The license plate was enough to make my hands go cold.
I knew that car.
I had seen it outside the hangar.
I had seen it near the barracks.
And I had seen it parked across from Laura's apartment two nights before the crash.
At the time, I had assumed it belonged to someone from the base.
Now I wasn't sure.
Ethan's father looked at the photograph.
“You recognize it.”
“Yes.”
“Whose car?”
“I don't know.”
Daniel leaned closer.
“Look at the driver.”
The photograph was grainy.
The windshield reflected the overhead lights.
But the driver's face was visible enough to make my stomach tighten.
I knew him.
Not well.
But enough.
“Captain Vale.”
Nobody spoke.
Ethan's father took the photograph from my hand.
“Are you certain?”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You said Vale died six years ago.”
“He did.”
“Then why was his car there the night before Laura died?”
His father didn't answer.
I took the photograph back.
“Because he was there.”
“That doesn't explain why.”
“No.”
I turned to Ethan.
“I need a computer.”
His mother pointed toward the study.
“There’s one in there.”
I sat at the desk.
Daniel brought the notebook.
Ethan stood behind me.
His father remained near the door.
I searched the dates in my memory.
Laura's final flight.
The maintenance discrepancy.
Vale's signature.
The black car.
Something connected them.
I knew it.
I just couldn't see it yet.
I opened the notebook again.
Several entries had been marked with small dots.
Three dates.
I compared them.
Each occurred within forty-eight hours of an aircraft maintenance problem.
Each carried Vale's approval.
But Vale wasn't assigned to those inspections.
I looked at Ethan's father.
“Did Vale have access to maintenance records?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Operational authority.”
“Could he alter them?”
“Technically.”
“Could he erase them?”
“Not without leaving a trace.”
I looked at Daniel.
“Unless someone helped him.”
Daniel nodded.
“Exactly.”
Ethan's father sat down.
“I should have investigated this.”
“Yes.”
He accepted that.
“I didn't.”
“Why?”
He looked at me.
“Because I believed the chain of command.”
The sentence sounded painful.
I understood it.
Not because I agreed.
Because I knew what obedience could become inside an organization built around hierarchy.
I turned back to the computer.
“Find Vale's records.”
His father shook his head.
“His personnel records are restricted.”
“I don't need his entire file.”
“What do you need?”
“His assignments.”
He looked at me.
“I may be able to get those.”
“Then do it.”
He reached for his phone.
Daniel stopped him.
“Not yet.”
His father frowned.
“Why?”
“Because if someone was altering records, we shouldn't announce that we're looking.”
I looked at Daniel.
“Agreed.”
Ethan sat beside me.
“What do we know?”
I counted on my fingers.
“Vale had access to maintenance records. Laura noticed irregular signatures. She planned to speak with someone outside the squadron. Someone warned her. She died the next day. The official report blamed mechanical failure.”
“And the note?”
“Laura didn't trust the report.”
Ethan nodded.
“That's a lot.”
“It's not enough.”
Daniel said, “There is another connection.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“Vale knew Laura.”
“So did half the squadron.”
“Not like this.”
He pulled another document from his folder.
It was an old roster.
Laura's name.
My name.
Vale's name.
And one additional name.
I recognized it immediately.
“Mason.”
Daniel nodded.
“All three were involved in the maintenance review.”
I looked at the dates.
Mason had signed one report.
Vale had signed another.
Laura had challenged both.
My pulse quickened.
“Where is Mason now?”
“Virginia.”
“Then we need to talk to him.”
Ethan's father looked uneasy.
“Not yet.”
I turned.
“Why?”
“Because I know Mason.”
“So?”
“He won't speak to us unless he thinks he has something to lose.”
I studied him.
“You've spoken to him recently.”
His silence confirmed it.
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
“Why?”
“I asked him about Laura.”
My voice hardened.
“And you didn't tell me?”
“I didn't know you were alive.”
“I was alive.”
“You were unreachable.”
“You didn't try hard enough.”
He accepted the accusation.
“What did Mason say?”
“He said Laura was unstable.”
My hands curled into fists.
“He said that?”
“Yes.”
Daniel's expression darkened.
“He always said that.”
“Why?”
“Because it was convenient.”
I looked at the photograph again.
The car.
The hangar.
Laura.
Then I noticed something else.
A small reflection on the driver's window.
A second person.
Someone sitting beside Vale.
I zoomed in.
The image became grainy, but the outline was clear.
“There's someone else.”
Everyone leaned closer.
The passenger was wearing a cap.
The face was turned away.
But the jacket collar was visible.
There was an insignia.
Ethan's father stared at it.
Then he stood.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
He stepped closer to the screen.
“That insignia.”
“You know it?”
“Yes.”
“Whose?”
He didn't answer.
Daniel looked at him.
“You recognize it.”
His father nodded slowly.
“It belonged to a contractor who worked with the base.”
“What contractor?”
He swallowed.
“Northstar Defense.”
The name meant nothing to me.
“What did they do?”
“Maintenance support.”
My stomach dropped.
“Then they had access to the aircraft.”
“Yes.”
“And the records.”
“Yes.”
“And Vale.”
His father didn't respond.
I looked at Daniel.
“Who owned Northstar?”
He answered.
“A man named Victor Hale.”
I knew the name.
I had seen it once in a briefing.
A civilian executive.
Someone who had been praised for helping modernize military maintenance.
I remembered Laura calling him “the man who never gets dirty.”
At the time, I had laughed.
Now the memory felt different.
I searched the computer.
Victor Hale.
Northstar Defense.
Maintenance contracts.
Then I found an old article.
A photograph.
Hale standing beside a group of officers.
Among them were Vale and Mason.
My blood ran cold.
Ethan saw my face.
“What?”
I pointed at the screen.
He stared.
His father came closer.
Daniel stood behind him.
Nobody spoke.
Then Ethan's father said something that changed the entire direction of the investigation.
“I signed that contract.”
I turned toward him.
“You did what?”
“I was the commanding officer responsible for approving it.”
“You approved Northstar.”
“Yes.”
“And Laura knew.”
“Yes.”
“Did she object?”
His face tightened.
“Yes.”
“Did you listen?”
He looked down.
“No.”
The room was silent.
I felt anger rise through me.
Not explosive.
Cold.
Precise.
“You didn't just fail to investigate her warning.”
He nodded.
“You put the company she suspected into the system.”
“Yes.”
“And then she died.”
His eyes closed.
“Yes.”
I stepped away.
For several seconds nobody spoke.
Then Daniel said, “There's something else.”
I turned.
“What?”
He held up the photograph.
“The passenger.”
He pointed to the faint silhouette.
“He wasn't wearing a contractor's jacket.”
I looked closer.
“What was he wearing?”
Daniel's voice dropped.
“Your squadron patch.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 8: The Person Beside Vale Was Wearing My Squadron Patch, and the Evidence Forced Me to Question the One Memory I Had Trusted Most
The Birthday Dinner Began With a Warning From Ethan, but I Had No Idea His Father Intended to Turn the Evening Into an Interrogation
Part 7 of 12
