Chapter 8 - The Colonel's Signature

"You signed this?" Mara asked.

Rourke's answer came slowly. "I did."

Harlan smiled as if watching a door lock. "Turn in your credentials, Captain."

Mara laid her badge on the desk. "I want the suspension reason in writing and the evidence preservation order acknowledged."

"This isn't a courtroom," Harlan said.

"Then stop performing for one."

In the hallway, Rourke passed her a sealed envelope. "I couldn't stop the administrative hold," he whispered. "But I can make sure you aren't alone."

Inside was a copy of his earlier report to the installation inspector general, stamped received and then marked CLOSED WITHOUT ACTION. A second page listed a contact at a regional oversight office.

That afternoon Mara made the call from Turner's apartment. An investigator named Special Agent Harper Chen listened without interrupting.

"I'll need originals where possible," Chen said. "And I need you to stop touching the equipment while your access is suspended."

"Understood."

"Also, you need to hear something. Your brother's case file wasn't simply closed. It's been restricted. Someone requested the restriction yesterday."

"Who?"

"I can't verify that yet."

Mara stared at the wall after the call. Her phone vibrated with a voicemail from an unknown number. Navarro's frightened voice whispered, "I'm alive. Don't come looking. They said my mom would lose her house."

A thud sounded, then a different man's voice: "Say you left voluntarily."

Mara forwarded the message to Chen and Turner before another call could interrupt.

An hour later Rourke phoned her directly. "You need to leave the installation. Now."

"Why?"

"Because Major Harlan just announced they've found stolen military property inside your duffel bag."

Mara went cold. She had left the bag locked in her assigned quarters.

"What property?" she asked.

Rourke swallowed. "A pistol used in your brother's death investigation."

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There had never been a pistol in Adam's official report.