"The following story is fictional and does not depict any actual person or event" "What do you have there, Ned?" "It's for my dad" "Neddie!" "Neddie, could you take that bowl of potato chips into the family room?" "I've got batter on my hands" "Mom, I drew a picture of Dad's plane with the exact way that the wings were decorated, OK?" " OK, Neddie" "Because, you said he's not flying in that anymore so he needs something to remember it by" "Mom, I need you to start the shrimp rounds" "Who are you?" "Who are you?" "I'm Ned" "Well then I'm your dad, Ned" "You don't look like my dad" "I have his picture" "I'm a lot handsomer now than I used to be" "I'm home" "Oh, my God Carl" "Hi" " I remember you" " Hi" "I made this" "It's real" "These are the bracelets with your name on them" "Everybody wore 'em while you were in Vietnam" "Big boys don't cry, Dad" "I'm cryin' because your mom spent so much money on this box" "No, I made it" "Oh, yeah?" "Apr '73 Burton, C" "Lieutenant Stillman" "Kat Miller, narcotics I called you" "Detective Rush and Valens" "Glad you could come down" "We found something interesting tossed in this place" "What are they?" "POW bracelets" "All with the same name on 'em Carl Burton" "He was a Navy pilot" "Prisoner of war in Vietnam He was shot to death back here in '73" "You remember that all from cuff?" "He was a war hero" "Never brought the job in?" "Where'd you find this?" "Behind the water heater in the cellar" "I just thought that was off" "Something sentimental to a murder victim being stuffed down there" "So, were these like dog tags?" "Friends and family wore 'em, not the soldier" "POWs who made it home like Carl did, someone would gather them up and make a presentation" "Anyone you drag out of this place know how they wound up here?" "House was empty when we hit it" "Skimpy new direction" "He's a POW, Scotty" "We got anything, we're gonna go with it" "Yeah OK, sure" "In fact, think of Carl Burton like family" "That's how I want this job worked" "Carl Burton, 35, Lieutenant Commander, US Navy" "Shot down on his 23rd bombing mission over Hanoi" "Go up enough times, luck runs out" "His got even worse, was captured, spent 5 years in a prison camp" "Survives all that, gets gunned down in his own area code 7 months after he's home" "Last place Carl's seen was a funeral reception of a POW buddy of his, Rex Potter" "He was a Roxborough guy same as Carl, didn't make it out of the prison camp" "Interviews with the family, people at the Potter house that night, no one sees anything unusual" "Carl's body was found a mile from the reception, gun was a few feet from him but rain washed away any prints" "And a bag of marijuana in his pocket" "Well a funeral's gotta be intense, right?" "Put Carl in the mood for some kind of escape?" "He scores, gets shot on the way home, being in the wrong neighborhood" "That doesn't explain the bracelets in that house" "Maybe he tried to trade 'em to the dealer" "No, they're not worth anything" "Could be why he got shot" "Let's talk to Carl's wife and son, see what they remember about the day of the funeral" "Could be another vet burnout story, John" "Lot of guys we served with came home, turned to junk" "Whatever we find, we follow it up" "You didn't have to fix up, Mrs Burton" "Military wife, look right, live right" "May I get you a drink?" "Pretty early" "Cocktail hours somewhere, boys used to say" "We're here about your husband's murder" "Something come up?" "We found his POW bracelets in an abandoned house in Tioga" "Kind of sketchy area back when Carl was killed" "It's even worse now" "OK" "Any idea how the bracelets wound up there?" "No" "This is embarassing but," "I guess I lost track of them" "You don't seem like the losing track type" "No, but I lost track of myself for a time then" "Carl was carrying pot when he died" "The theory was that he had a habit" "Got him in to trouble that night" "Doesn't sound like the gung-ho fighter pilot I married" "How about the guy who came home to you in '72?" "I don't think about that man" "I'd rather remember Carl as he was before" "He was strong" "He was a hero, I was his wife" "Would you have known if he was doing drugs?" "No" "We really tried" "We just never got to know each other ever again" "This is very romantic" "Did you turn into a champagne girl while I was gone?" "Come on, now" "After sleeping for years with a guy in skivvies, showered once a week" "I'm finally looking good" "Remember