Bosch froze. He didn’t make a sound, he didn’t take a breath. He waited for more. When nothing came forth, he tried to gently coax the story out.

“When was that?” he asked.

“About a year after Storm. I remember I was a short-timer by then. It was like two weeks before my discharge. She somehow found me and came to the base, asking all these questions.”

“What exactly did she ask, do you remember?”

“She asked about that second day, you know, when she was off duty. First she asked if I’d seen her, and I said, don’t you remember? She then asked me who she was with and when was the last time I saw her.”

“What did you tell her?”

“I remembered that she went off with some of the guys. They said they were going to go to the disco and I didn’t want to go. So they left. I didn’t see her again until she came to Fort Benning.”

“Did you ask her why she wanted this information?”

“Not really. I think I kind of knew.”

Bosch nodded. It was likely the reason she remembered the last conversation so clearly after twenty years.

“Something happened to her on that boat,” he said.

“I think so,” Jackson said. “But I didn’t ask the specifics. I didn’t think she wanted to tell me. She just wanted answers to her questions. She wanted to know who she was with.”

Bosch thought he now understood many of the mysteries of the case. What the war crime was that Anneke Jespersen was investigating, and why she shared what she was doing with no one else. He felt a deeper heartbreak for the woman he never met or knew.

“Tell me about the men she went off with on the boat. How many were there?”

“I don’t remember, three or four.”

“Do you remember anything else about them? Anything at all?”

“They were from California.”

Now Bosch paused as Jackson’s answer rang in his head like a bell.

“Is that all, Detective? I need to go.”

“Just a few more, Ms. Jackson. You are being very helpful. How did you know the men were from California?”

“I don’t know. I just knew it. They must’ve told us, because I knew they were California guys. That’s what I told her when she came to see me at the base.”

“Do you remember any names or anything like that?”

“No, not now. It’s been forever since then. I only remember what I’m telling you because she came to see me that time.”

“What about back then? Do you remember if you gave her any of the names of these guys?”

There was a long pause while Jackson thought about it.