The General's Daughter by Nelson DeMille

Author:Nelson DeMille
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Detective and mystery stories, United States - Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Women soldiers - Fiction, FIC000000, General, Women soldiers, Fiction, Espionage
ISBN: 9780446513067
Publisher: Warner Books
Published: 1992-11-16T04:37:20+00:00

CHAPTER

TWENTY-TWO

Breakfast or Psy-Ops School?” Cynthia asked.

“Psy-Ops School. We’ll eat Colonel Moore for breakfast.”

Each house on Bethany Hill had a regulation white sign with black lettering displayed on a post near the driveway, and, about five houses from Colonel Fowler’s house, I saw a sign that said, “Colonel & Mrs. Kent.” I pointed it out to Cynthia and commented, “I wonder where Bill Kent will be living next month?”

“I hope it’s not Leavenworth, Kansas. I feel sorry for him.”

“People make their own bad luck.”

“Be a little compassionate, Paul.”

“Okay. Considering the extent of the corruption here, there will be a rash of sudden resignations, retirements, and transfers, maybe a few divorces, but, with luck, no courts-martial for actions unbecoming an officer.” I added, “They’d need a whole cell block at Leavenworth for Ann Campbell’s lovers. Can you picture that? About two dozen ex-officers sitting around in their cells—”

“I think you got off the compassionate track.”

“Right. Sorry.”

We left Bethany Hill and mingled with the early morning traffic of the main post—POVs and troop carriers, school buses and delivery trucks, humvees and staff cars, as well as soldiers marching or running in formation; thousands of men and women on the move, similar to, but profoundly different from, any small town at eight A.M. Stateside garrison duty in times of peace is, at best, boring, but in times of war a place like Fort Hadley is preferable to the front lines, but barely.

Cynthia commented, “Some people have trouble with time perception. I came close to buying Colonel Fowler’s sequence of events, though it was cutting it close, timewise.”

“Actually, I think he made the call much earlier.”

“But think of what you’re saying, Paul.”

“I’m saying he knew she was dead earlier, but he had to make that call to establish that he believed she was alive and late for her appointment. What he didn’t know is that we would be at the deceased’s house that early.”

“That’s one explanation, but how did he know she was dead?”

“There are only three ways: someone told him, or he discovered the body somehow, or he killed her.”

Cynthia replied, “He did not kill her.”

I glanced at her. “You like the guy.”

“I do. But beyond that, he is not a killer.”

“Everyone is a killer, Cynthia.”

“Not true.”

“Well, but you can see his motive.”

“Yes. His motive would be to protect the general and get rid of a source of corruption on post.”

I nodded. “That’s the sort of altruistic motive that, in a man like Colonel Fowler, might trigger murder. But he may also have had a more personal motive.”

“Maybe.” Cynthia turned onto the road that led to the Psy-Ops School.

I commented, “If we didn’t have Colonel Moore by his curly hairs, I’d put Colonel Fowler near the top of the list, based on that telephone call alone, not to mention the look on Mrs. Fowler’s face.”

“Maybe.” She asked, “How far are we going with Moore?”

“To the threshold.”

“You don’t think it’s time to talk to him about his hair, fingerprints, and tire marks?”

“Not necessary. We worked hard for that and we’re not sharing it with him.

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