Air War Murder Mystery

"Those deaths that you dismissed as accidental
assume a pattern now. The killer
is among you. Trust no one,"
says the Inspector, leaving us
to babble in confusion. Oh
no it can't be so who could do
such a dastardly thing? the butcher
the baker the banker next door
your greying mother, your hippie brother,
each of them has some greedy motive,
all of their alibis plausible: what
they were doing then, with whom, why.
No blood on anyone's hands. "The modus op
is very clean," says the Inspector,
"he's got it down to a surgical routine."
Can you honestly count yourself out
from the suspects? "He has accomplices,
it's too well organized. Someone made sure
no one would interfere." Think back
on last week: who took over
while you went to the movies,
what was in that suitcase you delivered?
"All parties to murder are charged
with the crime." You ask the engineer
on the next-to-last train: if I tell
all I know, will it help? The man said
he'd be back, didn't warn us when.
But he'll have the same notebook,
more worn, a lot thicker.

June 72