Once Stalked
Riley’s curiosity was rising by the second.
“Where can I find him?” she asked.
Private Wilber pointed to the gravesite.
“He’s right over there,” he said.
A young man was standing alone beside the grave, looking down at the casket with his arms on his hips.
Riley thanked Privates Ludekens and Wilber, who wandered off. Riley saw that Bill and Lucy had each found some recruits to talk to.
Riley walked toward the private who was standing beside the grave. He was a lanky young man with an intense, brooding expression on his face.
What’s on his mind? she wondered.
She planned to find out.
CHAPTER TWELVE
As Riley approached Private Pope, she decided not to let on that that she knew anything about him – certainly not that he’d been demoted by Sergeant Worthing. She thought it would be best to see what the young soldier would be willing to reveal.
She stepped right beside him, but he didn’t seem to notice her presence. His bitter expression remained unchanged and his eyes stayed fixed on the grave.
Finally, she asked, “Taking the sarge’s death kind of hard?”
He turned his head and looked at her and then his expression shifted for a moment. He regarded her with obvious distaste, but he didn’t reply to her question. Then he turned and stared down into the grave again, brooding as before.
“Not everyone seemed to like him,” Riley said. “Did you?”
Private Pope still said nothing.
Riley said, “It’s probably a hard thing to talk about. But I think maybe I understand. I lost my dad recently – and he was a Marine, a captain who served in Vietnam. Folks didn’t like him much either.”
Then she added with a lie …
“Still, I miss him.”
Pope didn’t look up from the grave.
“You don’t know anything about it,” Pope said. “How could you? You’re not one of us.”
His resentment of Riley was practically radiating off of him.
“I might surprise you,” Riley said. “I know a thing or two about comradeship. There’s a deep bond among FBI agents. And I’ve lost colleagues in the line of work. I know it’s hard.”
He didn’t reply at all.
“Come on,” Riley said. “Let’s take a little walk.”
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
Вы ознакомились с фрагментом книги.
Для бесплатного чтения открыта только часть текста.
Приобретайте полный текст книги у нашего партнера:
Полная версия книги