Part 23 (1/2)
”The year she was born?” Sherry suggested.
”You're not helping,” Cora said.
”The difference in your ages?”
”I'll throw you out of here.”
Sherry shook her head. ”We're not leaving the two of you alone together. If Bambi were found torn limb from limb, you wouldn't be able to prove you didn't do it.”
”Whereas if you were found torn limb from limb-”
”Come on,” Aaron said. ”Solve this thing.”
”There's nothing to solve.”
”I don't buy that. You're just saying that because it's her. If anyone else had brought you the puzzle, you'd have solved it by now.”
”Why, Aaron Grant. Sherry, looks like your hubby just grew a pair.”
”He's just showing off for Bambi,” Sherry said.
Aaron threw up his hands. ”I've done it. Now they're ganging up on me. How about it, girls? Let's make some sense out of all this. I need the story.”
”Oh, well, when you put it that way,” Cora said. ”I wasn't trying before, but if you need a story ... Okay. Say the number's gotta mean something. What's ninety-three?”
Bambi, who had been laboriously adding up the numbers in the puzzle, said, ”It's not ninety-three. It's a hundred and six.”
”Oh, for G.o.d's sake! It's ninety-three. I added it up.”
”You added it wrong.”
Cora couldn't believe the girl was arguing with her. ”Oh, look here-”
”It is a hundred and six,” Sherry said.
”What!” Cora said.
”Believe it or not. I just did it myself.”
Cora glowered at her niece. ”Fine. So it's a hundred and six. Big deal. What's a hundred and six?”
”One more than a hundred and five,” Bambi said.
”Gee, thanks,” Cora said. ”That clears it up.”
”Well, it's true,” Bambi said.
”Yeah, it's true. A hundred and six is one more than a hundred and five. And what's a hundred and five?”
”Our motel room.”
CHAPTER.
31.
”Are you comfortable leaving Aaron with Bambi?” Cora asked as she and Sherry drove out to the Oakwood Motel.
”I wasn't going to let you go alone.”
”That's thoughtful of you.”
”It wasn't thoughtful of me. I don't trust you not to get in trouble.”
”That isn't thoughtful?”
”How do you plan to get into the room?”
”I thought we'd drive up to the door and knock.”
”Bambi says no one's there.”
”You really want to quote Bambi as an authority on anything? So she says no one's there. Let's see if she's right.”
”What if someone opens the door?”
”Then we get in.”
”What if Bambi's right and the place isn't rented?”
”Then we rent it.”
”What?”
”You got a credit card, don't you? Just rent the d.a.m.n thing.”
”We can't rent a motel room.”
”Why not?”
”We have a house.”
”So what? You're a newlywed. You had a fight with your husband.”
”I did not!”
”You think they're gonna check?”