‘I think that’s confidential.’
‘It can’t be. She’s confined prior to trial. Therefore there must be probable cause in the record. Or have we abandoned civilized jurisprudence while I’ve been away?’
‘They say she took a day to pass on crucial information. No one understood why. Now they do.’
‘What information?’
‘She arrested an infantry captain from Fort Hood. An espionage case, allegedly. The captain gave up the name of his foreign civilian contact. Major Turner sat on it for twenty-four hours, and the contact used the time to get away.’
‘When was this exactly?’
‘About four weeks ago.’
‘But she wasn’t arrested until the day before yesterday.’
‘That’s when the foreign contact paid her. Which was evidence they had to wait for. Without it the delay could have been explained as incompetence, not criminality.’
‘Has the pre-trial confinement been appealed?’
‘I don’t think so.’
‘Who’s her lawyer?’
‘Colonel Moorcroft. Out of Charlottesville.’
‘You mean the JAG school?’
Edmonds nodded. ‘He teaches criminal defence.’
‘Is he commuting from there to here?’
‘No, I believe he’s in the Dyer VOQ.’
Which were the Visiting Officers’ Quarters, at Fort Dyer. Or, now, Joint Base Dyer-Helsington House. Not the Ritz exactly, but not too far from it, and no doubt a whole lot better than a crappy motel on a three-lane a mile from Rock Creek.
Edmonds pulled out a chair for him, and then one for herself, and sat down at the conference table. She said, ‘Candice Dayton.’
Reacher sat down, and said, ‘I don’t know who Candice Dayton is. Or was.’
‘Denial is not a smart way to go, I’m afraid, major. It never works.’
‘I can’t pretend to remember someone if I don’t.’
‘It creates a bad impression. It reinforces a negative stereotype. Both things will go against you in the end.’
‘Who was she?’
Edmonds lifted her briefcase on to the table and opened it up. She took out a file. She said, ‘You were posted to Korea several times, is that correct?’
‘Many times.’
‘Including at one time a short spell working with the 55th MP.’
‘If you say so.’
‘I do say so. It’s all here in black and white. It was very late in your career. Almost the last thing you did. You were at Camp Red Cloud. Which is between Seoul and the demilitarized zone.’
‘I know where it is.’
‘Candice Dayton was an American citizen, and at that time she was temporarily resident in Seoul.’
‘A civilian?’
‘Yes. You remember her now?’
‘No.’
‘You had a brief affair.’
‘Who did?’
‘You and Ms Dayton, of course.’
‘I don’t remember her.’
‘Are you married?’
‘No.’
‘Have you ever been?’
‘No.’
‘Have you had many sexual liaisons in your life?’
‘That’s a very personal question.’
