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YESTERDAY'S DREAMS

Chapter Nine

"What do you mean…GONE?!"

"Just…gone!" Carlos stammered, pacing deliberately in front of a set of spunky secretary eyes in Thunder Investigations. "The three of us were calling it a night after getting Miles for good when our favorite admiral called with the news. Or rather one of his urchins."

"I don't understand. There has to be a mistake. How could something that big just disappear from a secure military base?"

"Beats me, Kath. All I know is if we don't find it soon, we'll be the suspects in this case. Flores and we are the only ones to have seen it besides the military personnel who all have the top security clearance."

Katheryn could see Ben Hunnicutt waving her on from baggage claim up ahead and knew she had to draw her call to a close or they would miss their bus. "Look, I've gotta go. We are catching a bus that'll take us to where Ben's parents and his dad's friend lives. I'll try to call you back once we arrive. Maybe something these men know will offer some sort of clue."

"Hey, maybe you're right. I'll keep you posted. Love you, Kath. Miss you."

"Miss you too." Kath clapped her cell phone shut, stuffed into her cross-body, and hurried across the airport to where Ben was waiting with both of their suitcases at his feet.

"Your fiancé?"

Katheryn nodded. "Yeah. But a business call. The time capsule I told you about has been stolen right from under the military's nose. It was there yesterday but gone today. And my fiancé and his partner are the ones to blame right now since they were the last ones to see it."

"Aw, man. I'm sorry about that."

"That's okay. Not your fault. I just wish I was back there to help Trent and Carlos ring whatever varmint's neck is to blame for stealing it. But that's why I'm here with you. To at least meet the men behind the history. That's what matters the most right now."

"Speaking of…"

"Yeah?"

"There's been a change of plans."

"Oh?"

"We're not taking the bus."

"But how are we supposed to get to your parents' house?"

"Uncle Hawkeye is picking us up."

"You're kidding. Isn't he too old to drive?"

Ben chortled. "Are you kidding me? That man is a powerhouse. He's in his seventies. He's not dead." He hoisted up their suitcases and started for the exit. "Come on! He's waiting on us."

As soon as the salty breezes splashed on Kath's skin and the nearly non-existent sun exposed her to the crisp wintery temperatures she was not accustomed to, her eyes landed on a man not far from elderly but well enough to be standing on his own two feet. He was leaning quite casually against his little sedan, his foot crossed over the other with his arms folded against his chest. He had on a pair of aged khakis and a blue Hawaiian button-up dotted with yellow palm trees. He wore little emotion under his snow-white cap of hair. His eyes even narrowed suspiciously against Katheryn as the two travelers caught his attention.

"Well, now, Uncle Hawkeye. I can see you are in good spirits."

"Aw, shut your trap," Hawkeye drawled and rounded his car to the driver's seat with not so much as a hello or how are you.

Katheryn made eye contact long enough with Ben to give him a shrug of confusion to which he replied with an awkward smile and proceeded to pile their suitcases and himself in the car before it was too late. Sure enough, Katheryn had barely shut the door to the backseat of the car before it was speeding away and into foreign territory with little confidence in their driver to be noticed or admired.

"Well, you might want to send up a little prayer for our youngest partner in crime."

"Tommy?"

"No," Carlos rolled his eyes. "Kath."

Trent chuckled. "Why is that?"

"Just got off the phone with her. Apparently her prized veterans didn't give her as much of a warm welcome as she would have liked."

"Oh? Sounds bad."

"The way Kath talked after she settled into the Hunnicutt guest quarters, it seems one of the former military men did everything short of telling her to go to you know where."

"How's she taking it?"

"With vigilance I guess. Says she'll figure him out. Whatever that means."

Trent's subtle smile was hidden by his turning away as he paced over to answer his ringing telephone in his office. "Thunder Investigations. This is Trent Malloy speaking."

By now Carlos and Kim had huddled near the office entrance, their curiosities piqued.

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. We'll look into it right away." Trent hung up the phone and spun around on his heel to be startled by his comrades' rather close presence. He backed up an inch and wiped the smirk off of his face. "We've been given clearance to check out surveillance footage from the night the box was stolen. We best get a move on before the admiral changes his mind."

Having been too late in the day to consider anything else, Ben and Kath's arrival was a whirlwind of organized chaos as a son was reunited with his parents and a stranger was welcomed into the fold.

