Chapter 4 - Two Minutes in the Rain
Daniel asked to meet at a public library halfway between the base and Claire's house. He arrived in civilian clothes and put his father's old notebook on the table, still closed.
"My mother says you were obsessed," he said.
"Is that why you're here?"
"I'm here because Dad kept this in his desk. I never read it before."
Inside were flight times, grid references, scratched-out meal lists, and a page headed RIDGE 17. Four times appeared in a narrow column: 04:11, 04:18, 04:22, 04:37. Beside the second, Anthony Shaw had written: SOUTH? Beside the third: AIRCRAFT CONFIRM.
"That doesn't look like a confession," Claire said.
"I didn't bring you a confession. I brought you something I can't explain."
Claire produced the official timeline: at 4:18 Shaw had supposedly carried the first casualty through the north doorway. Yet the field medical evacuation worksheet placed him on the radio at a vehicle position several hundred yards away. A person might run that distance, but not instantly, and the citation claimed he had already been inside for minutes.
"These clocks may not have matched," Daniel said.
"Exactly. The truth is in the differences. We need the original logs, not another attractive story."
"You called my father's story attractive."
"I'm trying not to call him a thief."
Daniel stared at the notebook. "He spent years waking up from nightmares. He never let anybody congratulate him without changing the subject. I thought he was modest."
"He might have been ashamed of what he couldn't stop. That doesn't tell us what he did."
They walked to a veteran records office where Claire had an appointment with a historian named June Hale, who maintained the installation museum. June listened politely, then laid out the limits. Museum captions could be corrected by a formal local review. Combat awards were a separate question handled through military channels. An archived report did not become false merely because three people disagreed.
"Can you find the medical dispatch sheet?" Daniel asked.
"I can request accession copies from the appropriate records holders," June said. "You two cannot rifle through a secured collection. Give me dates, unit names, and a written reason."
They provided the material. June photographed their signed request.
As they left, Daniel asked why Claire had waited so long if the discrepancy was so obvious.
"Because I thought somebody in authority would do the right thing once they saw it. Then I got tired. Then I told myself Rosa was better off not hearing another disappointment."
"You chose for her."
May you like
Claire looked at him. "I did. And you're doing the same thing for your mother if you keep that notebook hidden."
Daniel got into his car without answering. Ten minutes later he sent one photograph: the notebook's final page, where Anthony Shaw had written, beneath the dates, Tell Emma what Vega did.
