The Sugar Camp

Somebody corrected sheet seven. Nobody was allowed to say who.

Dayton, Ohio, April 1977. Lindqvist Tool & Wire is closing, and everything in it goes to auction in ten days. In 1943 the shop did one job for the Cash, as Dayton called National Cash Register, that it was never told the purpose of. Now a Navy commander wants the name of everyone who worked on it, for a letter to be held on file until the work can be spoken of. His one condition: send no name you cannot prove.

Carl Lindqvist can prove two. But on sheet seven of the wiring list, somebody corrected the connections in pencil, in a small, neat hand that belonged to nobody in the shop. All he has is the visitors' book the Navy made his father keep: seventy-two strangers, each in their own hand.

He wrote to you.

How it works

• 72 visitors in the gate book, fall 1943. One of them held the pencil.
• Every chapter hands you the paper: escort slips, an order book, a traced drawing, a drawer card, a letter from the Navy.
• Strike every line the paper proves could not have held that pencil, and check your count against his.
• When one line is left, you've reached the only conclusion.