Chapter 22: The Officers' Club

They held the formal inquiry in the Fort Hamilton officers' club, in the same ballroom where my husband gave his toast.

The long tables were gone.

In their place stood rows of folding chairs and a panel table under the flag.

A screen hung where the projector had shown his promotion slides.

Nearly everyone from that night was back.

Fifty officers and wives sat in the folding chairs in their best clothes.

Not one of them would look at me.

I took a seat in the third row between my father and Alana's mother.

Cedric sat behind us.

Alana sat on the aisle with her hands in her lap.

Rodney came in last, in dress greens with every ribbon, escorted by two military police.

He walked to his table with his jaw lifted.

He nodded to a major's wife in the second row, the one who had clapped longest at his toast.

She looked at her shoes.

The general rapped the table once.

"This inquiry is convened under Article 32."

"Colonel Rainey, you are charged with conduct unbecoming, false statements to the Army, and misuse of a government vehicle."

"You are also charged with using a soldier's time to surveil a spouse."

The room made a low sound.

"Sergeant," the general said. "Take the stand."

The sergeant who drove the staff car walked to the chair beside the table in his full dress blues.

He kept his eyes front the whole way.

"Tell the panel what you recorded," the general said.

"Everything, sir. The staff car has a standing recorder. It keeps the last ninety days."

"Play the entry for the Tuesday before the dinner."

The speakers in the corners of the ballroom clicked, and Rodney's voice filled the room.

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