Four Blind Mice

Chapter Twenty-Four

We drove to the Bragg Boulevard Estates, less than half a mile from Fort Bragg. The jets were still flying non-stop overhead and the artillery kept pounding away.

Just about everyone at Boulevard Estates worked on the base and lived in what is known as Basic Allowance Housing. BAH is based on rank and pay grade, the size and quality of the residence improving dramatically with rank. Most of the places we saw were small ranch houses. Several of them looked like they needed serious maintenance work. I had read somewhere that over sixty percent of the current Army was married and had children. It looked like that statistic was about right.

Sampson and I walked up to one of the brick ranch houses, and I knocked on the battered and bent aluminum front door. A woman in a black silk kimono appeared. She was heavy-set, attractive. I already knew that her name was Tori Sanders. Behind her, I could see four small children checking out who was at the door.

“Yes? What is it?” she asked. “We're busy. It's feeding time at the zoo.”

“I'm Detective Cross and this is Detective Sampson,” I told her. “Captain Jacobs told us you're a friend of Ellis Cooper's.”

She didn't respond. Didn't even blink.

“Mrs. Sanders, you called me at my hotel about a week ago. I figured your house had to be within walking distance of the base if Sergeant Cooper stopped here on the night of the murder. I did a little checking. Found out he was here that night. Can we come in? You don't want us standing out here where all your neighbors can see.”

Tori Sanders decided to let us in. She opened the door and ushered us into a small dining area. Then she shooed her kids away.

“I don't know why you're here, or what you're talking about,” she said. Her arms were crossed tightly in front of her body. She was probably in her late thirties.

“We have other options. I'll tell you what we can do, Mrs. Sanders,” Sampson spoke up. “We can go out and ask around the neighborhood about you and Sergeant Cooper. We can also involve CID. Or you can answer our questions here in the privacy of your home. You do understand that Cooper is going to be executed in a few days?”

“God damn you. Both of you!” she suddenly raised her voice. “You got this all wrong. As usual, the police have it wrong.”

“Why don't you straighten us out then,” Sampson said,

softening his tone some. “We're here to listen. That's the truth, Mrs. Sanders.”

“You want to be straightened out, well then here it is. You want it real? I did call you, Detective Cross. That was me. Now here's what I didn't say on the phone. I wasn't cheating on my husband with Sergeant Cooper. My husband asked me to make the call. He's a friend of Ellis's. He happens to believe the man is innocent. So do I. But we have no proof, no evidence that he didn't commit those murders. Ellis was here that night. But it was before he went drinking, and he came to see my husband, not me.”

I took in what she had said, and I believed her. It was hard not to. “Did Sergeant Cooper know you were going to call me?” I asked.

She shrugged her shoulders. “I have no idea. You'll have to ask Ellis about that. We were just trying to do the right thing for him. You should do the same. The man is on death row, and he's innocent as you or I. He's innocent. Now let me feed my babies.”