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Laura Lee knew they didn’t need Sue Rose to confirm who the instructor was or what class it was. They’d already studied Darla Rose’s college records. Her grades were low all semester and then an assignment brought her over a B, and she aced the last test she took in the class before she died. That test score bumped her up to an A.
“That’s quite all right,” Laura Lee said. “Did your daughter stop talking to you, or did she seem sad or stressed in the days leading up to her death?”
Sue Rose sighed and shrugged. “I have asked myself that question a thousand times in the last four years. I honestly don’t know. Frank was just deploying. My two other kids were crazy busy with the final high school play of the year, and things were really stressful at my job. I’ve thought if only I’d paid more attention to her, I may have known something was wrong.”
“Missus Rose, she may not have given any clue at all. There may have been nothing there for you to pick up on,” Laura said compassionately. “Something similar happened to me while I was at school, and I hid it from my mom. That’s what many girls do,” she confessed.
“Oh,” Sue gasped. “Why didn’t you tell your mom?”
“I didn’t want to worry her. I was ashamed, blamed myself for it happening. I was also in the ROTC and they’d already covered the last two years of my schooling. It was only a few weeks until graduation, and I’d be out of college, so I pushed through and tried to pretend it hadn’t happened.”
“You were an Army officer?” the Master Chief asked.
“Still am, sir, a lieutenant.”
His gaze swept back and forth between Laura Lee and Garcia. “Is this an investigation by the Army due to the ROTC link?”
“Not the Army, sir,” Garcia spoke up. “But a close relative of it.” By the expression on the Master Chief’s face, Garcia knew he understood.
“What else can we do to assist you?” Frank Rose asked.
Garcia handed his card to him. “If you think of anything else that could help, call me.”
“Will you let us know the outcome of your investigation?” Mrs. Rose asked.
“If we can, I will personally call you,” Laura Lee guaranteed.
On the drive to the hotel, Laura Lee messaged Doctor Lassiter. He could do a video meeting with her after they checked in and she was in her room. The Lear would pick them up at zero six hundred the next morning.
“You handled that interview well,” Garcia said after she’d put her phone away.
“Thanks. I hadn’t planned to tell them what happened to me, but Missus Rose needed to know she couldn’t have known what Darla was going to do, which I’m sure she has been carrying for the last four years.”
“You’re a kind person, Laura. I’m sure you helped her.”
A smile curved her lips. Another compliment from Garcia. He was a much different person than she had previously perceived him to be. She wondered how she could have been so wrong about him. She had literally dreaded working with him.
“I hope I did. I can’t imagine losing a child, let alone losing one to suicide.”
“The thought of losing my little guy in any way is unfathomable to me and scares the shit out of me,” Garcia said, his gruff voice making his confession sound even edgier.
Laura Lee was shocked by his statement, and she’d forgotten he was a father. That image just didn’t coexist with his rougher side that she had seen. “Do you ever worry about something happening to you which will prevent you from being there for him?”
“I think every parent does at some point,” he replied.
“But it doesn’t stop you from doing the job.”
“No,” Garcia said strongly. “The job is important to make this world a better place for Little T to grow up in. As you know, there are some really bad people out there that need to be stopped.”
“Why not leave that up to someone with no kids?”
“Are we talking about me or Denzel Lee?”
His revelation of her father’s name took her off guard. Her head snapped to view the side of his face, illuminated by the headlights of the oncoming cars. “Lassiter told you?”
Garcia chuckled. “Sweetheart, Lassiter normally wouldn’t say shit, but Shepherd needed to know that something eluded my investigation into a new team member.”
“There was no documentation anywhere for you to find. The Saxtons made sure of it.” Had he gotten into some trouble because of it?