by Parnell Hall
“Yes.”
“And he was called by her ex-husband?”
“By his lawyer, yes.”
“Then he testified against her.”
“You’re free to draw that conclusion. I’m just telling you what happened.”
“Did you question the Puzzle Lady about the murder?”
“I discussed it with her.”
“What about her ex-husband? Have you questioned him?”
“As a matter of fact, I have.”
“What did you question him about?”
“Whether he was in court when the decedent testified.”
“Why wouldn’t he be?”
“I have no idea. Apparently he wasn’t at the plaintiff’s table with his lawyer. I asked him if he was watching from the back of the courtroom.”
“What did he say?”
“He didn’t answer the question.”
Rick Reed was astonished. “But you’re a police officer.”
“So they tell me,” Harper said dryly.
“He refused to answer a direct question from a police officer in a murder investigation?”
“He wasn’t picked up as a suspect, so he was under no obligation to.”
“Well, what about his civic duty?”
“You’d have to ask him.”
“What about the rest of your investigation?”
“Everyone is cooperating fully. We hope to have something soon.”
Rick Reed turned to the camera. “Well. What an astounding turn of events. A key witness in a murder investigation refusing to answer questions for the police. A tactic usually reserved for the defendant. Yet, according to Police Chief Dale Harper, this man is not under arrest. This is Rick Reed, Channel Eight News.”
Cora picked up the zapper, froze the image on the new TV set. “God, I love high-definition. Look how Rick Reed’s face blends just the right amount of studied arrogance and naïve credulity.”
Aaron sawed off a piece of pork roast, sopped it in sauce. “You realize there’s not a damn thing in that interview I could get away with printing in the paper.”
“That’s Rick Reed for you,” Sherry said. “A totally vapid interview, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
“Sound and fury?” Cora said skeptically.
“All right, sound bites and fury.”
“I’m not happy with fury.”
“Sound bites and flurry?”
“We’re still not there.”
“Kids, kids,” Aaron said. “Sort out the linguistics later. What’s this about Melvin?”
“I don’t know,” Cora said innocently.
“Right. Like you’ve got nothing to do with it.”
“I may have given Chief Harper a hint.”
“What’s the idea?”
“Well, the guy’s running around here with a blond nymphet. Why should he get off scot-free?”
“You think he killed the banker?”
“No, but I find it very suspicious the banker dies before I’m able to demonstrate my innocence.”
“Innocence?” Sherry said. “Oh, for goodness’ sakes.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Well, the banker said that you deposited a check. You did deposit a check. Left to you by your dear, departed husband, whom you never met. You mind telling me how you establish your innocence for that?”
Cora looked at Aaron. “She’s very cranky today. You noticed these violent mood swings lately?”
“I’m going to kill you,” Sherry said.
“Like that, for instance.”
“She’s trying to change the subject, Aaron. Ask her whether or not she had a hand in framing her ex-husband for murder.”
Cora waved her hand. “Oh, pooh. No one had a hand in framing anyone for anything. It’s the beginning of a murder investigation. Nothing is known, so you gotta stir things up.”
“Nothing is known?” Aaron said.
“That’s right.”
“I thought a puzzle was found at the scene of the crime.”
“A KenKen. That’s right. And I solved it, and it means absolutely nothing. Take a look.”
Cora pulled the copy out of her drawstring purse, passed it over.
Aaron grabbed it before Sherry could.
“Hey! You didn’t do that before we were married.”
“Sorry. You go first.”
“Okay. Now, you put this together with the crossword.”
“Crossword!” Aaron said. “What crossword?”
“Oh,” Cora said. “Is your wife holding out on you? That’s never a good sign.”
“There was a crossword?”
“Don’t ask me,” Cora said, putting up her hands. “I’m not the crossword person. I’m just the pretty face.”
“Sherry?”
Sherry grimaced. “There’s a clue, and you can’t write it. Would you like to know what it is?”
“I’m your husband.”
