Last Puzzle & Testament (23 page)

Cora changed the filter, spooned in coffee, set the machine, and switched it on. “There you go, Chief. We’ll have coffee pronto. You want me to see if I’ve got some sort of pastry to go with it?”

"0eght="0em" width="1em" align="justify">“Coffee will be fine,” Chief Harper said.

“So what have you got?” Cora asked him. “Anything new?”

“I really shouldn’t discuss it.”

“Of course.”

Chief Harper sat at the kitchen table, rubbed his head. “But then you helped me before, didn’t you? And the long and the short of it is, I got no one to answer to but me.” He sighed. “Actually, I gotta answer to the prosecutor, the selectmen, the townspeople. Just about everyone, when you come right down to it. Anyway, here’s the scoop. As of right now, everything points to the kid.”

“Daniel Hurley?”

“That’s the one. The landlady confirms Annabel Hurley called on him last night.”

“Well, of course she does. Daniel told you as much. It would only be remarkable if she
didn’t
confirm it.”

“Yeah, but she also confirms this: right after Annabel Hurley left, Daniel went out.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. And he didn’t mention that. It is rather interesting, if he was following her home to see where she went.”

“And why would he do that?”

“Why would anyone do that? We have no idea what the motive is. At this moment, we’re talking opportunity. And here’s a great big opportunity, too blatant to ignore.”

“Anything else point to him?”

“Indirectly.”

“Ugly word. What
indirectly
points to Daniel Hurley?”

“The puzzle. Yesterday, to all accounts, Daniel Hurley had no intention of working on the puzzle. Then this morning he turns it in. That’s right, isn’t it? Did he give you a solution?”

“Yes, he did.”

“Was it correct?”

“It was correct enough to move on.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You gotta understand, Chief, as far as judging this event goes, I’m making it up as I go along. I’m still not sure how I’m gonna judge the final puzzle. As far as the segments go, anyone who’s managed to solve the long clue can move on. Even if they don’t have everything else.”

“And Daniel Hurley didn’t have everything else?”

Cora Felton waggled her hand. “There’s a gray ar19;ythea on some of the shorter clues. For instance, in what they just solved there’s an Italian village intersecting with a Tibetan town. It was possible to get everything else in the puzzle except the one letter that was common to both words. So, if you didn’t know either answer, you couldn’t fill in that letter, even though you could get everything else.”

Cora Felton poured the coffee and explained the crossword-puzzle situation with great assurance. Knowing it would be a bone of contention, Sherry Carter had briefed her very carefully on those points.

Chief Harper accepted the coffee, dumped in milk and sugar. “So you’re saying Daniel Hurley didn’t get those right?”

“He had one letter wrong. But you were saying. Why does the puzzle point to Daniel Hurley?”

“Because, like I say, he wasn’t going to work on it. Everyone confirms that. Even his lawyer. She was surprised he’d done it. Because he told everyone he wasn’t. Until Annabel Hurley calls on him. Then he follows her out when she leaves, and the next time someone sees her, she’s dead. And she was close to Emma Hurley, has been seen in the places where the puzzle pieces were hidden, and is known to be not playing the game.”

“So?”

“So, maybe she knows the solution. Between late last night and early this morning, Daniel Hurley got the solution from somewhere. Why not from her?”

Cora Felton considered. “Then why would he get one letter wrong?”

Chief Harper frowned.

“Anyway,” Cora Felton said. “What do you think of my theory?”

“What theory?”

“That Emma Hurley was bumped off.”

“I think the less said about that the better,” Chief Harper said.

“Really?” Cora said. “Didn’t you see what a reaction it provoked? Philip and Phyllis were at each other’s throats.”

“Philip and Phyllis are always at each other’s throats.”

“Yes, but not so specifically,” Cora said. “You think Phyllis really did in her husbands?”

“Frankly, no. And even if she did, I can’t see how it would relate to the current case.”

“You can’t? Annabel Hurley tells me she’s suspicious of her. Annabel tells me to make sure she didn’t poison her aunt. Annabel is subsequently killed. And you can’t see a possible connection?”

“You’re telling me Phyllis Hurley Applegate is a serial killer who bumped off her husbands, her aunt, and her cousin, not to mention the town drunk, by at least three different means—poison, a blunt object, and a knife? Can you imaginCansbands, hee me selling that concept to the county prosecutor?”

“Well, when you put it that way,” Cora said.

There came the sound of tires in the driveway.

Cora Felton’s face lit up. She controlled herself, tried to keep from reacting as if she’d just gotten a death-row reprieve. “There’s Sherry now. Relax, drink your coffee, I’ll go get those clues.”

Cora Felton tore out of the kitchen, sprinted through the foyer, and flung open the front door to find Sherry Carter and Aaron Grant climbing out of Aaron’s car.

“Sherry,” Cora cried, bounding down the front steps. “Come here, come here. Boy, am I glad to see you. Hi, Aaron, excuse me a minute. Sherry, Chief Harper’s here. You know that, of course, there’s his car. He’s in the kitchen. And he wants the solution to the puzzle, and I couldn’t work on it because of the clues.”

“The clues?” Sherry said.

“Yes, yes, the clues,” Cora said, grabbing her by the elbow and piloting her toward the house. Cora called over her shoulder, “Aaron, go have coffee with Chief Harper, I’ve gotta talk to Sherry. Come on, Sherry, in the office.”

Cora dragged Sherry through the front door, called, “Be with you in a minute, Chief,” and herded Sherry down the hallway. She pushed Sherry into the office, slammed the door. “Thank goodness you’re here. What a nightmare. You’ve gotta help me.”

