Heart of War

by Lucian K. Truscott

  Sanders stood up. “I’d like to see that.”

  Kara handed it to him. He studied it for a moment uncomprehendingly. Finally he turned to Colonel Freeman, a look of panic in his eyes.

  “Your Honor, permission to approach.”

  “Approach.”

  Sanders and Kara walked to the side of the bench. Sanders whispered. “This bill is for General Beckwith’s staff car, Your Honor. I object to its admission as evidence. General Beckwith has nothing to do with this case, and its admission will only serve to damage his good reputation as an officer in the United States Army.”

  “My chambers.”

  They followed Freeman into his anteroom off the main courtroom.

  “Give me that.” Freeman looked at the bill. “What are you up to, Major Guidry?”

  “Sir, we have evidence that Lieutenant Worthy made two calls just before she was killed on the night of her murder. She made one call. Then she made another to the same number. The number she dialed both times was the secure switch here at Benning. The second time they patched her through to General Beckwith’s cell phone in his staff car. The linkage between her phone bill and his proves it. She made no further calls that night. He is the last person to have spoken with her before she died.”

  “So you intend to call General Beckwith and question him about the call?”

  “Yes, sir, I do.”

  “Do you have General Beckwith on your witness list?”

  “Yes, sir. I put in a request with the prosecutor to call General Beckwith several weeks ago.”

  Freeman turned to Sanders. “Is that true?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Did you inform the General?”

  “Yes, sir. He said he would refuse to testify.”

  “Did you inform Major Guidry of General Beckwith’s response?”

  Sanders hesitated. “No, sir.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because the General told me he wouldn’t testify under any circumstances, sir.”

  Freeman looked at Kara. “Maybe I’m missing something here. You questioned this man from the cellular telephone company a second time because you said that you had come upon new information. I’m assuming that the new information you were referring to is the cell phone bill for General Beckwith’s staff car, correct?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “What was General Beckwith doing on your witness list several days before that?”

  “I had General Beckwith down as a character witness, Your Honor. He is Captain Taylor’s boss. He wrote two OER’s on him. As well as practically anyone on this earth, General Beckwith knows the defendant and is uniquely qualified to comment as to his character.”

  Freeman addressed Sanders. “Well, what’s the matter with that?”

  “Sir, calling him as a character witness was a trick. She’s up to something, sir. She wants to muddy the waters of this case, and embarrass Fort Benning and the Third Army by calling the commanding general and putting him on the record in this case.”

  “Is that what you’re trying to do, Guidry?”

  “No, sir,” said Kara.

  “Major Sanders, do you have any evidence she has an ulterior motive in calling General Beckwith?”

  Sanders stammered: “It’s obvious, sir.”

  “Sanders, call the General’s office. Tell them I want to speak to him.”

  “Yes, sir.” Sanders picked up the phone.

  “Have a seat, Major Guidry.”

  They sat down. Sanders was on the phone for a moment and handed it to the judge. Freeman turned his back and spoke in a low voice for several minutes and hung up.

  “Major Guidry, we’re in a difficult spot here. The General said you should introduce the OER’s he wrote on Captain Taylor as evidence, and that would be sufficient.”

  “Your Honor, Rule 703 states that I can call any reasonable witness for the defense, and General Beckwith is certainly a reasonable witness in this case. He was the last person to speak with Lieutenant Worthy before she died. I want to question him about that phone call, Your Honor, and if he is not called as a witness for the defense, I will ask for a mistrial.”

  “Major Guidry, you are talking about the commanding general of the Third Army. I am certain that the commanding general has valid reasons for not wanting to testify in this case. The court is compelled to respect the wishes of the commanding general in this matter.”

  Kara stepped forward and locked eyes with Freeman. “Sir, I don’t know why you’re trying to protect General Beckwith, but if you force me to continue my case without hearing his testimony, I’m going to walk out there before those television cameras, and I’m going to tell them that Beckwith was the last person to talk to Sheila Worthy before she died, and that he has refused to testify about the conversation. I’m going to tell them that you, Colonel Freeman, and the prosecutor in this case, are conspiring in a cover-up of the truth. By the time I finish, you’re going to have media set up out on the lawn outside this building for weeks. Some of them will decamp to the Third Army headquarters building and stake out the General himself. I’ll give this post a migraine headache all the Advil in the world won’t cure.”

  “Major, you are acting in an insolent and disrespectful manner toward the institution of the United States Army, toward this command, and toward this court.”

  “Sir, I am a defense attorney who is trying to put on the best defense she can for a client who is innocent of the charges against him.”

  “Military attorneys are officers, and as such they are subject to the traditions and protocols of military service. You are over the line, Major. Way over.”

  “Are you countenancing General Beckwith’s exercise of command influence in this case, sir? If you’re telling me that because I’m a major, and you’re a colonel and Beckwith is a general, that I’ve got to toe the line and take orders and shut up and do what I’m told, and ignore my duties as a JAG attorney defending a man in a capital case—if that’s what you’re telling me, sir, then I’m going back into that courtroom and moving for a dismissal of all charges against my client because command influence has fatally infected his ability to get a fair trial. And if you deny my motion, I’ll take it to the Court of Military Appeals.”

