Grant was beginning to feel like choking her the way she was dragging this out.
“OSI just got word that his widow is going to be coming back here and will be staying on after the funeral for an indefinite time with the general’s parents. All of their belongings will be shipped here, arriving Friday.”
Grant was sure she was finished now, and he was trying to process all of this when she dropped another little bomb.
“The general’s father is Harold Newcomb.”
Grant came to the edge of his seat. “You mean the guy who owns all those new car dealerships?”
“Yes, that’s who we’re talking about.”
“Wow, talk about high profile!”
“Now,” Sonia continued, “an OSI agent by the name of Scott will be here tomorrow morning to brief the chief and the three of us. The chief said we’re to cooperate with him fully.”
“Any idea what we’ll be doing?”
“Not much at this point. I’m just supposed to alert you and Becker so you can clear your slate to be available 24/7 for this case. I do know that we’ll be given some photos and will be asked to watch for those individuals at the funeral.”
Grant went back to his desk and just stared into space until Stan came in ten minutes later. He filled Stan in on what Sonia had told him.
Stan whistled softly. “Man, this sounds like some heavy stuff. It’ll sure beat chasing Sanchez around the valley.”
“Yeah, let’s get busy taking care of everything else including Sanchez so we can spend all our time on this Air Force case.”
* * *
The ride back to Jane’s apartment was quiet. Kelly had never ridden in a Hummer before so it was a rather interesting ride for her. The five of them fitted in there quite comfortably with room to spare. Kelly sat up front with Leo and the other three had plenty of room in the back.
She was surprised that it rode so comfortably. And when she mentioned that fact to Leo, he had informed her that this Hummer was not made quite like the ones they used in combat zones. It was more for this type of use.
When they arrived, Leo stopped the Hummer at the door and waited for them to enter the apartment before parking next door at his apartment.
Jane walked into the living room and quickly sat on the overstuffed sofa. Beth, still quiet, sat next to her, but not too close. Kelly could tell that Beth was giving Jane a little space and even time before speaking.
Kelly and Harold sat in armchairs that faced the sofa. Kelly knew her grandfather would not speak, knowing that Beth was on one of her missions. She was in her mother mode as Kelly and Wayne had called it while growing up.
Kelly also knew that it was difficult for Beth not to say anything for such a long time. Jane tried to smile then laid a hand on Beth’s arm and said, “It’s okay, Beth, I think I’m ready to talk for a little while now.” Then she thought and said, “Thank you for waiting.”
Beth smiled the first full smile that Kelly had seen on her face since before they left Arizona. She was a beautiful woman with her long curly brown hair with silver streaks in it and light brown eyes. She certainly didn’t look old enough to have a thirty year old grandson.
“Jane, I simply don’t know where to start. We would all like to know all about your twenty years with Harry, but there will be time later, after we get home, to do that. You’ll probably feel more like talking about those things then. Is there anything you would like to talk about now?”
When Jane didn’t respond right away, Beth said, “I don’t know if you heard or not, but General Winstanley talked to Harold and me for a few minutes when you were recovering from your shock. He described the type of full military service that the Air Force wants to provide as soon as we tell them when and where. They will make all the arrangements. We don’t have to do anything.” As an afterthought, she added, “He said that the Air Force would take care of all costs as well.”
Kelly could see that Jane was overwhelmed again. She probably hadn’t thought about a service or anything else like that. Just thinking about it now brought tears to her eyes again.
“That will be nice of them. I don’t think I could plan anything right now, no matter how simple.”
She thought for a moment and said, “It sounds as if General Winstanley is planning something very big.”
Beth nodded her head and said, “I think he is at that. He said that it would all be fitting for a general like Harry.”
“I guess.” She forced herself to think about the service. “Would you and Harold like to have it in your hometown?”
Beth smiled again. “Yes, dear, we would truly love to have it in Sycamore. Harry dearly loved growing up there. He didn’t leave and stay away because he hated the area. It was . . . . somewhat more complicated than that.” She cleared her throat and explained, “You see, Harold wanted Harry to stay there and eventually take over the business. But, Harry only wanted to be an Air Force pilot.” She stared off into space. “They fought terribly about it every time Harry was home, until finally, Harry just . . . . quit coming home.”
Kelly looked at her grandfather. He seemed rather uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was going.
“So, it’s settled, then. Everything will be held back there in Arizona.” Jane rose and asked, “Would you like some coffee, water, or juice?”
They all declined and Jane looked at the overnight case that Beth had brought with her. “Beth, you don’t have to stay here with me tonight. I’ll be fine by myself.”
Beth started to argue but Jane said, “I’m quite used to being alone. Harry was gone for a few days every month, and sometimes a week or two at a time like this last time.” She stopped and stared off into space. Her eyes grew moist again.
She took a moment to compose herself. When she had, she said, “I really don’t think that I should impose on you and Harold by staying at your home for any length of time. I think I can find something suitable shortly.”
Beth was shaking her head emphatically. “No dear, you must not make any long-range decisions such as that for some time yet. At least, wait a few weeks before you decide anything major about your future.”