“Good. Get in husband mode and out of reporter mode and I’ll show you the crossword.”
“What crossword? What are you talking about?”
“Go get it, Sherry. I’ll fill him in.”
Cora told Aaron what happened while Sherry retrieved the crossword.
Aaron picked up the puzzle, looked it over. “ ‘Being a bad boy in court cut his life very short?’ That points to you.”
“Thanks for your help,” Cora said. “I never could have figured that out.”
“So, what does it mean?”
“Seeing as how I didn’t kill him, I haven’t a clue.”
“What about the KenKen numbers? Are they any help?”
“Not really. According to the crossword puzzle, the answers to 20 and 47 Across tell you where to look. The answers are ‘second line.’ If that means the second line of the KenKen, it’s 3, 5, 6, 2, 1, 4. Which is not particularly helpful.”
“Suppose the numbers aren’t numbers,” Aaron said.
Sherry frowned. “How could that be?”
“Easy. They stand for letters of the alphabet.”
“Pretty short alphabet. You’ve got only six numbers. A, B, C, D, E, F.”
“So?” Aaron said. “Maybe that’s all you need. Let’s see what we’ve got. The numbers are 3, 5, 6, 2, 1, 4. That’s C-E-F-B-A-D.”
“Cefbad?” Sherry said. “That’s not particularly illuminating.”
“ ‘Bad’ sounds like Melvin,” Cora pointed out.
“Yeah. And what’s ‘cef’?”
“That’s a little harder,” she admitted. “I suppose they could be the notes of a scale. As long as you don’t have a ti.”
“What?” Aaron said.
“You’ve got do, re, me, fa, sol, la. You don’t have ti.”
“We have coffee,” Aaron said.
“Hit him for me, Sherry. Come on, what if they’re notes of a scale. Then 3 would be me, 5 would be sol, 6 would be la, 2 would be re, 1 would be do, and 4 would be fa. So we’ve got me-sol—”
“Isn’t that a soup?” Aaron suggested.
“You’re not helping,” Sherry said.
“And we’ve got la-re-do.”
“The town! It’s a soup in a town!”
“Sherry, you married a wise-ass punk and I’m going to kill him.”
“What’s the last one?”
“Fa.” Cora looked at Aaron. “Because it’s too fa to go to la-re-do to get your soup.”
“Okay,” Sherry said. “If it’s not the first six letters of the alphabet and it’s not musical notes, what have we got?”
“Have we ruled out the ‘numbers are numbers’ theory?” Aaron said.
“Six numbers. It’s too short for a telephone number. Too short for a Social Security number.”
“Suppose it’s a lottery number?” Cora suggested.
“Oh, that’s helpful.”
“Hey, if this number wins, don’t blame me.”
“Could it be a license plate number?” Aaron said.
“They’re
letters and numbers.”
“There you go. Maybe it’s a license plate.”
“Sure, if the license plate doesn’t have any letters beyond F. When you try to represent twenty-six letters with six numbers, it just doesn’t work.”
“Suppose you got more,” Aaron said. “We’ve got 356214. Say 21 is not BA, it’s the twenty-first letter of the alphabet.”
“Which is?”
“It’s U.”
“You think it’s me?”
“I think it’s the letter U. That’s the twenty-first letter of the alphabet.”
“Okay,” Cora said. “Then, taking them two at a time, what is the thirty-fifth letter of the alphabet?”
“Okay, let’s compromise,” Aaron said.
“What do you mean?”
“How about something that uses more of the letters of the alphabet.”
“All of them?”
“No, but maybe enough. Six isn’t good. What if we use three times that.”
Cora frowned. “What do you mean?”
Aaron took out his cell phone, flipped it open. “It’s a text message. 2 is A, B, C. 3 is D, E, F.”
“I see what you mean,” Cora said. “So, what have we got here?”
“Well, let’s see. 356214. 3 is DEF. 5 is JKL. 6 is MNO.”
