Chapter 11

As the group slowly ate the dinner delivered by room service, they went over the newspaper clippings that LeBeau and Carter had obtained. Much to their dismay, the articles didn't reveal much more than they already knew so weren't of any use. About the only thing the clippings did contain that the men found interesting were the stories about Hogan; although much of the information they knew from their days at Stalag 13. But Hogan's career since he became a General they found a lot of the information interesting because the man they knew never divulged anything about himself even after the war.

"Blimey, the Colonel sure was a busy man since he was promoted," said Newkirk admiringly. "He was involved in so many things throughout his career."

"Oui," LeBeau agreed. "It makes me proud to have served under him when I did." He looked at Kinch noticing the solemn look on his friend's face. "What is wrong, mon ami?"

Kinch sighed. "It just saddens me to think how much more he could have accomplished before his career in the Air Force ended had he lived."

"I wonder why the Colonel never married," Carter said. "I mean, he and Tiger were pretty close while we were in Stalag 13. I thought for sure they would hook up once the war was over."

"I asked the Colonel about that one day," Kinch replied. "He and Tiger sort of drifted apart and broke up after the liberation. The last time the Colonel heard from her was when he found out she had married Dubois in France after Germany fell. He was very happy for both of them. But in his own way, I think the Colonel was sorry he and Tiger drifted apart because he was lonely for someone to share his life with. He never admitted it but I could tell. He kept himself busy with work for a long while I think just to forget how lonely he was. But in 1947, he did find someone and considered marriage. Her name was Cassandra Elkins; she was the receptionist for Major Bergstrom. They were very much in love and after a few months, he proposed to her. They had even set a date of May, 1948, for the wedding to take place."

"What happened?" asked Carter.

"She was killed in a house fire a month before their wedding. After that, the Colonel just sort of shut himself off from any serious involvement with women. Oh, he dated off and on, but never got serious about any woman. It was like a part of him died when she did."

"Blimey," Newkirk uttered. "I never knew any of this. I mean, I knew about Tiger, but I just thought the Gov'nor was a confirmed bachelor."

"Le Colonel pauvre. Mon coeur casse pour lui," said LeBeau. "He did not tell me any of this in his last letter to me. I mean, I knew he had met Cassandra and planned to ask her to marry him, but had no idea she had died. I had wondered why he did not mention her in his letter." (1)

"Gosh," added Carter. "Sounds like he didn't want us to know how much he was hurting."

"Yeah," Newkirk said hanging his head. "The Gov'nor was always like that. Always shielding us when he was hurting emotionally instead of letting us help him through it."

Kinch shrugged his shoulders. "Although, for a while I thought maybe things might be changing when he met General Edgar Cranston's daughter. But that didn't work out and the Colonel broke up with her in the end."

Newkirk's eyebrows arched. "What? The Gov'nor turned down a bird? What happened with that?"

(Flashback):

It was August, 1949. The retirement party for Air Force Chief-of-Staff Randolph Marston was in full swing by the time Hogan had arrived alone. He had not dated anyone since the death of his fiancée, and wasn't looking to meet anybody. All he really wanted to do was offer his congratulations to the retiring Marston, have one or two drinks and leave. He really didn't intend or want to spend a lot of time here as he just didn't feel comfortable. Finding Marston, Hogan approached the man and offered his congratulations. But before he could leave, Marston grabbed his arm and told him there was somebody he wanted him to meet who was a close friend of his. He then introduced Hogan to General Edgar Cranston and his daughter Emily who had accompanied her father to the party. Hogan forced a smile to his face as he shook hands with the General and kissed Emily's hand in a gentlemanly manner. As he did so he caught the young woman eying him with much interest and maintained his charming smile.

Never one to miss anything, Cranston caught his daughter's obvious interest in Hogan and decided to play matchmaker between his youngest daughter and the brash officer. When his daughter later confirmed his suspicions that she had a romantic interest Hogan whom he had heard would be first in line to be promoted to Major General, Cranston was all for it. He saw great potential in Hogan as well as good husband material for his daughter. He was aware Hogan still grieved over his late fiancée who died over a year ago, and although feeling badly over the woman's death, his daughter's happiness was all that mattered to him. So Cranston did everything he could to 'encourage' his daughter's relationship with Hogan who was considered one of the Air Force's most eligible bachelors.

