Page 9 of So Savage

Faith raised an eyebrow.“So you were romantically involved with Sergeant Kent?”

Torres nodded.“We started dating seven months ago.We’d been attracted to each other since we met, but we both tried to avoid an entanglement.Then we just so happened to end up stuck here one night during a thunderstorm, and… well, tale as old as time, I guess.”

“And you’re sure no one was aware of your relationship?”

“Oh, they knew.The Army Reserve isn’t as tightly run as the active Army.We’re only committed to one weekend a month here and two weeks of annual training when we’re not on deployment.”

“How often do you deploy?”

"Honestly, most of us never have.With the reduction in US military action, most of us will never see combat.I've been with the Reserve for three years, and I've never been deployed.Most of the unit hasn't either."

Faith sighed.She was trying to figure out who Sergeant Walsh might have interacted with who would want to kill him, but it seemed like she wasn’t going to get a good answer.She tried another tack.“What was Walsh’s job when he wasn’t fulfilling his duties to the Army?”

“He was a special case.He was a reservist whose day job was as a civilian contractor training K9 units.”

Now they were getting somewhere.“Could he have met Master Sergeant Reeves through that work?”

She nodded.“Yes, actually.Walsh and Reeves were both part of a review board that assessed training and working standards for Army K9 units.”

“When?”

“Four months ago.”

“Can you get me a list of people present at that event?”Faith asked.

“I can try,” Torres replied.“I’ll let the brass know the severity of the situation and see if they’ll get me what I need.”

“Do it.It’s possible that our killer was present at that event.”

“Was anyone else here last night?”Marcus asked.

Torres shook her head.“No.We’re a small reserve center.We’ve never had any kind of trouble here at all.No trespassing, no thefts, no assault… nothing.”

Marcus nodded, clearly disappointed.He stood and Faith followed suit.“Thank you for your time, Lieutenant.If you can think of anything else, please let us know.”

He handed her a business card and started for the door.“Actually,” Faith interjected, “I have one more question.Do you know where Rooster is right now?”

“Yes.We have a contract with Dr.Joanna Parker to examine all of our K9 units here.Right now, that’s just Rooster.He’s at her office for observation.”

“Can you give me her office address?”

“Sure thing, but she won’t be in the office tonight.”

Faith considered calling the doctor to see if she’d meet her there, but it was getting late, and she could feel fatigue creeping in.It would be better for both her and Turk to get some rest and attack the case with fresh minds in the morning.“That’s all right.I’ll see her first thing in the morning.”

Torres wrote the address down and handed it to Faith.Tears welled in her eyes, and her voice shook a little.“I just can’t believe someone would do this.It doesn’t make sense to me.”

Murders like this rarely made sense to anyone but killers and the people trained to catch them, but telling Torres that wouldn’t be helpful.So Faith only said, “We’ll do everything we can to find the person responsible and bring them to justice.”

Torres nodded.“I know.I’m just worried it won’t be enough.”

That’s every day of my life, Faith thought.

The three of them returned to the truck.The temperature had fallen by about ten degrees since Faith had arrived, and even the thick clothing she wore wasn’t enough to stop the chill that bit through to her bones.

She wondered what the last moments of Walsh’s and Reeves’s life were like.Had they stayed conscious long enough to realize what was happening to them?Had they felt the cold seeping through to their bones as their lifeblood drained away?

Maybe they’d gotten lucky.Maybe they had fallen asleep before they had a chance to feel what was happening.It was a thin and rather dull silver lining, but it was better than nothing.

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