The Grey Man- Partners

by JL Curtis

  Colonel Carson started calling Aaron’s witnesses, starting with Snake, and moved through the rest of them, ending with Chief Holt. Aaron almost whistled when he saw the Chief in full uniform, wearing all his ribbons. Squinting, Aaron made out at least a multiple award of the Silver Star, and it looked like multiple awards of the Bronze Star and Purple Heart as well. Chief Holt detailed his rehab, and Colonel Carson had Aaron’s records submitted to the board as new evidence.

  Billy Moore finally got up and walked to the witness chair, “Chief, one question. Would you go into combat with Gunnery Sergeant Miller?”

  Chief Holt looked offended and glared at Billy, “Of course I would. I’ve worked with him, and I know his character.”

  Billy nodded courteously, “Thank you Chief, no further questions.”

  Colonel Hart asked if there were any further witnesses, and the JAG lieutenant commander said, “Yes sir, I’d like to call Captain Goss to testify as to Gunnery Sergeant Miller’s current condition.”

  Aaron leaned forward and listened as the JAG led Goss through his supposed deficiencies in performance, and Billy finally laid a hand on his arm, “Be calm. Don’t let the court catch you reacting.” Aaron looked sharply at Billy, then leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.

  The JAG finally completed his questions and Captain Goss started to get up, but Billy popped out of his chair, “Request to cross-examine the witness.”

  Goss, half standing, looked at the head table until Colonel Hart said, “Approved.”

  Goss sat back down and Billy walked over to stand directly in front of Goss saying, “Captain, please remember you are under oath here.” He turned to look at Aaron, then the head table, “Captain are you familiar with the UCMJ?”

  Goss said, “Of course I am.”

  Billy nodded, “Then you know what Articles one-oh-seven and one-thirty-four are, correct?”

  Goss answered cautiously, “Yes.”

  Billy continued, “What about article one-thirty-four? Specifically sub-sections thirty-nine and fifty-three?”

  Goss didn’t answer and Billy turned back to him, “I’ll make it simple Captain, those sub-sections deal with perjury and communication of a threat. Do you understand those?”

  Goss looked at the head table for help and seeing none, said tightly, “Yes.”

  Billy nodded, “I notice that no mention has been made in any of your statements of your previous history with then Staff Sergeant Miller. Was that an error on your part?”

  The JAG lieutenant commander finally objected, and Colonel Hart called all three lawyers to the head table asking quietly, “What kind of game are you playing, Moore?”

  Billy said quietly, “No game sir. I’m merely trying to point out that Captain Goss has a very negative history with Gunnery Sergeant Miller, and violated Marine Corps instructions in order to quote get rid of him unquote.”

  The three senior officers consulted quietly for a minute, then Colonel Hart said, “Continue.”

  Aaron sat at the table, baffled by what was going on, but Colonel Carson didn’t tell him anything when he came back, just smiled. Billy walked back in front of Goss, “Now, let’s go back to your statements of your previous history with then Staff Sergeant Miller. Why were those not included in the package?”

  Goss stuttered, “That was a long time ago. It has no bearing on…”

  Billy slammed his hand on the table, “Really? No bearing? Is that why you purposefully ignored Marine Corps instructions on the use of prosthetics by returning Marines? Answer the question!”

  Goss looked around and finally said quietly, “I didn’t read the instructions.”

  Billy looked at him, “Article one-thirty-four sub-section thirty-nine, Captain. What about telling Gunnery Sergeant Miller he didn’t belong in your Marine Corps, Captain? You threatened my client didn’t you Captain? You wanted him gone as payback didn’t you?”

  Goss glared at Billy, “He’s a drag on the whole organization. Cripples don’t belong in the Marines; none of them belong in the Corps.”

  Billy turned away, “No further questions.”

  Colonel Hart, stoned faced said, “Captain Goss, you are dismissed.”

  The lawyers were called back to the head table, as Aaron sat stunned at the table, patting the piece of paper in his blouse. Finally, they returned to the table and Colonel Hart asked if there were any further witnesses or statements.

