It was clear that the man was likely killed for knowing something.
Or snooping around out of curiosity.
“He went back there a lot,” the one guy said. “He was always too damn curious. We told him he was going to lose his other kidney doing that kind of shit, but he didn’t listen. Now, he’s dead.”
And there it was.
Curiosity killed the soldier.
“What’s your name?” Corbin said.
The man laughed.
“Yeah, no fucking way, cop. I’m not telling you jack shit, so you can take my organs too. Fuck off!” he said, and then picked up a stick to swing at Corbin.
Alex pointed.
“NO!”he said, making the man stop. “He didn’t do anything. We just need names for reports,” he said. “We don’t want your organs. We want to find who hurt Johnny. That’s all. You don’t have to trust us, but we aren’t being mean to you, so have some respect.”
The man settled down.
As Alex moved to put himself between Corbin and the guy, the woman went to a nearby tent. She pulled out a box and carried it to Alex.
What was this?
“Wherever you put him, can you bury him with this?” he asked, handing him the non-descript box.
Alex took it, and he opened it. Inside, there were medals, and a Purple Heart.
It appeared Jonathan Miller was a decorated hero.
And that only made his ending worse.
God.
It was heartbreaking.
“I promise you that Jonathan will not be forgotten,” he said, holding the box. “We’ll make sure he gets buried with them. Our friend has a soft spot in her soul for soldiers. She’ll handle it.”
That seemed to appease them.
Before Alex could leave with the box, the woman kissed the top of it.
With love and gentleness.
“Goodbye, Johnny. You were loved. You weren’t invisible to us. Thank you for serving our country, and protecting us. We’ll never forget you.”
Jesus.
That was so poignant it hurt.
“Thank you for talking to us,” Alex said. “We’re going to find who hurt him. I promise.”
That didn’t even faze them.
In fact, it was like they didn’t expect anyone to care, so they just shrugged.
That made it worse.