when I broke up with you?" "You left a pathetic note in my parents' mail box" "'I need to be free'" "You came up to me in the parking lot and I'm thinking" "'Oh, no, here she comes She'd better not cry'" "Remember?" "I knew better than you even then" "'Carl, I got your note I don't think so'" "That's right" "I feel 18" "What is it, your shoulders?" "It's OK Come back" "Honey, no Not if it hurts you" "Come on" "We'll dance later when you're better" "I don't want you to pretend it doesn't hurt" "Let me pretend!" "My arms have been broken 4 times" "They're busted They'll always be" "I, I can't lift 'em I can't dance" "Sorry" "I should make sure Ned didn't wake up" "I'm goin' for a walk" "You don't need to wait for me" "He'd go for walks" "For hours" "Is that when this started?" "Any idea where'd he go on these walks?" "I didn't know where Carl was, truly" "Even when he was right in front of me" "But you two stayed together" "Hoping somehow we'd find what we lost" "But before we could, he was gone again" "Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania" "So, you're not the kind doc sees patients?" "No, I'm the kind who does the research" "Better hours?" "Better company" "So where did the bracelets turn up?" "Stashed away In a crack house" "Were they in the box?" "Yeah, there was a box" "I made that thing" "Thinkin' is, your dad wanted to buy drugs, maybe he got desperate, tried to pawn the bracelets" "Not exactly what you want to believe about your father but" "We know you were young when he got home / 7" "You remember anything that looking back makes you think he was usin'?" "No In fact from the day he got back he never missed Triple Nickel Reveille" " Wakin' up early?" " 5:55 AM" "Exercised best he could, started his day" "Not junkie behavior" "When'd'ya last see those bracelets?" "First week he was back, he put 'em in the basement" "He wasn't big on war mementos" " Tryin' to move on" " Yeah" "Anyone around back then who could of got in the way of that?" "There was someone Who we shouldn't of even known about" "Liberty City Zoo" "So these people, they made me stay over in Vietnam" "That why you didn't write me any letters?" "Only way I could even talk to my friends there was through a secret code we made up" "A secret code?" "Well each letter has its own number of taps" "We'd spell out words on the walls between our rooms" "Wow Like, could you do an N?" "Do E" "D" "That's my name, right?" "That's Ned in your secret code" "Do another" "I don't know, what's it mean?" "I said 'bear' Wanna go see the bears?" "When I come here with Ken, we always go see the lions first" "Who's Ken?" "Mommy's friend" "What kind of friend?" "Well he takes me to the zoo and he takes Mommy to dinner" "At some level I knew I shouldn't have said that" "'Cause you knew this Ken was your mom's special friend?" "Guess I was a little messed up about the dueling father figures" "Because truthfully, I knew Ken a lot better than my dad at that point" "Your dad follow up with this guy?" "Not that I heard about" "If I spent 5 years in a box getting tortured while some guy's taking my wife to dinner" "I'd follow up" "Janet Burton didn't mention anyone on the scene while Carl was gone?" "Played the pained and patient wife" "Not big on airing dirty laundry" "Doesn't she want to know what happened to Carl?" "Seemed afraid of what we might find, him not turning out to be the perfect hero" " The house with the bracelets" " Yeah, what'd you find?" "Back in '73, place still had renters before crack ran 'em out" "One of 'em, Ken Westin" "Our perfect wife's boyfriend" "Step lively lively, quietly" "Giving you a heads up, Dorothy" "Tour groups heading to ceramics, over" " Ken Westin?" " Absolutely" "Detective Valens, homicide" "Mind if I ask you to step to this side of the rope here, please" "We found some POW bracelets hidden in your old house, Ken" "Belonged to a murder victim Carl Burton?" "Whoa Carl's bracelets?" "I must've left those when I moved" "Why were they in your house in the first place?" "Already got the skinny on your relationship with Janet, so you can pick up from there" "I'm confessin' to the act of a heart-sick young man, OK?" "I took 'em The day she broke up with me" "To make myself feel better, I snatched the bracelets" " Low, I know" " It's real low, Ken" " The guy was a POW" " I appreciate that" "I was over there, too 11 months before illness befell me" "So, let's say the bracelet snatch doesn't do