The next day, Stacy called the local Army Recruitment office and got the number to the department in charge of such things they in turn gave her the number to Commander Vincent Taylor, the officer in charge of the investigation surrounding Jamie's death. As Stacy dialed the number she thought “I didn't even know the Army did an investigation on Jamie's death! I thought that they said it was just a drunk driving accident!”
“Hello, how can I help you?” a friendly young woman answered the phone.
“Yes, I'm trying to reach Commander Vincent Taylor,” Stacy said “he was in charge of an investigation, a couple of years ago, regarding my son's death and I had some questions I need to ask him.”
“Ok, ma'am, what was your son's name?”
“Sergeant James Jamison – he was killed in a drunk driving accident in Heidelberg Germany about 5 years ago.”
“Ok, ma'am, my records indicate that that is a closed case, if you'll hold for just a minute I'll see if Commander Taylor is free at the moment.”
Soothing music played as Stacy waited, then a strong male voice was on the line “What can I do for you today Mrs. Jamison?”
“I'm looking for a person that was involved with my son at the time of his accident and unfortunately all I have to go on is a first name and a photograph, and I was wondering if maybe you might know who she is.”
“Ok, what's the name?”
“Leslie, L-E-S-L-I-E, from the picture it looks like she would have been about 3 months pregnant at the time of my son's death.”
“Well, Mrs. Jamison, I'll see what I can find out for you, I don't remember there being a young woman, but it's been 5 years and I've worked a lot of cases since then, so I'll have my boys look into it. I'm going to transfer you back to my secretary and she'll get a contact number from you.” With that the music started playing again.
Travis walked into the room “Mom, didn't Jamie have a laptop?”
“Yes, he did” Stacy replied covering the receiver with her hand, “Why, do you ask?”
“It's not with his stuff. I've gone over it 3 times now.”
“Mrs. Jamison?” the voice of Commander Taylor's secretary came over the line
“ummm... yes my phone number is (615)467-9445 , I also have a question, my son's laptop wasn't returned with the rest of his belongings, is there a reason for that?”
“I'm not sure, ma'am, but I will make a note for Commander Taylor to check into that for you as well. Is there anything else I can help you with today?”
“No, I think that's all... how soon can I expect to hear anything on this?”
“It depends, on how busy we get, if something else comes up that is urgent we would have to give that first priority ... I would say if you haven't heard from us in about two weeks give us a call back”
A week later Stacy received a package in the mail, it was Jamie's Laptop, an envelope of papers and a letter from Commander Taylor, it read:
Dear Mrs. Jamison,
I regret to inform you that I found no indication, in our files, of a young woman being involved with your son at the time of our investigation. Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to reopen your son's case and investigate the matter more thoroughly, so I would suggest that you, perhaps, hire a Private Investigator to look into this matter more thoroughly for you!
I also apologize that all of your son’s things were not returned to you, the laptop and this envelop of papers were in the front seat of his truck when he crashed and we had to be sure it was not government issued, regrettably someone placed it in an evidence box instead of with his things to be sent home. Again I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you!
I wish you all the best!
Sincerely,
Commander Vincent Taylor
US Army
The laptop screen was shattered and it looked as if it had sustained some water damage, Travis shook his head when he saw it, “I don't know if we'll be able to get any information off of it or not.” He told Stacy grimly “I'll have to take it apart and try to hook up the hard drive to another computer and even then I'm not sure I will be able to access his files...”
“But you'll try, right?” Stacy asked hopefully
“I'll try, but you have to remember, Mom, even if I can get into his files I don't know if there will be anything on there that will help us.”
Stacy nodded in understanding as she picked up the envelope and dumped it on the table, a frustrated sigh escaped her lips, everything in the envelope was water damaged, she could tell they were forms of some sort, but most of the words were blurred the water had smeared the ink to where it was almost illegible. One paper, Stacy thought was a Marriage License but the ink was so smeared she couldn't tell if it had been completely filled out or not.
That night after dinner Stacy and Ken sat down to watch some TV, Stacy was trying to get her mind off of the disappointment of not finding anything out. They decided to watch their favorite show “Without a Trace!” About 20 minutes into the show, during a commercial break ,Kevin decided to go make some pop corn, it was almost done when he heard his wife holler “Oh, my gosh! Get me a pen, quick!” by the time he got back into the living room the show was back on, but Stacy was no longer watching she had turned the sound off and was franticly dialing a number on the cordless phone.
