Edith was upbeat as always. “Bailey keeps me in shape,” she said when Duke admired him. “He’s not going to settle for a trip around the backyard.”
Duke flashed a smile. “He’s a big guy.”
“Folks tell me he’s too big for me, but I’ve had him for four years, and he’s never once been a problem. Doesn’t tug hard, doesn’t run into me when he’s exuberant. Nope, he’s a good boy. Aren’t you, Bailey?”
Bailey’s tail wagged happily.
Then Edith zeroed in on Duke. “You’re Larry Duke’s brother, right? I never met him but, on this town’s endless grapevine, I heard he was a good guy. Friendly and fun. I’m sorry this happened.”
“I guess my identity is running around on that grapevine,” Duke said as he and Cat continued their walk.
“I’d be surprised if it wasn’t. You’re a stranger with an interesting backstory. Maybe I should have asked how much information was making the rounds.”
He swiveled his head to look at her. “Worried about it?”
“Only where the information might have come from.”
Back at her house, their legs comfortably stretched and unknotted from walking, they ate leftover fried chicken, then settled in once again at her computer.
Cat wished she had a second screen. So much more comfortable for them both if Duke didn’t have to read over her shoulder.
Then she noticed something. “You’ve come back to that military exposé several times. What’s bugging you? Was that what you were thinking about this morning?”
“I keep trying to glean something more from it,” Duke admitted.
“But you think it might be more of a problem than his older stories?” She swiveled her chair around so she could see him directly.
“I’m wondering.”
“Because of what someone has done to your career?”
“Not entirely.” He paused and rubbed his chin. “Sure, they could think I was a source for Larry’s article. Even though I had nothing to do with those guys. Didn’t even know they existed until Larry’s story was published.”
“They’re not Rangers like you?”
“Nope. Regular troops, a few tours in Afghanistan.”
“So what else do you think might be going on?” She had to keep from leaning forward in anticipation. She could feel the first little bursts of excitement that he might be providing a new angle.
“Well, somebody had to pay these guys enough to do the killing. Three that were evidently enticed into this operation. Now, people at their rank don’t make a lot of money, but you’d still have to pay for their silence so they wouldn’t brag about what they were doing.”
He was probably right about that. “Go on,” Cat said.
“Anyway, given that someone was paying them, the question becomes who. Officers receive decent pay, but enough to hire hit men? I don’t think so, unless these guys were very cheap. Which could happen.”
“You just don’t think it’s likely.”
He shrugged. “I also wouldn’t have thought that a person or persons would try to kill my career over something Larry wrote. Sure, rats are hated, but it also suggests that someone is seriously scared.” He raised his arm and started drumming his fingers on the end of her desk.
“I don’t have a link to anyone, obviously,” he continued. “I may be all wet. But I started thinking about someone selling out to a warlord. There’d be a lot of money in that for whoever was directing this from above. Someone had to be. It’s not as if these guys could just wander off for a night to kill someone. Wandering off gets you in trouble. So, it seems to me that someone was paying them, and someone ensured they weren’t on duty at those times.”
“Wait,” Cat said. “Clarify, please. I take it you can’t just call in sick and miss a day?”
“Nope. You have to go on sick call, seeking to get treatment of some kind. Get a duty excuse. If you’re in a forward operating base or something like that, disappearing for even a few hours could get you charged for being absent without leave.”
“Wow. That’s a restrictive environment.”
He shook his head. “For good reason. You see that in a lot of jobs in civilian life, too.” Duke half laughed. “If you take time off without permission, you’re stealing from the Army.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously. Uncle Sam owns you, the Army pays you. Hell, you can get in trouble for a bad sunburn, because you should have avoided it. Damaging government property, or something like it.”
Cat remembered her own experience. “A long time ago, I worked with a guy who got fired for claiming jury duty for the second time in two weeks. The company found out when the police called wanting to know if he was on sick time or something. Well, the woman who answered the phones put two and two together. And as it happens, he didn’t take sick time but put in the hours on his time sheet as being on jury duty, which meant he got paid his full wages for eight hours. Not once, but twice.”
“I’m not surprised he got fired. Pretty much the same for a soldier. Although since you can’t be fired, you get other consequences. Anyway, point remains, these guys had someone up the chain covering for them.”
She rested her elbow on the arm of her chair and considered this new perspective. It was sure an interesting one. “But would some officer send someone this far to take out your brother? See, that’s the part I’m having a little trouble with. Why would anyone at this late date want to take Larry out? He’d already done his worst.”
“Maybe. That’s part of what’s bothering me, too. So many uncertainties. Fact is, however, if several people up the chain have reason to be concerned, yeah, they could send someone out here. For heaven’s sake, they got three guys to engage in killing for hire. Why wouldn’t they be able to hire some guy to put paid to Larry?”
“Do you think that’s what he was writing a book about?”
“I don’t know, obviously, and neither do they. Every way I look at it, I keep wondering
