Love From the Ashes (16 page)

Two Months Later

December

Thomas pulled his squad car into the parking lot; he had just finished his routine patrol and he was glad that it was uneventful.  He was finding that it was tough going from a city that the biggest thing you would find is a child that stole a gumball, to a city that was hopping with activity.  Especially the holidays; they were the worst.  As he was entering his office he saw Betty walking his way.  She was a great secretary, but she looked like she had something on her mind.  “What’s up Betty?”

“The boss is looking for the file on that shoplifting case; you know the one that was the minor.”

“Oh yes; I took her to juvenile detention, but I think I have a copy of the report.  Why does he need it; I thought it would be out of our hands?”

She rolled her eyes.  “Well, apparently the juvenile detention facility lost the paperwork.”

Thomas laughed.  “Okay; I’ll grab it and get it to you soon.”

“Thank you!”  She scurried back to her desk and he went to his.  He definitely remembered the case in detail.  He was the officer that was sent to Edgewood Mall to pick her up.  Since she was only 12, she had to be transported to the Dallas Detention Center, but it broke his heart that he was the one to do it.  It made him think about Bethany and what he would do if it was she that was caught stealing.  He shook his head to wipe that thought from it; he hoped that he had brought her up to know that stealing was wrong.

He looked around his desk and had just about given up hope of retrieving the file when he opened his desk drawer.  The file was lying on top and he pulled it from his safe place.  Before he shut the door he stopped and removed the file on Robbie Parker; he had forgotten about putting it away.  Since Rebecca and he haven’t exactly been close lately, he didn’t give anymore thought to finding out what happened that night overseas.  He put the file on top of his desk and then took the records on the juvenile case to Betty.  “Here you go Betty!”

She smiled.  “Thanks so much.”  She then scurried away to the Captain’s office and he laughed.  She was a lady of about 65, but she had more energy than most 21 year olds.

He went back to his office and grabbed the file from the top.  He thought about it for a moment.  There had to be something he was missing.  He knew that if he could find out some information, it was sure to make Rebecca smile with him again.  Things were so tense and he wanted to get back to some normalcy.  He punched in
Army Base of Dallas Texas
into his computer.  He jotted down the 800 number and then entered it into his phone.  After just a couple of rings it was answered.  “Good Afternoon this is Staff Sergeant Cooper Driscoll; how may I help you?”

“Hello, my name is Officer Thomas Campbell and I am looking for some information on a former soldier from Dallas.  He would have been an active soldier about 11 years ago.”

“Okay; what’s the name?”

“Robbie…Robbie Parker.”

He waited as he heard typing on the other end of the call.  “Hm…I’m not finding a Robbie Parker.”

“Are you sure?  Please…check again.”

Again some more typing and then the lieutenant cleared his throat.  “No; nothing.”

“Well, that doesn’t make sense.  Hm…do you have any information about the last known whereabouts of Chief Carl Murphy?”

“Now, that is a name I am familiar with.”  The Sergeant laughed and then Thomas heard ruffling papers.  “The information we have shows that he was last heard from when he lived in a small town in Indiana.  Hm…Kendallville.  I’m sorry; I don’t have the phone number.”

“Okay; well you have been most helpful.  Thank you!”  He disconnected the call and typed into his search on his computer Carl Murphy and Kendallville, Indiana.  He was glad to see there were just 3 results that pulled up.  Only one of those results said Carl; the other two just said C. Murphy.  He first dialed the number for Carl Murphy.3

He waited for someone to pick up.  “Hello; this is Carl.”

“Hello Carl; my name is Officer Thomas Campbell.  I work at the Dallas Police Department and I was wondering if you would be able to answer a few questions for me?”

“Well, I will certainly try.  I have never been to Dallas, but go ahead.”

His heart fell.  “So, you didn’t serve in the Dallas Army?”

“No; I didn’t.”

“Okay; well, that would be all.  Thank you!”  He hung up the call

He thought that was going to be his best chance, but he dialed the first C. Murphy and heard the voicemail turn on.  “Hello, you have reached Corinne Murphy; please leave your name…” before she could finish he hung up.  That was just another dead end.