Hogan was attracted to the beautiful blond-haired, blue-eyed woman, and asked her out. They continued seeing each other until one day Hogan was summoned to General Cranston's office. Whatever the General wanted to see him about, Hogan wasn't worried, although he had a suspicion why the elder man wanted to see him. His gut was telling him it had something to do with his involvement with Emily as the last two weeks of their relationship which had become sexual after the first date, she had sort of been 'pushing' him to take their relationship to the next level. But Hogan had made it clear several times he wasn't ready to settle down if ever. The sex between them was fantastic, and her companionship good, but he didn't want more than that right now. A date when he needed both companionship and someone to talk to, and an occasional one-night stand when he needed that physical release. These two things were enough for him at the moment, but he suspected she had gone running to her father and complained and that was the reason he had been summoned. And he knew that General Cranston didn't like not getting what or who he wanted. Knocking on the General's door, Hogan walked into the office with his cap tucked under his arm. "You wanted to see me, sir?" he asked.

Cranston stood up behind his desk. "Sit down, Rob. I'd like to talk to you about something."

"Yes, sir." Hogan sat down in one of the chairs facing the General's desk with his cap in his lap. Cranston sat back down.

"Now, Rob," Cranston began clasping his hands on top of his desk. "I wanted you here because you have been seeing my daughter for awhile, and I was wondering what your intentions were towards her?" Hogan went on to explain how he felt and that marriage just wasn't in his immediate future. It was then Hogan noticed an odd expression come over the General's face. Apparently, the General didn't like his answer.

"I can see that you go far in this man's Air Force," Cranston announced. "After all, my daughter should be married to a man with potential. I can make things happen for you and quickly. She has intimated to me that she wants a commitment from you as to your intentions."

It was then Hogan knew what he suspected was true. Emily Cranston had run to her father hoping he would 'persuade' Hogan to commit to her with a marriage proposal, and that the General was trying to 'buy' him. Hogan sighed wearily and quickly reached a decision. He just couldn't shake the ghost of Cassandra Elkins.

"General, and I say this with all due respect, I am not interested in marrying anybody at this time although Emily is a lovely woman. But I will not be bought or pressured into marriage by you or anybody else."

"Whoa," said Newkirk with an amused grin. "I bet ole Cranston didn't like that none."

Kinch smirked. "Not by a long shot. But there's more to the story."

(Resuming Flashback):

Cranston could only stare at the younger man in amazement. "Are you telling me you have no intention of asking for my daughter's hand?"

"As I said, she's a lovely woman, but I just don't want to be married now. I prefer being single."

"I'm sure you know enough about me to know I'm use to getting who or what I want. And I also want my daughter to be happy. And Emily is my baby and whatever she wants I want her to have. And she wants you."

Hogan smiled faintly. "I'm very flattered, sir, but my answer remains the same. In fact, given the circumstances, I think it would be better for Emily and I to stop seeing each other. I can't give her what she wants."

"You're making a big mistake," Cranston warned, his face darkening.

"Begging the General's pardon," said Hogan calmly. "But I don't believe so. So, unless there is something else the General wishes to discuss…." He started to get up.

"I haven't dismissed you yet!" Cranston raised his voice causing Hogan to sit back down with arched eyebrows. "I suggest you reconsider, because I can make things very difficult for you."

Hogan paused for a moment. Then, he calmly checked his watch, got to his feet and saluted. "If there's nothing else, sir, I have an appointment with General Forbes in fifteen minutes." He really needed to get out of this office. How he wished Cassandra was still alive.

Cranston glared at the younger man. "Only one last thing. I know you have a date with Emily tonight but I suggest you cancel. Obviously you're not the man I thought you were. Just think about what I said. We'll talk again."

Hogan turned and walked out of the General's office somewhat relieved to be out of there.

(End of Flashback)

"So what happened?" asked LeBeau curiously. "Did the General cause problems for le Colonel?"

Kinch shook his head. "Since Hogan was only a Major General, and Cranston was a full General, he could've made trouble for the Colonel. But the Colonel made General Forbes aware of Cranston's threats, and before Cranston knew what happened, he was uh, 'persuaded' to retire. Apparently General Forbes had some powerful connections of his own."

"Wow," Carter stated with a laugh. "I bet the Colonel was glad when that happened."

"Not really," Kinch replied. "He was sorry everything went down the way it did. But Cranston was capable of ruining the Colonel's career with his connections, and General Forbes wasn't going to allow that because of something so minor as the Colonel not wanting to marry Cranston's daughter."

"Do you think this General Cranston is capable of seeking revenge against the Colonel by killing him?" asked LeBeau grimly.

"No," Kinch said. "Cranston passed away a year ago and his youngest daughter is happily married to a high-ranking General somewhere."

"Blimey," said Newkirk. He took a sip of tea just as the phone rang. Since Carter was the closest, he jumped up and answered it; after a few seconds, he held the receiver out towards Newkirk.

"It's your contact in MI6," was all Carter said.

