The Secrets on Chicory Lane: A Novel(54)

Then came a witness who revealed a lot of Eddie’s history I’d always wondered about—his time in Vietnam. It seemed this man was the witness the prosecution wanted but the defense didn’t. It looked like the trade had been made. Did that mean Jim Baxter would get to testify?

“State your name for the record.”

“Victor Blair.”

“And how do you know the defendant?”

“I was his sergeant in the Second Battalion, First Infantry, Americal Division of the United States Armed Forces during the Vietnam War.”

“Americal Division?”

“That was the unofficial name for our unit. The 196th Infantry Brigade of the army.”

“And where were you stationed when you knew the defendant?”

“Da Nang, Vietnam.”

“And when did you know him?

“From December 1971 to June 1972.”

Blair was in his late fifties, had a buzz cut, and looked as if he had come from Central Casting as an ex-Army man. He was in fine shape and sported the appropriate ruggedness.

“Was the defendant in your battalion?”

“Yes, sir, he was a private.”

Shamrock established that Blair was now retired and had been in the army for twenty years following the Vietnam War. He currently resided in California.

“How would you describe the defendant as a soldier?” Shamrock asked.

“He was a problem soldier, sir.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“He had an attitude problem. He didn’t want to follow rules, and he disregarded authority. But he was respected in many ways.”

“Hold on. Go back to ‘attitude problem.’ What do you mean by that?”

“Private Newcott often went out in the shit—excuse me, Your Honor, I mean he often went out on his own to look for the enemy. It was very dangerous and against protocol.”

“He went out on his own?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I don’t understand. Please explain it to the jury.”

“Sometimes at night, Private Newcott would simply slip out of the base and go out on a patrol alone, without authorization, in search of enemy units.”

“I see. Was he disciplined for these actions?”

“Many times.”

“Why do you think he did that, Mr. Blair?”

“We all thought he was nuts. Brave, but nuts.”

Crane didn’t object. Shamrock continued, “Did he put the other men in his unit in jeopardy by disobeying orders?”

“I wouldn’t say he disobeyed orders, he disobeyed rules. He wasn’t supposed to go into the bush by himself. That was a crazy thing to do.”

“Tell us, Mr. Blair, what kind of reputation did Private Newcott have among his fellow soldiers?”

“I’d say he was respected, in a way.”

“How so?”

“Like I said, he was uncommonly brave. I mean, to go out into the jungle at night, alone, took some ba—er, some courage. And he got results.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Well, we all called him ‘Snoop.’”

“Snoop?”

“He was good at reconnaissance. Private Newcott single-handedly brought back quite a bit of intelligence about the enemy—where they were hiding, how well they were armed. That sort of thing. He was sneaky.”

“I see. Was there anything else about Private Newcott that bothered you besides his tendency to disobey the rules?”

“Yes. One day I accompanied Private Newcott’s platoon on patrol. We came upon a village that we suspected of being a Viet Cong supply center. Our orders were to search the village for weapons and other evidence of enemy activity. It appeared that women, children, and elderly men were the only occupants. The kids were inside a hut that was apparently a small school. We stormed the village and rounded everyone up, including the children. The women became distressed, and the younger kids started crying. I put Private Newcott in charge of guarding the civilians while the rest of us commenced with the search. I was inside one of the huts when we heard gunfire outside. We ran out, ready to engage the enemy—but it turned out it was Private Newcott. He had discharged his weapon at the civilians to ‘scare’ them. He shot up the ground where they were standing. I shouted at him to stop and demanded to know what he thought he was doing.”

“And what did Private Newcott say?”

“He told me that we should just kill them all—especially the children—so that they wouldn’t grow up to be enemy ‘gooks.’”

“How did you respond?”

“I ordered him to stand down. I replaced him as guard and sent him to help search the village.”

“What happened after that?”

“Nothing until that night. We didn’t find weapons, so we left the village and went back to base. However, that night, the village burned down. There were civilian casualties. No one knew how it happened, but I found out the next day that Private Newcott had gone off on his own again the night it occurred. I confronted him about it, but he told me that he was nowhere near the village.”

“Did you believe him?”

“Not really. I had no proof, none of us did. But we all thought he did it.”