Black Cat Weekly #56

Chapter 6

byAs Military Police Captain Randi Sparks stepped into the foyer of the new Post Commander’s two-story brick house at the edge of Camp Swanson, she regretted that her first visit to Colonel Fletcher’s home was to investigate his murder. Fletcher had been in charge of an elite “Puzzle Palace” platoon that worked on codes, ciphers, and such.

Spotting the first MP on the scene standing amidst the swirl of activity in an adjacent room, Randi headed in his direction. “What do you have for me, Sergeant?” she said, glancing at the SGT RALPH DEXTER on his nameplate.

“According to the colonel’s wife,” Dexter said, flipping through his notepad, “tonight was a celebration of Colonel Fletcher’s recent promotion and appointment as Post Commander. Some members of his old unit were invited to join him and Mrs. Fletcher for dinner.”

“Who found the body?”

“Mrs. Fletcher,” said Dexter. “The guests were seated in the dining room. The colonel excused himself to get something in his study, and when he didn’t return, she found him lying on the carpet by his desk.” He gestured toward the covered body across the room.

“Cause of death?” said Randi.

“Colonel Fletcher was struck from behind with a heavy object,” said Dexter. “We found blood on a fireplace poker near the couch.”

“Anything else?” said Randi.

“Well, Captain,” said the MP, “there was one more thing. The colonel was struck near the couch, but he still managed to crawl to the desk and pull off this photograph.” He handed Randi a framed picture of the colonel standing on a beach with three children.

Randi quickly scanned the room. Photographs filled seemingly every flat surface. “Why this one?” she wondered aloud.

“Mrs. Fletcher said the photograph was of the colonel and their three kids. To the colonel’s immediate left is Shirley, their oldest, then Greg, the youngest, then Travis.”

“Are any of the children here tonight?” said Randi.

“They’re all grown and scattered across the country.”

Randi thought for a second. “I guess we’ll have to interview the colonel’s guests. How many are there?”

“About a dozen,” said Dexter, “but Mrs. Fletcher said that only three were not in the dining room when the crime was committed. I have those three in the living room.”

As Randi and Sergeant Dexter walked toward the living room, the tall military policeman continued flipping through his notepad. “Major Steven Falco graduated the Academy with the colonel, and their careers have been somewhat parallel. In fact, the major was Colonel Fletcher’s main competition for the promotion and the Post Commander appointment.”

“What about the others?” said Randi.

“Let’s see,” said Dexter. “Sergeant Howard Turner has served under the colonel for years. As I understand, Turner is set to retire so that he can take over his family meat packing business that has come on some hard times.”

“That leaves one more.”

“Lieutenant Stacey Holmes transferred out of the colonel’s unit several months ago. The best I could gather is that there was some kind of dust-up over an operation, and she received a reprimand from the colonel.”

Randi studied the three individuals sitting quietly in the living room. Members of an intelligence unit, they were basically desk jockeys tasked with assembling data and cracking codes, not engaging in physically violent activity. What could have driven one of them to murder their commander?

As Randi interviewed the suspects individually, she couldn’t shake the image of the photograph the colonel had labored to secure. Was he, one whose career revolved around codes and puzzles, trying to leave a clue to his killer? Were his kids somehow the answer? Shirley, Greg, and Travis.

Then it hit her. Why hadn’t she seen it earlier? She smiled as she gestured to Dexter. This case would rank as one of her quickest solutions.

The colonel was indeed leaving a dying clue when he grabbed one specific photograph from his desk. Randi realized that the key was the arrangement of the children in the picture. Shirley, Greg, Travis—SGT, the abbreviation for Sergeant. Arrested, Turner confessed that he had begged the new Post Commander to give the contract for the base’s meat supply to his family company. When Fletcher refused, Turner’s anger caused him to snap and attack his longtime commander.