the trick and your still stewin'" "Makes me wonder where you were, the night Carl got shot" "I was at Smokie's, my regular night spot, sheesh!" "I stole from the guy I did not wish him to be dead" "Know anyone who might've?" "I'll tell you this, when he came back," "Carl wasn't exactly winning friends and influencing people" " What d'you mean?" " A little unstable" "And you'd know how?" "Did some research, check up on the guy, make sure he was worthy" "I asked you to take that down, Wes" "You kiddin' me hero?" "That signs worth at least two cars a month" "I mean three if I could teach you a little hustle" "She's a beauty" "Can I send you home together today?" "Oh, hello I need to think about it" "Excuse me, man" "You can't keep showin' up here Daniel" " You gonna talk to me?" " No!" "Well you gotta some day" "The kid's got hustle washing cars for free, you know?" "I told you to beat it" "Look, I just wanna know about my dad" "OK, I've asked you three times, now I'm doing your work for you," " I mean what's it gonna take?" " Leave this alone" " Leave my father alone?" " Believe me, there are some things you don't wanna know" "Now get outta here!" "You know, I've been real nice to you, Carl" "You're gonna wish you were nicer to me" "So, who was this kid Daniel?" "I can't say for sure, since I was no longer a member of the inner circle" "But this looked like a personal thing to you?" "The kid got under Carl's skin" "And I'd done enough research" "That was the last time I saw the moody son of a gun" "Ken Westin was a mistake, he was a neighborhood guy, kept me company while Carl was" "Oh, he was pretty wounded when you two broke up" "Stole Carl's bracelets" "Ken did it?" "Oh, for Pete's sakes" "Think he would've gone a step farther?" "Got into it with Carl?" "Confrontation was not Ken's style" "Janet, do you know anything about a kid named Daniel?" "Yeah Daniel He was" " Would coffee help you?" " No" "Daniel Potter, his father Rex was a POW with Carl" "Didn't make it home" "It was Rex's memorial Carl went to the day he died" "Have any idea why Carl and Daniel were fighting at the car dealership?" "Daniel was hounding Carl" "Trying to get stuff out of him about his father" "But Carl wouldn't talk about that" "He saw horrible things in that prison camp" "He wouldn't revisit them for anyone, not me, not Daniel" "When he said no to Daniel?" "The kid put a rock through our window" "He was angry at the world" "But, taking it out on Carl" "About their age?" "When your dad was in prison?" " Yeah" "Must've been rough" "Never knowing if he was comin' home" "Well I thought it would be easier somehow if I knew the details of what he was going through" " But Carl wouldn't say" " He was trying to protect me" "Pretty understanding for a guy who threw a rock at Carl's house" "Yeah, well that was awful" "You take it any further?" "Me being angry with Carl stopped with the rock" "Yeah?" "Why?" "He caught me red handed finally he gave me what I wanted" " You gonna pay to fix that?" " Let go of me " " No you wanna talk, let's talk" " Go ahead We're getting this over with" " Where's my dad?" " Still in prison in Hanoi" " Why?" "What did he do?" "He's an American soldier To the North Vietnamese that's a crime" "What's it like there?" "The prison?" "There's not a lot to eat Water makes you sick" "Guards are monsters in human clothes" "But your dad and the other guys, they have each other" "Can't they just get together and break out of there?" "I mean my dad can take some Vietnamese guy" "Maybe he will" " Is he gonna live?" " Yes" "Your dad's one of the strongest people I've ever met" "If I had to trek in hell, he's a guy I'd want by my side" "He's comin' home to you" "You guys are brave You are Carl" "I knew it" "Your dad, he's a hero Not me" "I'm a coward" "Coward?" "Why would Carl say that about himself?" "It doesn't make sense, right?" "Survived five years of being tortured" "Humble guy" "Or troubled" "Ever get the feeling he really meant that, Daniel?" "Saw him a few times after that Talked to him about my dad" "But every time I could always feel it Somethin' was eatin' him up" "Carl Burton's military service record" "I don't see anything in there that could make the guy call himself a coward" "Awarded bronze star, purple heart" "Oh, this is it He took early release" "What's that" "It means he left the prison camp early" "Thought you couldn't leave" "Well, not under honorable circumstances" "The code