Part 22 (1/2)
Bambi blew the hair out of her eyes in a gesture men undoubtedly found cute and declared, ”You don't like me.”
”Now, there's a remarkable insight.”
”Of course you don't,” Bambi said complacently. ”I'm with Melvin now. I understand. You still like him. But you can't have him. So you don't like me.”
”Well, you're half-right,” Cora said.
Bambi crinkled her nose. ”Huh?”
”Why are you here?”
Bambi pulled a piece of paper out of her purse. ”I have a puzzle.”
Cora could not have been more surprised had Bambi whipped out a pistol and begun spraying the room. ”You have a puzzle?”
”Hey, just because I'm pretty doesn't mean I'm not smart. I can do sudoku.”
”I'll alert the media,” Cora said.
”Are you mocking me? You don't like me because I'm young and pretty, but that's no reason to mock me.”
”No, I'm sure there are others,” Cora said. ”What's this about a puzzle?”
”It's a number puzzle. But it's not a sudoku.”
Bambi gave the puzzle to Cora.
”Oh, it's a KenKen. That's why you can't do it.”
”I can do a KenKen. You think I can't add and subtract?”
”I'm sure you can multiply. So why are you here?”
”I didn't want to wake Melvin up. Melvin's sleeping.”
”Ah,” Cora said. ”Sleeping. At this time of day that's a euphemism for pa.s.sed out.”
”Anyway, I could do it just fine if I hadn't been having a drink.” Bambi c.o.c.ked her head, tried to keep it from tipping too far to one side. ”I've been having a drink.”
”Hadn't noticed,” Cora said.
”So I brought it to you.”
”Hold on. You probably don't realize it, but you're not making any sense. Why are you bringing me a puzzle at all?”
”Because I want to know what it means.”
”It doesn't mean anything. It's a KenKen. It's a bunch of numbers.”
”And I want to know what the numbers mean.”
”Why in the world would the numbers mean anything?”
”I don't know.”
”Oh, for goodness' sakes,” Sherry said impatiently. ”You mind if I jump in here? I haven't been married to Melvin, so I can still think straight. Bambi, where did you get the KenKen? Why do you think it's important?”
”Great,” Cora said. ”You ask her two questions. We'll be here all night while she sorts that out. Bambi, where did you get the KenKen?”
”Under the door.”
”Someone slipped it under the door of your room at the motel?”
”That's right.”
”Just like this? Or was it in something?”
”It was in an envelope.”
”Was the envelope addressed to you?”
”No.”
”Who was it addressed to?”
”n.o.body.”
”It didn't say anything on the envelope?”
”No.”
”Then what makes you think it means something?”
”Because it had this with it.”
Bambi reached in her purse and pulled out a crossword puzzle.
ACROSS.
1 Never let go of 5 Masked man 10 Oodles 14 History chapters 15 Disney's middle name 16 Neck of the woods 17 Online convenience 18 Message, part 1 20 Brain size?
21 Turns tail 22 Ohio city 23 In-tray item 25 Intruded, with ”in”
26 Message, part 2 31 Sounds from Santa 32 Wooden shoe 33 Water ____ 37 ”The Plague” setting 38 Casting need 39 Not fooled by 40 Aardvark snacks 41 CIA agent, in slang 43 RBIs, for instance 44 Message, part 3 46 Keanu Reeves thriller, with ”The”
50 Like a Visa balance 51 Language characteristic 52 Out of sorts?