  Freeman stood up, glaring at her. “Out. I will take this matter under advisement and will inform you of my decision later.”

  In the hall, Sanders started to say something to her, but she snapped: “Shut up, Howard. I don’t want to hear it.”

  Outside, Kara walked through the crowd of reporters, ignoring their shouted questions. She started the Cherokee and pulled into traffic. There was one more place that had knives for sale she needed to check.

  ***

  Children filled the playground next to the child-care center as she drove up. Inside, with all the kids at play on the swings and slides and teeter-totters outside, it was quiet. She found Mrs. Bennett in her office.

  “Mrs. Bennett?”

  She looked up. “Oh, Kara, you scared me.”

  “Sorry. Ma’am, I need to ask you a question.”

  “What about?”

  “You know I’m defending Captain Randy Taylor in the murder case.”

  “I read it in the papers.”

  “They found a bunch of knives in his apartment that don’t belong to him. I think someone planted them there.”

  She took photographs of the individual knives from her purse and handed them to Mrs. Bennett. “I noticed the night I was here, when you took me through the thrift shop, that you had some knives in your case line.”

  “Quite a few, actually. We get them in every once in a while.”

  “Have you ever seen any of these knives for sale here at the thrift shop?”

  Mrs. Bennett began studying the photos. She handed one back to Kara. “This one. I remember it very well. The woman who brought it in was the German wife of an enlisted man. It was some kind of family heirloom that they wanted to keep, but they needed money. They put it on con
signment.”

  She turned to the next photo. “This one too. I remember it because it was so . . . how should I put it? So delicate, and light.”

  Kara looked at the photo. It was the picture of the knife that matched the one recovered at the scene of Lannie’s murder.

  Mrs. Bennett looked through the other photos. “I can’t be sure . . . I think I took this one on consignment from a young soldier about three months ago.” She handed Kara another photo. It was one of the custom knives.

  “Can you remember who bought these knives?”

  “You know, it’s a funny thing. That German girl was in just the other day, wanting to know if we had sold their knife, and so I went through the records and looked it up. There was no sales slip for it, and one of our volunteers had reported it missing.”

  “Do you mind looking through your consignment records to see if the other knives you recognized have been sold?”

  “Not a bit.” She went to a file cabinet and started flipping through the files. In a minute, she returned with several handwritten receipts. “None of them have been sold, Kara. And two more were reported missing or replaced.”

  “Mrs. Bennett, can I see the duty roster for your volunteers for the last couple of months?”

  She stood up and walked across the room and flipped the calendar back one month. “This seems pretty important to you, Kara. Is it?”

  Kara’s eyes were focused on the calendar. “Yes. Very important. Can I have this calendar, ma’am?”

  “Certainly.” She took it off the wall and handed it to Kara.

  “The last time I was here, you said you remembered that General Beckwith had arrived here the night of the storm about nine forty-five. Do you remember how long he stayed?”

  “Oh, he was here for quite a while.”

  “How long would that be, Mrs. Bennett? This is important.”

  “I’d say he was here a half hour, at least.”

  “So he would have left around ten-fifteen.”

  “He left just after the fire department turned the power off, and I know what time that was because the clock stopped and I had to get up on a ladder to reset it when they turned the power back on. I remember exactly what time it was. That clock read ten-twenty for two days.”

  “I might have to call you as a witness, Mrs. Bennett. I’ll let you know later today.”

  “Oh, I don’t want to testify at a court-martial!”

  “You would if it meant that an innocent man would go free, wouldn’t you?”

  “I guess so.”

  “I’ll let you know if I need you later, Mrs. Bennett. Thank you very much.”

  Hollaway was waiting for her in the hall when she returned to court. He pulled her aside. “I made a couple of calls, Kara. I don’t know who ordered the surveillance, but it’s a military intelligence team that’s been following you.”

  “That’s what I figured.”

  Just then Major Sanders walked up. “Freeman wants to see us. Now.”

  She followed him into the judge’s chambers. Freeman was standing behind his desk.

  “I’ve given this matter very careful consideration, and I’ve looked up relevant Court of Military Appeals decisions regarding Rule 703. You may call General Beckwith as a witness, Major Guidry.”

  “My objection stands, Your Honor,” said Sanders.

  “It’s a legitimate inquiry, Major Sanders. If General Beckwith has information regarding the whereabouts of the deceased, or her state of mind, or anything else so close to the time of her death, this court is entitled to hear that testimony.”

  “Sir, it could have been his driver who received that call.”

  “No, it couldn’t have,” said Kara. “He drove himself. I can prove it.”

  “How?” asked Sanders.

  “I’ll call Mrs. Bennett, the woman who runs the child-care center. She’ll testify that when the General drove up to the center, he was alone. There was no driver in the car.”

  “That answers your question,” said Freeman.

  “Sir, she’s up to something!”

