If the newspaper reported your death and no one questioned it, would you
correct the mistake... or take the lifeline?
Dan Driscoll is consumed by
gambling debt, cornered by bookies and loan sharks, forced to bet on one last
scheme. When things turn violent and two people are shot, his best friend,
Stan Neumann, swallows what he suspects. He can't risk divulging a
closely-held family secret.
Then a body washes up on the Lake Michigan
shoreline, and the lake gives Dan what the bookies never would: a way out.
Authorities call it an accident and list him as the drowning victim. For Dan,
it's an escape route delivered in black ink.
He becomes a ghost, an
imposter, a chameleon. But lies don't stay buried.
As America is pulled
into World War II, Stan enlists, choosing duty on his terms before the draft
can rewrite his life. In Pearl Harbor, one chance encounter dredges up a name
he thought was long buried.
War changes everything, but it doesn't erase
unfinished business. And when the truth demands to be heard, how long can a
stolen life stay buried before the past comes to collect?
Excerpt
Lucy wasn’t smiling like she used to when she folded her letter, slipped
it into the envelope, sealed it with a kiss, and applied the three-cent stamp.
Even the spring in her step lacked the zeal she typically exhibited during her
walk to the post office. The words on the paper were true to her commitment.
They spoke of the news from the home front, stories that helped Stan’s
morale, and made sure her underlying message was being proud, supportive, and
encouraging. The words wandering around in Lucy’s thoughts, however,
were in stark contrast to this messaging.
Ever since Stan was assigned to
the navy radar training school, Lucy had become more and more unsure in her
belief that things would be okay. His work as an Aviation Machinists Mate
stateside meant he was safe. And Minneapolis was relatively close to home.
Being trained as a radarman for shipboard duties meant it was more likely he
would be sent overseas into a combat zone. This caused a higher level of
worry. Like everything else this war has put in short supply, her ration of
optimism was slowly being depleted, and the resources for replenishing that
reservoir were becoming scarce.
Her quandary was not letting Stan know
about this foreboding, even though he was normally her most trusted sounding
board. She tried to talk about this with her sister Millie. But Millie’s
approach to these heartfelt struggles was to fix them, make them go away, or
advise Lucy, “Try not to think about it.” This was not the type of
support Lucy needed.
During her alone time, sitting staring out the
window, the overwhelming emotion that prevailed over all others was that she
really missed her husband. She now knew what being heartbroken felt like.
About the Author
While author Mark Bearss was setting the stage
for his retirement, concerned co-workers would ask, “What are you going
to do when you’re not working?” He found this question rather
curious. It should have been posed, “What are you going to do
first?” Mark knew that if travel was involved, he had had enough of
commercial flights after 28 years of teaching for the medical device industry.
Mark yearned for road trips – to visit those places he only saw from
38,000 feet. Little did he know that wish journeyed down an unexpected fork in
the road. He would become an author.
While conducting genealogy research,
Mark discovered archived de-classified military documents that revealed the
name of a U.S. Navy destroyer his father served aboard during WWII. The reason
this was a poignant discovery was because, while growing up in Grand Rapids,
Michigan, his father made no mention of this. Apart from being a U.S. Naval
Reserve flight instructor, he knew his father served aboard the carrier USS
ESSEX. But in what capacity? That, too, was not revealed. More discoveries
materialized the further he dug. In fact, there was a lot more his father
didn’t mention. This wasn’t unusual. Many WWII veterans
didn’t talk about what happened back then.Because of the pandemic, the
National Archives in St. Louis was closed and rendered Lt. Bearss’
military records unavailable. Thus began a project that challenged
Mark’s research endeavors for over two years and about 5,000 miles on
the road. The biographical sketch was sorted from creative Internet search
strings, history books, navy publications, and networking with journalists,
librarians, archivists, bloggers, aviation enthusiasts, museum and historical
society curators, navy veterans, relatives, and more. One online resource that
was instrumental in tracking his father’s journey was the weekly
newspaper published in the county where his parents grew up: The Oceana
Herald. It included a Local News section where family members and
organizations could submit a short blurb about a relative’s visit, a
social gathering, or – where a son or husband was currently
stationed.
This project culminated in 2022 with Mark’s first
publication titled, Undisclosed Stories Discovered: Honoring the World War II
Military Journey of Lt. Joseph Ward Bearss, USNR. When asked what was one of
the highlights surrounding this story, he described the road trips to seek out
and discover places where his father lived, trained and was stationed during
the war. What prompted him to write this as a biography took place during a
meeting with the curator of the World War II Home Front Museum on St. Simons
Island, Georgia. St. Simons Naval Air Station was the site for the U.S. Naval
Radar Training Station, where Lt. Bearss was trained in shipboard radar
operations, enemy interception, and Fighter Direction. While the museum
had ample archived materials about the facility, it had very little documented
about the servicemembers who trained there.
Only 250 copies were printed.
Mark went back on the road in his Class-B motorhome and personally donated
those copies to family members, friends and relatives, the librarians,
archivists, researchers, museums, curators, historical societies, newspapers,
The American Heritage Center, VFW Posts, airport FBOs, and other assorted WWII
enthusiasts in 12 states who helped in his endeavors. It was a two-fold
reward. Not only did his father’s story finally become told, Mark
experienced the pleasure of meeting all these wonderful people who were his
resources, advisors, collaborators, and consultants. Up until that point, they
were only names in an email contact list.
You’re probably asking,
“How is all this relevant to Mark’s new novel, Cain’s
Chameleon?” It was the research from The Oceana Herald that planted the
seed for this story. While perusing its issues, Mark stumbled on two articles
that piqued his curiosity. The first reported an attempted murder in a home
close to his family’s summer cottage on Lake Michigan. The second
reported a drowning victim that washed up on the beach right where Mark and
his friends used to play. Just two more stories never divulged while growing
up. He wondered, Were these two events related? Then Mark decided — he
would make them related.
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