Reflections on branched covers
A flag complex $L$ determines a locally CAT(0) cube complex $P_L$ with the links of all vertices isomorphic to $L$. The fundamental group of $P_L$ is the commutator subgroup of the right-angled Coxeter group $W_L$. We observe that an edge contraction $L \rightarrow L/e$ determines a $2$-fold branched cover $P_L \righta...