  Colonel Carson as surprised when Aaron leaned over, “Sir, I’d like to make a statement.”

  The colonel communicated that and Colonel Hart said, “Please stand and give your statement, Gunnery Sergeant.”

  Aaron stood up and faced the board members, “Sirs, I would like to thank you for the consideration you have given me today. I would also like to thank those who testified in my behalf today. I would also like to thank Captain Fischer for helping me get back to as close to one hundred percent as he could, along with Chief Holt.” The captain nodded at Aaron solemnly as he continued, “I stand here before you today, no longer a complete Marine. I am missing a leg, lost in combat. I also now understand that the needs of the Corps come first.”

  Aaron took a drink, suddenly thirsty, “I realized that I was making this about me, and my desire to remain on active duty, continuing to serve my Marine Corps. I was wrong. This really isn’t about me; it’s about those troops in the field. Captain Goss may have in fact been right. I might not be able to lead effectively, especially if the troops constantly have to have a plan to extract me in case my prosthetic breaks. That is not fair to them, nor fair to leadership.”

  Aaron took another sip of water, “The only place I ever wanted to serve was, and is, on the front line. I’m not an admin type. Having come to this realization, I will accept the medical retirement for the good of the Marine Corps and will not appeal any further decisions. I do not want to put any troops underneath me in harm’s way. Thank you again for your consideration.”

  Folding the paper up, he placed it back in his blouse, and walked slowly back to the table where Billy and the colonel sat. Billy held out his hand, and Aaron shook it, closely followed by Colonel Carson.

  Colonel Hart cleared his throat, “I believe we are done. I hold this Personnel Evaluation Board for Gunnery Sergeant Aaron Miller to be closed. The board will make its recommendation to HQ Marine Corps within thirty days.”

  ***

  Aaron sat in the parking lot of the apartment, tears rolling freely down his face, What do I tell Jesse? What am I going to do… I don’t know anything but the Corps. Oh my God, what have I done… How can I support them now? Aaron slumped forward onto the steering wheel and sobbed as the realization hit him that he was going to be involuntarily medically retired in a month.

  Bad Day at the Office

  “How was your lunch Captain?” Miguel asked as he dropped another taco in Yogi’s bowl.

  The old man groaned, “Miguel, I don’t see how you make any money out of this place. Your portions will feed a family of four, with leftovers! It was excellent as always, and I appreciate your taking care of Yogi too.”

  Yogi perked up at hearing his name, and leaned against Miguel with his head in his lap. Miguel laughed as he ruffled the fur on Yogi’s back, “We take care of those who take care of us. And Yogi is a good dog.”

  The old man’s laugh was cut off by his radio going off with an alert tone, “All units, all units, BOLO white two thousand eight Ford panel truck, license unknown. Possible bullet holes in right side due to gunfire. Last seen heading west on two-seventy-seven near Jimenez at time one one three three local. Three Los Zetas shooters believed to be in vehicle with unknown number of others. Consider armed and dangerous.”

  The old man shook his head, “Well, I guess I better go to work,” pulling out a twenty he handed it to Miguel, “This should cover our lunch.” Miguel tried to wave it off, but the old man said, “Dammit Miguel, take the money.”

  Miguel replied, “Captain, you do so much for us, the least…”<
br />
  “The least I can do is pay for my lunch. Gotta run. C’mon Yogi.” Yogi jumped up and followed the old man to the car as he keyed his mic, “Car four, I’ll take the county line at two-eighty-five.”

  Dispatch replied, “Roger Car four. Be advised no backup available, unless Terrell can provide something.”

  “Car four. I’ll be up on interagency.”

  “Roger Car four.”

  ***

  Thirty minutes later, the interagency channel crackled to life, “Dispatch, one-sixty-one. Have a late model white Ford van abandoned, Edwards Road Loop, Terrell County. West of sixteen-sixty-four, bullet holes right rear quarter.”

  The old man finally remembered where that was, the little town of Quemado. He was sure when he heard Burt Day, the Terrell County sheriff come on the radio giving directions to his people. The old man took Yogi out quickly, then loaded him back up. He started the car, cleared off the interagency channel since he wasn’t needed in Terrell County, and headed back to town. Half way there, he heard, “Two-fourteen to Car four. Request you meet me at the hospital.”

