“At the end of the Vietnam War, Barton was commanding a Marine regiment.”
“I suppose that command would be appropriate to his rank.”
“Before he made colonel, he had commanded a company, and there was a squad leader, a sergeant named Robert Cantor. Barton got him a battlefield commission, and he became a platoon leader and, later, after Barton got the regiment, an acting company commander.”
“I think I’ve got it.”
“I want the names of the men in Sergeant Cantor’s squad and Lieutenant Cantor’s platoon.”
“You realize that those would be two different groups.”
“Why?”
“When a sergeant gets a battlefield commission, he’s transferred to another platoon, so he won’t be commanding the men he served with as an NCO.”
“Okay, then I need the names of both the squad and the platoon.”
“Why?”
“I can’t go into that,” Stone said.
“Stone, why are you holding out on me?”
“You’re going to have to trust me on this, Lance. In this matter, it’s better if I decide what you know and don’t know.”
“All right. I’ll be in the office shortly, and I’ll give this to Holly to work on. She’ll be in Connecticut by nightfall, and she can give you the records then.”
“I’m in New York, Lance.”
“I think you should spend at least a night or two in Connecticut, Stone, and while you’re there, you can look in on Barton.”
Stone sighed. “All right, Lance. And if I need further information can Holly obtain it from Connecticut?”
“She’ll have her laptop. Good-bye, Stone.”
Stone hung up, turned over and went back to sleep.
Stone arrived in Washington, Connecticut, in the late afternoon. His secretary had called his local housekeeper, and she had freshened up the place with clean linens and bouquets of flowers. She had also laid in food for breakfast.
Holly arrived an hour or so later and seemed happy to be in his arms. She had reddened her hair a few months ago for an assignment and had lost some weight.
Stone thought she looked terrific. “How long did the drive take?” he asked, kissing her.
“A couple of hours. I took a Company light airplane to the Oxford airport and rented a car.”
“How about a drink?”
“You talked me into it.”
They both drank the same bourbon, so he poured them a Knob Creek.
Holly grabbed her briefcase and led him into the living room to a sofa. “I’ve got some stuff that Lance said you wanted,” she said, opening the briefcase and handing him a folder. “This is the roster of Charlie Company, Second Platoon,” she said. “You’ll note that Staff Sergeant Robert Cantor is leader of First Squad, and there’s a list of the other squad members.” She handed him another folder. “When Cantor got his commission, he was transferred to Baker Company and given command of First Platoon. This is that roster. There’s a total of thirty or so names on both lists combined, but they had a lot of casualties, so by the end of the war the list was cut in half. Now tell me what this is about.”
“All right, but you can’t tell Lance about it.”
“Why not?”
“It involves something about his brother he’d probably rather not know.”