Page 79 of Air Affair

He tried to shift his leg within the cast to get at the itch, but pain shot through him when he moved.

“Are you all right, Lieutenant Hawley? I can give you a minute and interview Miss Belmont first.”

He must have winced. This was all so frustrating. “I’m fine, just a little sore all over. You know, from being thrown from an airplane. Keep going.”

“Have either of those gentlemen made threats against you?”

Hank smiled bitterly. “Both of them. Senator Windham threatened me in Washington D.C. about a month ago, and from what I hear, Major Belmont threatened me a little less than a week ago after learning of my relationship with Rory.”

The inspector made a note. “Do you have reason to believe either of them would carry through with their threats?”

Hank squirmed again, trying to get comfortable, but nothing felt right.

“I thought they would try to damage me professionally or have me sent back to the front. I never anticipated something like this.”

The inspector tapped his pen. “And for the record, why specifically did they have reason to resent you, to the best of your knowledge?”

“Major Belmont wants his daughter to marry the senator, not a nobody like me.”

Clearing his throat, the inspector prompted, “And Senator Windham?”

“The senator stood to gain access to a significant fortune by marrying Miss Belmont. I’ve ruined his hopes both romantically and financially.”

“Thank you, that will do for now, Lieutenant Hawley,” the inspector said, turning a page in his notebook.

“Miss Belmont.”

“Yes?”

She twisted her hands in her lap. Hank reached out, took her hand, and held it, wanting to give her all the support he could.

“Do you know of anyone aside from your father and the senator that might want to hurt Lieutenant Hawley?”

“No,” she answered firmly.

“And why specifically might they be angry with Lieutenant Hawley?”

She looked at Hank and looked at her own hands. He’d purposefully left out any information that might be humiliating to her. Was she worried it might come out?

“What Hank said was true. My father doesn’t want me to marry Hank, and Edward stands to lose a substantial fortune if we don’t wed.”

“And when did you get engaged to Lieutenant Hawley, Miss Belmont?”

Oh dear. The inspector was going to dig. Hank squeezed Rory’s hand tighter.

She gave him a worried glance and said, “This morning.”

“I see,” said the inspector, scribbling frantically. “So well after the threats to Lieutenant Hawley. Do you have any idea why they might have threatened Lieutenant Hawley if you weren’t yet engaged?”

Her eyes were wide, and her hands clenched as she looked at him and then back at the inspector. She let out a tiny sigh.

“I would ask you to keep this private, but they had reason to believe I had been intimate with him.”

“And were you intimate with Lieutenant Hawley?”

“Yes,” she said so quietly she was barely audible. Her face was bright red. “Edward jumped to the wrong conclusion before anything happened, but soon after, things progressed between us.”

“And how did your father find out about Lieutenant Hawley?”