  “Major Sanders, my hands are tied.” He turned to Kara. “I’m going to warn you, Major. You are going to be questioning the commanding general of the Third Army. You will exhibit proper deference to his rank and stature at all times, do you understand?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “If you go out of bounds with this witness, it will be the last witness you question in this court-martial.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The court was packed with military spectators and press by the time the court-martial resumed. The word had gotten out all over the post that Beckwith was going to take the stand. Kara stepped to the podium. “The defense calls General William Telford Beckwith.”

  Beckwith came through the door of the courtroom and walked straight past Kara without looking at her and held up his right hand and was sworn as a witness.

  “Good afternoon, General. Welcome.”

  Beckwith stared at her stonily.

  “You are familiar with the defendant, are you not, sir?”

  “You know I am.”

  “General Beckwith, sir, a simple yes or no will suffice.”

  Beckwith scowled. “Get on it with it, Major.”

  “All right, sir, we will. How long have you known the defendant, sir?”

  “One year.”

  “And during that time you wrote his Officer Efficiency Reports. Can you tell the court how many reports you wrote, sir?”

  “Two.”

  “And what scores did you give Captain Taylor?”

  “One hundred.”

  “Both times, sir?”

  “Both times.”

  “Sir, I’d like to read from the first OER you wrote on the defendant. Quote: ‘This officer is one of the finest, if not the—’ “ She broke in. “And here, sir, you under-lined the word the, and you said, quote: ‘. . . if not the finest young officer who I have ever had the pleasure to have working for me. His dedication to duty is unstinting. His sense of honor is without peer. His patriotism is unquestioned. His performance of his duties as my aide should put him in the very top one percent of the officers in his grade, and I will work to see to it that he gets promoted on the accelerated list to major.’ Signed, General Beckwith. These are your words, are they not, General?”

  “Yes.”

  “I have a second OER here. Would you like me to read your comments from it, or will you agree with me that they are equally as glowing, if not more glowing than those you wrote on the first OER?”

  “What’s this about, anyway? So I wrote a couple of OER’s. Have them put in evidence if you want my testimony as to his character.”

  “Sir, I want the members of the panel to hear your words, from your mouth, regarding Captain Taylor. That’s why you were called as a witness.”

  “So ask your question.”

  “You stand by these reports, sir? That Captain Taylor was an outstanding officer.”

  “I wrote them, didn’t I?”

  “Yes, sir, you did. What I want to know is, do you stand by them today?”

  “What do you think?”

  Kara turned to Colonel Freeman. “Your Honor, I’d like a yes or no answer from the witness.”

  Sanders leapt to his feet. “Permission to approach the bench, Your Honor.”

  “Granted.”

  Kara and Sanders walked up to the bench and whispered, out of earshot of the panel of officers and those seated as spectators.

  “Sir, she’s baiting him, trying to get him to say something nasty about the defendant so she can get him declared hostile.”

  Freeman turned to Kara. “Well?”

  “Sir, General Beckwith had Captain Taylor working for him for over a year, and he wrote two of the best OER’s I’ve ever seen. According to everything I’ve heard, both he and his wife thought the sun rose and set on my client. I’m just trying to get him to go on the record endorsing what he said in the OER’s.”

 
“She is within her rights to question the General as to Captain Taylor’s character,” Freeman whispered. “Major Guidry, you may proceed.”

  Kara retook the podium. “General Beckwith, I’m going to ask you again. Do you stand by your OER’s on Captain Taylor as written?”

  “As much as I stand by anything else with my name on it.”

  Kara walked back to the defense desk and picked up a sheet of paper. She walked back to the podium.

  “General Beckwith, you and the defendant were together on the night Captain Worthy was murdered, isn’t that correct?”

  “Yes. He accompanied me to my speech at the officers club.”

  “And then you left the club in your staff car, and you received a call on your radio that there had been storm damage at the child-care center, and you drove over to the center, didn’t you, General?”

  “Yes.”

  “And after you left the child-care center, you received another call on your cell phone, is that correct?”

  Beckwith looked over at Freeman. “Do I have to answer that? I thought I was called here as a character witness.”

  “You were, General Beckwith. Major Guidry has informed me of her intended questions, and I have approved them. Proceed, Major.”

  “General?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  She handed him the cell phone bill. “It’s right there on the bill for the cellular phone in your staff car, sir. I outlined it in yellow to make it plain for you to see.”

  Beckwith studied the page. He looked up at Kara with cold hatred in his eyes. “You insolent, insubordinate little—”

  Kara interrupted: “Unresponsive, Your Honor. Request that the court instruct the witness to answer the question.”

  “General Beckwith, you have been asked a question relevant to the issues before this court-martial, and you are instructed to answer the question.”

  Beckwith snapped: “You’re going to permit this?”

  Freeman spoke calmly. “You are under oath, sir, and you are a witness in a court-martial of a man accused with a capital offense, and you must answer the legitimate questions of counsel for the defense.”

  “Well, I think this whole thing is a load of crap, and I’m not going to be a part of it any longer.” He stood and started to walk away.