“What about the 1? It doesn’t stand for any letters.”
“1 is 1. This could be a combination of numbers and letters. If it’s a license plate number, it probably is. A lot of license plate numbers, the first digits are letters, and the last three are numbers.”
“Oh, really,” Cora said. “Those last three numbers are 214.”
“So?”
“Those happen to be the numbers of my license plate.”
“Oh, yeah. What’s the rest of it?”
“Electric Light Orchestra.”
“Huh?”
“ELO.”
“Let’s see. 3 could be E. 5 could be L. 6 could be O. There you are. ELO214.”
Aaron looked up at Cora. “Looks like you did it.”
Chapter
26
Judge Hobbs surveyed the crowded courtroom with distaste. “It is somewhat unusual to have so many spectators at a simple alimony hearing. I understand how the circumstances of the past forty-eight hours have created interest in this matter. However, those circumstances have absolutely no bearing in this case, and are not to be raised. If that is why you are here, you are bound to be disappointed. So, when you find out this is not what you hoped to see, I would ask you to please leave quietly and not disturb the proceedings.
“Now then. When we adjourned, the plaintiff was putting on his case.”
Becky was on her feet. “Actually, the plaintiff was doing nothing of the sort. The plaintiff isn’t even here. The plaintiff’s lawyer was putting on his case, but I don’t see his client.”
“Mr. Fleckstein, do you intend to proceed in the absence of your client?”
“No, I do not, Your Honor. In fact, here he is now.”
All heads turned as Melvin made a star’s entrance through the back door of the courtroom and strode down the aisle. Every eye was on the charismatic figure. Even Cora was impressed. The man still had it. Smug, arrogant, self-assured, Melvin was at his scene-stealing best. He pushed open the gate, walked through, and sat down next to his attorney.
“Mr. Crabtree,” Judge Hobbs said. “Nice of you to grace us with your presence.”
“My pleasure, Your Honor. But if we could move things along, I need to get back to work. I happen to be supporting several ex-wives.”
A ripple of amusement, largely female, swept through the courtroom.
Judge Hobbs banged the gavel. “Mr. Crabtree. In the future, if you wish to address the court, please do so through your attorney. Mr. Fleckstein, call your next witness.”
Before he could, Becky Baldwin rose to her feet. “One moment, Your Honor. I think you may have lost track of the fact that court was adjourned before I had an opportunity to cross-examine Mr. Randolph.”
“You were certainly given that opportunity.”
“I don’t believe I was. He completed his direct examination, you asked me if I had anything to refute it, I asked for an adjournment, and you granted one. I don’t recall being offered the opportunity to cross-examine, and I don’t recall saying, ‘No questions.’ Before Mr. Fleckstein calls another witness, I would like the opportunity to cross-examine his last one.”
“Oh, Your Honor—”
Judge Hobbs banged the gavel. “That will do, Mr. Fleckstein. I’ll handle this. Ms. Baldwin, obviously you cannot cross-examine the last witness, as you well know. But your claim that you were not given an opportunity to do so is tenuous at best. I think a look at the transcript will prove that is not correct.”
“I doubt that, Your Honor. I ordered a copy of the transcript and went over it quite carefully. Clearly, I was never asked to cross-examine.”
“That might well be, Ms. Baldwin. But the point would seem somewhat moot.”
“Not at all, Your Honor. The witness gave direct examination. If I am not allowed to cross-examine, it stands uncontested. Which, of course, it cannot be. I therefore move the witness’s entire direct examination be stricken from the record.”
Fleckstein erupted from his chair, spouting objections.
Melvin, however, was calm. He glanced over at the defense table with a bemused look on his face and grinned roguishly at Becky Baldwin with newfound interest.
Chapter
27
“Watch yourself,” Cora warned. Court was in recess, and she and Becky were holed up in one of the conference rooms.
“What do you mean?”
“Melvin thinks you’re hot.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Not at all. I’ve seen that look before.”
“Cora.”
