"Can't say that I do," Billy Joe smiled before turning his attention to the brunette.
"Are you sure?" Shannie asked.
"He said he didn't." The brunette ran her eyes up and down Shannie disapprovingly.
I gave Shannie a 'let's go' look.
Shannie stood firm. Batting her eyelashes at Billy Joe Shannie said, "I don't want to be a pest…"
The brunette sighed.
Shannie continued. "…My brother was killed and nobody seems to care. I can't get any answers. I'm just looking for answers. All I want are some answers."
"Write your congressman," the brunette snapped. "Leave us the hell alone."
Shannie turned her attention to the brunette. "If it was your boyfriend instead of my brother, I'd help you."
"Fiancé," the brunette extended her hand, revealing an obnoxiously large stone on her finger.
"Oh Stacy, stop it," Billy Joe said to the brunette.
"Don't oh Stacy me," the brunette snapped. "I waited seven months for you to come home, I'm not about to let a little hussy interfere with my happiness."
"Put yourself in her shoes," Billy Joe entreated.
"Maybe she should put herself in my shoes," the brunette began.
"What a beautiful ring." Shannie's comment went unheard. The couple began arguing. "Where you'd get it, Wal-Mart? Must be pure Zirconium, gotta be the most expensive ring in the trailer park." Turning to me, Shannie said, "Let's go Just James." Leading me by the hand she stopped at the first pair of helmeted soldiers, again asking if they were absolutely sure that they didn't hear anything about Count's fratricide. "Thanks for nothing," she mumbled as we turned away.
We approached group after group of soldiers, their reception civil but cool. None of the groups as inhospitable as the first, none of them friendly. Shannie became disquieted, "It's like no one gives a fuck."
Late afternoon shadows were long when we stumbled across the first members of 2nd Brigade. Almost immediately they directed us to members of B Company. "You want to ask for a Captain Mulberry," a 1st Lieutenant Meany instructed.
"Thanks," Shannie answered. "You wouldn't know anything about a fratricide in the Wadi-al-Batin?"
"You mean the fratricide. Yeah I heard of it; everyone in 2nd heard about it," Meany said. "Over and over again. No one really knows the details."
"What do you know?" Shannie asked with raised eyebrows.