“Yes,” she said, obviously to someone on the other line “I have some information about a young lady that was shown on the show tonight, Leslie Kingston, yes, she was my son's girlfriend, a few years ago, when he was stationed in Heidelberg, Germany. No, I never met her, in fact I just found out about their relationship myself, my son was killed in a car accident about the same time she went missing and I just recently found her picture when going through some of his things, she was pregnant and it's possible that they were married, though we are still trying figure that part out. Yes, that would be fine! Certainly! Of course! Thank you!”
“Let me guess,” Kevin said as she hung up the phone “you saw Leslie's picture on TV and called the FBI?!”
“Yes,” Stacy replied “Her full name is Leslie Ann Kingston, and she went missing from Heidelberg, Germany 5 years ago! That is not a coincidence! Anyway, the FBI is sending an agent out to look at the stuff we have and ask us some questions, sometime in the next week or so!”
Kevin just stared at his wife in shock, and then Travis hollered from upstairs “I got it, yes!”
They both looked at each other briefly and then headed for the stairs, they had just reached the top when Travis came bounding out of his room “Mom! Dad!” he skidded to a stop “Oh, there you are!” he exclaimed “you're just in time, I got the hard drive to work and I think I may have found something that will help us!”
They all went in to Travis' room and he motioned for Stacy to sit at the desk and with the men standing behind her she read the document out loud...
“Dear Mom and Dad,”
If you’re reading this, it means that I'm in Heaven with Jesus and we did not get a chance to say good-bye. I want to thank you for being the best parents a guy could ever wish for and tell you how much I love you and appreciate your love and support. I appreciate the example that you set for me to follow, both as a couple and as parents. Over the last few months I have come to realize how blessed I am to have parents that I can come to with anything and know that you will forgive and accept me no matter what. I had hoped that I would be able to tell you my news in person, but it appears that God had other plans.
You will be surprised to know that I am married. Her name is Leslie Ann and we were married in September. She is such a wonderful girl; I know you will come to love her as much as I do. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about her sooner, but there were many things that complicated the situation and it couldn’t be helped. I will let her tell you our reasons in her own time.
I hope you are sitting down for I have one more surprise for you; you are going to be grandparents. We had plans to come home for New Years and give you the news in person, but obviously the Lord had other plans for me. Please take care of her and the baby for me. I know that you may be disappointed in how things came about but I hope that you will not hold it against her or our child and give her the love and support you would give your own daughter.
Love always,
Jamie
That was all, no further explanation was given. Stacy sighed in frustration, in some ways she felt like a it was a tease, Jamie had given her just enough information to make her curious, but not enough to explain anything really.
“I wonder why we never received this letter, and why Leslie didn’t come to see us?” she puzzled out loud.
Kevin rubbed her shoulders as he answered “Who knows, it could have gotten lost or misplaced like these things, or he might not have printed it yet, that’s one of those things I guess will never know. As to why she never came by, we’ve been over this already there are a million different reasons why she might have stayed away and speculating about them will do us absolutely no good. Let’s focus on what we can do.”
“You’re right, dear, I just can’t help wondering.” Stacy replied. Then she turned to Travis “Is there anything else on here that might tell us something?” she asked.
“Maybe,” he shrugged “Jamie wasn’t one to keep a journal or anything, I haven’t checked the pictures yet, that might tell us something.”
Stacy moved the mouse over the pictures icon and clicked on it, another page loaded and true to her son’s neat methodical nature there were neatly organized folders with names and dates. Stacy clicked on the one marked Wedding, and began to cry again as she scrolled through the beautiful pictures. After she had looked at those she went back and started to slowly work through the various albums trying to piece together the story behind her son’s secret life… a wife and child, who would have thought. As she scrolled through the pictures she could see that whoever this Leslie girl was, she had made her son very happy, all the pictures she saw showed a beautiful young couple in love. This Leslie, was a very pretty girl, but there also seemed to be a sadness or fear in her eyes. What was it Jamie had said about being grateful for parents he could talk to about anything maybe that was it maybe her parents mistreated her maybe… maybe she was reading too much into this. Stacy stretched she had been going through these pictures for two hours straight, she needed to take a break. Tomorrow was another day maybe she would find out more then.
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