I heard the footsteps first, and then the shadow of a man made its way down the alley. I waited until he was almost right on me before I stepped out into the alley, making him jump.
“Jesus, Knight. You scared the shit out of me.”
“Isn’t that the point?” I asked, even though I didn’t mean it. I didn’t step out at the last minute to scare him. I was merely covering my bases and making sure that he wasn’t double crossing me.
“I’ve never given you a reason to doubt me.”
“Let’s keep it that way,” I said, motioning for him to follow me. Now that we were here, I didn’t like staying in this location. I felt exposed. But I always had a backup plan, so I started moving quickly, sticking to the shadows as I moved around the city. We were on the move for a good five minutes before I finally stopped in an Irish pub. Everyone here minded their own business, knowing that if you overheard something you shouldn’t, no one would hesitate to take you out in the alley and shoot you. I led him to a dark corner of the bar and sat in the booth, making sure I had my back to the wall. I wasn’t about to get any surprises.
“I got what you wanted.”
I motioned for him to hand it over. The file wasn’t all that thick. This couldn’t have been his whole service record, could it? I flipped open the file and started reading.
Michael Parker.
D.O.B. January 18, 1985
Years of service- 15 years
Service Branch- United States Marine Corp.
Discharge- Dishonorable Discharge, Conduct unbecoming an officer.
I scanned through the rest of the file, not seeing anything that I hadn’t already found on my own. I needed the details that weren’t included in the file. This wasn’t telling me jack shit.
“This isn’t what I asked for,” I growled.
“What you asked for isn’t something you’re going to find in a file.”
“That’s why I called you.”
He leaned forward, glancing around to make sure no one could overhear us. “Do you know how many favors I had to call in to get the information you wanted?”
“I don’t give a fuck what you had to do.”
He shook his head with a scoff. “I hope you don’t plan on coming to me for anything else, because I’ve used up every single contact I had to get what you need.”
“I don’t have all night to sit around here waiting for you to tell me, so either get on with it, or we can end this night a different way than I planned.”
He took the threat as I intended and nodded. “Officially, this guy got off easy. A woman in his unit accused him of raping her. She had the bruises and everything to prove it. The medic looked her over and photographed everything. It was a brutal attack.”
“Evidence?”
“No semen. They couldn’t prove that it was him, but he couldn’t prove that he was where he said he was. He even claimed that he made a call to someone back home during the timeframe that he was accused.”
“So, he could have had his phone records summoned.”
Jim shook his head. “There was nothing. No records that he placed a call or that anyone on the other end answered.”
“Did his lawyer order the friend to testify?”
“The judge wouldn’t allow it. He said that if there was no record of the phone call, he wasn’t going to allow the testimony.”
“Are you saying that someone had the phone records scrubbed?”
Jim ran his hand across his jaw. “I’m not saying anything. I’m saying that this is the way his court-martial went. These are the facts of the case.”
“What else?”
“The guy had no defense. He swore up and down that he would never rape a woman, but she took the stand and identified him as her rapist. Without solid evidence that he committed the rape, it was a case of he said, she said.”
“And that’s why he was a dishonorable discharged with conduct unbecoming an officer,” I surmised.
“They couldn’t prove it was him, but they sure as hell wanted him gone. So, he served no jail time, but he’s screwed for the rest of his life.”
I nodded, but it just didn’t feel right to me. “What’s not in the report?”
He glanced around again and leaned in even further. “I talked with a guy that knew a guy. Trust me, this is very thin.”
“How thin?”
“It’s as skinny as a runway model. Supposedly, this comes from someone that knows the victim. According to my source, the victim was fucking her senior officer for two years on and off. She was good friends with Parker even. Up until the night of the rape, she spoke about him as if he was a very good friend. Then, the night of the rape, supposedly they got caught. The senior officer freaked out. Apparently, he was up for a promotion and didn’t want to be slapped with a court-martial. She would have most likely walked away scott-free. Enlisted members wouldn’t be court-martialed for that type of relationship.