“He likes the way you’re beating up his attorney. He thinks you’ve got spunk. You do. Don’t let him flatter you.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“I worry about everything where Melvin’s concerned. I can worry about me. I can worry about you. The nymphet’s not in court, so he’s running his game. He’s always running his game. If he tries to speak to you, be careful.”
“I’m immune to his charm.”
“You think so. And then he says something disarming, and the next thing you know you’re in Vegas.”
Becky laughed. “That’s not going to happen.”
“I’m glad you think so. What about the witness? You gonna win the fight?”
“I should. If not, I got grounds for appeal.”
“Appeal?”
“Yeah. You know. The court hearing where you pay me more money.”
“Ha, ha.”
“I wasn’t joking. If I can knock out the banker’s testimony, I got a shot at the other witnesses.”
“What other witnesses?”
“Well, there’s the teller who brought him the check. But she’s not a very good witness.”
“How do you know?”
“If she was, they’d have put her on first. Because she’s the one who saw you. The one you gave the check to. The one who can identify you as the person presenting the check. The fact she didn’t means she’s shaky at best.”
Cora grimaced. “You’re doing it again.”
“What?”
“Discrediting the witnesses. The point is I never married the guy.”
“Yeah, but that’s hard to prove. We gotta work with what we got.”
There came a knock on the conference room door.
“We must be back in,” Becky said.
She got up to go.
The door opened, and Melvin stepped in. “I hope I’m not disturbing you. Before court resumes, I thought we could have a little talk.”
“I have nothing to say to you,” Cora said.
“I know that. I meant with your lawyer.”
Becky shook her head. “You’re the opposing party. I can’t talk
to you directly. I should be talking to your lawyer.”
Melvin smiled. “Yeah, but he won’t do it. He’s an old stick-in-the-mud.”
“Actually, we had quite a nice talk over lunch.”
“Reach an agreement? I bet he didn’t even pick up the check. You wanna get anywhere, you talk right to me.”
“Get anywhere? I didn’t know there was anywhere to get.”
“I thought you lawyers always talked settlement.”
“You’re offering to settle?”
“I don’t know until we talk about it.”
“We’re not settling!” Cora said. “Becky, don’t listen to him.”
Fleckstein stuck his nose in the door and spotted his client. “Oh, there you are.” His eyes widened when he saw whom Melvin was with. “What are you doing? Are you crazy? You can’t talk to them. For all I know, they’re having the conversation recorded. Are you having the conversation recorded? If you are, I’m charging you with bad faith and bringing it before the judge. Don’t talk to them. There’s no reason to talk to them. It’s an open-and-shut case. We’re going to win, they’re going to lose. That’s all she wrote. What the devil are you doing talking to them?”
Melvin’s eyes twinkled. He pointed at Becky. “She mentioned a settlement.”
Fleckstein’s mouth fell open. “She what! How dare you! How dare you, young lady! Try to settle with my client behind my back. I suppose any settlement you reach would very conveniently neglect to mention attorney fees. I’m wise to your tricks.” He turned on his client. “And you, get back in the courtroom and behave. My God, it’s like running a kindergarten. I should get hazard pay.”
Fleckstein herded his wayward client out the door.
Becky smiled at Cora. “See? Nothing to worry about.”
“Yeah,” Cora snorted. “I was here and you were saved by his attorney. Considering which, the fact you didn’t wind up married to him is a rather minor achievement. Nonetheless, I’m very proud of you.”
Chapter
28
Judge Hobbs looked as though he’d just drunk a quart of sour milk. “It appears Ms. Baldwin’s objection has merit. I am very reluctantly striking the testimony of Mr. Randolph from the record. Since Mr. Randolph was responsible for identifying the check, it is also stricken from the record.”
Melvin’s attorney lunged to his feet.
“Sit down, Mr. Fleckstein. This is not the end of the world. Looking at your witness list, I see you have witnesses to cover the same ground. I suggest you do so. This testimony no longer exists.”
