When the Dead Speak

Chapter 63

Chapter 63

Through the bay window Jake watched Alex tossing a ball to Poco. The sun was blinding, the air humid. The forecast said it would hit ninety degrees by noon.

Abby was cutting flowers in a rainbow of colors and placing them in a basket. She handled the flowers as gently as if they were made of fine porcelain china. The flowers, trees, plants, and animals, they are all the children of nature, he could almost hear her say.

Behind him, sitting at the dining room table, was Sam. Her head was lowered, eyes intense, dissecting every word on the pages found in her father's safety deposit box. Jake wished she wouldn't wear shorts. Her legs were too distracting. And he knew if he stared into her penetrating eyes, she would be able to read the guilt that was stamped all over his face.

Or maybe subconsciously he believed what Abby had told him. About why some people on the reservation avoided Sam for fear she could read their minds. Lucky for him Abby said Sam was only good with dead bodies. Jake smiled weakly. He was almost sounding as though he believed it. Abby saw him in the window and waved.

What was it Sam had said? Abby was a medicine woman and could see into his soul. The weak smile started to fade. Abby knew. If he believed Abby had the power, then he'd have to believe that Abby knew about him and Carl and the FBI. Of course, Abby did say they couldn't pick what they knew and when. The question he now pondered was, if she did know, why hadn't she told Sam?

Sam started with the signed affidavit by Hap Wilson describing what had happened that August day in 1951. He described the horrors they had found, how they had pulled out the only survivors of the killing field. It had been Hap, the three other black soldiers, and a young Korean boy named Ling Toy, not Preston Hilliard and his men, who had rescued the survivors.

"Listen to what Hap wrote," Sam said.

P.K. said he was taking over command and ordered us to go up the hill to see what the Koreans were up to. Sergeant Booker argued that our orders were to retreat. I was in the bushes about fifty feet away. But I could hear them real good. P.K. called us bug outs. It's a term used when a troop is abandoning its position because it is outnumbered or out-powered. When whitey speaks, it's synonymous with tactical maneuver or repositioning. But whenever it's used in relation to blacks, it's implied as cowardice. This was a Base-ordered retreat. And I was hell-bent on seeing that that was how it was reported.

Sam read the rest in silence. "My, god. They just shot them as they walked away. And Preston handed out the lightning bolt pins as if they had won Oscars."

"I know, Sam. I read it."

"Hap was shot running for his life. They left him for dead floating in a filthy river. Did you read what lightning strike meant? How Preston called it out before they killed them?"

"Hap doesn't mention Preston Hilliard by name, Sam. Only as P.K."

"It shouldn't be hard to prove that P.K. is Preston, should it?"

"Preston Kellogg Hilliard was in Mushima Valley. What I'm afraid of is Preston will say it's Hap's word against his."

"Then how are we going to prove it?" She turned back to the rest of the pages. "I can't believe Hap had to hide out in Korea, then change his identity, and move to Hawaii. He spent his life in hiding. He didn't even want to chance contacting his family."

She returned to her father's notes, which described when Hap saw Preston for the first time since Mushima Valley. Hap HAD tracked Leonard Ames down through the article on the Blalock trial. He had told Ames he would go to the media and tell them the truth. Hap had even managed to steal Ames' two lightning bolt pins. Obviously, Mushima Valley wasn't the first place Ames had earned his medal of dishonor. Hap hadn't felt one ounce of remorse when he read about Ames' suicide.

It was on his way to Chicago to look up Parker Smith that Hap had seen the picture of Preston Hilliard, victorious from his first election to office. On the same front page, Hap had read a series segment on the exposure of corruption in the Cook County courts. It involved six high court judges and four high profile attorneys from the states attorney's office. The reporter was Samuel Casey. Hap was impressed by Casey's honesty and tenacity. So he had sought him out, told him what had happened and asked for his help in exposing Preston Hilliard, Parker Smith, George Abbott and Leonard Ames.

"Hap wanted to confront Preston," Sam pointed out as she turned over the last sheet. "According to my father's notes, he made two copies. My father must have had the original and a copy on him when he died." Sam looked up at Jake who was watching Abby in the backyard. "Jake?"

Jake turned toward her. "I'm listening." He pulled out a chair and sat across from her. "Now we know how your father happened to get one of the pins. Hap probably gave him one of Ames' pins."

Sam flipped through the pages checking to make sure she didn't miss one word. "Hap probably confronted Preston with one of the pins. Preston felt threatened and that's when he must have killed Hap. And because my father was going to go to the Senate Armed Services Committee to expose him, Preston had him killed, too." Her voice trailed off as she thought again of the article reporting her father's death. "I wonder who was the head of the Senate Armed Services Committee back then?"

"Sam." Jake reached across the table and grabbed her hand. "We have no proof that your father was murdered. To keep focusing on Preston..."

"Speaking of Preston," Sam started.

"No." Jake pushed away from the table and checked his beeper.

"Just listen for a minute." She told him how Tim had to use Preston's computer to access the lock and key icon.

Jake pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Janet. "Did he say what he wanted?...And no one saw him leave?" He covered the mouthpiece and asked Sam, "Did you receive a call or a message today from a Lincoln Thomas?" Sam shook her head no. He returned to Janet and asked, "Did he at least leave a number?...No, that's okay. I'll be in shortly. If he comes back, make sure he waits."

"Who is Lincoln Thomas?"

Jake shrugged. "He said he saw Hap's picture in the Korean newspaper. It's a pity he couldn't stick around."