Author´s note:

With so many people asking for a sequel, how could I possibly refuse to write one? Even though – at least in my opinion – No Silent Night is good as it is: with a little unsolved mystery. After all, life is full of things we don´t fully understand; especially when it comes to other people´s behaviour.

But I suppose my kind reviewers have a point in claiming that Hogan is not the kind of man to let this go, without investigating the love-struck corporal´s behaviour further. So he will.

Still, although originating from and frequently referring to the other story, I don´t think his investigation would fall under the header of the Christmas-story No Silent Night.

Hence this separate sequel, exploring

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The Mystery of The Love-Struck Corporal

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One problem was solved: the emergency tunnel was cleared and the sand disposed of. It had taken some conviction to make Klink believe that building sand-castles was the traditional way of celebrating New Year´s Eve in the ever sunny Florida, but in the end the Kommandant had bought it, and even agreed to order a truckload of sand to be delivered in the middle of the compound.

That the amount of sand had steadily increased in the days following was something the Germans naturally had been oblivious of.

By the time the prisoners had shiveringly finished their castles, the emergency tunnel had been cleared and properly propped, ready for use again. Klink had announced the winner of the sand-castle contest, most of the sand had been taken away again, and that was that. Problem solved.

But there was another one. Another problem.

And in some respects a more pressing problem. A problem that had come up during their mission in town, when they went around caroling on Christmas Eve. A mission that most certainly would have ended in complete disaster, and probably in the uncovering of their entire organization by the Gestapo, had it not been for... Corporal Langenscheidt.

Langenscheidt.

Corporal Langenscheidt, of all people!

So far, Hogan had regarded Langenscheidt as a shy, rather clumsy young man. Not particularly bright, and if it wasn´t for the war, he would probably have regarded him as a nice kid.

Actually, Langenscheidt often reminded him of his own man Carter. The same clumsiness, the same innocence, the same apparent stupidity...

Hey, wait a sec, Carter wasn´t exactly stupid! He looked stupid, yes. He could act stupid, definitely. But he was inventive and creative, and full of ideas. And the fact that some jokes were lost on him and that he couldn´t always quite follow Hogan´s schemes was something he – Hogan – tended to contribute to Carter´s lack of deviousness: he was simply too innocent for devious schemes. In a way, a kid like Carter didn´t belong in an ugly war like this one. But that didn´t mean he was stupid...

So if – against all appearances – Carter was not stupid... then perhaps Langenscheidt wasn´t as stupid as he appeared to be either?

It was certainly a possibility.

So... was Karl Langenscheidt really just a clumsy love-struck corporal?

Or was there more to this guy than meets the eye, and had he perhaps deliberately saved that microfilm out of Hochstetter´s hands?

It seemed preposterous... ridiculous even to assume such swift thinking and acting in the shy and clumsy corporal he thought he knew.

But if this was the case, it also meant that Langenscheidt had known about the microfilm. Or at the very least suspected that this piece of "special candy" had better not fall into the hands of the Gestapo.

This left him with two options. Either Corporal Langenscheidt was involved in the underground himself, or he suspected that his lady-love Little Red Ridinghood was, so he had with great masculine chivalry embezzled the incriminating "special candy" to save her from the wrath of the Gestapo. Which meant if the guy had any brains, he would have figured out by now that the Senior POW of their camp was involved in the underground as well.

And that was a situation Hogan did not particularly like. Especially the not-knowing part.

"Right," Hogan sighed as he stood and started pacing his quarters. "Let´s look at this rationally. What do we know?"

Four paces forth.

"One: no matter how timidly, it was Langenscheidt who defied Hochstetter, providing me with an opening to push through this last concert."

Four paces back.

"Two: he names the exact address where we have to pick up the film as the address where he´d like to go caroling for his lady-love."

Four paces forth.

"Three: the fact that he is in love with our underground contact is interesting enough in itself."

Four paces back.

"Four: when Ridinghood throws down the special candy to me, it´s a little off course. But when Hochstetter prevents Carter from catching it, all of a sudden both Carter and Hochstetter are on the ground, with Langenscheidt on top of them."

Four paces forth.

"And the microfilm-candy has disappeared."

Four paces back.

"Five: Langenscheidt must have gotten hold of the special candy in that flurry, because Newkirk picks it from his pocket later. Yet Langenscheidt embezzles it, and gives an ordinary candy to Hochstetter."

Four paces forth.

"Which means Langenscheidt either knew or guessed that Hochstetter should better not get his hands on this special candy."

Four paces back.

"Or was it just lover´s jealousy, and did he not want a creep like Hochstetter to have the honour of receiving the special candy from the girl he admires?"

Four paces forth.

"Six: when we are handing in our candy, the silent exchange of greetings between Langenscheidt and Little Red Ridinghood makes it clear that they are indeed acquainted."

Four paces back.

"Seven: after that greeting, Little Red Ridinghood no longer anxiously watches Hochstetter collecting all the candy. Instead, she retreats inside and closes the window."

He stood still in front of his closet and snapped his fingers. "Which means she felt secure that the microfilm had fallen into the right hands. And those hands were Langenscheidt´s!"

He wasn´t quite sure of what she expected Langenscheidt to do with it – perhaps make sure it ended up in Hogan´s possession after all? But at least there could be little doubt about the fact that Langenscheidt indeed had been a conscious tool in Little Red Ridinghood´s hands. She knew it was okay once he had made her understand that he had the precious "candy".

Which meant that Langenscheidt, too, at least had to know something.

So: was the clumsy corporal involved in the underground in some way? On their side?

Hogan didn´t know.

And as I said before: that was something he didn´t like.

So he was determined to find out.