Many of the characters within this story, and the universe they inhabit, are the intellectual property of Jason Katims Productions.
Roswell: Re-Imagined
Written by Horatio Jaxx
Chapter 12: The Mystery Deepens
Lieutenant Ryan Kawecki had arrived in Boston, Massachusetts two days earlier. He spent most of his time here locating and setting up meetings with the remaining living relatives of Jill Hytner in the vicinity. He had already spoken with a niece of hers and a first cousin; fourteen years younger than what Jill would have been if she was still alive. Neither of them had anything of use to tell him about Jill Hytner. The person he most wanted to speak to, and the one he suspected had the greatest insight into the thinking of Jill, was next on his schedule to meet with.
It was the middle of the day and Ryan was driving a rental car into a distant suburb of Boston. The weather was pleasant, the sun was out, and the traffic was light. After nearly an hour's drive, he pulled into an assisted living facility. The community was a large four-story building. The structure was attractive and well maintained. The grounds around it were equally as well kept. A narrow river flowed by not too far from the building. It looked to be a place where well to do middle class seniors came to live out the remainder of their days.
Ryan parked his rental car in the visitor's parking lot and made his way on foot to the front entrance. He carried with him a thin satchel that looked to be lightly occupied. Just inside the front doors, in the foyer, was a reception counter along the left wall. The hallway entrance into the recreational and dining areas of the complex were on the far side of the room. A pair of elevators were built into the left side of the hallway. Positioned between the reception counter and the front doors were entryways into waiting rooms to the left and right of the foyer. An attractively attired middle-aged woman, with a less than flattering figure and a pleasant smile was sitting behind the reception counter. She wore a nametag with Erica displayed on it. Ryan promptly removed his Air Force cap and approached her.
"Can I help you," Erica asked without deviating from her pleasing demeanor.
"I'm here to see Carl Hytner," Ryan announced politely.
"Is he expecting you," Erica questioned back with a smile.
"Yes," Ryan reported without hesitation. "I've scheduled a one-thirty meeting with him," he explained. "I'm a little early," he added after glancing at the clock on the wall behind her.
"I'll call up to his room," Erica responded as she picked up the receiver to the phone in front of her.
There was a less than quick answer to the call. Michael inferred from the portion of the conversation that he was hearing on this end that it was Carl Hytner who answered the call. After a minute of talking, Erica hung up the phone and turned her attention back to Ryan.
"He's on his way down," she reported with a smile.
"Thank you," Ryan responded with an affirmative.
Ryan stepped back and began looking about him for a place to sit. There were five chairs situated along the wall across from the reception desk. He began assessing which seat would give him a good view of the elevator doors. The foyer and the connecting front rooms were quiet. Ryan could hear a television in a back room past the elevators. Other than that, there was no one else to be seen or be heard. Just as he had committed himself to the chair, Erica spoke up again with a flirtatious query in the form of a statement.
"I didn't know Mr. Hytner had family in the military."
"He doesn't," Ryan reported as he looked around at her. "That is, I'm not a member of his family," he corrected with a smile. After a second of thought he added a final revision. "I suppose he could have family in the military, but I'm not aware of them, that is, at least, none that's alive."
"Oh," Erica responded with a smile.
Ryan quickly turned his attention away from her smile and back to the chair. Nonplused by that response, Erica turned her attention down to something on the counter that Ryan could not see.
Ryan took a seat and waited for Carl Hytner to make his appearance. After ten minutes of waiting, one of the elevators opened after a loud ding. A plump, balding, white-haired man with a mustache and full beard to match stepped through the elevator doorway and into the hallway. He immediately turned and strolled into the foyer. He looked to be between five-eight and five-nine in height due to his stoop. Ryan suspected he had been between five-eleven and six-feet tall when he was a younger man. He was wearing gray slacks, a light blue polo shirt and a black sport coat. He employed a cane for walking, but the necessity for it was not obvious.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Hytner," Erica cheerfully greeted.
"Hi," Carl answered back with far less enthusiasm.
Ryan quickly got to his feet and approached the elder gentleman. They stopped in front of each other at the center of the foyer.
"Mr. Hytner, I'm Lieutenant Ryan Kawecki, we spoke on the phone," Ryan announced with an air of professionalism.
"Thought you might be," Carl responded with a hint of sarcasm. "Come in here," he added a second behind and with a point to the large vacant waiting room to the left of the foyer.
