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Chapter 55

  Chapter 55

  "What did you say your name was again, young man? I need to enter it into our guest list before you can see Zed." The elderly administrator asked.

  "Kenneth Nielson, ma'am, I'm with the Minneapolis office of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Ken flashed the woman his fake credentials, which she had just glanced at.

  "Oh yes, you said that already, didn't you. I try to remember the names of people when they first tell me, but you know, most of the time, I forget right away, and then I feel foolish when I have to ask them for their names again. Have you seen those people on TV who can remember the names of an entire audience? I don't know how they do it. It must be some sort of parlor trick. Heaven's sake, I have trouble just remembering one. Oh my, I'm just babbling on, and I'm sure that you are a busy man. If you will follow me, I'll direct you to where Zed likes to sit."

  "Thank you, ma'am; I would appreciate that very much."

  "Please call me Virginia, ma'am. Sounds so old-fashioned."

  "Oh, by the way, you just missed Zed's wife," Virginia said on the way to see Zed.

  "She comes here every day and sits with him. They have been married for such a long time. He doesn't remember her, but she sits and talks to him just the same. You know, Alzheimer's is such a terrible disease. I hope someone can find a cure for it someday."

  The man looked a bit surprised.

  "Virginia, how long has Zed had Alzheimer's?"

  Virginia stopped in her tracks. "Almost eight years ago now… I would think that you would have that in your files, Mr. Nielson."

  "Oh yes… you certainly are correct, but I recently inherited this case and haven't had time to fully read the entire file…my apologies."

  "No need to apologize, young man. I used to work for the county, and I know how much bullshit there is in local government. Pardon my French. There must be a whole lot more working for the Federal Government."

  "You have no idea," Nielson replied.

  Virginia introduced Zed to Mr. Nielson and left the two alone. The man asked Zed a series of questions and quickly departed the care home without saying goodbye to Virginia. Mr. Nielson couldn't stand the smell of nursing homes and couldn't wait to get the hell out of there.

  *****

  Despite Sydney's insistence that Jensen's parents were at a dead end, Ali informed her that he needed to be sure. The old farmhouse had been replaced years ago with a new modern rambler after a fire had consumed the home. The new house had solid floors and made little noise as the two intruders moved swiftly to Mary Jensen's bedroom. At a little past midnight, Mary woke with a start. She sensed someone in her room. Mary sat up in bed and looked around. She was relieved to find that she was alone. Her heart rate began to slow, but she screamed when a lamp was turned on across the room by her vanity.

  Mary pulled her comforter over her chest and said in a trembling voice,

  "Who are you? What are you doing in my bedroom?"

  "I'm sorry if I startled you, Mary. I know it's late, but I just need to ask you a couple of questions, if you don't mind." The man's voice was very soft and suggested no malicious intent.

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  Mary's mind hadn't processed his answer, so she asked again, "Who are you, and what do you want. I don't have much money in the house." Mary said nervously and a bit more forcefully.

  "Who I am is of no consequence… I just want answers. That's all."

  For the first time, she noticed that the man wore surgical gloves and had a slight British accent. Then, a noise came from somewhere else in the house. The man noticed her reaction and said,

  "That's just my associate. He's here to see that we're not disturbed while we chat."

  "Why are you wearing those gloves?" Mary's heart was pounding, and she had difficulty getting her words out.

  "Nothing sinister, I assure you. If it will make you feel better, I will take them off." He slipped off the gloves and placed them in his shirt pocket.

  "Now I'm just going to sit in this very comfortable chair and ask you some questions. I promise that if you give me the right answers, we will be on our way, and you can get back to sleep."

  "Okay," Mary said, although she didn't believe him.

  "We know your husband was in military intelligence and that your son Peter worked for the CIA during the Vietnam War. This question is very simple, Mary. Did they communicate with each other using encrypted letters while Peter was in Vietnam?

  Mary was stunned by the question.

  "That all happened so long ago. Why do you want to know about that now?"

  The man seemed a little agitated by her response.

  He put his head down briefly, then looked up and said, "Mary, I'm going to ask the questions here, and you're going to answer them. If you don't, you will force me to do something that I don't want to do. Now, do we understand each other, Mary?" The man said in a not-so-subtle tone.

  Mary started to cry softly and said, "Yes," just above a whisper.

  "What? I can't hear you, Mary."

  "Yes, I understand," Mary said a bit louder.

  "Good, now please tell me; did your husband and your son communicate with each other using encrypted letters when Peter was in Vietnam?"

  Mary nodded and said, "Yes, they did. Zed and Peter did write some letters to each other using some sort of encryption. It was simply a game to them, nothing more. Zed would decipher his letters and read them to me. There was nothing in them that compromised his job or our government. They were just about his daily life and how he missed his family, the hardships of Vietnam, and the seemingly endless war. They would try and stump each other with the codes; nothing more sinister than that, I assure you. Zed's job in the Army was to intercept enemy messages and decipher their codes. What Peter was involved with, I can't say because I simply don't know. I don't know any more than that. What does this have to do with anything today? This happened a very long time ago."

  The man considered this for a minute, "Do you still have any of these letters or any other material they used to communicate with each other, like code books or keys? Perhaps a log book?"

  "No, they were all destroyed when our home caught fire and burned to the ground in 1975."

  "What type of encryption did they use, and did your husband share this with anyone else besides you?"

  "I'm sorry, I don't know, you'll have to ask my husband. He's the only one that would know." Mary said nervously.

  The man's jaw tightened, and his face turned red.

  "Mary, you know very well that Zed can't answer any of my questions, now don't you. I went to see him today after you left the nursing home today. I understand that you take very good care of him. I wish I had a wife as loyal as you. So you see, that's why I'm asking you these questions and not him."

  Mary became very frightened and said, "I'm sorry, but I don't know anything. If I did, I would tell you."

  "Very well, now I only have one more question, Mary. Do you know of any other person your son wrote to while he was in Vietnam, a friend or girlfriend, perhaps someone from college?"

  "Mary shook her head, "None that I know of, and Peter never had a girlfriend that we were aware of."

  Mr. Nielson seemed a little more satisfied. He asked her a few more questions and then called his associate in a language Mary had never heard before. The man entered and never looked at Mary. Finally, Mr. Nielson stood and slipped on his gloves. The two men spoke briefly in the same foreign language, and then Nielson got up and started to leave the room without saying another word.

  Sensing her doom, Mary asked Nielson one final question.

  "Can you at least tell me what my son was involved in that brought you here today?"

  Nielson turned and looked at the old woman. Finally, he said, "That question I will answer. He got involved with the wrong person, Mary."

  Mary said nothing more, and then Mr. Nielson turned and left the room. Despite his profession, he was a little sad but had no choice. His employer wanted no loose ends.

  She looked at the man who had stayed behind. After Nielson left, he finally looked at her and smiled. Without saying a word, he slowly started making his way toward her bed. Mary was paralyzed with fear, although it didn’t stop the tears from running down her cheeks.

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