He spoke slowly, pausing whenever a hospital cart rattled outside.

His hearing had been damaged in service, he explained, though he had never liked discussing the worst months.

“Our unit depended on shipments that were sometimes delayed.

Everyone did.

But one night I saw a manifest with supplies listed as delivered that had never reached the men waiting for them.”

“Harold was taking them?”

“I suspected he was helping divert them.

I couldn’t prove all of it then.