Jane nodded in acceptance then said, “I would like to tell all of you some things that I think you need to know before we go any further.”
No one said anything as they all waited to see what Jane wanted to tell them.
Jane frowned and tried to smile. “I guess there’s no other way but to just jump into this.”
Beth gave her an encouraging smile, but Harold had a puzzled frown on his face, and Kelly just waited.
“As I told you before, Harry and I were married twenty years ago last month. But you see when Harry and I were on our honeymoon in France, we were in a terrible car accident. They said that I had to be resuscitated several times during that first day and that it was a miracle I even lived. I had a bad head injury and was in a coma for a week. Even though I fully recovered in all other ways, I have never remembered anything that happened before I woke up in that hospital in Germany.”
Beth reached out as if to touch Jane, but then dropped her hand back into her lap. “Oh, dear, how dreadful that must have been for you. You mean that you still don’t remember anything after all these years?”
Jane shook her head. “No, nothing at all that happened before then. They had to tell me what my name was, and I had to get to know Harry all over again.”
No one spoke for a moment then Jane said, “So, you see, Harry has been my only family.”
Beth did reach out this time as she squeezed Jane’s shoulders and said, “Well, that’s just not true anymore, dear.” She waved her hand around the room and said, “You have all of us now. We’re your family too.”
They left Jane alone then. When they stepped outside, the Hummer was sitting there with the motor running and Leo behind the wheel. No one said anything on the short drive back to their hotel. Kelly was sure that her grandparents were as overwhelmed with what Jane had told them as
she was.
Kelly found herself feeling sorry for Jane in spite of the fact that she didn’t want to.
Chapter Three
The jet had gained its flying altitude and leveled off. The pilot announced that they could now move about the cabin. Kelly watched the others leave their seats and go to the lounge area to the rear. She released her seatbelt and turned sideways in her seat so she could place her left leg up in the seat next to her. Her ankle was throbbing. She had been on it too much the past two days. She’d only brought her cane on this rushed trip, and it wasn’t quite enough when she had to try to move about, at night and in the morning, without her brace on. The hotel room didn’t have bars in the shower like she had at home so she had been forced to take a bath. In spite of the inconvenience, the bath had soothed her ankle somewhat.
She looked around the cabin of the special Air Force jet they were all flying home in. It was the same one she and her grandparents had flown back East in. The front area of the cabin had five rows of seats with two seats on each side of the aisle for a total of twenty seats. The back half had a lounge area with four sofas placed in a square all facing the center. It reminded Kelly of her grandfather’s conversation pit in his office back home. There were also four arm chairs in the same type of arrangement behind the sofas.
Her grandmother and Jane were sitting next to each other on one of the sofas. They didn’t seem to be talking at the moment. Her grandfather and Leo had each claimed their own sofa. It appeared that Harold was trying to engage Leo in a conversation without much success. Kelly hadn’t heard the man say a word except when spoken to directly, and then only with one word answers whenever possible.
Kelly knew she should join the others, but was it worth the effort? She finally forced herself up and over to the sofa her grandfather was sitting on. This put her in position to also hear what her grandmother and Jane were saying.
Kelly and her grandmother both caught Jane staring at Kelly’s ankle as she sat down. Beth gave Kelly one of those looks and said, “Kelly, dear, Jane is now a member of our family, I think she needs to know about your injury.” She paused for an answer, but getting none, continued, “Would you prefer that I tell her?”
Kelly only nodded. She hated to talk about her injury. Most people were either rude, continuing to stare at her ankle or they were just so syrupy sympathetic that it made her stomach turn.
Beth said, “Very well.” She turned to Jane and began, “You see, Kelly was six and her brother Wayne was only eight when Harry and Gwen divorced.”
At Jane’s shocked expression, Beth threw her hands up to her cheeks. “Oh my, we didn’t tell you about Wayne did we Jane?”
Jane shook her head. “Are there any more?”
“No, dear, I’m sorry we didn’t mention him to you before now. He stayed behind to take charge of the business while Harold was gone.”
Kelly almost laughed. Her grandmother was glossing over reality just a little here. Wayne had adamantly refused to come with them. He had an intense anger built up against their father for abandoning them. Kelly couldn’t say that she blamed him either. She also had some anger, but not as bad as Wayne. She would have liked to have been able to talk to her father to find out why he had left and never came back or even contacted them all those years.
Kelly turned her attention back to the others as Beth was continuing her story.
“Kelly and Wayne lived with their mother for the next six years. But, oh, we got to see them frequently. Gwen was wonderful to Harold and me that way. I think the kids spent as much time with us as they did with their mother those years.”
Kelly knew her grandmother would get emotional at this point. For that matter, so did she.
“Well then, when Kelly was twelve, she and her mother were in a terrible car accident and her mother died.” She stopped to dab at her eyes with her handkerchief. “Kelly had many other injuries but none as devastating as her ankle which was totally shattered.”
She reached over and patted Kelly’s knee. “She was only twelve years old, the poor dear, but she was such a determined and strong little girl though.”