Sherry’s eyes widened. “What’s
that!
” she said, pointing to the desk.

“Oh, the orange juice! The doorbell rang, and I was so pleased about the Ken doll, and I couldn’t find a paper towel.”

“What on earth are you talking about? It didn’t reach the keyboard, did it?”

“No, it didn’t. Sherry, look. I stalled Chief Harper, made him think you had the clues with you so I couldn’t work on the puzzle. As far as he’s concerned, you’re bringing them back to me now. But he’s gonna want me to solve them, and what do I do?”

Sherry was still looking at the screen. “You added
Ken
?”

“I’m sorry. I got excited because I knew one.”

“It’s all right,” Sherry said. “Okay, here’s what you do. Go out there and stall Chief Harper another five minutes. That should be enough. And get rid of Aaron. You can kill two birds with one stone there, because Chief Harper doesn’t want Aaron to have the solution. So go out there, say you’re not going to work on the puzzle until Aaron is gone.”

“Will he buy that?”

“It doesn’t matter if he buys it or not, you’re just stalling to t s

“What do I tell him you’re doing?”

“I’m programming the computer for you. You’re the crossword-puzzle genius, I’m the computer nerd, remember?”

“Gotcha.”

In the kitchen Cora was relieved to find Aaron Grant filling Chief Harper in on Chester Hurley.

“He had a gun?” Chief Harper asked.

“A cannon,” Aaron answered. “That pocket in his overalls must go down to his knee.”

“But he didn’t threaten you with it?”

“No. Just waved it around. He also made a few vague threats at whoever killed his niece.”

“He had no idea who that might be?”

“None he wished to share. It’s hard to tell what that guy’s thinking. So, you got anything I can use for the paper tomorrow? Somehow, VICTIM’S UNCLE PACKING HEAT is going to be a tough headline to sell my editor on.”

Chief Harper winced. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t.”

“You got anything better?”

“Nothing you can use. Cora’s about to give me something, but you can’t have it.”

“Just the point I was about to make, Chief,” Cora said. “Aaron, you’re going to have to take off so I can get this puzzle nailed.” She gave him a look. “You know how it is.”

“I do, and I can’t say I appreciate it,” Aaron replied. “Look here, Chief. I understand your not wanting me to print the clues. That makes perfect sense. But not knowing them is something else. What’s the harm in me knowing the solution if I assure you I’m not going to print it?”

Cora Felton smiled. She knew what Aaron was doing. Aaron Grant, who knew Cora Felton could no more solve a crossword puzzle than she could fly to the moon, was helping to stall Chief Harper to give Sherry a chance to work on the puzzle.

Not that she needed long. While Aaron and the Chief were still arguing, Sherry appeared in the doorway. She smiled, said, “Okay, Cora, I programmed the computer for you. All you have to do is type in the answers and print it out. Oh, hi, Chief. Aaron fill you in about Chester?”

Cora took advantage of Sherry jumping into the conversation to beat a hasty retreat to the office. She went inside, shut the door, and sat down at the computer.

The solution was there on the screen. Sherry had also laid a hard copy on the keyboard, just to save Cora the anxiety of having to figure out how to print it out.

Cora picked it up, looked at it, compared it to the clues.

ACROSS

• 25. Amiable
  
• 30. Chinese gelatin
  
• 35. Perfect rejoinder
  
• 40. Barbie’s buddy
  
• 41. Do ____ (second chances)
  
• 44. Wipe out
  
• 48. Unfruitful
  
• 52. Me first man
  
• 57. Peru city
  
• 61. Alda
  
• 64. So far
  

DOWN

• 23. Attitudes
  
• 25. Wolf gathering
  
• 26. Monster
  
• 27. Close recycling place, so to speak?
  
• 31. Worry
  
• 36. Golf course features
  
• 45. Character in “Wheel of Time” books
  
• 48. Stop
  
• 49. Spry
  

Cora scanned the grid hastily, noted that the long answer was
laundromat.
She frowned. How did you get
laundromat
from
close recycling place?

She studied the puzzle. Her eyes widened. Of course.
Close
was a homonym.
Close
equaled
clothes.
That was the
so to speak.
It was a
clothes recycling place.
A terrible, terrible pun. Which was to be expected after
post office.

Still, Cora wouldn’t have gotten it. But Sherry had, and Sherry’d saved the day. Now all Cora had to do was stall a few more minutes to let Chief Harper think she’d had time to solve this new piece of the puzzle, then she could bring him the solution and that would be that.

Cora Felton tipped back in her chair and smiled with a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment. Now that the peril was past, she felt perfectly pleased with herself.

So what if she hadn’t gotten
laundromat?

She’d gotten
Ken.

“What’s the address again?” Cora Felton said.

“Nineteen Birch Street,” Sherry said.

“Think we can find it?”

“It’s a small town.”

“Even so.”

Cora and Sherry were driving downtown in Cora’s car with a large bag of laundry in the backseat.

“We should have brought some soap,” Cora said.

“Why? We’re not actually going to do the laundry. It’s just a prop.”

“We brought it to look natural. We’re not going to look natural if we don’t put soap in the washer.”

“You want to waste an hour in the laundromat doing our clothes?”

“Of course not.”

“Then we don’t need soap. Anyway, I bet they sell little packets out of a machine.”

Cora shook her head. “Sherry, you’ve lived alone too long if you know how to do the laundry.”

“Oh? And how did you do laundry?”