Page 3 of So Smitten

Faith smiled sweetly at him and said, “Thanks, but I prefer men.”

The others howled laughter. Decker widened his grin and offered Faith a finger. She kept her smile on him a moment longer before turning to face forward. The drab two-story concrete wall of Camp Ghost rose a half-mile distant. Faith relaxed a little. The risk of bombs was gone. The Taliban couldn’t get within a mile of the base without being picked off by the long-range snipers posted at each corner. They were home safe again.

She glanced back at Decker, who grinned and winked at her. She rolled her eyes and shook her head but kept her smile.

Decker was cute. He wasn’t remotely her type of personality, but he was good-looking enough. Maybe she could use a little help keeping warm.

“You know him?”

Faith looked up from the pictures at Desrouleaux and nodded. “Yeah. Knew him anyway. I hadn’t seen him in over eleven years, but I know him. That’s Corporal Decker.”

“Staff Sergeant Decker,” Desrouleaux said, “but yeah, that’s him. You two serve together?”

“Yes,” she said, “briefly. When did he die?”

“Coroner says night before last. Looks like he was hit before he could put up a fight.”

“That makes sense,” Faith said, “Decker wasn’t the kind of man you fought fair. He was the unit’s boxing champion. That means something in the Corps.”

“No doubt,” Desrouleaux said. He sighed and slumped in his chair. “So why did West go after him? Just to mess with you?”

Faith felt a stab of guilt. “Yes,” she said reluctantly. “I think so.”

“Christ.” Desrouleaux shook his head. “Why you? Just because Trammell couldn’t kill you?”

“I guess so,” Faith said, shifting uncomfortably. “Look, you know he was in California. Have you tried retracing his steps? If we find out where he came from, maybe we can have an idea where he’s going?”

“We’re working on it,” Desrouleaux said. “So that’s all this guy was to you? Just someone you served with?”

Faith knew that Desrouleaux needed to ask her these questions. She wasn’t allowed to work on the Copycat Killer case, but she was a person of interest right now since his latest victim was someone known to Faith, and it was now known to the FBI that West was motivated—at least recently—by a desire to torment Faith.

Still, Faith felt like a criminal under a microscope while the seasoned detective worked steadily to break her down and elicit some terrible secret.

“That’s all,” she said. She didn’t think it important for Desrouleaux to know about the brief romantic fling they’d had in Kajran.

“So how did West know? Did you guys talk about your military service?”

“So what was serving in the Corps like?”

Faith chuckled and shook her head. “That’s kind of like asking what it’s like being in the FBI.”

West shrugged. “Well? What was it like?”

She shook her head again. “Um… God, where do I start?” It was an honest question. Any answer she could think of seemed as reductive as the question. Finally, she settled on, “Well, it was fun while it lasted.”

“Why?” he asked, not noting the sarcasm in her voice, or else noting it and choosing to ignore it.

She shifted in her seat, not sure why she was suddenly so uncomfortable. “Well… I mean, there’s a lot to unpack there.”

“Unpack some of it,” West insisted. “There’s no rush. We don’t even need to start with anything particularly important. I’m just trying to get a sense of who you are, and to know that, I need to get a sense of who you were.”

Faith hesitated while she tried to think of something to say. She didn’t want to talk about combat. That wasn’t a subject she looked forward to broaching with a psychologist. The rest of it was mostly stuff that civilians wouldn’t understand, private jokes and unique experiences that would make no sense to anyone who wasn’t in the Corps.

So what could she tell him that would satisfy his curiosity but not risk sparking a conversation she wasn’t ready for?

“Well,” she said, “I hooked up with one of the guys in my unit, and our platoon sergeant caught us.”

He blinked, clearly not expecting that kind of revelation. Faith was nearly as surprised as he was. What did it say about her that she decided to avoid a personal conversation by telling West about the time her platoon sergeant caught her having sex?

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