A Clue for the Puzzle Lady (15 page)

“So,” Henry Firth said, “you got another one.”

“Yes, we do.”

“The first one isn’t even solved, and you’ve got another.”

“It certainly seems inconsiderate,” Chief Harper said.

Firth gave him a look. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Chief Harper shrugged. “Just pointing out the killer probably doesn’t care how much he’s inconveniencing us. That’s probably the last thing in his mind.”

“It isn’t funny,” Henry Firth said. “We have a situation here, where things are going from bad to worse with you in charge. It’s time to concede you can’t handle it, and step down.”

Before Chief Harper could retort, there came the creak of the front gate swinging open, and a car drove into the cemetery. It stopped and Barney Nathan got out. The doctor had clearly been ready for bed when he’d gotten the call. He had put on his jacket, pants, and shirt, but not stopped to tie his bow tie. It was, Chief Harper noted, perhaps the only time he’d seen him in such disarray.

With barely a nod in his direction, Barney Nathan joined the medics examining the corpse.

Cora Felton peered over the doctor’s shoulder.

Henry Firth grabbed Chief Harper by the arm. “Look at that,” he said. “You let all these people run around
your crime scene? I guess any tracks you find won’t be much use.”

“No,” Chief Harper replied. “They’ll probably be yours. Would it be asking too much for you to wait outside the gate?”

“Oh, now, look here—” Henry Firth began.

While they were arguing, Aaron Grant detoured around them and over to where Sherry Carter stood. “What’s up?” he said.

She glared at him. “What’s up? You’re asking me what’s up?”

“I don’t mean for publication. I mean what’s going on?”

“Can’t you tell?”

“Yes, I can. Do I have to be direct? I went to call Chief Harper. I left you two alone with the body. Need I say more?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t be dumb. I’m sure your aunt did everything but an autopsy. I wouldn’t be surprised if she knew the body temperature.”

Sherry pointed to the grave, where Cora Felton appeared to be conferring with the emergency team and the medical examiner. “No, I think she’s getting that now.”

“I’m sure she is,” Aaron said. “Come on, did you find anything?”

Before Sherry could answer, Chief Harper joined them. “I’m going to have to clear you people out. I’m catching grief from the prosecutor. I just booted him and now I gotta boot you.” He waved his hand. “Miss Felton, over here, please.”

Cora Felton reluctantly left the body.

“You gotta do me a favor, wait outside the gate with everybody else. I’ll talk to you when I get a chance. I don’t know when that will be.”

“That’s fine, Chief,” Cora Felton said. She came right up to him. “And you don’t have to apologize. We understand exactly what you’re doing.” She took him by the hand, lowered her voice. “Of course, I couldn’t say anything in front of the other cop. I know you want to keep
this hush-hush. And I knew you didn’t want that medical examiner to find it.”

Chief Harper blinked. “Find what?”

Cora Felton smiled. “I knew you’d understand, Chief. Don’t worry, we’re cooperating, we’ll be on our way. Come on, Sherry. You too, young man. Chief Harper has work to do.”

With that she squeezed his hand shut, and shepherded them away.

As Chief Harper stood watching them go, he felt something in his hand.

He glanced over at the grave. Barney Nathan and the medics were busy with the body. There was no one else around.

He raised his hand, opened it.

In it was a folded slip of paper.

Chief Harper scowled. That damn woman. What had she done now?

He unfolded the piece of paper.

It read:
18)
D
—
YES VOTE
(3)
.

“What was that all about?” Aaron Grant said.

“Now, now,” Cora Felton said. “Let’s be discreet until we get out of here.”

They were coming out through the gate. The prosecutor stood off to one side, grumbling to himself. Stuart Tanner sat in the front seat of his car with his head in his hands. Sam Brogan stood next to the car, conferring with Dan Finley, who had just arrived. They were apparently discussing what they would do if the TV crews showed up.

