Chapter 42 - The Contact Who Denied Her
The investigator would not tell us the contact’s full name until she had verified the record. She explained that the initials H.R. could belong to several employees, and the person might have been listed without consent.
Nadia did not like waiting. “That’s how the other people kept control. They hid behind forms and told us not to jump to conclusions.”
“This time we’re checking before we accuse someone,” I said.
She looked at me sharply. “You’re right. I’m tired of being careful for other people.”
The investigator eventually confirmed the contact was Henry Rusk, a senior records officer at the oversight bureau. Rusk had worked in the same building as Harlan and remained employed after the review office was reorganized. He had no direct role in the current inquiry.
When questioned, Rusk denied knowing Samira.
“I saw him at the hearing,” my father said when we brought him the name. “He was seated behind the committee staff. He asked me whether I remembered a ‘regional liaison’ from Kunar.”
“What did you tell him?” I asked.
“That I didn’t.”
“Why didn’t you mention it before?”
“I thought it was a routine question.”
“Nothing about this has been routine.”
He accepted the rebuke without argument. “You’re right.”
The investigator requested Rusk’s old work records. While she waited, Nadia and Jonah examined copies of the coded notebook. Jonah recognized one of the place names.
“It’s a neighborhood outside Kandahar,” he said. “Samira mentioned it once. She said her brother had friends there.”
“Could he still be there?” I asked.
“Possibly. But it’s been years.”
The next morning, the investigator called. Rusk had used an internal archive terminal twice in the month before the HARBOR file was moved. The access record showed he had opened a folder marked Rahal—Relocation.
“Can you prove he read it?” Nadia asked.
“The log proves he accessed the folder. We need to know what he did with the information.”
Rusk agreed to an interview. He arrived with a lawyer and said his access had been part of a records audit. He denied communicating with Mara and claimed he had never seen the notebook.
“Why did you ask Arthur Whitaker about a regional liaison?” the investigator asked.
“I was trying to identify which files were missing from the archive.”
“Did you know Samira Rahal?”
“No.”
“Did you know she was a source in the Kunar operation?”
“No.”
The investigator placed a copy of the access log in front of him. Rusk glanced at it and pushed it back.
“I reviewed many files. That does not mean I remember every name.”
Nadia leaned forward. “You accessed her relocation record twice.”
Rusk’s lawyer asked her not to question his client.
“I’m not under oath,” Nadia replied. “I’m asking him a question he can answer.”
Rusk stared at her. “I don’t know that person.”
The investigator ended the interview. As Rusk left, he turned toward me.
“People like you keep reopening things that were closed for a reason,” he said.
“Who closed them?”
He didn’t answer.
Outside, Nadia was furious. “He knew exactly who she was.”
“Maybe,” Jonah said. “But we need proof he contacted her.”
Mara had been listening from the investigator’s car. She stepped down onto the pavement and handed us a small paper envelope.
“I found this in my mailbox yesterday,” she said.
Inside was a photograph of a young woman and a teenage boy standing beside a bus station. The woman’s face was partly turned, but Mara recognized her.
“Samira,” she whispered.
Written on the back was a date from two weeks earlier—and an address in Baltimore.
May you like
Nadia stared at the image. “She’s here.”
Then the investigator’s phone rang. Rusk had disappeared from his office.