Ryan followed Carl Hytner into the room at a pace slightly slower than he was accustomed to. Carl took a seat near the far corner facing the large windows at the front of the building. Ryan took a seat opposite him a second behind. A small round coffee table was situated between them. No sooner had he situated himself in his chair, set his cap on the table and set his satchel on the floor did Carl begin speaking.
"So why is the Air Force so interested in my sister?" Carl inquired blandly. "I filled out that questionnaire they sent me a month after she died."
"Too be honest sir, I don't know," Ryan responded with a shake of his head. "I'm just a paper pusher."
"A paper pusher," Carl reacted with an inflection of skepticism. He gave Ryan a moment of study before speaking again. "Okay, ask your questions. I don't know if I can give you any more than what I put on the obituary form."
Ryan had no idea what form Carl was speaking of. He suspected, however, that this was where some of the information he had on Jill Hytner came from.
"Mr. Hytner, there are a couple of incongruities in your sister's past that the Air Force is trying to make sense of," Ryan conveyed diplomatically.
"My sister got out of the Air Force over fifty years ago," Carl complained with an inflection of incredulity. "You guys would know more about any incongruities in her time there than I would."
"It's her time outside of the service that is confusing us," Ryan quickly explained.
Carl was confused by that declaration and gave the Lieutenant opposite him a brand-new study. After half a few seconds he verbalized his confusion in a tone laced with suspicion.
"You want to make sense of my sister's life after she came out of the Air Force?"
"There are some choices she made that seem out of character for her," Ryan advised.
"Does the Air Force run down every unexplained act that one of its veterans does after leaving the service?" Carl challenged stubbornly.
Ryan began feeling less of a need to be politic in his converse under the weight of Carl's inquiries. He quickly formulated a response that he hoped would end the reverse inquisition.
"Mr. Hytner, I'm just as baffled and suspicious as you are about the Air Force's interest in the life of an ex-Air Force nurse. I can only rationalize this with the thinking that your sister participated in some assignment in the Air Force that was classified as top secret. That might explain the interest in your sister. I don't know. My job is to collect information and compile it into a report so that someone with a much higher pay grade than mine can understand it."
Carl suspected that he had pushed a button in Ryan that effectively dumped out all the information he had on the subject. Shortly he resigned himself to be less inquisitive and more cooperative.
"If you want to know about my sister after she left the Air Force, I'm not sure I can give you anything useful." Carl began his narrative with a contemplative gaze. "I don't think I knew her at all after she came out of Air Force."
"Why do you say that?" Ryan questioned with intrigue.
"I only saw my sister three times after she left the Air Force," Carl continued. "The first time was when she came home to Boston after leaving the Air Force. She was here for all of two months and then she moved out of state. The other two times were when I visited her. She didn't even come home for our parent's funerals."
"Did she tell you why she couldn't attend your parent's funeral?" Ryan quickly asked.
"She said she was busy—just like that," Carl rifled back. "This was not the sister I grew up with. She became a different person during her time in the Air Force."
"Different, how?" Ryan inquired with a perplexed expression.
"She was distant … serious all the time," Carl explained with a reflective stare. "She didn't joke, or laugh, or play anymore. She was a stranger with my sister's face and memories. After my second visit I gave up on her. I never went to see her again and she never called me."
Ryan was astonished by that story. He gave Carl a few seconds of study before concluding there were no answers to be had here. He then collected his hat and satchel into his hands and stood up.
"Thank you for your time," Ryan acknowledged with a nod of his head.
Carl was caught off guard by Ryan's sudden rise to his feet. He was still curious about the Air Force's interest in his sister, and he wanted to know if he had related anything of value.
"Did this help you at all?" Carl questioned soberly.
Ryan took a couple of seconds to consider the question before answering it.
"No, I'm afraid it just deepens the mystery."
"What will you do now?" Carl questioned with only a hint of interest in his tone.
"My next stop is the Holcomb Children's Home in Albuquerque, New Mexico," Ryan reported with a sigh. "Your sister spent the bulk of her life working inside that facility. Maybe there's an explanation there."
Carl's attention perked up at hearing Ryan's last remark. He immediately thought of one last offering to give to the young lieutenant. After slowly rising to his feet and staring Ryan straight on, he somberly annunciated his thinking with regards to Ryan's search.
"If you're looking for an explanation then I suggest you pay a visit to Roswell, New Mexico. Whatever caused my sister to change happened at the Walker Air Force Base."