Wanting to be as courteous as possible, Kath insisted she would take her dinner in her room and go to bed early so that she could talk to Mr. Hunnicutt properly and with a straight head to absorb everything he had to say…or was willing to say. He seemed nice, Kath noted. But with the way Mr. Pierce had fled the scene moments after their arrival, Katheryn wasn't completely sure any of these men were game for her little interviews or not. That being resolved in her mind, Kath decided to take a different route. A less professional route. A more familial route where she focused more on forging a relationship with these people. However temporary it was, it would help her truly connect with these people informally and get to know what a Korean War veteran really was like…outside of every stereotype she had known. And judging by the two men she had already met, she already had two quite contrasting ideals to investigate however long it would take with the chisel of her well-spun words.

"And this is me right after daddy left for the warfront."

Katheryn delicately balanced the aged photo in her hands as she observed a picture of a little baby not very old at all being held by her mother as she posed for the photograph.

The child depicted in the memento now sat next to Katheryn at the breakfast table, steaming cups of coffee and fresh pancakes and bacon decorating the table right in the middle of the kitchen.

Katheryn handed Erin back her photo and turned to Mrs. Hunnicutt behind her at the stove. "This breakfast is delicious, ma'am."

"Oh, that's sweet of you to say Miss Beaumont," Peggy beamed. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."

"Really! I did! See, my last grandparent passed away when I was only a teenager. And I wasn't that close to them. I may just adopt you if you don't mind."

Peggy's hearty laugh brought a smile to her family's face, especially her husband. "Oh, darling, I'd love to adopt you. Especially when apparently Erin and her husband aren't destined to give me and grandchildren." She eyed her daughter from across the table as she set a plate of biscuits down before seating herself.

"Momma, I told you. Garth and I met a little later in life. We don't really want kids. Besides, I'm in my forties. You don't see many women in the forties with babies on their hips."

"True enough," Peggy sighed. "I guess there's still hope for Ben though."

Ben shook his head furiously, his mouth nearly overflowing with food while his bulged out in a futile attempt to say no. "Mom, I'm never marrying! I'll become a priest. A monk. Anything! You can't make me."

"Very well," Peggy feigned a pouty lip. "Well, my darling," she reached over with a hand on her husband BJ's hand. "It seems we've failed. No grandchildren. I guess our legacy stops here."

"Well," Katheryn dared to interrupt the rather intimate moment. "It—it doesn't have to end here." She could feel Erin and Ben eyeing her curiously. "Legacies are more than lineage. It's having a story to tell. Maybe I can help you tell your story."

"To whom?" BJ queried.

"The world as far as I care. I stayed up late last night on my laptop researching about the Korean War. I—I discovered so many things I had no idea about. It made me hate war. I love the art of the fight. And sometimes men must defend themselves in battle. It's unavoidable. But I still think the world needs to know what you all went through. And for almost nothing at all to show for it."

As Katheryn settled back into a quiet, realizing just how much she had said, she noticed Mr. Hunnicutt's face glaze over with a pale sheet of astonishment. He had swallowed hard and couldn't take his eyes off of Katheryn. She could have sworn a tear slipped out of his eye.

"I'm sorry," Katheryn shrunk back. "I shouldn't have said so much."

"On the contrary," BJ was quick to insert with a lift of his hand. "I may have just relived the war in my mind, but you're right. People need to know the truth. But I don't understand how you can help. You came here to talk about a time capsule, right?"

"Yes!" Kath perked up. "But I'm also a freelance writer sometimes when I'm not on stakeouts with my boyfriend back home. I'd love to do a piece on your story for a magazine or even a book. Whatever it takes."

"Now, just hold your horses right there, young lady. I'm not gonna be a poster boy for a pity party. It may have been hell. But we did our best out there to prove who we were."

Kath took note of how calm and gentle his tone was. Not at all the angry onslaught she had expected somewhere in her soul would come from him after such a suggestion. Why she even thought he'd respond like that was beyond her. She assumed it had something to do with Mr. Pierce's strange attitude from the day before.

"Well, sir…"

BJ stopped her in her tracks, a twinkle of a smile on his face. "Call me BJ, or I won't even consider your idea."

"Yes…BJ." It seemed so strange to Kath calling an elder gentleman by his first name. "So can you tell me more about this box that was found?"

"Yes, I sure can," BJ beamed. "But I need to ask a favor from you first."

