Abandoned: MIA in Vietnam Read Online Free PDF Page A

No liquor. Not even a beer?”
    Noble shook his head. “Lord, no,” he said and laughed, shaking his head. “The doctor mentioned once that alcohol wasn’t good for my gout or my liver. Daloris cleaned out the liquor locker that day. I can’t get a drink from any of my neighbors, either. I think she told everyone in Lincolnville. They won’t even let me in any of the bars downtown.”
    “She must love you a lot,” Wolfe said. “I’ll take a half lemonade/half iced tea, if the iced tea is sweet. But only if it’s no trouble.”
    “No trouble at all,” the older man said, turning to go to the kitchen. He returned with a glass of pale iced tea and handed it to Wolfe. “So what really brings you to Lincolnville?”
    “Did you read the paper this morning?” Wolfe asked.
    “Well, I read some of the online version. My grandson set it up on the computer for me.”
    “See the article about the attempted murder at Flagler Hospital?”
    “Don’t believe I did,” Noble said, scratching his unshaved chin.
    Wolfe told Noble about the article. He ended his dissertation with, “Could the note be referring to our Jimmy Byrnes?”
    Noble leaned back in his chair. “You don’t know about Jimmy?”
    “Know what?” Wolfe said.
    “He’s long dead. Navy said it was suicide.”
    “When?”
    “Our cruise, yours and mine on Oriskany . Last day on the line. He didn’t show up for work. Why don’t you remember this? We mustered the entire crew, many of them on the hangar deck. Counted noses. The marine detail and the chiefs checked every compartment. No trace of him. The last time anyone had seen him was during the fire the night before.”
    “Big fire? I wasn’t on the ship then,” Wolfe reminded Noble. “Got a ride in a helo to the Ranger . You guys went home. I stayed for another cruise. Remember?”
    Noble cocked his head, examining Wolfe carefully. “Maybe. Small electrical fire in a tractor. Anyway, we turned the ship around and went back to where it had been the night before when the tractor caught fire. It’s a huge ocean, Doc. No trace of him there, either. The destroyers stayed for two more days searching. Someone said we even radioed the Russian trawler that tailed us to see if they had found him. Nothing.”
    “So the navy gave up and decided he committed suicide by jumping overboard?” Wolfe asked. “No investigation into foul play? You know he didn’t have many friends, especially in the supply divisions. I remember he caught that asshole, Deke Jameson, red-handed stealing dungarees from our laundry. Went to Captain’s Mast and testified against him, too, even though they threatened him. Several other witnesses refused to show up. Got the jerk a month in the brig and the captain busted him from second-class to seaman.”
    “Yeah,” Noble said, pausing to search his memory, “And if I remember, S1-S7 had it in for Byrnes from then on. His pay was always screwed up. His laundry slashed. They messed with his chow. One of the barbers even purposely screwed up his haircut. Chief Powell and I went down to the barbershop and stood there while the supply chief trimmed Byrnes’s hair to fix the damage. As best as it could be fixed. Took a month to grow out.”
    Wolfe smiled. “I remember Rocky used to complain about how long Byrnes’s hair was.”
    “There was one crazy son of a bitch. Our beloved V-3 Hangar Deck Division Officer, Rocky the Flying Squirrel. He had wings, but the navy wouldn’t let him near an aircraft, except as a passenger,” Noble laughed. “Every time he’d tell Byrnes to get a haircut, we had to remind him that Byrnes had to see a civilian barber at the next port of call to keep him away from the ship’s barbers.”
    After an hour of reminiscing, the two old salts had brought each other up to date since their last pow-wow. Wolfe stood, holding his hand out to Noble, signaling his intention to leave. “Stay for lunch?” Noble asked.
    “No thanks, Chief. Got some things I