gave Mr. Hamill some kind of battlefield vision..." "It may just have been psychological projection." "If the prosecution wants to call it a second miracle..." "Who said there was a first miracle?" "Just you." "Your own witness backtracked on the stand when he said that..." "That's enough." "Both of you." " Enter." " Excuse me, admiral." "They called back from Berkeley, sir." "They said it's nothing special." "Just the standard emission from the Binion-Pratt pulsar, a binary source in the Sculptor group of galaxies." " Which means the signals left there..." " Five million years ago, sir." "Thanks, Tiner." "I was really hoping, sir." "Thanks, Tiner." "Aye, sir." "Did we have one miracle here?" "Or did we have two miracles here?" "Or did we have no miracles here?" "First, we should consider the evidence." "A man who has fought with his wife." "A man who has a history of striking his wife." "A man who has the means and opportunity to attempt to kill his wife." "A man whose story as to how he happened to be at the scene of the crime makes absolutely no sense." "Unless you subscribe to his story of a supernatural power at work." "Many of us are religious people." "Many of us believe in a powerful God." "But we're being asked to believe in a convenient God, who acts not so much to save a stricken woman, but to give her husband an alibi." "Making God the metaphysical equivalent of the dog who ate the homework." "Now, you're sworn to consider the evidence presented in the light of your own common sense." "Well, common sense only offers one conclusion:" "Sergeant Major Jarvis Krohn is guilty as charged." "Moses parts the Red Sea." "The son of God turns water into wine." "Are they fairy tales?" "Have the billions who believe them been deluded?" "There's no hard evidence that makes Sergeant Major Krohn a liar." "There is no eyewitness to the attack on his wife." "No fingerprints." "No trail of blood." "There is a vicious carjacker on the loose." "The victim's car has not been located despite the best efforts of law enforcement to find it." "And it is uncontested that because Sergeant Major Krohn appeared on the scene at that particular moment, his wife's life was saved." "Is it a miracle?" "In our line of work, we see miracles all the time." "Bullets that should miss, that hit." "Bullets that should hit, that miss." "Ordinary human beings transformed into heroes making unimaginable sacrifices for their country and their fellow man." "The world is a mysterious place." "Now, we would make it a poorer place if we dismissed everything about it we didn't understand." "You don't have to believe to a certainty in what Sergeant Major Krohn is saying." "You just have to believe that it might be true." " Did they blink?" "Smile?" "Laugh?" " Not that I noticed." " Sir." " And you kept a straight face?" "I take it you find this humourous?" "You told them the miracle really happened?" "I said it might've happened." "I think you either believe in these things, or you don't." " And you don't?" " I don't know." " Renee, you just..." " Harm, this one is weird." "Admit it." "Okay, how about a nice everyday miracle?" " Child is cured of..." " Mac and Brumby." " Excuse me?" " Two people, Harm." "From opposite ends of the earth, literally." "Both independent, all grown up, set in their ways." "And they find each other." "And now they're gonna become one." "I'll tell you what the miracle is." "That anybody would wanna spend time with Brumby." "Yes, it is." "Why do I get the feeling we've suddenly changed the subject?" "Two strangers." "One couple." " Do you think it could happen again?" " I don't know." "Rabb." "I'll be right there." "Jury's in." "I gotta go." "I wonder who he prayed to for that." "The accused and counsel will rise." "Announce your findings." "Sergeant Major Jarvis Krohn, United States Marine Corps, this court martial finds you, on the charge and specification of attempted murder, guilty." "I thank the members for their service." "We will reconvene for sentencing tomorrow at 0900." "I'm so sorry." "I don't understand." "You explained to them about Hamill." "You made it clear what happened." "I guess it was a lot for them to accept." "What about you, Father?" "You see it, don't you?" "I was considering whether or not to recommend closing out Chaplain Wiggins' cause." "But I'm not." "It's going forward." "Well, sir, you won the more important one." " Sergeant major, you understand...?" " Don't worry about me, sir." "The padre saved my wife's life." "Now all I need is somebody to find the man who attacked her." "Her car will show up, or credit cards." "Something." " It will happen." " Won't even take a miracle." "No, sir." "But if it does..." "You didn't just say that to cheer him up," " did you, Father?" " No, commander." "You may have failed to convince that jury, but you've convinced this one." "You're gonna make Chaplain Wiggins a saint." "Well, call me in a hundred years, because that's about how long it takes."