The diary of a cop

"Shadows slumber as the sun goes down" was the third clue. Three clues, three murders and a Captain breathing down my neck wanting results.

My murder book was thin even with all three combined. The first vic white female, DOB June 1, 1943, Age 20, slight build 5 feet even. Date of murder November 25 1963. Lifestyle was conservative, nothing to indicate she was a target yet she was. First clue was "Jack jumped over the candlestick."

The second vic was male, 6 feet, white, age undetermined but possibly in his fifties. The beat blues knew him as Dirty Dan, a street wise drifter that drifted into Dallas about three years before his murder. The beat blues reports show he towed the line, was not into the drink like most are, just rough times. Date of murder, November 27, 1963. Two day after the first and nothing ties them together. His clue was "I came, I saw, I killed."

The third vic a retired reporter for the Times. DOB January 8, 1913. Murdered November 29, 1963. In town visiting his married daughter, no known enemies and no known ties to the other victims.

Autopsy on all three show knife attack from a blade much like a stiletto, one thrust between ribs into heart. Left to bleed out where they fell.

Vic 1. Murdered as she exited her job as a telephone exchange operator. 6:20 PM, no one saw or heard anything. A coworker found her shortly after.

Vic 2. Body found in alleyway, Doc figures TOD was somewhere around 7 PM. Deserted part of town, no alcohol found in system.

Vic 3. Left daughter's to go for a walk, he was despondent about JFK's assassination earlier that week. Body was discovered just under the overpass south of the book depository. TOD was placed about 8 PM, 45 minutes after leaving daughter's house. I walked it, it takes over thirty minutes to get there.

It's been two weeks and nothing, the killings have stopped. The case/s have gone cold. The Captain suggested I move on to a new case and I agreed yet... I am pissed

A month later and the first vic's mother called and they put it through, part of the job I hate but it is part of the job. She needed to talk so I let her. It was near the end of our conversation when I asked her to repeat something about her daughter and JFK.

Her daughter was very excited about the presidential visit, had a spot picked out to view as JFK drove by, she even went five hours early.

After clicking off I called victim three's daughter and asked if he had also gone to see JFK. Her reply was in the affirmative, she herself stayed home with her children.

It wasn't a break but it was something.

Next I looked at all the news footage I could and in the one piece of footage for brief moment on the overpass was my three victims. All three shoulder to shoulder, all three now connected but to what...

I took my findings into the Captain and a rare smile curled around his cigar.

His smile was short lived as the FBI, Secret Service and three guys without credentials that seemed to be the ones in charge took over.

They took everything, the murder book, autopsy files and even my notebook that contained my thoughts on the case.

The Captain and I were taken into our own integration room and left there. When they finally entered the biggest of the uglies told us they would take the investigation. If we talked we would be charged with treason and never be seen again, I believed him. He had such distain for us he never disarmed either one of us.

I have never talked about this until this very moment. I am an old man now, not much they can do to me. I'll give the night nurse my notes.

She should be here soon, I can see the sunset through my barred window casting long shadows across the floor.