Page 90 of Very Special Forces

"If it'sabout the Army case, we agreed there would be no reports. Nopaperwork."

"Theother case," I corrected.

"It iscompletely acceptable to tell your client you can't help anyfurther," said Solomon.

"I wantto do more. I want to get irrefutable evidence that shows Juliaexactly who Bryce is. So far, all I've got is an unidentified womanconnected to Bryce who says he's a cheat, a pregnant ex who loatheshim, my own claim of him asking for sexual favors, and everyoneelse who think he's a terrific guy."

"Conflicting reports."

"I knowmine is true. If I'm telling the truth about him, the other womenprobably are too. He's definitely not the guy he makes himself outto be. I'm sure of that now." I rolled onto my back andsighed.

"Are anyof them willing to go on the record?"

"I am.The pregnant ex doesn't want to jeopardize her position and I don'tknow who the other woman is. What should I do?"

Solomonrolled onto his back, shoulder-to-shoulder with me, and stared upat the ceiling. Then he dropped his head to the side and looked atme. "Go with your client and tell Julia everything. It's up to herwhat she does with the information you give her. Even if shebelieves you, she might want to stay. She might not be ready toleave."

"That'ssad."

"Wedon't get to pick how our cases turn out."

"What ifhe hurts her? They had a fight yesterday and the police werecalled."

"Shestill has to make that decision. It is her choice." Solomon pushedback the covers and swung his legs out of bed. He walked over tothe closet and pulled out jeans and a shirt. "You'll do the rightthing," he told me. "You invariably do."

I keptthat vote of confidence in mind long after he departed to debug hisclient's office. I took my time in having breakfast and was on mysecond cup of coffee when my cell phone rang.

"Hi,Harris," I said.

"Lexi,we don't know how to thank you," he said. "Me and Kaf are here andwow... it's been an unreal few hours."

"Is thetank home?" I asked.

"Not yetbut soon. They caught someone else in connection to thetheft."

"You'rewelcome," I said. "I'm glad I could help."

"Apparently, McAuley is likely to get a full commendation forcracking the theft ring."

"Thatso?"

"Yeah.Someone in the Army turned rogue and brokered the sale. Theofficial report is being dressed up as a sting designed to catchthe unscrupulous thieves and that we all had our parts to play. Inreality, we got yelled at something bad but Kaf and I areofficially off the hook so long as we maintain thestory."

"I amhappy to hear that."

"McTavett is going to lose his job but I think we can fix himup with something on the outside. He's had enough anyway. Poor guyhas spent the last few days utterly terrified."

"This isa good result," I told him, smiling.

"If ithadn't been for you... Thank you again, Lexi."

Kafskythanked me too and they hung up. I took my coffee and laptop intothe living room and sat down to work. I typed up everything I knewabout Bruce Maynard and then read it all, altering and adding to itas I needed. When I was satisfied, I printed the document and slidit into a manila folder. Solomon was right. Once I handed over theinformation I gleaned over the course of my investigation, I had tolet it go.

I calledJas, ready to tell her exactly that.

"I don'tknow that I can give you good news," I told her, disappointed thatI didn't have anything better to say. "I want to give you my reportand I think we should tell Julia together. The only evidence I haveis hearsay so he could easily talk his way out of it."

"Maybehe won't," said Jas. "Julia was here earlier. She knocked on mydoor this morning and told me the police being at her apartmentyesterday really opened her eyes and she'd been thinking about itand she realized she’s had enough."

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