Chapter 2
1991
The office of Doctor Jacobs
His eyes were focussing on the floor by his feet. He didn't want to do this, but the nightmares were so bad he didn't have any choice in the matter. Even if it had not been required of him after the crash, he still would have needed to talk to someone who wasn't too close to him. His grandmother and Diane were both great, but they were too close, and his mother had actually asked him to leave the navy, which was something he in fact had been thinking about doing. He had followed in his father's footsteps and joined the navy as a pilot. Now that he could no longer do what he was trained to do, what was the point of staying in?
A sound comming from the other side of the room made him look up to see a woman crying. She was holding a picture in one hand, the other sitting in her face, covering her eyes.This was the third time he had been here in two weeks but this was the only time he had seen her there. She was very beautyful with long red hair. He had probably been too occupied with his own thoughts to notice the stunning woman who had been sitting in the chair across the room every time he had been there. Another time and place she would have been the kind of woman he might have been attracted to, but not now. He couldn't think about anyone in that way right now, and from the looks of it, neither could she. He wondered what had happened to her to make her cry like that. 'It must be something that happened recently,' he thought as he kept looking at her.
After a few minutes she still hadn't stopped crying and he finally got up the courage to walk over to where she was sitting.
"Hey, you OK?" he asked as he sat down in the chair next to her.
When she didn't answer he continued.
"I don't know what happened to you, but after my crash I couldn't stop crying for a long time either. I lost someone I cared about. A friend, someone who depended on me to keep him safe. It helps to talk about it with someone..."
They sat silently for a few minutes. The woman seeming unwilling to share her pain with him. He was just about to go back to where he was sitting before when he felt a hand on his arm.
"There was an accident..." she managed to get out before she broke down in tears again, this time leaning into Harm who put his arms around her. Being held by him seemed to calm her down and she continued her story.
"I had been working so Jonas, that is my husband... was my husband, was going to make dinner and needed to run to the store to get something or other, and since I wasn't home he brought Elli, our little girl with him..." She paused to collect herself.
"They were almost home when a drunk ran a stop sign and crashed right into them..." She didn't have to continue her story for Harm to get the picture. They had both been killed and now she was feeling guilty about being left behind. A feeling he knew all too well himself. As he sat there comforting a woman he had never met before he got the best therapy he ever could have. She was someone who had the same feelings he did, something he never thought would have been possible. This was the first time in months he could imagine having a future. He felt he wanted to help this woman and that lifted some of the guilt from his shoulders He just knew that somehow they would make it through everything together.
Present time
1125
Mac's Office
JAG HQ
A few years ago she would have been furious with him for doing this. She was more insecure then and definitely would have thought of his relationship with this woman as something more than friendship, no matter what he would have said to the contrary. They had spent most of the morning and the ride to work discussing how he had met Janice after his crash and instantly bonded. Her husband and daughter had been in a car accident on the way home from day-care and had both been killed. Janice was feeling guilty about being the one left behind and had been going to therapy without much result. Harm had been going to the same therapist and they had met in the waiting room. Neither had been willing to start a conversation until Harm saw her crying over a photograph and went to comfort her as the gentleman he was. Everything she had kept bottled up was now all comming out, and their therapist decided they were good for each other and if they agreed to it, they would thereafter have their therapy together. And so they did. They became friends and even after Harm returned to active duty and stopped going there, they kept in touch. There had never been anything more than friendship between them, they had just been there for each other in a way that no one else had been able to at that point of their lives. It had been a tough journey, but Janice had made it to the point where she could think about her family without crying and remember all the good times they had had without all the bad memories coming back to haunt her. And then this happened. Just a few days earlier Harm had gotten an e-mail from her where she told him that she was getting married again and that he would be receiving a formal invitation soon. If her depression was back and she planned to kill herself, she had managed to keep it well hidden. Who would invite somone to their wedding and then turn around and kill herself. And where was her fiancé?
The same time
Unknown location
Micahel Patterson walked through the empty house. This was where he would live from now on, at least until they could find something more permanent for him. Killing Janice had not been something he had planned to do. He had honestly felt something for her and he wished things had ended in a better way. It was his job. He knew what it meant when he took his first assignment. Nothing would ever be the same again. Still he'd met her in a bar one night. She had been there with one of her friends, and he had needed to unwind after a mission. He hadn't planned for it to go any further than that. But he couldn't help himself. She was so beautiful, and her smile could light up a room. He had fallen head over heals in just a few seconds. They moved in together after only a few months and soon after that they began discussing marriage. Then the phone calls and e-mails started. His boss had found out and it all had to end. She had to end, and he had to go away, whether he wanted to or not.
1129
Harm's Office
JAG HQ
Harm had read through the article so many times he now knew it by heart. He knew something didn't make sense. One of the first things he had done when he got to the office was to open and re-read the e-mail he had received from Janice.
Dear Harm,
Something wonderful has happened to me. I'm in love and I'm getting married. I can't wait for you to meet him. His name is Mike and what I feel for him is probably very similar to what you feel for your Sarah, and something I never thought I'd ever feel again. Not after Jonas.
You should expect to find a formal invitation to the wedding in the mail within a few weeks, I just wanted to give you a heads up so you wouldn't be too surprised. The invitation also includes your beloved Sarah and your daughter. I would like so much to meet them after all the wonderful things you've told me about them.
Take care, and I'll see you soon.
Janice
A few minutes ago he had finished a call to the investigating officer and had not gotten any wiser. He had firmly believed it had been scuicide and had no plans what so ever to re-open the investigation, especially not based on a hunch from some guy that hadn't met Janice in years. Harm couldn't blame him. He wouldn't have done it either. Sometimes being an investigator and knowing procedure was one of the hardest things in his life. He knew exactly what was being done and because of that he couldn't just call the police and yell at them because they didn't do anything.
Harm knew he should stay out of this mess. His investigating had previously put both him and Mac in danger, and with a little girl in their lives, that was not acceptable any more. Still his sense of honor wouldn't let him move on until he at least checked out Janice's fiancé. It just didn't make any sense. She had sounded so happy about her upcoming wedding, and Mike had seemed like a great guy, but now he was nowhere to be found. Like he never existed. Harm had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that there was something else going on here. Something familliar. Hoping he was wrong, Harm reached for the phone and dialed the number he had been trying to forget for years.
"State Department. How may I help you?"
"I need to speak to Clayton Webb please."