Aaron Grant grimaced. The
Gazette
had already gone to press, and the morning edition wouldn’t be reporting the murder. Aaron had called the managing editor right after he’d called the police. Bill Dodsworth couldn’t have cared less. The bottom line was, no matter how good the story, the number of extra papers sold wouldn’t cover the cost of another run. It was a bit of a disillusionment for Aaron to find he worked for a paper that wouldn’t stop the presses even for a murder.

“So,” Cora Felton said. “How about a ride?”

Aaron Grant was surprised. “You want to leave now?”

“Trust me.”

Sam Brogan stopped them when they got in Aaron’s car. “Where you going?”

“Taking the women home,” Aaron said.

Sam nodded. “Good idea.”

Aaron started the car and drove off. “Okay, we’re alone. No one can hear us. Stop stalling. What did you find?”

“Hey, watch your tone,” Sherry said.

“Now, now,” Cora Felton said. “Can you blame him for being exasperated? You wouldn’t shut up till I told you.”

“I was right there, and there was no one around.”

“You told me not to do it in the first place.”

“Of course I did. You had no right touching the body.”

“And I said, You wanna pretend I didn’t touch her, you don’t have to look at the clue.”

“Clue?” Aaron Grant said.

“Yes. It was in the pocket of her dress. I just gave it to Chief Harper. I don’t know what he’ll make of it.”

“What clue?”

“Eighteen D yes vote three.”

“Yes vote three?” Aaron Grant repeated. “What does that mean?”

“You don’t know?” Sherry said. “It’s really too easy.”

“It’s easy for you. You’ve had it for half an hour and you got to discuss it with her. I just heard it. A yes vote. What’s a yes vote?”

“Think motion.”

“Huh?”

“Voting on a motion. If you don’t vote nay, how do you vote?”

“Aye,” Aaron Grant said. “You’re right, it’s too easy. So, does it fit?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t had a chance to play with it.”

“How about it, Miss Felton, do you think it will fit?”

Cora shrugged. “It may.”

“It may?”

“Yes. And then again, it may not. We’ll have to see.”

“Don’t you have an opinion?”

“Yes, I do. My opinion, for what it’s worth, is it doesn’t really matter.”

“Doesn’t matter?”

“No. I think the killer’s teasing us. And these clues don’t mean as much as we think they do.”

Aaron frowned. He wondered if Cora Felton really meant that, or if she was just trying to downplay her own role in the matter. “You’re not going to try to put it in the grid?”

“Of course we are,” Sherry retorted. “Cora just doesn’t think it’s going to help.”

“And what would help?” Aaron Grant said.

“I think the physical clues are more important than the puzzle clues,” Cora answered.

“Physical clues?”

“Yeah. The evidence. I don’t think this clue is nearly as important as the physical evidence.”

“How can you say that?”

“It’s just my opinion. I’m sure Sherry wouldn’t agree.”

Aaron looked at Sherry Carter, but she just pointed and said, “That’s our driveway coming up.”

“I know.”

“I wasn’t sure you’d see it in the dark.”

“It was dark when I picked you up.”

Aaron Grant turned into their driveway, pulled up behind Cora Felton’s car. He killed the engine, turned off the lights.

“Excuse me?” Sherry Carter said. “I don’t recall inviting you in.”

“I thought we were cooperating on this clue.”

“Yeah. So?”

“Aren’t you going to put it in the grid?”

“Eventually.”

Aaron Grant grinned. “Eventually? Give me a break. You couldn’t sit on this five minutes. You’re turning the computer on right now. And we’re cooperating and I want in.”

“Of course you do, young man,” Cora Felton told
him. “Sherry, we have to honor our agreement. Let the man take a look at the grid.”

Sherry grudgingly said, “All right.”

“Fine.” Cora nodded. “Just one thing. Could you back up a little bit so I could get out?”

“Excuse me?” Aaron said.

“You’re blocking my car. If you could just back up a few feet.”

“You’re going out?”

“Yes, of course.”

“What about the puzzle?”

“What about it?”

“You said I could watch you work on the grid.”