Not feeling very hopeful he dialed the last number.  After a few rings he finally heard someone answering the call.  “Hello?  My name’s Johnny; what’s yours?”

He chuckled.  “Hello Johnny; my name is Thomas.  Is there a Carl Murphy that lives there?

“Dad…” he heard the little boy call out.

He was suddenly hopeful; at least his name was Carl.  “Hello, this is Carl Murphy.  How may I help you?”

“Hello, my name is Officer Thomas Campbell.  I work at the Dallas Police Department and I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time.”  There was a long silence that spoke volumes.  “It will only take a minute.”

“Is this about my ex; I don’t feel that I owe…”

“Sir, with all due respect; this has nothing to do with your ex or anything like that.  I need to talk to you about the Dallas Army.”

“Oh; okay.  I’m listening.”

“About 11 years ago there was a young soldier that was killed while overseas.  However, the nature of his accident is unclear.  I was wondering if you could shed a new light on an old situation.”

“I will try, but what’s the name of the soldier?”

“His name was Robbie Parker.”

“Hm…that was a long time ago.  I saw a lot of soldiers come and go.  You say Robbie?”

“Yes; Parker.”

There was a long bout of quietness.  “Oh; you must mean Soldier Robert Parker.”

“Oh; I didn’t think about him going by Robert, but that has to be him.  Do you remember anything?”

“I don’t remember much, but I do know that he wasn’t killed in active duty.  I wasn’t there so I’m not really sure all of the details.  You would be best talking to Joseph Carpenter.”

“This is the first I’m hearing his name.”  He wrote down the name on the paper.  “Who is he?”

“He was with Robert during the accident.  I seem to remember that he was injured too.  I’m not really sure where to locate him.  I’ve been out of Texas for over 7 years now.”

“Okay; I will try to locate him.  Thank you for the information.”

“You’re welcome; good luck.”  They hung up from each other and he called the army base again.

“Hello, this is Staff Sergeant Cooper Driscoll; how may I assist you?”

“Hello; this is Officer Thomas Campbell again.”

“Oh yes; did you reach Carl Murphy?”

“I did; thank you.  He gave me the name of a soldier that I might be able to give me the answers that I need.  Do you have a record of soldier Joseph Carpenter?  He would have been in about 11 years ago too.”

“Joseph Carpenter?  He actually does a lot of volunteer work here.  He isn’t here today; however, he should be in tomorrow.  There’s an assembly that he will be helping out in.”

Thomas smiled to himself; maybe he would get the results he needed.  “Okay great; will you ask him to give me a call?”  He gave his number and then disconnected the call.  He looked at the file and sat back in his chair.  This could be exactly what he could use to show her how much he cared about her; at least one could hope.

____________________

“The cookies smell delicious.  Can’t we have just one?”  Frankie whined as Rebecca removed the last tray from the oven.

Rebecca turned to the expectant faces of the children.  “Okay; we probably should each eat one.  After all, we want to make sure they’re edible.”

The group laughed as she put the tray down.  Each one carefully reached for a cookie and stuck them in their mouths.  “Even better than they look.”  Kari said with her mouthful of cookie.

“Good; I’m glad they turned out.”  She brushed away the sweat from her forehead.  She had to admit, it had been several years since making Christmas cookies.  She never had a reason to, but now she had more than enough reasons.

When she heard the knock on her front door she quickly tried to fix herself.  Even though things had been pretty awkward between the two, she didn’t want to look awful to his eyes.  She opened the door and forced a smile.  “Hello; the kids are in the kitchen we made Christmas cookies.”

“I can see that.”  He laughed as he brushed something from her cheek.

“Oh;” she reached up and touched her cheek.

“Sorry; you had some flour on…”

“I know; I must look a mess.”

“You still look beautiful.”

She could feel her face getting redder.  It was best for her just to ignore the compliment.  “You should come try a cookie.”

“Don’t mind if I do.”  He laughed as they went into the kitchen.

“Daddy, we’re going to deliver these cookies to the nursing home.”  Kari eagerly stated.

“That sounds like fun; are you doing it tomorrow?”

