Chapter 53 Chapter Fifty-Three

She followed Puller up the stairs.They found a quiet place and sat down on worn leather chairs.Seeing that she didn't want to initiate a conversation, Puller said, "I got your message unmistakably, Lieutenant." "Please call me Barbara." "You can call me Puller. I got your text." He went on to bring up the subject. "I know you're looking into the Matt Reynolds case." ① Matt (Matt): Matthews' nickname. "Are you his colleague too? If so, they must have forgotten to tell me." "I'm not his colleague, but I know him, know him very well."

"Does that mean you are friends?" "Not only that. He served with my dad. He was like a mentor to me, and I joined the military mainly because of his influence. I was also a friend of his wife. I knew their children very well. In fact , I helped take care of the children when they were young." "Oh, then please accept my sincere condolences." "Very scary, isn't it? Like... what I heard?" "What did you hear?" "Said that his entire family was brutally murdered." "Who told you that?" "There are many rumors. I can't remember who said it."

"Pretty scary indeed," Pooler admitted. "Understood." She said in a trembling voice, took out a tissue and pressed her eyes. "As you pointed out, I was sent to catch those who killed him." "I hope you catch them," she said firmly. "And I wanted all the help I could get." "I... I might be able to help a little." Puller opened the notebook. "I need to know everything you can tell me." "I don't know the details. Matt and Stacey are running back and forth between here and West Virginia to take care of sick elderly people. They take their two children there with them. Of course, they don't like it." Do it. The kids have to leave their friends and spend the summer away in the middle of nowhere. But old people are old people, and Stacy has a strong bond with her parents."

"I believe so." "Matt goes there on Friday and comes back on Sunday because he has to work on Monday. That's how he spent most of his weekends in this period." "I know that. I talked to his immediate boss, General Carson." This remark made Strickland flush a little, but she quickly concealed it. "Matt called me two weeks ago and said he stumbled upon something in West Virginia and he was confused." "whats the matter?" "He didn't want to go into details. But it was clear from what he said that something very serious happened to him."

"Maybe a drug deal or something?" Puller usually does not interrupt when listening to the narration of the subjects of the investigation, but this time he deliberately inserted such a sentence. She gave Puller a strange look. "No, I don't think it has anything to do with drugs." "Then what would it be?" "It's much more serious than that, and it's connected to other people. I get the sense that he's a little scared and can't make up his mind what to do." "How did he come across this, did he tell?" "I think he heard it from someone else."

"So the other person came across this by accident?" "I'm not sure. It seems that the other person has been watching the matter." Puller's pen rested on top of the notebook. "You mean the police?" "No, not officially someone. I'm pretty sure about that. At least Matt never said that." "Then who is it?" "Well, I feel like someone is going undercover." "But you said just now that the man is not from the police." "Well, don't the police sometimes use ordinary people to act as undercover agents for them? Especially those who have inside contacts."

"I think so. But then again, it's all about the drug, the gun trade." "I don't think it's those things, because that alone doesn't scare Matt that way." "His family was there. He was probably worried about them." "Maybe." Her tone was uncertain. "Did he ever mention the name 'Undercover' to you, or about him?" "No." "Did he say how he knew the man?" "Matt ran into them one day." "Why would these people confide in Matt?" "Because he's wearing a military uniform, I suppose so."

"But if they were undercover, they should have cooperated with the police. Why find a guy in a uniform." "I don't know," Strickland admitted, "but I'm sure Matt was somehow connected to it, and he was really worried about it." "Which department do you work in?" Puller asked. "I'm an analyst for the Department of Defense." "Analyzed?" "Middle East issues. Focus on matters related to the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan." "Ever been there?" She shook her head. "No. I know you have been, many times."

"It's nothing, Barbara. Some people are good at intelligence analysis, and some people aren't." "And there are people who are good at fighting, like you." "Would you like to provide a little analysis of the situation I'm currently facing?" She looked surprised, but nodded with interest. "When I was given this assignment, they told me it was an unusual case. Four bodies found in another state, one of them a colonel from the Defense Intelligence Agency. In cases like this, we usually send a A strong team. There must be several CID investigators, a technical investigation team, and even experts from the Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory. But this time they only sent me, because this is a so-called An unusual case. Why, and what do you think?"

"Did the Defense Intelligence Agency get involved?" "General Carson said that Reynolds' job had nothing to do with his killing, so they didn't have to get involved. But the Secretary of the Army's office actually called the lab in Atlanta to ask about it. They seemed to think it was a very Sensitive case, and not just because of the deceased's status as a colonel in the Intelligence Service. Why do they say that?" "Could it be that someone in DIA told them this was a very sensitive case and asked to keep it under wraps?" Strickland speculated.

"I think so too. You looked a little different when I mentioned General Carson." Strickland turned pale this time. "I'm just used to seeing this kind of thing, you don't have to take it seriously. Tell me about that lady," Pooler said. "I don't know her very well." "I think you know a lot more about her than I do. Tell me, will Reynolds tell General Carson what he told you?" "Matt is the elite of the military." "It means that he obeys the command and obeys the order. So Matt will report to her. Maybe General Carson sees an opportunity to make military achievements. An unexpected opportunity may bring her a second chance." star, especially if Reynolds hits a big national security issue. Do I have a point in saying that? Maybe it's completely out of the question?" "I'm sure Julie Carson would have crawled over her mother's dead body in order to be a major general," Strickland said, angrily. "It seems that she has great ambitions?" "My experience as a soldier tells me that no matter who has at least one star, he is equally ambitious." "So she asked Reynolds to keep an eye on this, to keep in touch with the undercover guy. Her hand seemed to have touched the second star. But suddenly Reynolds and his whole family were killed. Carson sat A bomb that may explode at any time. If people know the truth, not only will the second star be gone, but her current star will also have to be taken off.” Strickland nodded. "She had to hide the truth. But why did she tell you that Matt's work in the Intelligence Service had nothing to do with his death? Why did she say there was nothing special about what Matt did?" "What else could she say? Matt was the head of Intelligence Operations. That fact alone is reason enough to believe he was killed for his work. He provided the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff with a daily Military briefing people. If someone came to Carson for information, she could use secrecy as an excuse to say nothing. That's what she did to me. But in private, she expected people to attribute Reynolds' death to him in the She hoped that the true cause of Reynolds' death would never come to light. That way, she would be safe. Conversely, if people learned that she was hiding important issues for the sake of credit, she would be very safe. It's hard to explain. She was trying to win a grand slam, but things went wrong." "If that's the case, she's in big trouble." Strickland's expression could almost be described as one of relief. Puller said: "My mission is to bring the murderer to justice, not to bring down a brigadier general. Carson may have screwed up, and if that is the case, she will pay for it. But that is not the case. Not my purpose, is it?" The expression of relief faded from Strickland's face. "What are you going to do?" she asked. "Talk to the brigadier general again," Puller said. "I sincerely appreciate your help, Lieutenant." Strickland turned pale again. "You can't tell her that..." "No, I won't say it."