Page 6 of Jason's Justice
Kevin sighed heavily and scrubbed his face, he invited Jason, who had joined them, to sit at the counter. “I might as well tell you both at the same time.”
“What?” Ilsa asked when he stalled.
“You know I’m divorced, I was married for twenty-five years before the divorce.” He waved his hand around and shook his head. “My grandfather built this house, it was passed down to my father, then to me, and I’ll pass it to Caleb?”
“Who is that?”
“My son, however, I don’t think he’ll come back to Seattle. Don’t ask me how I know, it was just a vibe I had while in Colorado. Anyway, my ex-wife’s name is Karen.”
“Shit,” both Ilsa and Jason said.
“Was she as bad as the internet makes them out to be?”
“Worse. She was constantly calling the cops on the neighbors for little things. She tried to say she was the President of the HOA, but this neighborhood doesn’t have one. When someone called the police on her, they would arrive, and then she’d throw my name out.”
“Using you to get out of jail free?” Jason asked.
“Yes.” Kevin turned his head to look at Jason. “I don’t know how well you knew the guys I mentioned earlier, but one of them on Delta Team was Karen’s brother. When he was captured a couple of years ago, Karen immediately started mentally spending his death benefits.”
“Did he die?” Ilsa asked in shock.
“No. After being released from the military, he came here to let us know he was alive and kicking, but he was in rough shape.” He looked at the two and shrugged. “I don’t know if I’m allowed to say anything.”
“Will you reveal any military secrets?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
“I’ll stop you if you start to.”
“Okay, well, Ryan is a big man, I’m not talking fat, I’m talking six foot four or five, maybe even six, and I swear to god, even in the weakened condition I saw him in, his arms were bigger than my thighs. Anyway, he came to the police station to see me.” He turned and looked at Jason with an angry expression. “The Navy called Karen to tell her he was MIA, that’s not right, they called to say he had been captured by the enemy. However, they failed to call us three weeks later when he was rescued. We went months without knowing if he was dead or alive.”
“That’s not how the military is supposed to function,” Jason said in anger. “No family member is to be notified until all avenues have been taken to find and rescue him.”
“Well, after talking with Ryan, and getting a time line, it turned out the phone call to Karen came less than forty-eight hours after he was taken.”
“Damn, heads should roll for that. They never let you know he was alive?”
“Not that I know of, I didn’t take any calls. Anyway, Ryan was released and it took him three days to drive from his base to here. I have no idea where it was.”
“What branch of the service was he in?” Ilsa asked.
“He’s a Navy SEAL.”
“Ah, then probably down in Cordiano, there is a gigantic Navy base there and a lot of SEALs are stationed there.”
“Probably, anyway, as I said, Ryan was in rough shape, he wore an eye patch, used a cane, and it looked like he’d lost almost a hundred pounds.”
“How long was he held?” Jason asked.
“Twenty days.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah, anyway, when I saw him across the bull pen, I screamed like a little girl, and by the time I reached him, I was crying. I was so happy he was alive. When I hugged him and slapped him on the back, he asked if I had a first aid kit. My slapping him on the back opened one of his wounds, with his shirt removed, he looked like hell. I saw the results of the torture he endured. It wasn’t pretty.”
“Did he lose an eye?” Ilsa asked. “You said he had an eye patch.”
“He did, they took it. Anyway, I brought Ryan home, Caleb was home, and when I walked in here, Karen had all these books laid all over this counter.” He shuddered, then looked at Ilsa. “Those were the books we threw out when you made your office in the basement.”
