Part 37 (1/2)
”Done!” Sherry said.
”What is it?” Cora said.
”See for yourself.”
Cora grabbed the puzzle, read: ” 'Find a clue. Seal my fate. Match up the car's plate.' ” She snorted. ”Yesterday's news. We matched up the car's plate. It points to me.”
”Not necessarily. You've got another KenKen.”
”Right. So what am I supposed to do? Look at the second row across?”
”No.” Sherry took the puzzle back. She pointed. ”25 Across. 'With 22-Across, who to blame.' The answer to 25 Across is 'Third.' The answer to 22 Across is 'Column.' I a.s.sume that's the third vertical row.”
”Great,” Cora said. She s.n.a.t.c.hed up the KenKen. ”What have we got? Let's see. '2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1.' ”
”If it's like the other one,” Aaron said, ”the first three numbers stand for letters.”
”Yeah, well, I don't care what they are, 5, 6, 1 is not my license number.”
”Let's see whose it is,” Aaron said. ”Lemme see the phone.”
”The phone?” Becky said.
”The keypad. With the letters and numbers. We have to match them up and figure it out. It isn't easy, because each number could be any of three letters. In her case she knew the last three numbers were hers, then we saw if the first three fit. So, if there's any license plate that has these last three numbers-”
”h.e.l.l!” Cora said.
”What is it?” Sherry said.
”I know whose plate this is. I was driving around looking for it. It's Melvin's.”
CHAPTER.
49.
”Okay, what do we do now?” Cora said.
”There's no what-do-we-do-now,” Becky said. ”What we do now is turn this over to the police.”
”We can't give the chief another lead to Melvin. It'll practically ice the case.”
”Oh, come on,” Aaron said. ”No one's going to find him guilty on account of a crossword puzzle.”
”It's not a question of finding him guilty. It's a question of holding him in jail. Making statements to the press. Giving interviews to Rick Reed. Can't you see it now? PUZZLE LADY'S EX IMPLICATED IN MURDER BY PUZZLE. h.e.l.l, people will think I did it.”
”Hey, there's a thought,” Aaron said. ”You wouldn't be trying to get back at him for the alimony suit, would you?”
”Of course she isn't,” Sherry said irritably. ”Think about it, Aaron. Just how likely is that?”
”I'm not saying she did. I'm just saying it's a tough theory to disprove. I mean, you give the police a crossword that implicates Melvin, there's only two things they're going to think. One, it implicates Melvin. Or two, you're trying to implicate Melvin. Particularly when you're the one giving it to the police.”
”I wasn't the one who found the d.a.m.n thing,” Cora said.
”No, your lawyer was. How much weight is that going to carry? You say, 'No, I didn't find it, my lawyer did.' ”
”Sherry, you married a real pain in the a.s.s.”
”He's just telling you what the cops are going to think. And it is what the cops are going to think. Don't lay it on him. h.e.l.l, even I have trouble with the story someone gave this to Becky.”
”Oh, you think I made it up?”
”No. But maybe someone gave it to you, and Becky's covering for you. So no one will get the idea you made it up.”
”Oh, my G.o.d,” Becky said, ”no one squabbles like relatives. What is this, Dysfunctional Family Feud? And it's a moot argument. The puzzle was given to me. I'm giving it to the cops. End of story.”
”Yeah, but it's not the end of the story,” Cora said. ”Because then they're going to want to know what it means.”
”Why? It's solved.”
”Yeah. And you think that will satisfy Chief Harper? He's going to want to know what the solution means.”
”And you tell him it's referring to a license plate. Not that big a jump from 'car's plate.' ”
”Then he's going to want to know whose plate.”
”And you'll tell him you don't know. You don't, do you? I mean, you haven't matched it up.”
”Well, not entirely.”
”Okay,” Becky said. ”First off, let's clear the room. I need to have a confidential conversation with my client. You guys gotta go. Before you do, I need to know. Are you going to talk to the police?”
”Now, hang on,” Aaron said. ”It depends what you mean by talk. I'm a reporter. I have to follow the story.”
”That's not what I mean, and you know it. Are you going to blab to the police about the crossword puzzle?”
”Not unless directly asked.”
”And you're not going to do anything that would lead them to directly ask. You're not gonna write this.”
”Come on, Becky,” Sherry said. ”You know he won't write it.”
”Unless I get it from the police. Which is something else entirely.”
”And then you'll be circ.u.mspect?”