Rebecca nodded.  “I thought we could take them to the Lighthouse Nursing Home; it is just at the corner of the addition.  We can sing Christmas carols and get everyone in the mood.”

“That sounds great; maybe I can meet you guys there.  If that would be alright?”

Rebecca smiled.  “That would be nice; I mean the kids would surely enjoy that.”  She wanted things to be back to normal and not so tense, but ever since the camping extravaganza, she feared that would never be the case.

“Well, I will definitely try my best then.  After all, I don’t want to disappoint the children.” 
The last words he spoke were more geared for her to hear; they were in a low whisper and he had moved closer to her ear.

She smiled and turned away.  “I will be sure to put them in baggies and we can distribute them after school.”

“Okay; give Rebecca a hugs goodbye and let’s go.”  They all proceeded to hug her and she smiled as they did.  She grew to love all of their interactions.

“You guys have a good night.  I’ll see you tomorrow.”  She watched as they each grabbed something to take out to the van and they left her house.  In time she would move on and realize that it was destined for them to be her family.  It wouldn’t be easy, but it was doable and that was all she needed to remember.

The next day Thomas found himself watching the clock repeatedly.  It was nearly 3:00 and he hadn’t heard from Joseph Carpenter.  He had already gotten it approved to leave early and as he was about to walk out the door he heard his cell phone ringing.  “This is Officer Thomas Campbell.”  He breathlessly spoke into the phone.

“Hello; this is Joseph Carpenter.  I am sorry that I am just now getting back to, but I heard that you were in need of some information.”

“Yes; thank you for calling me back.  I was wondering if you could provide some information about the accident that took Soldier Robert Parker’s life.”

This was only slight hesitation, but then he heard his voice.  “I’m sure I could.  I will be home in about 10 minutes; would you like to meet up with me?”

Thomas couldn’t believe that before the evening was over he would have some information about Robbie’s death.  “I can meet you wherever.”

“Okay; come to my house at about 3:30.”  He rattled off his address and then they hung up.

Thomas looked at his watch.  It was clear that he would be late to the nursing home, but he would make it quick.  When he was certain that Rebecca had dismissed her class he dialed up her cell number.  “Hello?”

“Hey Rebecca, I am going to be a little late to the nursing home.  I will make it before you sing that last Christmas carol, but please let the children know I will be there as soon as I can.”

“Is everything alright?”

He smiled at her concern.  “Everything will be great.”  He hoped that that wasn’t being overconfident.  “I just have something quick that I need to take care of.  I’ll see you then and explain it all later.”

“Okay; see you later.”  He waited for her to hang up first and then he stared at the phone.  He prayed that he wasn’t reading more into what Joseph was going to tell him.  He would not be able to tell her anything if there was no news and he just hoped that he didn’t have bad news to share.  He knew, either way, she deserved to know the truth.  He just hoped that the truth was going to make her happy that she knew, and not sad.

____________________

Thomas was welcomed into Joseph Carpenter’s house by a petite red head; he assumed she was his wife.  “He’ll be right with you; please have a seat.”

He smiled and took a seat in the living room.  Within a few minutes he was joined by a man; he was probably 2 years older than him, but he walked with a cane.  “Good Afternoon; make yourself comfortable.  Would you like coffee?  Wine?  Water?”

Thomas shook his head.  “I’m sorry I can’t be too long.  I have plans with my children, but I really needed to find out this information.”

“Of course; then I’ll get right down to it.  The 11 year anniversary was just last week.”

“Really?  I didn’t know.”  He didn’t realize that Robbie had died so close to Christmas.  If he had known, he had forgotten.

“Robbie and I were pretty close.  We became fast friends.  There were reports that a bomber was planning an attack; we got those reports about 5 times a month, so none of us ever really took them serious.  Each time we would hear rumors, or threats our barracks would be on lock down.  We would find several things to keep us busy.  Sometimes we would play cards, or listen to music; we would do anything to break up the monotony.  We felt like we were prisoners, but it was the rules.  However, this one night we had decided to sneak out.  We got into 4 different jeeps and drove away from the place that we were calling home.  We were just going to go to this club that was on the outside of the town.  We came across this detour; it told us to turn left, but after being there for several months we knew that if we turned right we could make it in much quicker time. 
Problem was the route we would go was down a dark alley and through a not very good neighborhood.”

