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"Bullies need to be controlled,"someone else said. That was interesting to Cora. Who had the bully been?

Then the chat veered off in other directions after a threatening message from one of the administrators that certain topics were out of bounds. There were a few deleted messages as well. That told her the site was being censored.

Cora leaned back in the chair, her mind racing. So, there had been a disciplinary hearing involving at least two of the victims. And it seemed from the chit-chat that people on the admin side of the base felt that bullying was involved, although it wasn’t clear how. That was a lead, and Cora knew she had to follow it. Especially since it linked to what she'd already heard.

This chit-chat. Could she make use of it?

She bent over the keyboard, scrolling back, looking for any references to hazing or bullying, scribbling down names when she found them.

She worked quickly, trying to absorb as much information as possible before her luck ran out.

As she scrolled through the messages, Cora saw that this was a frequent topic. Hazing was definitely a subject for debate, discussed regularly over the past few weeks, and she noticed that a couple of names were mentioned again and again as possible hazers, although nobody knew for sure and admin stepped in continually with warnings. But admin hadn’t actually deleted those two names.

Donnie Platter was one. Sean Bothy was another.

Who were these individuals who might have taken things too far? She needed to find out what their role was, because hazing was a complex form of punishment and abuse.

Were the victims bullies? That would be a possibility from the context of the messages. Had someone been picking them out for private, after-hours discipline for being too hard on their fellow soldiers, and had things then got out of hand? She knew that punishing the punishers was a common tactic on base, and often these beatings were the more brutal. If this had happened, it could explain why they’d been hurt so badly and had died. One anti-bully seeking to get justice could easily have escalated to murder if he felt his cause was justified.

At any rate, although she wasn’t sure of the circumstances, a quick search showed her that both of them were listed as ranked soldiers, and both had a few years' experience. Definitely, these two men were more senior. The kind of people who had the authority to conduct hazing sessions, and the connections to make sure they were hushed up.

She had no idea where to find them, though. She couldn’t see a list of accommodation units or assigned barracks anywhere.

And this time, as she searched, she heard purposeful footsteps approaching. She sat bolt upright, staring at the door. The handle turned, and then rattled impatiently.

Whoever this office belonged to, they were back.

CHAPTER TWENTY

“Hey! Who locked my office?” A man’s voice, loud and complaining.

“Hang on. I’ve got a spare key.”

Someone else’s voice, and a shock turn she hadn’t expected.

Cora had been lucky to get as much as she had in this office. Okay, so she'd made her own luck, mostly. But now it was time to get the hell out of here.

Cora exited the chat on the computer. She didn't want them to know where she'd been looking, or else there would be a way for them to catch up with her.

And then, she vaulted out of the window, closed it almost all the way again, and hustled away from the office block, climbing the low wall, and walking innocently through the delivery parking lot. She didn’t look behind her, just in case, but her spine prickled with the awareness that there might be people looking.

One angry shout, and she’d start to run.

She reached the covered corridor without any angry shouts from behind her, and then relaxed slightly, feeling as if she was out of the danger zone. Now, she knew where she was going. She was going to find Donnie Platter and Sean Bothy. One of these men might have seen an opportunity to crush young recruits for reasons yet unknown – perhaps because the recruits were bullies, and they'd taken it too far.

Donnie Platter. Where could she find him?

Now that she had a name, asking around would hopefully be easier. She decided to start by heading to the barracks. She knew she had to handle the situation carefully. If he was involved with the murder, she didn't want to spook him and have him disappear.Nor did she want people looking too closely at her, and wondering who she was.

As she walked, she noticed that the atmosphere had changed. The base was quieter than usual, and she could sense a feeling of suspicion and tension. She was glad she had an ID card with her, because it seemed as if everyone was looking over their shoulder.

She headed into the barracks, knowing that she needed to appear innocent.

"I need help, please, to find Donnie Platter," she asked the first person she saw, a young man who was sitting on the end of his bed and polishing his boots. He looked up warily when he saw her, and frowned when she spoke that name. "You know where I can find him?"

The young man hesitated before answering, eyeing her up and down. "Why do you want to find him?" he asked, suspicion lacing his voice.

Cora put on her best smile and tried to look as harmless as possible. "Just need to ask him a few questions about some paperwork," she lied smoothly. "I'm coming back into a recruiting role, and trying to get things sorted out."

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