Gray Girl Read Online Free Page B

I
waited in the CQ room for Cadet Wishart .   When she reported, we asked her about
the routing envelope.   Did she open
it?   Did she read our messages?   Where are those pages now?   Did she write the new note?   Or did she know how the new note came to
be in the envelope?”
    Jan remembered it a little
differently.   Jackson continued,
“She replied in the negative to all our questions.   She didn’t open the envelope.   She didn’t read our notes, she didn’t
write the new note, and she didn’t have any idea how our messages were replaced
by the new note.   She denied knowing
anything about it.”
    “Of course, we thought she HAD to
have known something.”   He went on,
“so we continued to ask her questions.   Did she have the routing envelope in her possession at all times?   Did she leave it at any point, at any
place, in between trips to our rooms?   Could she think of anyone who might have been able to open the
envelope?”   Jan saw a slight smirk
on his face as he spoke.
    “She said she had the envelope at all
times, she did not have it out of her possession at any point.   And no, she could not think of anyone
who had access to the envelope.”   Cadet Jackson took another deep breath.   “So you see, she denied having any
knowledge of what happened to our messages and she denied writing the new
note.   YET, the envelope was in her
custody the whole time.   Obviously,
something wasn’t quite right.”
    Finally Cadet Seymour interrupted, “Was
anyone else in the room to witness this questioning of Cadet Wishart ?”  
    “Sam Dogety was there.”
    “I mean anyone else?”
    “No, just us,” Jackson said.  
    “What time did this questioning
occur?”   Seymour asked again.
    “This was, oh, about 2100 hours, I
guess,” Jackson admitted.
    “Okay, so it’s an hour and a half
after study hours have begun,” Seymour clarified.
    “Yes, but…”
    “And did you consider that Miss Wishart might need to be studying, instead of being
interrogated by two firsties during study
hours?”   Jan hoped Seymour was on to
something.
    “Yes, I have already said we were
wrong on that account.   But that
doesn’t excuse her for lying!”   Jackson had raised his voice.  
    “Two wrongs don’t make a right, is
that it?”   She began to like Seymour
right then.
    “Look, we were wrong.   But we did not lie about it, ”   Jackson reiterated more calmly.
    Conrad interrupted, “I think we need
to stop for now. We will meet back here at 1930 hours and continue to hear
testimony until 2200 hours this evening.   I want to remind everyone that these proceedings are strictly
confidential. You cannot and will not speak to anyone about anything that has
transpired in this room.   If there
are no further questions,” he didn’t wait for anyone to ask any, “dismissed.”  
    Jan turned to her legal counsel,
Major Hastings, “Any advice, Sir?”   Legal counsel at Honor Boards could not speak during the “trial.”   He could only offer guidance and advice
to the accused cadet.
    Hastings said, “Well, you have
already admitted that the routing envelope never went out of your sight,
right?”  
    “Well, I did write that in my
statement, but….”  
    “Then I’m afraid there’s not much
more I can say.”  
    Well,
that’s helpful.   Jan waited
until he turned to leave before rolling her eyes again.
     
    Jan’s roommates waited anxiously while she removed her Dress Gray hat and
flopped down on her bed.   They had
fifteen minutes before dinner formation.  
    “Well?   How’s it going?”   Kristi asked.
    “Swimmingly.”   Jan closed her
eyes.   “It’s not good, Kissy.”
    Kristi McCarron, the long-haired , new cadet Jan
saw in the barber shop on R-day, also ended up in Company H-3.    They became roommates second
semester along with Jan’s first semester roommate Angel Trane.   “If it comes down to his word against
yours, they can’t find you guilty.   He