Chapter 2 - IRENE WALSH
Nobody continued training.
Captain Leah Grant, the officer supervising the course from the adjacent briefing room, arrived less than a minute later.
She took in the scene.
Mason's swelling cheek.
Rachel's split lip.
The shoes.
The cleaner.
The key.
Then twelve soldiers suddenly fascinated by the floor.
“What happened?”
Three people answered at once.
Grant raised one hand.
“No.”
She pointed at Mason.
“Step away from Sergeant Carter.”
Then Rachel.
“You too.”
Rachel stepped back.
Mason did not.
“Ma'am, this is an instructor-control issue.”
Grant stared at him.
“I just told you to step away.”
He did.
The cleaner stayed beside the shoes.
Grant looked at her.
“Name?”
“Irene Walsh.”
“Civilian employee?”
“Contract custodial.”
“How long have you worked this building?”
“Six years.”
Grant looked at the key.
“What did you mean?”
Mason interrupted.
“She doesn't know what she saw.”
Irene looked at him.
“I know what a man looks like when four people carry him.”
The room changed.
Rachel felt her heartbeat in her throat.
“Carry who?”
Irene looked at her.
“Your brother.”
Mason stepped forward.
Grant immediately said:
“Sergeant Reed.”
He stopped.
Rachel's voice came out quieter.
“When?”
“The night he got hurt.”
Rachel stared.
The official report said Evan left the training facility at 7:46 p.m.
A security badge swipe showed him exiting the east door.
He was supposedly found almost an hour later at the Riverton parking garage three miles away.
Irene continued.
“I was cleaning the hallway outside this room.”
“What time?”
“After seven-thirty. Before eight.”
“Did you see Evan?”
“Yes.”
“Walking?”
“No.”
Rachel felt cold.
Irene pointed toward a narrow service door near the equipment racks.
“They took him through there.”
Rachel looked.
The door had no room number.
She had assumed it was a supply closet.
Mason said:
“That hallway leads to recovery.”
Irene turned.
“It hasn't been approved for patient recovery in four years.”
Grant looked at him.
Mason's jaw tightened.
Irene continued.
“Your brother wasn't walking.”
Rachel asked the question she was suddenly afraid to hear answered.
“Was he conscious?”
Irene thought.
“I heard him once.”
“What did he say?”
“Couldn't make it out.”
“Then?”
“They closed the door.”
“Who is they?”
Irene looked at Mason.
Rachel did too.
Mason spoke first.
“We stabilized him after he got dizzy.”
Rachel stared.
“You told investigators he left.”
“I didn't write the first report.”
“Did you tell them he was carried through that door?”
Mason said nothing.
Captain Grant stepped between them.
“This conversation is stopping until legal and safety are here.”
Rachel ignored her.
“What is the key?”
Irene looked down.
“Evan gave it to me that morning.”
That silenced even Mason.
Rachel stared at her.
“My brother gave you that?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He said if anyone came asking about him, I was supposed to give it to family.”
“Why didn't you?”
Irene's face tightened.
“I didn't know who to trust.”
Rachel almost shouted.
“You had three weeks.”
“I know.”
“You watched us bury him.”
“I know.”
That hurt Irene.
Good.
Rachel needed it to.
Then Irene added:
“I also knew Sergeant Reed had already asked where the key was.”
Mason went completely still.
Grant slowly looked toward him.
Rachel looked at the key again.
“What does it open?”
Irene shook her head.
“Evan never told me.”
Mason finally spoke.
“I don't know either.”
Rachel believed one part of that.
May you like
He was afraid of the key.
Whether he knew the lock was another question.