“And you can. Only I’m not working on it right now. But that’s all right. I’m sure you and Sherry will do just fine.”

“But—”

Cora Felton leaned forward, patted him on the cheek. “There, there. Don’t worry about a thing. This is not brain surgery. This is simply fitting three words into a grid. I’m sure you kids can get along without me.”

“Where are you going?” Sherry demanded.

“It’s probably better you don’t know.”

“What!”

“In case that nice policeman asks.” Cora Felton smiled. “You wouldn’t want to have to lie, would you?”

Sherry Carter punched up the eleven-by-eleven grid into which she’d inserted the words
queue
and
ewe
.

“You think we can do this without her?” Aaron Grant said.

Sherry impaled him with a look. “I can do it without
you
just fine. Your car’s out front, there’s really nothing keeping you.”

“You wouldn’t want to disappoint your aunt.”

“I beg your pardon?” Sherry said.

“Her matchmaking efforts. Haven’t you noticed she’s going out of her way to put us together?”

“I’m sorry about that. When I get a chance, I’ll tell her the facts of life.”

“Don’t bother on my account. I’m not offended.”

“No, just offensive. How about shutting up long enough for me to work on the puzzle?”

“Suits me,” Aaron said. “What do you make of it?”

“It doesn’t fit.”

“Oh?”

“Not an eleven-by-eleven grid. Not if the other answers are right and this one’s eighteen down.”

“How do you know it doesn’t fit? How can you tell that so soon?”

“Actually, I can’t. What I mean is, it doesn’t intersect. With the other two clues. At least, not in this grid. If
queue
is four down, and
ewe
is fourteen across. Look what we’ve got. There’s a black square after
ewe
, so this has to be fifteen across. This has to be sixteen. This has to be seventeen down, under these three black squares. So eighteen down has to be here. You can put the word in, but it doesn’t intersect with either of the others.”

“Uh huh,” Aaron said. “So are you saying the eleven-by-eleven grid won’t work?”

“No. Only that the words don’t intersect. But they’re still close together. If we fill in eighteen down as
aye
in this grid we have here, it might be possible to find words that connect this all up.”

“You think your aunt could do it?”

Sherry started to answer, stopped herself. “You don’t know my aunt very well.”

“No, I guess I don’t. What’s your point?”

“No point. I was just making a comment.”

“I understand your aunt is reluctant to work on this. I’m not entirely sure why.”

“Do you have to be?”

“No,” he said. He exhaled heavily. It was the first trace of irritation he’d shown. “Still, I like to make
some
sense out of what I’m doing. It’s quite clear your aunt pooh-poohs the idea that these murders have anything to do with a crossword puzzle.”

“So?”

“So? Isn’t that strange? Here it is, her field of expertise. I would think she’d want to jump in with both feet.”

“You ever hear of a busman’s holiday?”

“What?”

“When the bus driver goes on vacation, he does not take the bus. Doctors are
not
thrilled at cocktail parties when people tell them their medical problems. If all you do all day is crosswords, are you supposed to jump for joy when somebody brings you one?”

“No, but when it comes attached to a homicide—to two homicides—it’s interesting as hell. It’s not just an ordinary crossword puzzle. The killer is leaving a clue. You don’t even write crosswords, and you can’t wait to get it on the grid.”

Sherry considered. “Maybe I’m not as smart as she is, and don’t see immediately that it’s meaningless.”

“You think the clues are meaningless?”

“I don’t know.”

“But you’re telling me your aunt does?”

“No. I think it’s a simple case of priorities. You must understand, Aunt Cora’s a bit of a romantic. She grew up on murder mysteries, reads them all the time. Now a real-life one suddenly drops in her lap. A puzzle’s attached, but as far as she’s concerned, that’s merely incidental. Yes, it’s the reason she’s involved in the first place, but it’s not that important to her. She’s more concerned with physical clues. Time of death. Cause of death. And how that car got behind that high school. That’s the type of puzzle
she
wants to figure out.”