Close to Home (Tracy Crosswhite 5) by Robert Dugoni

Author:Robert Dugoni [Robert Dugoni]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781542045018
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: 2017-09-04T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER 25

The following morning, Leah Battles thought the MA at the Charleston Gate took twice as long as necessary to consider her identification card, though she realized it could just be her paranoia in the aftermath of the Article 32 hearing. Word spread like a wildfire across a naval base, and no doubt everyone was talking about the missing videotape and speculating over what had happened to it. That was the reason Battles got up that morning to go to work, as scheduled. Her mother had once told her, during Battles’s high school years, that her absence spoke volumes, and so did her presence. She intended to be present.

When she entered the front door of the DSO building, Darcy, the receptionist, and two people standing at her desk turned to Leah. They looked as if they’d been caught. Their conversation ceased, and the other two slowly turned and walked away. Battles nodded to Darcy and continued toward her office, waiting for Darcy’s customary greeting. It never came.

She slipped into her office and shut her door, taking a moment to consider her surroundings. Her office décor was just the right mix of work and home, and it had always been a sanctuary, a place where she felt grounded. Today, however, it felt foreign, isolated, and claustrophobic. She wanted to turn and leave, but she knew she couldn’t make it that easy on them. Instead, she turned on the overhead fluorescent lights, hoping their brightness would remove some of the impending gloom, and changed into her working blues.

Sitting at her desk, she hit her keyboard, received the customary prompt asking for her name and password, and typed in both. While the computer booted up, she finished changing into her blue work uniform and black boots. Then she unlocked her desk drawer where she kept her active files and pulled it open. The drawer was empty. She looked at her computer monitor. The system did not recognize her name or password.

She swore under her breath and typed in her name and password a second time, though the empty desk drawer made it clear she hadn’t made a mistake. Again, the screen refused her access. She rocked back in her chair, processing what had happened. She’d never heard of a defense attorney having her files yanked so quickly. The attorney-client privilege mandated that an attorney’s clients had to release the attorney. There was only one likely explanation. They’d locked her out and taken her files.

So much for being present.

A tentative knock on her door diverted her attention. “Come in,” she said.

Darcy poked her head into the room with a tentative smile, the kind normally reserved for funerals. “What’s up, ma’am?” she said softly.

Battles almost said, “Not me for promotion,” but she wasn’t about to act defeated. She returned the smile. “Sun and sky, Darcy. I’ll let you know when they aren’t.”

Darcy stepped in and closed the door.

“How’re you doing, ma’am?” Darcy asked. Enlisted personnel always used “ma’am” as a sign of respect when addressing female naval officers.

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