Blotting Paper
Cases unlock in order, like levels. This is case 165 of 200.
Huelva, Monday, May 3, 1943, 10 pm. In the adjutant's office at the Naval Command, a black leather briefcase with a chain rests on the desk, beside three envelopes with black wax seals.
On Friday morning, a fisherman pulled the body of an English officer, Captain Peregrine Ingleby, out of the sea, the briefcase fastened to his belt. Spain is neutral: the Navy kept the briefcase in the safe and today, at 11 am, returned it with the seals intact to the British vice-consul, Cuthbert Tetley.
At 5 pm the vice-consul came back furious: the letters have new creases and dried while curled, and word at the port is that the German cork exporter Ernst Falkenrath spent Sunday sending telegrams. The governor wants to know who opened a dead man's letters.
Three people came near that briefcase after it left the sea. One of them knows what was written.
Navy adjutant's office in Spain, 1943, with a black leather briefcase and sealed envelopes.
Suspects
Leandro SotomayorNaval lieutenant, adjutant to the Huelva Naval Command, 41
Cayetano MojarroSardine fisherman from Punta Umbría who found the body, 58
Rosario CifuentesTypist and archivist at the Naval Command, widow, 36
The real case
Operation Mincemeat
Huelva, Spain, 1943
Read the real case