One More Story

It was months after Kirk went missing, and there were CID agents in our livingroom. We were all sitting around the table, two dark-suited men, my mother and I. It had been a long and strange conversation. There are any number of stories that could come out of it, but there's just one I want to tell right now.

It was nearly the end of the whole interview. They had been kind, calm, reserved but suddenly they were uncomfortable. They shifted in their chairs and exchanged a look. Finally one cleared his throat.

There was one more thing, something that might be hard...

I didn't know what to think. If they knew what had happened to Kirk surely they would have said something at the start, not waited until the very end of a couple of hours of talk. Months of horrible imagined scenes came quickly to mind.

... there was talk (he said) ... someone had mentioned ... a Russian woman that Kirk might have become friends with.

And I think we shocked those poor CID men, my mother and I, because we burst out laughing. Real laughter, honest, genuine, true laughter.

It was utterly ridiculous to imagine Kirk, six weeks away from home, suddenly starting a torrid affair with a Russian seductress and... no, not Kirk. Not that I doubt the story - there probably was a Russian out there somewhere, and Kirk being Kirk would have delighted in talking to her. But unfaithful? No.

So why tell this piece of that afternoon? Because of the story. Just one of Kirk's many little moments captured, only this was the last one, during one of the very last phone calls, just before the last trip.

I have a confession to make, he said, there's... another woman.

Excellent, I answered, and how old is she?

He laughed. You didn't ask what she looked like!

I know you too well.

She was six, the daughter of the man who owned the house Kirk was staying in somewhere in Iraq. They had asked him in for dinner, and as he sat in their warm house, happily trying to communicate with broken English, Russian, Arabic and German, he felt a small hand on his arm, and turned to see a pair of enormous brown eyes. She was fascinated with this stranger, this American, and once she overcame her shyness she refused to leave his side for the rest of the night. He talked to her father about his own children, and they agreed that this was what was really important. The little girl finally went to sleep sitting with him.

Sorry, he said, he was in love.

No Russian woman, just one small Iraqi girl. One last story.

Investigation Status

I have to be really careful answering the question in the comment to the entry below. Keep in mind that I'm stating what I understand about things, and I might not have everything just right.

The investigation into Kirk's disappearance is not exactly closed. They still want to find the people who killed him - I think they know who it is, but those men are hiding. They also want to find Kirk's body if possible and there is still a reward out for information that will help in these things.

The large investigation is more complicated. There were three parts - Kirk's disappearance, Ryan Manelick's murder, and the allegation of fraud. The other two pieces are still unsolved so far as I know.

I should probably emphasize that - so far as I know. I was not given any information about anything other than Kirk's death, and since his death had nothing to do with the fraud or the murder, those things were not addressed. So my understanding is that the investigation is ongoing.

I want to publically thank the agents who met with me on August 9th. They flew out so we could meet in person, and were willing to take as much time as necessary to answer as many questions as possible. In a situation that was terribly painful and difficult they were thoughtful, considerate, and kind. They never forgot that this is a human story, and their humanity was their greatest gift to us.

Story

Went to California for a week - back to the Bay area where we last lived as a family with Kirk. It's a beautiful place, if slightly insane (2 bedroom house for $800,000? What a bargain!). There are hills with eucalyptus groves where, when the wind is right, you can ignore the fact that several million people are within a few miles; and there is the ocean with its comforting habit of continuing to sweep in and out whatever insanity is going on around.

I had some decisions to make, some things to work out - some big, some less so. One of the smaller was this blog.

You see, I had a meeting with the CID (that's Criminal Investigation Division remember - don't hold me to the exact wording though) on Wednesday, August 9th. It was two years and ten months to the day from when Kirk disappeared. They gave me their report, as much of it as they could.

So I've had a week to decide what to do about this story, about a blog that was started because Kirk was missing. And I think that I want to keep on telling the story - his story, our story.

But it's important to say that Kirk was killed. On October 9th, 2003, Kirk was killed by Iraqi hostiles when a kidnap attempt went horribly wrong.

So the story has an end.

CID

Kirk's disappearance is being investigated by the CID. That's alphabet soup for U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command (yes I know that doesn't work out to CID). We're on our... I think fourth set of investigators, although I'm a bit unsure about the first two or three since I never met them nor talked to them on the phone.

Although I've now met with them - first in the summer of 2004, most recently about a year ago, the whole investigation is still opaque to me. They were quite pleased a year ago that they have increased investigative powers, but those same powers appear to have limited their ability to share information (which was already sketchy at best) so although they do try to keep in touch, it's all along the lines of 'we're still looking, we don't have any news.'

It's a complicated investigation anyway as Kirk's disappearance is only part of it. Two months after Kirk went missing, another employee of the same company was killed (the day before he was to leave the country). His death is still unsolved. To add to the confusion, that employee apparently had laid accusations of fraud, and those claims also are being looked into as part of the same big investigation.

On the positive side, Kirk's small case would probably not have had as much attention and effort put into it alone. On the negative side, since there is so little evidence, it seems likely that they will solve or at least resolve the other two parts of the investigation and Kirk's situation will always be unknown.

October 9 2003

Kirk disappeared from a road side between Baghdad and Kirkuk on the afternoon of October 9, 2003. His car had a flat tire, and he called the company office in Kirkuk for help. When the car was discovered, the doors were open, and he was nowhere to be found.

Still in the car were his computer, his satelite phone and a large amount of cash. There was no sign of struggle or violence.

I'd like to say those are the facts, but even here I'm not sure. I don't know how much money was there, whether Kirk was alone (as I've heard) or not, even who found the car.

After two and a half years of investigation, the CID hasn't been able to tell me much more than that. The problem, as one agent said to me, is the evidence. There simply isn't any; or none that they can discuss.

Because of course it's not quite as simple as just a missing man in Iraq (as though that were simple). But this is where we start, with an abandoned car on the side of the road in what is known as the Sunni triangle.