Part 14 (2/2)
”Oh?”
”There wasn't a crossword puzzle with the body?”
”No. There was a KenKen.”
”Really. Did you solve it?”
”I can't solve it till they give me a copy.”
”Why didn't they?”
”Kind of a low priority. Just a bunch of numbers.”
”You think it means anything?”
”No.”
”Then why was it there?”
Cora grimaced. ”See, that's the whole problem. That's what I always get stuck with. 'You're the Puzzle Lady, here's a puzzle, somebody must have left it for you.' What rubbish.”
”Why is that rubbish?”
”It's ridiculous.”
”It happens.”
”It happened once. Now every time there's a murder that's what they expect.”
”It happened more than once.”
”Bite your tongue. It's never happened with a KenKen. A KenKen is a number puzzle. It can't possibly mean a thing.”
”It happened with a sudoku.”
”And the sudoku had a crossword puzzle attached to point me in the right direction.”
”Actually...”
”Actually?” Cora looked at her niece suspiciously. ”Did you just say actually?”
”When you were zooming out of here I noticed the flag on the mailbox was up.”
”In the dark?”
”In the headlights.”
”So Aaron was mailing a letter.”
”Aaron wasn't mailing a letter.”
”You woke him up and asked him?”
”Aaron doesn't mail letters. Not from here. Anything he sends goes out from the paper.”
”That's a h.e.l.l of a marriage. Aren't you afraid he's writing his mistress?”
”Aaron doesn't have a mistress. You can't judge all marriages by your own disasters.”
”Disasters?”
”Would you consider Melvin a crowning achievement?”
”Point taken. What about the mailbox?”
”I found this.” Sherry whipped out an envelope. Written on the front were the words PUZZLE LADY. ”Guess what was in it?”
”You opened my letter?”
”It's a fine line. On the one hand, you're the Puzzle Lady. On the other hand, I do the work. And I open all the checks and bills.”
”Yeah, yeah, fine. What's in it?”
Sherry pa.s.sed it over.
Cora took the envelope, pulled out the paper.
It was a crossword puzzle.
ACROSS.
1 Where Pago Pago is 6 Island north of New Zealand 10 ”Little Women” character 14 Vote into office 15 Knot-tying vows 16 K-12, in education 17 Big artery 18 Message, part 1 20 With 47-Across, where to look 22 Come before 23 Juror, in theory 25 Chow down 26 Message, part 2 30 Predicaments 34 Expert 35 Insecticide brand 36 Family name in baseball 37 Novocaine-treated 39 Acc.u.mulate 42 Use a teething ring 43 Sheltered, at sea 44 Barbershop spinner 46 Auction call 47 See 20-Across 48 Message, part 3 51 ”___ Can Cook” (PBS show) 52 Story starter 53 Outdoors, to a diner 58 Become dotty 62 Message, part 4 64 Austerity 65 Tied, as a score 66 Conclusion lead-in 67 Baseball manager Joe 68 Benefit of clergy, e.g.
69 Kind of terrier 70 Flips out DOWN.
1 Wet septet 2 ___ vera 3 Certain Ford, for short 4 Squid relatives 5 Finished 6 Little white lie 7 Light bulb, in cartoons 8 Group seeker 9 Does not attend 10 Bit of sweat 11 Exile site of 1814 12 One of those things?
13 Make yourself scarce 19 Go fetch 21 Bing Crosby's record label 24 Hotel unit 26 Tired and trite 27 Eyes 28 Mocha setting 29 Not fitting 30 Boxer's punch 31 Accused's excuse 32 Design idea 33 Blue shoe material?
38 Buzzer 40 Area near TriBeCa 41 Broken arm holder 45 Keeps company (with) 48 Converts to bills?
49 Pop open, as champagne 50 Military unit 51 ''Fine with me!”
53 Say it's so 54 Clothier Strauss 55 Sweat it out 56 Chicago Cubs star Sandberg 57 Baccha.n.a.l 59 Taj Mahal town 60 Trail mix 61 Mars, to the Greeks 63 Time keeper, at times
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