“Did you both agree to this path?”

He nodded.  “We were both young and foolish; so, what the heck.  About half way down this alley we heard yelling and screaming; it was followed by several minutes of crying.  Despite all commonsense telling us to keep on driving, we stopped.  After all, we’re in the military to protect people.  Even if it was a night off, we had to stand by it.  So, we entered this abandoned warehouse; the voices seemed so far away.  I went one way and he went the other.  About 15 minutes into the search for the screaming, I heard him call out my name.  I finally discovered him in the back of the warehouse.  He was frantically trying to untie this girl; she was 15 years old at the time.  I rushed over to her and she kept saying something about a bomb.  Her English wasn’t the greatest and so we just went with it.  Finally we untied the knot and freed her arms and legs.  Robbie grabbed onto her hand and they ran.  I somehow got separated from them and there were so many twists and turns in the building that I wound up exiting out of a different door.  From what I gather, Robbie went back in to make sure I was out.  It wasn’t necessary, because I was fine.  The building blew up only seconds after I had made it out of there.  However, the impact of the bomb threw me several feet away.  I broke my leg, had a severe concussion, and broke 3 of my ribs.  I made it out alive, but sadly Robbie didn’t.”

“There’s something that I’m not following…why did the person want to blow up that building with that teenager in it?”

“Well, about 2 weeks later I was still recuperating at the hospital and I received a visitor.  It turns out the 15 year old girl was a Princess and the man that planted the bomb was upset because his brother was sent to prison for the rest of his life, and it was all done by this girls father.  So, this man wanted Abigail to pay the price.”

“Why doesn’t the army want the news to be revealed?”

“Pride, stupidity, maybe a little bit of both.  We weren’t supposed to be out that night and they fear that revealing the truth will give them a bad name.  It wasn’t their fault that 12 foolish guys decided to disobey the rules, but it was their fault that they didn’t have more stringent security to make sure we couldn’t leave.  Abigail’s father, King Ahmed Brijad had an article printed in the newspaper and they thought that I would like to have a copy of it.  Many times I thought about trying to contact Robbie’s family, but each time I was worried that bringing up the past would only be harmful.”  He handed Thomas the paper.  “Maybe I was wrong.”

Thomas stared at the heading and read it aloud:

American Soldier Saves Princess

He didn’t even know Robbie, but he felt a sense of pride.  “Can I borrow this paper?”

“You can have it; I made copies.”

“Thank you!”  He shook his hand and was out the door, before Joseph would see the emotion he had stirred up.  He wanted answers, but he never believed the kind of results he would get.  He just hoped that Rebecca
wanted to hear the news; in his mind he had no doubt that it could bring everything to a close.

____________________

“We wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.”  The group finished up a song at their next to last stop.  The elderly woman clapper her approval.  “Thank you!”  They smiled as they looked the woman.

“I really appreciated this; it can get lonely here, but you all helped tremendously.”

“We’re glad you liked it.”  Rebecca smiled.

“Come back any time.”  She waved to them as they headed out of the room.

Before she got into the hallway she wrote down the woman’s name that was on her bedroom door.  “Why do you copy down everyone’s name that we sing to?”

She looked at Bethany and smiled.  “That way we can send them each a Christmas card.  She smiled.  “I like that idea.”

Rebecca nodded; she was pleased that they seemed to be enjoying themselves.  She looked at her watch; she really expected to see Thomas at any moment.  They only had one more bag of cookies.  “Well, this is the last room.  I…” her sentence fell when she saw Thomas running down the hallway.  “I didn’t think you were going to make it;” she whispered.

“I am so sorry I am late.”  The children hugged him and then he faced her.  “Did I miss everything?”

“We have one more bag of cookies.”  She handed it to him.  “This is all you.”

They went into the room and the man looked at them.  “Why hello; what do I owe this honor?”

“We just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas.”  Thomas stated as he handed the bag of cookies to him.

“Why thank you; Merry Christmas to you too.”  He looked over the smiling faces and his smile grew.  “You both have such beautiful children.”  His eyes went from Rebecca and then to Thomas.

