day he was being pulled from training to take it again.”
“Did he ever say why he got to take it again?”
He smirked darkly. “He said his test got lost and that they needed him to do it again. Three days later, he was bragging about being picked up by an elite team. Normally, we’d call bullshit, but Stewart got what Stewart wanted.”
“No one ever questioned him or confronted him?”
He chuckled lightly. “Nope.”
“Why? Were you scared of him?”
“No, ma’am, not him.”
“Oh, the general.” I nodded at him, and he gave me an eyebrow.
“Okay,” I sifted through my files and opened the last one to show him a drawing, “one last thing.” I held it up. “Does this mean anything to you?”
He squinted at it before he took it from my fingers.
“Seven Webs,” he muttered, and I could tell he was searching his memory. “I’m not sure. At first glance, I would rule out an Army tattoo. There isn’t much to it.”
“What if I told you it was used as a nickname for someone?”
He rubbed his bottom lip and thought again. “Nothing rings a bell, but I can ask around if you’d like.”
“I would. Thank you.”
Twenty more minutes went by, and I finally got him to give me the name of someone else to talk to, Mason. Stewart’s bunkmate. I thanked him for his time and raced down to the coffee shop to grab a sandwich.
Just as I sat down, my phone rang.
“Hello?” I chased my dry mouth down with some water.
“Hey, you.” John’s voice sounded quiet. “How’s it going?”
“Interesting.” I brushed the crumbs from my fingers while I dug out my notebook.
“Good or bad interesting?”
“I’m not really sure yet.” I pulled my phone away from my ear to look at it when I saw another call coming through. “I’m sorry, John, but I’m waiting on this call. I have to go. I’ll call you back, okay?”
“Yup, no problem. Be safe.”
“I will. Bye!”
I hit the button and connected to the new line. “This is Sloane Harlow.”
“Miss Harlow, this is Mason Leaves, returning your call.”
“Hi. Thank you for the call back.” Again, another call came through. It was Frank, but I sent it to voicemail. He and my father both wanted to get a full report of what I was doing, but I didn’t have the headspace for that conversation, so everyone could just hold on for a few days.
“I, ah…” I tried to think. “I wanted to ask you a few questions about Nick Stewart.” I waited, anxious if he’d say anything. There was a long pause before he cleared his throat.
“What would you like to know?”
“He died a few months ago, and I’m trying to understand who he was.”
“How?”
“Murdered.”
“So, karma does exist.” He seemed more amazed than anything else.
“I’m not going to beat around the bush here, Mason. He was working with some friends of mine, and things went very bad. I’m just trying to understand this guy a little more.”
“Why? Do you think he was in on something?”
The next question fell from my mouth without thought when he asked that. “Do you think he would flip?”
“It’s no secret that our unit despised that weasel. He was rich, entitled, but dumb as a post. He could barely remember his left from his right. He carried a little notebook around with notes of simple everyday things just so he wouldn’t look stupid when he was given a command.”
“Is that how he passed his test?”
“He never passed, but his parents got him pushed through because of their relationship with the general.”
“General.” I paused and waited.
“You seem real nice, Miss Harlow, but something like that, you’ll have to find out on your own.”
Damn. “Can I ask you one question?”
“You can. Doesn’t mean I’ll answer it.”
“Was it General Csaba?” I wasn’t sure if I wanted the answer or not.
There was another long pause, and my stomach crept into my throat.
“No.”
I sagged into my seat and sighed with relief. I wasn’t proud of myself for going there, but let’s be honest, my father didn’t have the best reputation.
“Thank you, Mason. I appreciate your time.”
“Miss Harlow?”
“Yes?”
“Greenburg put out a text about you poking around about the general. You’d be wasting your time hunting down the rest of the men. They won’t speak to you.”
“Fair enough.” I figured as much. Damn, I wished I had started with someone else.
The line went dead.
Chapter Seventeen
John
“Hey, man, just checking in.” Cole sounded just as frustrated as I was being told to stay put. We could do nothing until we got word