“Louie spoke to me about believing his time was up,” Evans said. “But that was about the war, not these killings. That’s how I took it, anyway.”
“Were he and Gates close?”
“Yeah, they went back to North Africa. He took Gates’s death hard, kept saying he wished he’d been with him, maybe he could have gotten the drop on that officer. Caught out there yesterday, I think he’d given up all hope.”
The snarl of aircraft approaching interrupted us, and the crash of bombs down by the sea, a few hundred yards away, signaled the approach of the Luftwaffe, hard at work hitting the ships supplying the beachhead. Our antiaircraft batteries opened up, and the pounding of the guns combined with explosions was deafening. The medical staff grabbed helmets and stood by their patients.
“Can you make it to a shelter?” I asked Evans, yelling into his ear.
“No, takes too long. Best to ride it out. You go.”
Now, I had a burning desire to make it home from this war in one piece, and normally at the sound of air-raid sirens I dive headfirst into the nearest bomb shelter. But with those nurses, doctors, and orderlies staying put, I felt embarrassed to skedaddle. Dumb, I know. I held my helmet in place with my hands and sat on the floor, pulling my knees up to protect myself. If a bomb hit close by, it would be meaningless, but it gave me something to do.
I felt the vibrations from the bomb hits in the wood flooring, and then a tremendous crash, the cots and me bouncing a couple of times. That was real close, and I was glad that no one tried to dig a tunnel out of there. I would have been tempted to join in.
“Now I know why they call it Hell’s Half Acre,” I said as the explosions receded.
“I won’t miss the place,” Evans said. “They say I’ll be shipped out to Naples in a few days.” He shifted in his cot, trying to get comfortable. His arm was set up, a brace in the cast supporting it.
“Does it hurt?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Still got some shrapnel in there. The doc said it would take a few operations to get it all out.”
“Hey, a million-dollar wound, congratulations,” I said, meaning it. Evans had done all right. But I still had questions for him. “Do you remember when we were talking about Bar Raffaele, right after you were wounded? About the girl, Ileana?”
“I remember Ileana, but I don’t recall talking with you about her. They gave me morphine out there, so everything’s kind of hazy.
“You started to say something about one of the guys and her, but then you faded away.”
“There was a lieutenant who was sweet on her. It was kind of sad, really.”
“Could that have been Landry?”
“No idea. I guess so. I didn’t know the guy, maybe saw him there a few times. It was just something you talked about, you know? Was she playing him for a sap, or was she going to give up the business? Either way, it’d be tough for him.”
“You got that right. Rest up, and enjoy Naples.”
“Thanks. You find that killer and end this, okay? There’s enough dead bodies here for a lifetime.”
I couldn’t argue.
Outside, I buttoned my jacket up against the cold wind coming off the sea. The sky was leaden gray, the ground damp, and I felt the chill creep up through my boots. I decided a cup of joe was in order, and headed for the mess tent. I saw that the dug-in tents were finished, set four feet underground and reinforced with sandbags. Litters were being carried down the steps into what looked like an operating room. Not the fanciest hospital, but likely the best north of Naples.
In the mess tent, I spotted Bobby K, wearing his new corporal’s stripes.
“Those look good on you, Bobby K,” I said, sitting across from him with my coffee. We were at the end of a long trestle table, and I set my Thompson down next to the coffee.
“Thanks, Lieutenant,” he said. “I lost sight of you yesterday. Glad you’re okay.”
“I am. What are you doing here?”
“I was escorting some Kraut prisoners when we got caught in the bombing and had to bring a few of them in to be treated. Soon as they’re patched up they’re getting loaded on a transport and shipped out. How lucky, huh?”
“No kidding. You’re not hurt, right?”
“Nope, just enjoying the privileges of rank. I got three privates watching the wounded prisoners while I sit here. So thanks again. Colonel Harding came through, like you said he would.”
“You deserve it, Bobby. You’re in reserve with Second Battalion, right?”
“Yeah, we’re digging in deep. They’ve been shelling us pretty bad. We had the POWs in a holding pen but we had to bring them into our shelters. Some of the guys wanted to leave them out there for a taste of their own medicine, but that didn’t seem right. Anyway, our captain ordered us to, so that was that.”
“So when did they get hit?”
“After it was over. The Kraut observers must have seen the trucks coming in to load them up, ’cause all of a sudden we got plastered. Couple of POWs got killed, but the rest were minor wounds. Minor-when-it-ain’t-you kind of minor.”
“They seem to be able to zero in pretty well. Spotting a few trucks from up in those hills is a neat trick,” I said. I noticed Corporal Kawulicz eyeing my Thompson. He had a carbine leaning against the bench by his leg. “Looking for a Thompson?”
“I tried to get one, but they’re hard to come by.”
“Why do you want one? That M1 carbine is more accurate.”
“Yeah, but it’s not like we’re target shooting. And they’re only. 30 caliber rounds. The Thompson has better stopping power with that. 45 slug. Corporals are supposed to be issued one, you know.”
“Tell you what,” I said. “We’ll swap.” I pushed the submachine toward him and undid my web belt with the extra magazines.
“Really? You sure, Lieutenant?”
“I’m sure.” He didn’t need much encouragement.
A few minutes later, we walked out of the mess tent, the new corporal proudly sporting his new Thompson submachine gun. I carried the lighter M1 carbine, glad of the reduced weight but still feeling a burden settle onto my shoulders. I was worried about Danny going through the barrages Bob described. How were the Germans hitting us so accurately, so far from the front lines?
We stopped at a tent with a bored private standing guard, and Bobby K stuck his head inside to ask if the prisoners were bandaged up and ready to go.
“Perhaps you can explain this, Corporal,” I heard a familiar voice say, and saw Doctor Cassidy emerge from the tent with Bobby in tow. “Billy, didn’t expect to see you here again. Are you in charge of this prisoner detail?”
“No, I was just having coffee with the corporal. We’re old pals. What’s up?”
“Follow me,” he said. He took us to another tent and opened the flaps. A sickly smell wafted out and I guessed this was the morgue, or where they stashed the dead if ‘morgue’ was too fancy a term for a dirt-floor army tent. Several bodies were on the ground, already zipped up in mattress covers. One had only a sheet covering him. “Care to tell me how this happened, Corporal?” He pulled the sheet away to reveal a German officer. His tunic collar was undone, and he wore the distinctive paratrooper’s smock.
“ Fallschirmjager,” I said. His right trouser leg was torn open and his leg swathed in a dirty bandage.
“Right, but he didn’t die of his wounds, did he, Corporal?” Cassidy said.
“I don’t know, he was limping but seemed okay. Then after the shelling he was out cold. I couldn’t find any other wounds, so I brought him here. What’s wrong with him?”
“This,” I said, pointing to the bruises around his neck.
“And these,” Cassidy said, showing the trademark red splotches in the eyes and across the face. “He was strangled, Corporal. What do you know about this?”
“Nothing, sir, honest. We protected these guys from the barrage, brought them into our own shelters. Then we got hit again after the all clear. It was all confused, and we had to make sure no one got away. I loaded this guy in with the wounded and brought him here. That’s all I know.”