of conduct among POWs is that the sickest and longest serving go first" "But Carl wasn't either of those" "Then how does he get to the front of the line?" "Tells the VC guards what they want to hear, lets 'em use 'em for propaganda" "That doesn't sound like a gung-ho fighter pilot" " Why would he do that?" " Why?" "He's sick of gettin' beat nearly to death five years in a row, misses family, he's stowed in solitary" "It's hard to know what a code like that starts to mean at that point" "But a lot of guys did hang in" "Yeah, hundreds of 'em and they would not have been fans of Carl's" "And they came home a week before Carl was killed" "End of March '73, main group of POWs got back" "Any of 'em come back to Philly?" "A guy named Raitt from Antioch" "Roger Raitt, a Navy Commander?" "You know him?" "I served with him" "Been a long time" "I'm not much for the reunions" "Truth be told, I'm not either but working in the defense industry," " it pays to keep in touch" " Sure" "There's one this Saturday, in Old City" "I can't make small talk out of it, I'd rather just leave it behind" "And here you are, carrying a gun every day" "That's what I couldn't revisit" "Roger, I wanna talk to you about a guy you were in prison with, Carl Burton?" "Wound up dead, shot Right after you guys got back" "I remember / Comin' home it had to be hard to adust" "It made me realize any day I wake up with a doorknob on the inside of the door, it's a good day" "Maybe someone else didn't see it that way, came back angry, wanting to settle a score?" "Everyone has a breaking point" "Carl reached his over there" "I didn't respect it but I understood" "Hard to imagine all the POWs did" "We were like brothers, John, one of them went after Carl, I would've know" "I'm talkin' about a lot of soldiers and a guy they thought was a traitor" "We'd only been home a week and all of us already knew" "Carl's worst punishment was living with what he did" "Rex's 51st bombing run" "He gets hit Ejects" "Comes down outside Hanoi" "Spends a few hours hiding in a cave, trying to get up enough strength to move" "But when he hears a North Vietnamese patrol, he takes off on a broken leg, with only his pistol to hold off 20 guys chasing him" "For hours Rex dragged himself along just ahead of them" "Till he comes to this hollowed out tree and squeezes in" "How dare you" "I'm here to pay my respects" " How dare you sneak in here!" " Mom, stop it!" "You don't know what this man did to your father, Daniel" "Let's calm down We're here for Rex" "Rex wouldn't want you here" "You betrayed him Betrayed everyone" "You're a disgrace" " Daddy?" " OK, Ned" "I'm sorry, Ruth" "Carl" "I think it's better if you don't go to the reception / Yeah" " I'll tell the guys that" " Tell them I died over there, Roger" "Tell them I'm already a ghost" "Guys who stuck it out, resisted the most, did better when we got home" "The ones who gave in had a tougher time / Yeah" "How bad do you think it was for Carl?" "Bad enough I thought he'd kill himself" "The gun was found 5 feet away from his body" "You remember how long it takes a man to die from a gut shot" "Might've crawled away after" "But who commits suicide by shooting themselves in the stomach?" "Guy aiming for his heart whose arms don't work anymore" "Could be my last cheesesteak for a while / Oh, yeah?" " Julie's talkin' about tofu" " Lieutenant" "Miller, how are you doing?" "Just dropped a guy in lock up" "How's the Burton case panning' out?" "Nick Veera, this is Kat Miller, she's the one that turned up the POW bracelets" " Good work" " Thanks" "So?" "Well the latest is, Carl might have commited suicide" "A close fire would have left lead residue on his clothes, right?" "Labs checkin'" "So, I hear you're doin' well over in narcotics" "Oh, good I like it, so" "Is that your long term area of interest?" "I never thought I'd be a cop in the first place so I'm game for whatever crops up" "I thought being' in blue was every girls' dream" "You got somethin' else on mind?" "It's a long story But, here I am" " My options are open" " That's good to know" "Ken Westin copped to taking' your dad's bracelets" "Ken did?" "Really?" "Dumb reaction to your mom dropping him" "Does that maybe make the drug scenario less likely?" " Maybe" "Ned, there was an incident at Rex Potter's memorial" " The day your father died" " Yeah, I remember it" "The rest of the POWs took issue with your dad showing up" "We could see it in their faces