Spotlight character: None for this episode.
War hero, Captain Hal Turner, goes to the morgue to identify the body of his dead friend Sergei Andrej, found dead in a previous episode. A senior police officer, Detective Mason, meets him.
"Thank you so much for coming down, Captain. Just step through into the morgue."
The morgue assistant helps to remove the red sheet from the body. Hal looks down and says, "I know him. It's Sergei."
Sergei Andrej, deceased veteran
"It was very strange, Captain," says Mason. "This man... we've established the idea that although many veterans struggle, this man had his life fairly much together, his wife speaks highly of him and his efforts to raise both the children and to be a good husband. He's got a regular job, unlike a lot of the vets, and seems to be putting food on the table for his family. So we're a bit confused by the suicide element of it."
"Where did you find him?" asks Hal.
"He was found in a hotel bathroom in Thorne Valley."
"That's a nice area."
"Honestly, sir, it doesn't make a great deal of sense to us. We're putting facts together but we don't have a lot to go on right now."
Hal looks down at Sergei and sees the rope marks around his neck.
"Detective, how does a one-armed man tie a noose?"
"Sir, I don't have all the facts at this stage. I'm noting your concern and we will be looking into it. He did leave this for you, sir," he says and hands Hal a piece of paper with an unbroken wax seal on it. The seal shows a circle cut in four. "We haven't disturbed it yet, sir, out of respect."
Hal opens it and reads the letter. Just four words are written there, "The Circle will rise again."
Memories of the war come flooding back. The Circle was one of the factions that fought in the war; the faction that Knightfather Roland fought for.
Detective Mason continues, "Does this mean anything to you, Captain? This is complete news to me."
"I don't know. We... our conversations were usually of a personal nature. We talked about our families. We talked about the hardships of being an injured veteran. This sort of thing? I think we're just tired of it. In some ways I spoke to him to get away from this sort of thing and to reach out to the salt of the earth, the common man, so I don't know."
"Well sir, if you do become privy to this sort of information, here's my card. We really would like to hear from you. Anything to help with this. Believe me, we'll be giving it our attention. Anything for a member of the Council."
Out-takes
When Hal opens the letter from Sergei, it reads, "Captain, I have longed for your body. We are free at last! Your wife has left you and we can at last express our true feelings for each other!"
When Hal remembers the Circle faction, opposing factions were named. "The Square!" “The Ring!” “The Dot and the Line!” “The Circle and the Ring and logos so similar that you can’t sure who you’re shooting.” “The Circle and the Near-Spherical-Ellipse! You need a protractor to find out what side you’re on.” “Damn parallax error! I’m looking at an angle!”
