“Colonel Hale, I—”
“Colonel Massey is expecting me.”
“She’s in a meeting. With the Inspector General’s office.”
I felt my blood run cold. The Inspector General. Not a routine personnel review. Not a simple administrative check. The IG meant the military was taking this seriously.
“I’ll wait.”
I sat in the hard plastic chair outside his office for forty-seven minutes. The clock on the wall ticked each second like a drumbeat. Other officers walked past, some nodding politely, others avoiding eye contact.
Word travels fast in the military. And the word now was that Colonel Claire Hale was under investigation for elder abuse.
