Chapter 4 - One of the Dead Soldiers’ Mothers Called Cassidy
Staff Sergeant Luke Mercer died at Red Hollow.
His mother, Patricia, called Cassidy three months after the funeral.
She was crying.
Not loudly.
The kind of quiet crying that made Cassidy grip the phone tighter.
“They denied part of his line-of-duty documentation.”
Cassidy sat upright.
“What?”
“There’s some question about where he was assigned that night.”
Cassidy’s stomach tightened.
Patricia continued.
“They said his death is still service-connected, obviously. But the operational documentation is inconsistent.”
That mattered.
Not because the military had refused to acknowledge Luke died.
It hadn’t.
His family received casualty assistance.
But the inconsistent mission status affected the record surrounding his death.
Awards.
Investigative responsibility.
The official history of why Luke was there.
His mother wanted one thing.
“I need his record to say what happened.”
Cassidy promised:
“I’ll find out.”
May you like
That promise became the reason she stopped letting Everett tell her to move on.
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