Chapter 7 - The Man Who Said He Was Sorry
Colter broke when they showed him the reflection.
Not dramatically.
He simply lowered his head and stopped pretending he had been only a frightened middleman.
“I took the picture,” he said.
Captain Reed sat across from him. “Why?”
“Kessler wanted proof she was going outside the company.”
“You sent it to him?”
“Yes.”
“Did you write the threat?”
“No.”
“Did you know she would be threatened?”
That hesitation was enough.
Reed’s voice hardened. “Did you know?”
“I knew they wanted her scared.”
Tessa stood beside her with folded arms.
“He keeps saying ‘they,’” Tessa whispered.
Lena nodded.
It was the word cowards used when they wanted guilt to become fog.
He admitted deleting electronic scans of complaints. He admitted altering the hand log. He admitted warning Derek whenever a complaint was coming.
Then he said something that turned Lena cold.
“Derek wasn’t supposed to touch her in the mess hall.”
Reed leaned in. “Supposed to?”
“He was supposed to make her lose her temper.”
“How?”
“Push. Mock her. Get her to swing first.”
Tessa whispered, “Jesus.”
Colter kept talking.
If Lena struck Derek, he would claim assault. Witnesses loyal to him would say she had been unstable for weeks. Her earlier complaints would look retaliatory.
“They wanted a video of her hitting him,” Colter said.
“Not exactly. Derek likes doing this. He just had a goal.”
Lena remembered the phones rising before she hit the floor.
They had not been random spectators.
Reed asked for names.
Colter gave three.
Lena’s head snapped toward the glass.
Tessa stared at her. “Noah?”
The same Noah who had confessed to laughing.
Reed brought him in an hour later.
“Were you told to record Mercer?” she asked.
Noah’s eyes filled with tears.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“By whom?”
“Vaughn.”
“Why didn’t you tell us this morning?”
Noah wiped his face angrily.
“Because I thought if I gave you the audio, maybe that would be enough.”
“Enough for what?”
“To keep you from asking what I did.”
Molina immediately stepped forward.
Noah froze. “It’s just my phone.”
He unlocked it and opened a hidden folder.
There were seven videos.
Not one.
May you like
Seven.
And Lena was not the only soldier in them.
