“Sergeant?”
For the first time since the accusation began, Harlan appeared afraid.
And Jordan realized the missing armor might be connected to someone far closer to the supply room than anyone had expected. 👇
Harlan’s hand moved away from the screen.
The investigator noticed.
“Sergeant, what patch is that?”
For a moment Harlan looked as if he might answer with the same hard certainty he had used on Jordan all morning. Then his shoulders lowered.
“Logistics response team,” he said. “Temporary identifier. We used it during the readiness exercise last month.”
“How many people had one?”
“Eight.”
“Names.”
Harlan swallowed. “I have the roster.”
Jordan watched him walk to the filing cabinet. The fear on the sergeant’s face was not the fear of being discovered, Jordan realized. It was the fear of knowing the circle had just become very small.
Harlan handed over a sheet.
The investigator read the names, then looked back at the image. “You wore one?”
“Yes.”
“So did seven others.”
“Yes.”
Jordan felt his brief hope collapse into a different kind of uncertainty. Harlan had spent hours treating him like the obvious thief. Now Harlan himself belonged to the tiny group connected to the camera image.
The investigator turned to Jordan. “You stay here.”
Then to Harlan: “You’re coming with us.”
Harlan’s jaw tightened. “Am I being detained?”
“You’re being separated from the evidence while we verify the roster.”
For the first time that day, Jordan almost felt sympathy for him.
Almost.
The next six hours stretched beyond anything Jordan had imagined when the vest hit the table that morning. Investigators collected access-control records, camera footage, duty rosters, vehicle logs, and sign-out sheets. They took Jordan’s phone, copied data from his access card, and asked him to reconstruct every hour of the previous evening.
He told the same story until it sounded suspicious even to himself.
Dinner at the dining facility. A call with his sister. Video game in his room. Shower. Sleep around midnight.
“Anyone see you after midnight?”
“No.”
