Floyd took out the four pictures from the roll of film. “There was a partially exposed roll of film in the camera when you sold it. The new owners just had it developed and these were the first four pictures.”
Karen took the pictures reluctantly and flipped through them one by one. “Ken was stationed in Korea, and I assume that’s where he took these.” When she got to the fourth picture her eyes welled with tears and she held her hand over her mouth.
“Oh God, this brings back so many memories,” she said, holding the fourth picture by a corner and staring at it. “Kenny came home on leave but the Army called him here like two weeks later and ordered him to Missouri where they were staging his unit for service in Iraq. He left a bunch of stuff behind with us and we never saw him again.” “Excuse me,” she said as tears rolled down her cheeks and she went into the kitchen.
Drying her eyes she said, “I’m sure you remember the story. It was you who knocked on the door to tell us that Kenny had been killed in a car accident. You said it appeared that Kenny had fallen asleep at the wheel and ran into a semi.” She paused to compose herself and then added, “It was really so stupid. He’d been out drinking with his buddies the night before he left. I think he came home at like five in the morning. He only slept until nine and then said he had to get going or he’d be in trouble for showing up late at the Army base.” She looked at the picture again and said, “I suppose he took this picture the night before he left.”
CHAPTER 4
“Do you recognize the people in the picture?” Floyd asked, pointing to the photo of the three men and two women.
“They’re Kenny’s friends from high school.” Karen pointed as she put names to the faces. That’s Aaron Roberts with his girlfriend, Kathy. That’s Mike Nelson, with his girlfriend, Betsy. And the lone girl is Kenny’s girlfriend, Melissa. They broke up while Kenny was in Korea, but when he came home on leave she was still at loose ends and they got back together again.
“Were there any other people Ken was hanging around with when he came home on leave?” Floyd asked.
Karen pointed at the picture. “These were his drinking buddies,” she replied. “Other than Aaron and Mike, Ken didn’t hang around with many other people.” She paused, looking deep in thought, then added, “There was a kid from Finalyson who had a stupid nickname I can’t remember. Anyway, he didn’t hang out with Ken’s other friends much. He’d just show up once in a while to sit in his car and talk with Kenny.”
Karen handled the picture gently and was lost in her thoughts for nearly a minute. She took a deep breath and let out a sigh. “Of course you remember Aaron,” she said, pointing to the skinny blonde man with a raven-haired girl on his lap. “He disappeared the same day Kenny died. Some people thought he ran away out of grief.”
“We found Aaron’s car out by the rest stop on the interstate,” Floyd said as his memories started to flow. “We figured he caught a ride with a trucker somewhere,” Floyd paused and added, “The boys were a hard-drinking bunch. I think we’ve picked Mike up at least twice for DUI. Kenny drank with them too.”
Karen nodded. “They started partying in high school and never quit. Kenny tried to hide it at first. He’d sneak home after he knew we were in bed so we couldn’t smell it on his breath, but I knew he was drinking. I could smell the stale beer and cigarette smoke on his clothes when I put them in the wash. Actually,” Karen said. “That was why Kenny went into the Army. He’d been arrested for public intoxication and assaulting a guy at the casino in Hinckley. When he showed up at the hearing with the Army recruiter the judge agreed to dismiss the charges if he signed the enlistment papers and left for the first available basic training opening. We had high hopes that the Army would turn him around.
“In some respects, we were pleased with what the Army did for him. When he got leave after basic training he came home clean-cut and polite, like I’d never seen him before, but within two days he’d gotten in touch with Aaron and Mike, and the three of them were running around just like it was high school.” She paused, “There was one big difference — Kenny had more money than he’d ever seen in his life and he had a big chip on his shoulder. It was like the Army had molded him into some sort of self-confident bully who thought he was better than most everyone. You should’ve seen the look in his eyes when I asked where he was going that last night. I was afraid of him.”
“Do you remember anything else about his last trip home?”
“Not really anything special. He’d been in Korea for a year and I think that really opened his eyes to the world. He was a little disappointed with the boredom in the Army, and he was talking about getting out when his enlistment was up. I asked him what he thought he’d do, and he told me that he might apply to be a guard at the state prison in Rush City. I think he liked the idea of being a tough guy in the big house.”
“How did you feel about that?” Floyd asked.
“It made me sick, but where else is a kid going to get a good paying job with decent benefits around here? I think half the people in the county work at the Hinckley casino or the prison, and that’s the only reason they have jobs at all. Pine County is not booming.”
“You mentioned Kathy and Betsy,” Floyd said, “Do you remember their last names?”
“I don’t. I imagine they’ve both probably married and moved out of town by now. I think your best bet would be to talk Mike Nelson. He’s still around town and I’m sure he could give you names and maybe even help you track them down.” Karen paused, then asked, “Why are you interested in this now? It’s been years since these pictures were taken.”
“I’m just following up on some loose ends. Things were slow and the pictures seemed like an interesting mystery since this seems to be the last picture anyone has of Aaron Roberts.”
“Can I keep these?” Karen asked, clutching the four pictures in her hand.
“Sure,” Floyd said. Then he asked, “You said that you were selling off Kenny’s old stuff at the garage sale. Did you happen to have the clothes he wore the last night before he left for Missouri?”
“You know, it was really strange. The week after Kenny’s funeral my sister came over and we took all his stuff and threw it into garbage bags. She set them in the garage but I didn’t have the heart to put them in the garbage. A couple weeks later, the Army shipped his footlocker to us and I put that next to the bags of clothes without ever opening it. When we decided to have the garage sale, Sue, from next door, and I took everything out of the footlocker and sorted through it, putting prices on the stuff she thought would sell.
“The Army footlocker and the uniform stuff went right away. I guess we probably underpriced it but I wanted it out of my life. I opened the bags of clothes and lots of them were still neatly folded like we’d just taken them out of the drawers. Sue just set them out on the tables and put tags on them. There were a few pieces of rumpled clothing in the bag, and they must have been dirty things that we’d picked off the floor and just threw in the bag. Not many of the clothes were sold, so I donated them to the Goodwill. But the dirty ones I just threw into the garbage. They’re still there.”
Karen led Floyd to a pair of galvanized garbage cans next to the garage. They were brimming with black plastic bags. Karen pulled a few heavy bags off the top, and then retrieved a smaller white bag. When she opened it, the smell of a locker room mingled with garbage arose.
“Phew!” She said. “I don’t think you want to dig around in here.”