  Recognizing Deputy Ortiz’ voice, and the tone, the old man keyed his mic, “Four. My ETA is ten minutes Two-fourteen. Where do you want me to meet you?”

  “ER,” Ortiz replied in a dead voice.

  The old man flipped on the lights and picked up the pace, whatever was going on wasn’t going to be good, if Ortiz’ tone of voice was a precursor. Thinking back, he hadn’t heard any tone out, or any other calls to or from two-fourteen all day. Ten minutes later, the old man walked through the ER entrance to see Deputy Ortiz slumped in one of the waiting room chairs, his head in his hands.

  The old man sat gently next to him, “Danny, what have you got?”

  Ortiz straightened up, “I came in to get a prescription filled, and I saw my neighbor Luis Calderone. He was carrying his daughter Manuela in the door… She… He said she wasn’t breathing. Doc Truesdale is working on her now, but she was blue.”

  The old man sighed, “You’re thinking suicide, right?”

  Ortiz turned, “She was so beautiful. Only sixteen. I didn’t want to broadcast it…”

  Doc Truesdale came out of the ER, saw the old man and Ortiz and shook his head. He turned and headed for administration at a quick walk. The old man put his hand on Ortiz’ shoulder, “Go home. You’re going to be needed there. I’ll take this one.”

  As Ortiz walked slowly out toward his car, the old man pulled out his phone and called the sheriff, “Jose, John. Looks like we’ve got a possible suicide. I’m at the hospital, waiting for Doc Truesdale.” After the explanations, the sheriff told the old man to take it, and agreed that it didn’t need to go over the radio. As soon as it was confirmed, he’d send an officer to the Calderone house to sit on it til’ the old man could get there.

  Doc came walking slowly back down the hall and motioned the old man into the ER bay, “John, sorry you got drug into this one.”

  Shrugging, the old man said, “It’s my job, you know that. What have you got?”

  Doc looked around, “Manuela Calderone, suicide by sleeping pills and pain pills from the look of what I pumped out of her stomach. She was cold when he got here, but I tried. Due to spotty lividity, and minimal rigor, I’m saying she died somewhere around ten this morning.”

  “Where is Luis?”

  “He’s with her. I just had administration call the family. His wife is dead, so it was just him, Manuela, and Jesus at home. He got the kids up to go to school this morning and went to work. Apparently, the school called him at eleven, saying Manuela hadn’t shown up. He went home and found her, brought her here, and this is where we are.”

  The old man nodded, scribbling in his wheel book, “Okay. God I hate this. Let’s go see him. I’m assuming you’re going to run the full tox screens and write all this up?”

  Doc fanned the papers in his hand, “That’s what this mess is. You ready?”

  The old man held up his hand, pulling out his phone, he dialed the sheriff, “Confirmed. Manuela Calderone, daughter of Luis Calderone. Luis is here, I’ll get what I can, and then go to the house.” Slipping the phone back in the pouch, he said, “Let’s go.”

  Doc led the old man back to the back of the ER, and he heard sobbing growing louder and louder, Doc pulled the last curtain aside, and they saw Luis slumped at the side of the bed, holding his daughter’s hand. The old man was struck by how beautiful the child was, even in death.

  He gently said, “Mister Calderone, I’m Captain Cronin with Pecos County. I need to ask you some questions.” Thirty minutes later, he had the keys to the house and Calderone’s approval to search his daughter’s things to see if a reason could be found for her suicide. He quietly left the ER, and drove slowly to the address.

  As he pulled up, he saw a crowd of neighbors already gathered in front of the house, and saw Deputy Ortiz helping Deputy Hart with crowd control. Opening the trunk, he took out his evidence kit and camera, fished around until he found booties and nitrile gloves, stuffing them in his pocket. As he walked to the house, he couldn’t help but think how cheerful it looked. Well cared for, bright paint, and flower beds that surrounded the front of the house. Stepping through the gate, he nodded to Ortiz and said sotto voice, “Step over to the door with me.”

