Chapter 10 - Elias Claimed He Was Testing Vanessa, Not Hiding Me
Elias asked to meet.
I told him base legal could arrange it.
He declined.
I declined the meeting.
An hour later, he accepted.
That was satisfying.
The conference room had two investigators, one base attorney, Vanessa, Emily, me, and Elias.
No masks.
No cameras turned off.
Elias looked less impressive under fluorescent light.
Good.
Karen Holt, civilian investigator attached to the review, opened.
“Mr. Sloane, did you arrange the staged Rachel Carter sightings?”
“Some.”
Emily's jaw tightened.
“Some?”
Holt looked at her.
“Let him answer.”
Elias folded his hands.
“Ms. Carter participated voluntarily in three.”
“Who participated in the fourth?”
“I don't know.”
I stared.
“That’s convenient.”
“It is also true.”
“Did you arrange it?”
“No.”
“Did someone from your team?”
“Not with my authorization.”
Vanessa laughed softly.
Elias looked at her.
“You have no basis—”
Holt stopped him.
“Continue.”
She asked:
“Why stage any sighting?”
“To test General Cole's reporting compliance.”
Vanessa stared.
“There it is.”
Elias didn't react.
“General Cole had credible information that Captain Carter might be alive.”
“From Richmond,” Holt said.
“Yes.”
“She did not report it.”
“Correct.”
“You used Emily to see whether she would report a live sighting.”
“Yes.”
Emily turned toward him.
“You told me I was forcing her to expose a cover-up.”
“You were.”
“No.”
Her voice sharpened.
“You were using me as an audit instrument.”
Elias looked almost bored.
“Those are not mutually exclusive.”
That was his entire personality.
Two truths arranged so responsibility lived between them.
I asked:
“Why the disguise?”
“To preserve Ms. Carter's anonymity.”
Emily laughed.
“You told me to dress like Rachel.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because General Cole needed to believe the sighting was plausible.”
“So you manufactured evidence.”
“I manufactured a compliance test.”
Holt wrote something.
Elias disliked that.
I asked:
“What did you want Vanessa to do?”
“Report each sighting.”
“And then?”
“Trigger formal verification.”
“Which would produce a file showing repeated fake Rachels.”
His eyes sharpened slightly.
“That was not the purpose.”
“Useful side effect.”
“No.”
“Then why bring Emily today when you knew I was coming?”
The room changed.
Holt looked up.
Elias waited.
“I did not know Rachel would appear.”
Emily said:
“You showed me her airport photo.”
“I knew she was in the region.”
“You told me she was coming to Fort Grant.”
“I believed it likely.”
I leaned forward.
“So you knew enough.”
“I suspected.”
“And you brought a woman dressed like me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To confront General Cole with the consequences of her uncertainty.”
I laughed once.
“That's excellent.”
He looked at me.
“You disagree?”
“I think you wanted a room full of witnesses unable to say which Rachel they saw first.”
Vanessa stared at him.
Emily did too.
Elias remained calm.
“Speculation.”
“Probably.”
I nodded.
“But you ordered the canteen camera maintenance window.”
Holt turned toward him.
He did not deny.
“My team requested privacy during a planned review activity.”
“What review activity?”
“Emily’s appearance.”
That was enough.
He had arranged a blind camera during a staged impersonation.
Maybe not illegal by itself.
Hard to explain.
Holt asked:
“Did you know Captain Carter had requested a forty-eight-hour contact hold three years ago?”
“Yes.”
“Did General Cole tell you?”
“Yes.”
“Did you advise her to maintain it beyond forty-eight hours?”
Elias took time.
“I advised her not to interfere with an evolving personnel-integrity inquiry.”
Vanessa laughed.
“You told me disclosure could compromise Rachel.”
“I believed that.”
“For how long?”
“Initially.”
“And later?”
Elias looked at her.
“You made your own decisions.”
There.
True.
Vanessa did not hide.
“Yes.”
Then I asked:
“Did you alter my death paperwork?”
“No.”
“Do you know who did?”
“No.”
“Did you exploit it?”
He paused.
“Yes.”
The room went quiet.
Finally.
“How?”
“Once Captain Carter's death status existed, correcting it prematurely risked contaminating an inquiry into the irregular personnel records she had identified.”
“Prematurely.”
Three years.
Elias continued:
“The inquiry produced findings.”
“What findings?”
“That several Redford movements were improperly billed and administratively misclassified.”
“People were moved under other names.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Different reasons.”
“Were whistleblowers being hidden?”
“Two.”
“Without authorization?”
“One case remains disputed.”
“Were you involved?”
“As counsel.”
“Did you benefit from me staying dead?”
Elias didn't answer immediately.
Holt noticed.
“So?”
I asked again.
“Yes.”
There it was.
“If you came back publicly, every record decision connected to your disappearance became discoverable in ongoing litigation.”
“Embarrassing.”
“And expensive.”
“For your client.”
“Yes.”
“Did you want me killed?”
“No.”
Immediate.
I believed him.
“Did you want me absent?”
Elias looked at me.
“Yes.”
Cleaner.
Not assassin.
Not shadow mastermind.
A man who found my absence useful and built process around keeping it useful.
That was enough.
Then Holt asked:
“Who created the fourth sighting?”
Elias shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Vanessa looked at me.
So did Emily.
May you like
For once, I believed him too.
Which meant one piece of the mystery still belonged to somebody outside the room.
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