"Name it. Anything."

"I have to tend to the farm and run a few errands this morning. But I promised Hawkeye I'd deliver something to his place this morning. It's just a mile down the road from our farm here. You can't miss. It would be such a help to me if you could take care of that for me. And it might give you a chance to pry something out of him. Lord only knows he hardly talks to us about the war. It seems he swore he'd never utter a word about the blasted thing once his foot set back on American soil. Still, maybe your pretty face will bring back some fond memories."

Katheryn issued a smile and hearty nod in reply. But inside her heart was sinking a mile a minute as her hopes began to feel distant. But maybe BJ was right. Maybe a new face was the very thing that would help the older man come to terms with his past.

Katheryn's long walk along the nearby beach was just what she needed to gather her thoughts as she trailed the long sandy coast about four houses down according to Mrs. Hunnicutt. Each property was made up of a fair amount of land and was a long walk by a city girl's standards. But Kath didn't mind one bit. It reminded her of all those long Missouri afternoons when she would walk for ages through miles of pasture and meadows in her family's backyard. Truth be told it was really only a single suburban acre that they occupied. But her imagination was vast and wide. And every short lap around the house was a mile along a beach just like the one she was currently tracing with her sandals.

Katheryn was closing in on the fourth property when she noticed the windows and doors were suddenly darkened by shades, each one snapping shut at a rather fast pace. Her heart dropped. Still, maybe he simply was wary of strangers. As soon as he recognized her then he'd warm up to the idea. But somewhere in the deep valley of her mind, doubt played freely.

The sandy path soon showed a grass-dotted path leading up the hill to the mainland where the houses were built. Mr. Peirce's cottage was small and quaint. It was painted a pearly white and shaded by a porch on two sides while dark, navy shingles laced the roof. A steady stack of smoke flowed from the chimney and gave away the fact that someone was home as Kath had suspected.

Katheryn climbed the three simple steps to the door, observed the absence of any sort of traditional porch furniture or a doormat, smiled ignorantly at a sign on the door which read The Swamp, and proceeded to lay three gentle knocks next to it. She let a few moments pass before she finally decided to knock again against her better judgement.

The door suddenly flew open. "What do you want, lady?! Oh, it's you."

Katheryn stood unmoved and stunned by the outburst. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

"Look, I don't have all day. Speak up, or get the hell out of here!"

An odd brand of courage suddenly bubbled up from her heart to her voice box. "You have a lot of nerve, mister."

"OH?!"

"Yeah! I flew across the country to meet a real live hero. But all I got was a couple of cowards."

"Cowards?! BJ is a lot of things. But he isn't a coward."

"So you admit that you're a coward." Katheryn's voice danced with victory.

Mr. Pierce was aglow with a grin founded in his deep-seated sarcasm which he threw aside with a scoff. He stepped aside, almost giving Katheryn the hope that he was about to let her come inside when he turned on his heel, slamming the door right in her face.

Kath's mouth fell open in astonishment. She wanted to cry and scream like a three year old but simply stomped away. A short walk later she came back to the door and yelled, "I'm not through! I'll be back! You—I need to talk to you sir. It's very important. Please! Please think about it. I want to know what it was like. What—what it was truly like over there. And if I can trust my gut, it's telling me I came to the right place." Then she was gone like the sea-tossing winds that breezed through her hair as she scurried back to the shelter of the beach for the short walk back to her temporary home.

Back in the Pierce cottage, Benjamin Franklin Pierce could feel those same winds on his time-worn face as the echo of the strange girl's footsteps pounded on his ears like a bad dream. Suddenly it was like he was back in Korea, the loud tantrum-laden step of Hot Lips stomping into the swamp reminding him of the good memories as well as the bad. With his eyes flashing open, he poured himself another cup of steaming aggravation before dragging himself back to the same chair he sat in day in and day out to wait out the day and hope that girl would make her way back. God only knew what his response would be then. Until then, he had bad memories to nurse that was none of her business.

A/N: It's been far too long since I posted an update for you guys! Life changed a bit for me and in a hurry. But I am finally getting my inspiration back and am eager to jump back into the series that has my heart still wrapped around it's little finger. I hope you are enjoying this story still. I look forward to bringing it to a close soon and forging on with many new adventures in the future! As always, thank you guys for reading and reviewing! You are the best. God Bless, 'Kath' :)