She turned back to Jane. “The doctors said she’d never walk on that leg again, but she fooled them.” She smiled affectionately at Kelly. “My girl is a fighter that she is.”
Jane turned to Kelly, “You still have pain don’t you?”
Kelly finally forced herself to speak around the lump in her throat. “Yes, I do, usually toward the end of the day especially if I’ve been on it a little too much during the day.”
“Can you walk without the brace?”
Kelly gritted her teeth. “Only for a few steps. Otherwise, my ankle won’t hold my weight and it hurts too much.”
Kelly was thankful to Jane when she changed the subject even if it was another touchy subject for her. “You’re not married are you?”
When Kelly shook her head, Jane continued, “What type of work do you do?”
“I’m the Chief Financial Officer for our corporation.”
Jane leaned forward. “Corporation? I’m sure that I remember Harry telling me that his father owned a car dealership.”
Kelly smiled and said, “Well, that’s how it all started. But now our corporation owns eight dealerships in three states, the original one in Sycamore, one in Tucson, two in the Phoenix area, and three in the Los Angeles area.”
“Oh my, that’s a lot.”
After that, Kelly leaned her head back against the sofa cushion and dozed for the rest of the flight. She was only vaguely aware of hushed conversation going on from time to time on each side of her.
When they stepped off the jet at the small Sycamore airport, they all walked toward the company limo that was parked about one hundred feet away on the tarmac. Her grandfather had also arranged for a van to take their luggage which included several large trunks that contained Jane’s clothes and other daily essentials, as well as a few personal items.
* * *
Grant and Stan were working at their desks when Grant looked up to see Sonia standing in front of them.
Sonia smiled when Stan looked up too. “That OSI agent is in the chief’s office. He wants all of us in there, now!”
They both knew better than to ask questions. They simply dropped what they were doing and followed her out of the detective office into the main part of the station. She was ten feet ahead of them all the way.
Stan leaned toward Grant and spoke quietly, “I guess she doesn’t even want to be seen with us in the rest of the station.”
Grant smiled and shook his head.
When they all arrived in the chief’s outer office, his secretary, Hilda, pointed at the open door to the conference room that was adjacent to the chief’s private office.
Chief of Police Darrel Winters was sitting at the head of the conference table and another man who could have been made from the same mold was sitting on the far side of the table on the chief’s right. Both men had brown hair and eyes, and average built. Where the similarities were somewhat strained was the fact that the newcomer was at least a few inches taller than the chief’s five foot nine inch height.
Sonia led the way to the head of the table with the two detectives behind her.
The chief looked at each one then back at the man on his right. Then he nodded at Sonia. “This is our Sergeant of Detectives Sonia Nordstrom and two of her detectives, Grant Thompson and Stan Becker.” He nodded toward the other man who was wearing dress slacks and a polo shirt with no gun or badge visible. “This is Special Agent Perry Scott with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.”
The man leaned across the table to shake hands with each one of the newcomers. Then the chief said, “Please be seated.”
When they sat in the three chairs on the chief’s left, he began. “Special Agent Scott will now tell you why he is here.”
The man looked each one of them in the eye before beginning and Grant’s estimation of him rose. “I’m not sure if you are aware of t
he nature of the work we do at the Office of Special Investigations, so I’ll start there. We are literally the investigative arm of the Air Force. Anything that is not of a local, routine nature, we investigate, wherever it may be, anywhere in the world.”
He paused to look around the room again. “We especially investigate anything that happens in a war zone, no matter what it is. If it is suspicious in any way, we investigate it, period.”
Sonia was nodding her head so Grant did and he noticed that Stan did also.
“What I am about to tell all of you must not leave this room. I cannot stress that fact enough. We are dealing with a matter of national security with international ramifications.”
That brought all three of them up on the edges of their seats.
“We have reason to believe that there has been a black market ring with stations throughout Europe and the Middle East. I know that is not something so unusual in and of itself, but there is much more, much of which I’m not authorized to share with you, at least at this time.”
He reached out to a glass of water sitting in front of him and took a sip. “Three months ago, our investigation had brought us to the point where we were ready to begin questioning some suspects. The problem with our investigation is that our main suspects just happen to be four generals.”
That certainly caught their attention. Grant was beginning to put the pieces together. One look at Sonia and Stan told him that they were probably right there with him.
“We had agents keeping tabs on each of the generals. Five days ago, on 5 August, two of them were in Afghanistan on a reported Fact Finding Mission. They were in a classified location outside of Kabul when they drew AR fire and one of them was wounded.”
Grant couldn’t help saying, “General Newcomb.”
“Yes. We think that the other two generals, if not all three, are responsible for that attack which we also think was directed at General Newcomb only. Now here is the part where we get down to business. General Newcomb died Monday. One of the other generals, General Walker, is here right now. In fact, he is the one who was with General Newcomb when he was attacked. We are fairly certain that the other two generals will be here soon for the funeral.”
Lost Memories (Sycamore P.D. Series Book 1) Page 4