  On the porch, he signed into the scene log, saying, “Senor Calderone has authorized a full search of his daughter’s room and the house to see what evidence is there. Danny, I think there are probably family on the way. I know this is hard, but we’ll need to keep them out until I can complete the search.”

  Ortiz nodded, and the old man slipped on the booties and gloves. He methodically checked every room, photographing and documenting everything until at last he stood in front of Manuela’s bedroom door. Steeling himself, he gently opened the door and started taking pictures. He immediately saw a cellphone, one pill bottle on the nightstand, and a second on the floor beside it. He thought, Teenage girls all seem to go through the same phases. There were the frilly bed covers, musician’s posters on the walls, and what he guessed was the latest crush thumbtacked to the ceiling. Opening the closets, he saw that Manuela had been particular about her clothes, everything neatly arranged, and nothing crammed in.

  He stepped over to the small desk, noting the schoolbooks and the backpack sitting on the floor beside the desk, took more pictures, and as he did, he bumped the table. He was surprised to see the laptop computer come to life, and looked at the screen in confusion for a minute.

  He took a quick picture of the screen, then went to the nightstand, photographed both pill bottles, noted they were in Luis’ name and both empty. The old man put them in evidence envelopes, remembering that Calderone had told him earlier he had prescriptions for both pain meds and sleeping pills due to a severe back injury.

  A search of the bed, nightstands, and chests of drawers didn’t yield anything of interest, and the cell phone was locked. He took pictures of it; both front and back, and dropped it into another evidence envelope. The old man turned his search to the closet, nothing was found that pointed to any problems. Turning back to the desk, he sat in the chair and went through each drawer, finding a diary buried in the back of the bottom drawer.

  Pulling it out, he flipped to the last page with writing, and quickly scanned it. Nothing jumped out at him, and he scanned back more pages. Flipping back, he noted the last entry was over a month ago. Putting the diary back, he caused the computer to come on again.

  Looking at the screen, it looked the same, and he finally puzzled out what was showing. It was a Facebook screen, with a chat window open. He figured out how to move the cursor and started backing up the conversation, as he did so, the hair on the back of his neck rose. It was apparent Manuela had been sending pictures to this other person. Running the conversation back to the latest time, he saw a back and forth from last night, then a last entry from Manuela at seven-sixteen this morning saying, “Let me think about doing that.”

  It had
been answered at seven-thirty by ‘Mikey’ saying, “Okay, let me know this afternoon. I can’t wait to see more of you.” The old man opened a search command, and typed *.jpg into it. The laptop whirred and a list of files popped up, going back over two years. He paged to the bottom of the list, and opened the last picture.

  Growling the old man quickly shut the picture down, but what he’d seen was burned into his psyche. Manuela had been posing fully nude in what she must have thought was a provocative pose. The old man pulled out his cell, and dialed SAC Milton at the National Academy. As soon as Milton answered, the old man spit out what he had, the fact that the computer was still connected to the conversation, and child porn was involved. Milton promised to get back to him as quickly as possible and the old man hung up fuming.

  He methodically collected the evidence envelopes, as well as his notes and stalked back to the front door. He handed them to Hart and growled, “Enter these in the evidence log. I’m probably going to be here a while. No one in or out until I say so.”

  ***

  Thirty minutes later, the old man was back in Manuela’s bedroom, staring disconsolately at her computer when his cell phone rang. He answered quickly, “Cronin.”

  A pleasant female voice identified herself as Special Agent Melissa Serrano and asked him to put his phone on speaker. He did so and said, “Go ahead.”

  Serrano said, “I’m with cybercrimes, normally we run this through ICAC[23]. But according to SAC Milton, you have a probable child pornographer on line now. I understand you’re in the middle of a child porn investigation, correct?”

  The old man replied, “Actually, it started out as a suicide. A sixteen-year-old female, OD on pills this morning. I believe from what I’m seeing on the computer, this was prompted by a child pornographer’s request. The young girl in question has already sent him pictures. There is a chat window open to the perp now.”