Chapter 19 - THE HOUSE AMELIA BROKE INTO
The JAG technician ripped out the network adapter.
“Deletion stopped at twelve percent,” he said. “Most files survived.”
Commander Keene handed the original drive to an armed evidence officer and ordered an escort to a secure military facility.
I took an unmarked sedan toward my house with two federal agents.
Rain began falling as we reached my street.
The front door stood open.
Amelia’s car was parked in the driveway, its trunk raised.
Inside, drawers had been emptied across the floor. Family photographs lay broken beneath muddy footprints. My military records had been pulled from the study cabinets and dumped into a metal trash barrel.
Amelia stood over it with a lighter.
“Put it down,” I said.
She turned.
Her face was pale and wet with tears.
“Logan, I can explain.”
“You laughed while Vance poured milk over me.”
Her lips trembled.
“I was scared.”
“You helped him frame me.”
“He said he would expose my debts.”
“What debts?”
She looked toward the open garage.
That small movement was enough.
One of the agents searched the garage and returned carrying a locked accounting case.
Inside were loan agreements bearing my forged signature, property transfers, and insurance documents naming Amelia as beneficiary of a policy I had never purchased.
The total value was more than three million dollars.
Amelia sank into a chair.
“I never wanted you dead.”
“That is a low standard for a marriage.”
“Dominic told me the policy was protection. He said your military investigation would ruin us.”
“Dominic knew about the ambush before I did.”
She covered her face.
“I didn’t know what he was involved in at first.”
“At first?”
Her silence answered me.
The federal agents photographed every document.
I picked up our wedding portrait from the floor. The glass was cracked directly across our faces.
“How long?” I asked.
Amelia looked at the photograph.
“Four years.”
The answer struck harder than the public humiliation.
Four years meant the affair had begun before the ambush. Before Ethan vanished. Before I came home carrying the names of twelve dead soldiers in my memory.
“Did Vance use you to report on me?”
“Yes.”
“Did you give him access to my files?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know Miller’s name?”
She shook her head quickly.
“Not until last month. Dominic became terrified when JAG reopened your case.”
A vehicle stopped outside.
The federal agents drew their weapons.
May you like
Sheriff Vance walked into the doorway holding a shotgun against the back of my former squad medic, Daniel Cross.
“Everyone lowers their weapons,” Vance said, “or the medic dies first.”
