Difficult Run by John Dibble

attorney, and was escorted to the conference room on the first floor where M.J. and Jake were waiting.   He looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties, but his eyes had a vacant stare that made him appear much older.   He was wearing the Marine Corps uniform consisting of a short-sleeve khaki shirt and drab green trousers.   His hat was tucked tightly under his arm.
    His shoulders and arms were as massive as M.J. remembered from the trail, and his chest, which she had not seen, was equally well developed.   She surmised that he had to have his shirts tailored to fit his physique.
    His shirt was adorned with three rows of medals and M.J. recognized a Silver Star and what she thought was a Bronze Star.   He towered over both her and Jake.
    “Please have a seat Sergeant,” she said. “Thank you for coming.”
    “Yes Ma’am.   What is this about?” he asked.
    “Well, as I said on the phone, we just want to ask you a few questions,” she replied. “I guess the first question is whether you have you ever been to Great Falls Park?”
    “Yes Ma’am, yesterday, as a matter of fact,” he replied.
    “Is that the first time you’d been there?” she asked.
    “Yes Ma’am,” he replied.
    “And why did you go there?” she asked.
    “A friend of mine told me it was a good place to run, so I thought I’d try it out,” he responded.
    “You ran down a trail to a place called Difficult Run and stopped and looked around.   Why did you do that?” M.J. asked.
    “How do you know that?” he asked.
    “I was behind you on the trail,” M.J. responded.
    “What’s wrong with stopping and looking around?” he asked.
    “Nothing.   But then you started to cry, sob really,” M.J. said.
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said with some irritation.
    “Sergeant, I was right behind you on the trail and I saw you start crying and then fall to your knees with your face in your hands,” M.J. said.
    “I still don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.   “Why are you asking me these questions anyway?”
    “OK, Sergeant. There were two murders committed very near the place where I saw you stop and start sobbing and we’d like to know what you know about them,” M.J. said.   “Just tell us why you stopped there and started crying.”
    Cody looked down at the floor.   He seemed to be composing himself.   When he looked up he asked, “Are you going to tell my C.O. about this?”
    “Not based on anything we’ve heard so far,” M.J. replied.
    Cody hesitated and took a deep breath. “Three years ago,” he said, looking at the floor again, “a squad I was leading was ambushed by the Taliban on a trail by a stream in eastern Afghanistan.   The place looked just like the place where I stopped when I was running yesterday.   Three of my men were killed in that ambush and two more seriously wounded.   I guess when I saw that place in the park I had some kind of a flashback.   It just came out of nowhere and completely overwhelmed me.   I’ve had some other problems like this, but they didn’t bring me down this hard.”
    M.J. gave him a few moments before speaking.
    “One last question Sergeant, she said. “Where were you on April 4 of this year?”
    “That’s easy to answer Ma’am,” he replied.   “I was in Helmand Province in Afghanistan with the 2nd Battalion of the 8th Marines.”
    M.J. and Jake looked at each other in stunned silence.
    When she finally spoke, M.J. said “Thank you for meeting with us.”   She hesitated and then said, “And thank you for your service.”
    After Cody had left, M.J. turned to Jake and said, “I need a drink.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
     
    S HE WENT RUNNING THE NEXT MORNING.   As usual, Lola was ready with her leash and Doc was ready with a cup of coffee.
    “How are things going?” Doc asked.
    “OK, I guess,” M.J. replied.   “Thought I had a good suspect yesterday, a guy that matched the description we’re looking for and