GONE takes place in Savannah, Georgia in 1948.
A man called “Harold” ( First name? Last name? Never revealed.) is struggling to make it as a Private Detective. He has a shabby office over a meat packing plant on the Savannah docks, from which he is soon to be evicted for back rent. Still young, Harold was a decorated war hero, having seen battle in both Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge. He suffered horrific injuries to his leg, and while he’s recovered, he still has pain and a limp, a constant reminder of his trauma as a soldier. Harold is a handsome, yet troubled, man, trying to reconcile his peacetime future with his wartime past.
When he left Savannah to go to war, Harold was married to Laura, and worked as a partner in a successful Private Investigation business. His business partner was Charles, who was older, wiser and slickly experienced. Harold returns from war, ravaged by his injuries and memories, to find Laura and Charles have formed a partnership of their own, only this one is romantic. Harold’s betrayal is tempered by the fact that while he was at war, he met a young soldier named Dutch, who became the love of his life. Dutch showed Harold what had always been missing in his life, and why Harold always felt apart from his own image as the tall, handsome football player who married his high school sweetheart.
Separated in battle, Dutch is listed as missing and presumed dead, while Harold is badly wounded, and sent to a hospital in London to recuperate. From that point forward, Harold makes it his quest to get the details on Dutch’s fate, knowing he can’t move on with his own life so long as there is any chance that Dutch is still alive somewhere, and they might find their way back to each other.