when we walked in They hated him" "Must've been pretty crushing for him / Yeah" "One of those POWs thinks maybe he couldn't take it any longer" "You mean killed himself?" "However he died, Ned, it ain't gonna change what he was to you" "I know a reason why he might have killed himself" "Me What I did" "Hey, buddy" "I know it's not fun to be around people yelling like that" "It's OK" "I love you" "Me, too, Daddy" "So you don't mind if I eat all your ice cream?" "You could have your own" " So, what can I get you guys?" " Bomb pop, please" "Hey, I remember you, you came in last summer with your dad" "I'm his dad Carl Burton, hi" "No, it was another man A soldier" "He'd been over in a Vietnam prison camp, had some break your heart stories about it" "I was not here last summer, I was that was not me" "I'm sure it was this little boy Who was that?" "Who was it, Ned?" "Ken" "Ken was not a POW Did he use my name?" "Told this lady he was your dad?" " Yes" "And you let him Why Ned?" "I don't know" "So Ken's not just moving in on Carl's wife while he's gone" "He's pretending to be him" "I was with him a few times when he did it" "Didn't stop him" "You were 7" "But I knew it was wrong" "So after your dad found out?" "Marched me home, went down to the basement for a while, then left" " Where was your mom?" " Asleep" "Has been ever since" "Lab results are back" "No traces of lead on Carl's clothes, that rules out suicide" "So even if that was what Carl was thinking that night, someone got to him first" "If it's me," "I'm heading' after the guy posing' as my kid's dad" "Says here Carl was at Rex Potter's funeral reception" "Even after Roger Raitt told him not to show" "Ken lived near the Potters, knew them" "So maybe he's at the reception, that's where Carl goes lookin' for him" "After Carl gets something out of the basement, maybe a weapon, he goes to confront Ken" "And never makes it back" "Westin spent four months in Texas in '71, waiting to be shipped out" "Had a nervous breakdown Discharged before he left US soil" "All right" " You want us in there?" " I got it" "Sorry to pull you from work, Ken" " I needed to talk to you" " Oh, sure" "So, it sounds like Carl Burton was comin' apart at the seams when he got back" "Yeah, he seemed to have trouble adjusting" "It's tough to watch that" "Guys over there snapping' out" "Gotta go home, get out of here" "You can see they're never gonna be the same" " You know what I mean" " Oh, I do" "Everybody going, "crap, so-and-so lost it"" "But in the back of your mind, you're thinking "I'm with him"" " In your weak moments" " You lay scheming' at night" "Come close to doin' some crazy stuff, yeah" "So Carl turns up at this funeral reception where he's disinvited, what was it like?" "Antagonistic" "He's looking for trouble" "So you saw him the night he died?" "That's funny, 'cause you didn't tell us that, you said you were at the bar tossing' back a few when Carl was shot" "Yep Went there after" "OK, then So that was a lie you told us?" "Not intentionally" "It's been a long time" "Memory's middle aged now" "That's OK It's a small time lie for you" "Does that bother you Ken?" "'Cause it doesn't seem violent to me, I'm used to it" "Maybe because guns have been a part of me since I was a kid" "I was 17 years old when I went over there" "I thought it was a toy" "Until I watched a few men die slowly" "But you know what I'm talking about" "What this does" "Not because you're a soldier, because we know you weren't" "Ah, Lieutenant" "How long did Carl bleed?" "This is serious!" "How long did Carl bleed?" "I could never" "In extreme circumstances, you learn about human nature" "But what kind of person would pretend to be a POW?" "I'd like a lawyer" "Why?" "What did you do?" "I didn't do anything to Carl" "Well you took what belonged to him and walked around like it was yours" "Do you really think someone who had a nervous breakdown at Fort Hood would survive five years in the Hanoi Hilton?" "It's a bad lie you told" "I know I know" "I think I may have a disease" "You tell people you're a racecar driver, a brain surgeon" "Not a POW" "Now talk about that night" "Carl confronted you at that reception / Yes" "And what did you do?" "Nothing" "Got called out" "I didn't have much time, after I parachuted down" "I had to start my escape on a busted leg" " I hear you wanna be me" " Excuse me?" "Well, might as well take these" "Use my name, my wife, my kid" "So now you got