Child, Lee – The Enemy

was supposed to keep very quiet about.

‘I’ll lose my job now,’ he said.

He got worried to the point of tears and Summer had to

calm him down. Then he told us he had found Kramer’s body

and called the cops and cleared all the hourly renters out for

safety’s sake. Then Deputy Chief Stockton had shown up within

about fifteen minutes. Then I had shown up, and when I left

some time later he recognized the same” vehicle sounds he had

heard before. Same engine noise, same drivetrain noises, same

tyre whine. He was convincing. He had already admitted that

hookers used the place all the time, so he had no more reason

to lie. And Humvees were still relatively new. Still relatively

rare. And they made a distinctive noise. So I believed him. We

left him there on his stool and stepped outside into the cold red

glow of the Coke machine.

‘No hooker,’ Summer said. ‘A woman from the base instead.’

‘A woman officer,’ I said. ‘Maybe fairly senior. Someone with

permanent access to her own Humvee. Nobody signs out a pool

vehicle for an assignation like that. And she’s got his briefcase.

She must have.’

‘She’ll be easy to find. She’ll be in the gate log, time out, time

in.’

‘I might have even passed her on the road. If she left here at

eleven twenty-five she wasn’t back at Bird before about twelve

fifteen. I was leaving around then.’

‘If she went straight back to the post.’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘If.’

‘Did you see another Humvee?’

‘Don’t think so,’ I said.

66

‘Who do you think she is?’

I shrugged. ‘Like we figured about the phantom hooker.

Someone he met somewhere. Irwin, probably, but it could have

been anywhere.’

I stared across at the gas station. Watched cars go by on the

road.

‘Vassell and Coomer might know her,’ Summer said. ‘You

know, if it was a long term thing between her and Kramer.’

‘Yes, they might.’

‘Where do you think they are?’

‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘But I’m sure I’ll find them if I need

them.’

I didn’t find them. They found me. They were waiting for me in

my borrowed office when we got back. Summer dropped me

at my door and went to park the car. I walked past the outer

desk. The night shift sergeant was back. The mountain woman,

with the baby son and the paycheck worries. She gestured at

the inner door in a way that told me someone was in there.

Someone that ranked a lot higher than either of us.

‘Got coffee?’ I said.

‘The machine is on,’ she said.

I took some with me. My coat was still unbuttoned. My hair

was a mess. I looked exactly like a guy who had been brawling

in a parking lot. I walked straight to the desk. Put my coffee

down. There were two guys in upright visitor chairs against the

wall, facing me. They were both in woodland BDUs. One of

them had a brigadier general’s star on his collar and the other

had a colonel’s eagle. The general had Vassell on his name tape

and the colonel had Coomer. Vassell was bald and Coomer

wore eyeglasses and they were both pompous enough and old

enough and short and soft and pink enough to look vaguely

ridiculous in BDUs. They looked like Rotary Club members on

their way to a fancy dress ball. First impression, I didn’t like

them very much.

I sat down in my chair and saw two slips of paper stacked

square in the centre of the blotter. The first was a note that

said: Your brother called again. Urgent. This time there was a

phone number with it. It had a 202 area code. Washington D.C.

67

‘Don’t you salute senior officers?’ Vassell said, from his chair.

The second note said: Col. Garber called. Green Valley PD

calculates Mrs K died approx. 0200. I folded both notes separately

and tucked them side by side under the base of my

telephone. Adjusted them so I could see exactly half of each

one. Looked up in time to see Vassell glaring at me. His naked

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