Page 68 of I’ll Be Watching You

Nate stifled a laugh.

We crossed the road, then went back down to the wash. This side was twice as wide and the houses came right up to the edge because the raised pathway ended just after the road. There were worn trails throughout and signs of recent dirt bikes. We walked four blocks until we hit where the wash merged with Skunk Creek.

There was no water in Skunk Creek now, but during heavy rains it came down from the mountain on the north side of the 101. This intersection would bring in heavy water that would eventually be channeled to New River. We lived in a desert. Most of the year these channels, canals, and washes were bone-dry. But when it rained, we needed them to prevent the entire valley from flooding.

Lying under a tree was a man who was clearly homeless, his head on a jacket. Sleeping off a binge? Maybe. He wasn’t Jim Novak—this man was darker with black hair.

Nate and I glanced at each other, and I knew he was thinking what I was thinking. We approached the man but stood several feet away to give him space so he didn’t feel threatened.

“Hey, sir,” Nate said in a voice that was firm but kind.

He opened his eyes. “Not bothering anyone.”

“We’re looking for a friend and thought you might be able to help.”

The man coughed, rolled to his back, didn’t say anything.

“What’s your name?” I asked. “I’m Margo, this is Nate.”

“Gene.”

“Hi, Gene,” I said. “We’re looking for a man named Jim.”

My phone vibrated with a text message, but I ignored it.

“Don’t know.”

“It’s really important that we find him,” I said. “He’s a veteran, his daughter is looking for him, she’s worried.”

Gene grunted.

“We found his camp on the other side of the wash,” I said, though I didn’t know for a fact it belonged to Novak.

“Then why ya bugging me? Go ’way.”

“Hey, if you don’t mind me asking, were you in the service?” Nate asked. “I was Navy myself.”

Gene opened his eyes, then put his arm over his forehead to shield them from the early-afternoon light.

“Did a couple years in the Army, back in the day,” Gene said. “Long, long time ago.”

While the homeless crisis was complex, my heart went out to people like Gene who had served their country and then came back to a changed world and little help to cope.

There were programs, there were opportunities, but I thought back to the PTSD drug trial that failed and how there would always be greedy people who took advantage of those who needed help.

“Margo here was Army,” Nate said. “Fort Hood.”

“Humph,” Gene said. “Irwin.”

Irwin trained for desert warfare, and Gene looked about the age to have served during Desert Storm. Older than me, older than Novak.

“You can go now,” Gene said.

“Have you seen Jim in the last couple days?” Nate asked.

“If I say yes will you leave me be?”

“Only if you’re telling the truth,” Nate said.