Hurriedly wiping his mouth with his napkin, the Englander jumped up and took the receiver from his friend. "What news do you have for me?" Newkirk listened intently occasionally responding to what he was being told. After a few minutes, he sighed. "Thanks, mate. Call me back when you know more. Bye." He hung up and returned to the table where the others sat eagerly waiting. Newkirk took a sip of tea.

"Well? What did he say?" asked LeBeau. "What did he find out?"

Newkirk cleared his throat. "That was Robin. He told me he heard from his contact in MI5 and that we can scratch Klink off our list of possibilities. Seems our former Kommandant is alive and well and living in Palm Springs working as a bookkeeper for some company. From what he could find out, Klink doesn't bear any grudges against the Gov'nor and that his earlier anger against him was only regarding what he was shown about the operation. Robin believes after awhile ole Klink calmed down and got on with his life." He chuckled. "Seems the Iron Eagle even got himself engaged to be married to a bird he met who works in the same company."(2)

The others chuckled over the news of Klink's engagement.

"Did he have any other news to report?" asked Kinch.

"Yeah, he did. Something he got from his contact in MI5 that although we didn't ask him to, he thought we'd want to know anyway." He rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, are you going to keep the information to yourself?" asked an impatient Frenchman.

"No, mate. I just have to think about how to say it." He exhaled through his nose. "Robin told me that his contact in MI5 reported a body was stumbled upon during an excavation by some workers who were digging at a construction site. This took place in Milwaukee. The body was badly decomposed and was nothing but bones. No clothing at all or identification on 'im. In fact, what took so long was locating the man's dentist so dental records could be compared before a positive identification could be made."

"So who was it?" asked Carter. "And what does it have to do with this?"

"The body was identified as being that of Robert J. Morrison aka Major Teppel during his time deep undercover in the Abwehr during the war." The others were stunned into silence.(3)

"How did he die?" asked Kinch with narrowed eyes. He had liked the man and respected the great risk he had been taking by posing as a Major in German Intelligence.

"According to what I was told, he was tortured before being shot point blank in the head." Newkirk shook his head sadly. "His legs and arms were broken and one knee showed signs of having been broken and then healing."

"Mon Dieu. Do they know who did it?" asked LeBeau fondly remembering the German- American they worked with once while in Stalag 13.

"Yeah, they do," Newkirk said looking at his friends. "They found a sterling silver bracelet hidden underneath the body. They think whoever either killed him or buried him may have lost it while burying him. There was a name engraved on the back of the bracelet, and according to Robin, this person fell off the radar after the war ended and he got out of a British prison camp. This bloke made a habit of mouthing off about the Gov'nor and how he'd make him pay after the war. But after awhile, the bloody bastard stopped mouthing off and became a model prisoner up till the time he got out. It was then he disappeared."

"You said there was a name engraved on the back, mon ami. Did they say who it was?"

"The name on the back was Wilhelm Schmidt."

The others were silent for awhile as they processed this information.

"Schmidt. Schmidt," said Kinch as his eyebrows knitted. "That name sounds familiar to me for some reason."

"It should," Newkirk continued. "He was the bloody bastard who pretended to be Captain James Crandall and was a ruddy plant by Burkhalter when we set up Burkhalter's aide."

"Sacre Chat!" LeBeau exclaimed. "And Robin has no idea where he is?"

"It's like he disappeared off the face of the ruddy earth," the Englander answered solemnly. "But if memory serves, he was German Intelligence. I bet anything he might be workin' in the same capacity if he's one of the ones responsible for murderin' the Colonel. But it's been several years and there's no current photo of him."

"But why would he kill Morrison?" asked Carter, puzzled. "I mean, what was the reason behind it?"

Newkirk shrugged. "Not sure. Robin said Schmidt could have found out about Morrison's undercover work in the Abwehr, or maybe Morrison found out something he shouldn't have and became a problem. He's gonna check and get back to me after he sees what Morrison's been up to since his undercover work ended."

Kinch sighed. "So we consider Schmidt a definite possibility," he said. "Yet he doesn't strike me as the type capable of planning the Colonel's death. That means someone is over him giving the orders and planned everything."

"Then all we have to do is find who's in charge," Carter chimed in.

"That could be easier said than done," LeBeau told him. "We're not even certain this Schmidt is involved." He then studied each of his friends. "We must be careful, mes amis. We are treading on dangerous ground and that phone call earlier proved that. I suspect whoever was responsible will stop at nothing to keep us from proving the Colonel's death was no accident."


(1)"Le Colonel pauvre. Mon coeur casse pour lui" means "The poor Colonel. My heart breaks for him." Courtesy of SDL/Free Translation.

(2)GUESS WHO CAME TO DINNER, Season 4.

(3)Major Teppel aka Robert Morrison was from BAD DAY IN BERLIN, Season 4.