everything that means a damn thing to me" "Carl, this is akward" "You have something wrong with you, you know that?" "Well that's the pot callin' the kettle black" " You're a fraud" " Daniel, I'm sorry" "Hey Carl, let's play a game" "This is a grenade And you're you" " Daniel" " Get away from me" "And that's how you got the bracelets" "A few minutes later," "Daniel left the house, went after Carl" "I told your detective the kid was a problem" "Yeah, well You're a real solid judge of character, Ken" "We found out the truth that day, huh, Daniel" " What truth?" " About Carl" "Wasn't the guy you thought" "He was, underneath" "Hearing about early release didn't change that" "So why the big scene at the reception?" "You were real keyed up" " Giving Carl what for" " Called him a fraud" "Look, Vietnam was complicated" "The POWs are getting tortured and all they hear from America is that this war's a mistake" "I get it I get Carl throwing in the towel" "See, that's interesting but that's what an adult thinks" "Then what does a 15 year old who just lost his dad think?" "That Carl abandoned Rex Potter to die" "And he runs home with his tail between his legs while your dad was still takin' it" " Busted limbs, broken teeth" " Don't talk about my dad" "You don't know what it was like for him" "But Carl did" "And he still left him there" "I got one letter from my dad but the government blacked it out halfway" "He took the time to write me and they blacked it out" "I thought I could get the black off" "I put it in water" "The only letter he sent" "I just wanted to know him" "He was gone a long time" "I thought that Carl could help me" "Fill in the gap" "And he was right" "I didn't wanna know" "You wanna just follow me or do you wanna talk?" "I wanna ask you some things" "Are you stoned?" "Do not get into this" " This is bad news" " Shut up" "This time we're talkin' and you're gonna answer me for real" "After you left today the other POWs told me that you gave up" "Said things you should be ashamed of and then left my dad to die" "Is that true?" "Is it true, Carl?" "I left the prison" " And your dad was still there" " You left him, all his friends said it" "I didn't want anything to happen to him" "But I had to go home" "They played you on a loudspeaker in prison and everyone heard you say that the war was wrong" "You said they were war criminals and that the Vietnamese saved you!" "I said things I didn't mean because I wanted to get home!" "Why?" "Why couldn't you do it like my dad?" "Because they broke me!" "They chained us up" "They kicked our teeth in, they killed our friends" "That's what they did" "To my dad?" "To all of us" "And I couldn't do it one more day" "I wanted to see my wife, my son" "You saying my dad didn't want to see me?" " Daniel, put that down" " Answer me!" "Daniel he was crazy about you!" "Why didn't he come home then?" "Because he wouldn't give in" "He was the toughest guy I ever met" "He could stick it out and I couldn't" "What if they were breaking his arms and kicking his teeth, while he heard you saying that stuff over the loudspeaker?" " Daniel!" "he heard you say he was wrong!" "And he wasn't!" "He wasn't!" "Carl, I think I hit you bad" "Go, don't be here, go!" "It's OK!" "Carl, I didn't mean it!" "Go!" "Run!" "* Gordon Lightfoot" "* If you could read my mind love *" "* What a tale my thoughts could tell *" "* Just like an old time movie *" "* ¡¯bout a ghost from a wishin¡¯ well *" "* In a castle dark or a fortress strong *" "* With chains upon my feet *" "* You know that ghost is me *" "* And I will never be set free *" "* As long as I¡¯m a ghost" "* If I could read your mind love *" "* What a tale your thoughts could tell *" "* Just like a paperback novel *" "* The kind that drugstores sell *" "* When you reach the part" "* The hero would be me *" "* But heroes often fail *" "* And you won¡¯t read that book again *" "* Because the ending¡¯s" "* If you could read my mind love *" "* What a tale my thoughts could tell *" "* Just like an old time movie *" "* ¡¯bout a ghost from a wishin¡¯ well *" "* In a castle dark or a fortress strong *" "* With chains upon my feet *" "* But stories always end *" "* And if you read between the lines *" "* You¡¯ll know that I¡¯m just" "* The feelin¡¯s that you lack *" "* I never thought I could feel this way *" "* And I¡¯ve got to say" "* I don¡¯t know where we went wrong *" "* But the feelin¡¯s gone *" "* And I just can¡¯t get it back *"