major in question needs to save his career, and he can’t exactly
account for his time on the night it went down?’
I said nothing.
‘The Delta CO’s office gets its own copy,’ Willard said.
‘Standard procedure with disciplinary complaints. Multiple
copies all over the place. So the news will leak very soon. Then
they’ll be asking questions. So what shall I tell them? I could
tell them you’re definitely not a suspect. Or I could suggest you
definitely are a suspect, but there’s some type of technicality in
the way that means I can’t touch you. I could see how their
sense of right and wrong deals with that kind of injustice.’
I said nothing.
‘It’s the only complaint Carbone ever made,’ he said. ‘In a
sixteen-year career. I checked that, too. And it stands to reason.
A guy like that has to keep his head down. But Delta as a whole
will see some significance in it. Carbone comes up over the
parapet for the first time in his life, they’re going to think you
boys had some previous history. They’ll think it was a grudge
match. Won’t make them like you any better.’
I said nothing.
‘So what should I do?’ Willard said. ‘Should I go over there
and drop some hints about awkward legal technicalities? Or
shall we trade? I keep Delta off your back, and you start toeing
the line?’
I said. nothing.
‘I don’t really think you killed him,’ he said. ‘Not even
you would go that far. But I wouldn’t have minded if you
had. Fags in the army deserve to be killed. They’re here under
141
false pretences. You would have chosen the wrong reason, is
all.’
‘It’s an empty threat,’ I said. ‘You never told me he lodged the
complaint. You didn’t show it to me yesterday. You never gave
me a name.’
‘Their sergeants’ mess won’t buy that for a second. You’re a
special unit investigator. You do this stuff for a living. Easy
enough for you to weasel a name out of all the paperwork they
think we do.’
I said nothing.
‘Wake up, major,’ Willard said. ‘Get with the programme.
Garber’s gone. We’re going to do things my way now.’
‘You’re making a mistake,’ I said. ‘Making an enemy out of
He shook his head. ‘I don’t agree. I’m not making a mistake.
And I’m not making an enemy out of you. I’m bringing this unit
into line, is all. You’ll thank me, later. All of you. The world is
changing. I can see the big picture.’
I said nothing.
‘Help the army,’ he said. ‘And help yourself at the same time.’
I said nothing.
‘Do we have a deal?’ he said.
I didn’t reply. He winked at me.
‘I think we have a deal,’ he said. ‘You’re not that dumb.’
He got up and walked out of the office and closed the door
behind him. I sat there and watched the stiff vinyl cushion on
my visitor’s chair regain its shape. It happened slowly, with
quiet hissing sounds as air leaked back into it.
142
TEN
T
HE WORLD IS CHANGING. I HAD ALWAYS BEEN A LONER, BUT AT that point I started to feel lonely. And I had always been
a cynic, but at that point I began to feel hopelessly naive.
Both of my families were disappearing out from under me, one
because of simple relentless chronology, and the other because
its reliable old values seemed suddenly to be evaporating. I felt
like a man who wakes alone on a deserted island to find that the
rest of the world has stolen away in boats in the night. I felt like
I was standing on a shore, watching small receding shapes on
the horizon. I felt like I had been speaking English, and now I
realized everyone else had been speaking a different language
entirely. The world was changing. And I didn’t want it to.
Summer came back three minutes later. I guessed she had
been hiding around a corner, waiting for Willard to leave. She
had folds of printer paper under her arm, and big news in her
eyes.
‘Vassell and Coomer were here again last night,’ she said.