“Their…” she started to object.

“Thank you; we think so.”  He turned to Rebecca and smiled.  “Would you like to hear a song?”

“That would be great!  How about Rudolph?”

The group smiled; that seemed to be their favorite.  The sang the song with enthusiasm as she watched Thomas and the children she began to imagine them as her family.  She quickly pushed the thought from her mind; it suddenly seemed laughable.  When they finished singing, she again wrote down the patient’s name and they waved goodbye to him.  Once out in the hallway Rebecca looked at Thomas.  “I have to say; I think your children were a great success.”

“Don’t you mean, our children?”  He chuckled and she just shook her head.  He suddenly seemed more himself and she liked that.  “Well Rebecca, I can tell they seemed to have a good time.”  The kids nodded with enthusiastic agreement.  “I need to talk to you; can we go back to your place?”

She was confused; she just assumed he would take the children and they would go home.  “Okay; I could make supper.”

“That won’t be necessary; I won’t take much of your time.”

She smiled.  “Don’t be silly; I want to do it.”  She led the way out of the nursing home and they got in the vehicles.  She didn’t know what he wanted, but it sounded important.  She just hoped that it didn’t change the easiness she was once again beginning to feel.

___________________

Thomas waited for Rebecca to enter the kitchen; she had put on a movie for the kids to watch and then they could have their conversation.  “Okay; can you talk while I cook?’  She entered in the kitchen pulled some pots from the cupboard.

“Sure; I suppose.”  He felt awkward having this conversation while she was busying herself, but it seemed to be the only way.  “I’m kind of uncertain how you’ll take the news; so, if I start to say something you don’t want o hear, just stop me.”

She turned and looked at him.  “I will, but that’s not reassuring for you to continue.”

He laughed.  “Just trust me.”

She shrugged.  “Go on!”

“I did some digging about Robbie.”  When she turned to him, he couldn’t see if she was happy, sad, confused, or mad.  Instead of trying to figure it out, he continued.  “I found out what happened that night 11 years ago.  Why didn’t you tell me that the anniversary was last week?”

She shrugged and went back to the cooking.  “I don’t know; I guess it wasn’t something that one would share.  We aren’t dating; there was no need to give up that information.  You found out something?  Like what?”

“Can you look at me?”

“Thomas, I have cooking to do; you don’t want the children to eat so late, do you?”

He stood up and touched her hand.  “It can wait.  We can order out if we need to.  This is important.”

She dropped the pan and allowed him to escort her back to the table.  She slowly sat down and then cleared her throat.  “Why did you pursue this?”

He shrugged.  “I wanted to get you closure.”

“Will it?”

“I hope so;” he handed her the newspaper and waited for her to read the headline and skim over the article.  He could see a tear in her eye.  “I talked to the soldier that was with your brother.  He’s the one that gave me the information.”

“I can’t believe you did this for me.  You ask nothing in return?”

He snickered and looked away.  “I wouldn’t exactly say that.”

Her eyes got big.  “Oh; you do want something in return?”

When he looked back at her; he saw an unfortunate hesitation.  “I want your happiness.  I want things to go back to normal between us.  It’s been duly awkward and I don’t like it one bit.”

She laughed as she wiped away a stray tear from her cheek.  “I don’t either.”

“I actually looked into this when you first told me the story, but it took some more research to finally get the answers.  The fact is, you could go to the Dallas Army and demand some answers; they…”

She slowly shook her head.  “I have wondered for 11 years what happened to Robbie and thanks to you…I no longer have to think about that.  That’s all that I need.”  She stood up and went back to the stove.

“Are you positive?”

She turned to face him and before he could question that she walked over to him and gave him a hug.  “This was the nicest thing that anyone has ever done for me.”  They pulled away and she smiled.  “I’m certain that I have the information I need and my parents will feel the same way.”  She surprised him by brushing a kiss on his cheek.  “So, thank you Thomas.”  She then turned away and worked again on the food.

“Do you need any help?”

She shook her head.  “No, but thank you.  You should go in the living room, and watch the movie with the kids.  They’re watching Monster’s Inc.”