not to reenlist. Freemont is a nice town. I thought I could start fresh there, never thinking I’d see Mason again. That’s why I can’t go back to Fort Rickman. He’ll bring up Germany, only he’ll twist what happened and make it seem that I was the one at fault.”
“You’re jumping to the wrong conclusion.”
“Am I?” She tugged at her hair. “After I left, rumors circulated to that effect. One of the other personnel clerks emailed me and told me what she had heard.”
“Did she know where the rumors had originated?”
“She didn’t need to tell me. I knew. Mason spread lies about me to make sure his name wasn’t sullied.”
The sincerity in her voice and the strength of her conviction brought back memories of another woman who had been threatened by a superior. Everett hadn’t looked deep enough into that case, and the results had been catastrophic. He couldn’t make the same mistake again.
The lines of fatigue around Natalie’s eyes were telling. She was exhausted and needed rest.
“Let’s wait until morning,” he suggested. “Then we can decide what to do next.”
She flicked her gaze around the cabin and nervously tugged at the sleeve of her sweater. “I’m not going back to Fort Rickman.”
“We’ll decide in the morning.”
“You don’t believe me, that’s why you’re determined to take me in.”
“I have a job to do, Natalie.”
“You have a job to find out the truth. That’s what you told me earlier. I didn’t kill Denise, and I had nothing to do with Tammy Yates’s death.”
“Two deaths in one day are more than a coincidence. You seem to be the common denominator.”
“That doesn’t make me a killer.”
She was right, but it did make her a possible suspect. Everett should be in his car driving her back to the CID Headquarters at Fort Rickman or to the Freemont police. Both law enforcement agencies considered her a person of interest. Everett did, as well, but ever since Specialist Carolyn Rogers had stepped into his cubicle seven years ago, he’d been overly cautious about jumping to the wrong conclusions, which is why he was hesitant to take Natalie back to post, at least not tonight.
Eventually she would need to be questioned by law enforcement, but right now, he was concerned about Mason Yates and the strings he might pull to wrap the investigation up too quickly. Getting to the truth was the bottom line. Natalie wasn’t a threat or a flight risk tonight. By morning, the CID might have more information that would shed light on both crimes.
Hopefully, Natalie’s innocence would be established. If not, Everett would have to admit his mistake. The delay might cost him his career, but he had to trust himself and everything inside him told him to be cautious.
How could he look at himself in the mirror, even if his career advanced, if an innocent woman’s life was ruined in the process? He had to follow his gut on this one.
Was she guilty or innocent? A hard question he couldn’t answer. At least not yet.
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