by Parnell Hall
49 Zaps the sound
51 Whizzes
52 “Return of the Jedi” creature
53 “Marco Polo” star Calhoun
54 Enough, for some
55 Bullfight bravos
56 Naldi of the Ziegfeld Follies
57 Stink
58 The season to be jolly
60 Burning
“It isn’t solved. How do you know it’s a blackmail note?”
“We made a copy. We solved it.”
“This is a copy?”
“This is the note. We solved the copy.”
“Where is the copy?”
“It’s gone.”
“What did it say?”
“I don’t remember. You’ll have to solve it.”
Cora snorted in exasperation. “Oh, for Pete’s sake!” She looked to Sherry for help.
“Oh, go ahead and solve it, Cora. But not the original. I’ll make a copy.”
Sherry got up, took the puzzle, and went down the hall to her office.
Cora glared after her, then turned back to Michiko. “How’d your aunt get a blackmail note? She’s in jail.”
“It came to the motel where we’re staying.”
“You got a blackmail note at the motel?”
“It was under the door.”
“So you took it to your aunt?”
“I told you. I made a copy and took it to my aunt. In the jail. She solved it and we destroyed it.”
“In general, what did the puzzle say?”
“That someone knew what she did.”
“What did she do?”
“Nothing.”
“I don’t understand.”
“No. There was a sudoku with the puzzle.” Michiko reached into her purse again, took out another folded piece of paper.
Cora unfolded it and found the sudoku.
“You made a copy of this and she solved it?”
“A copy, yes. This is the original.”
“So we have to copy this, too?”
“If you want to solve this one, I do not care if there’s another.”
“Neither do I. Where’s a pencil?”
Cora found a pencil, sat down, and went to work on the sudoku. “Hmm. This is tricky. Did your aunt have trouble with it?”
“She had trouble with the crossword,” Michiko said. “It is hard to deal with the English idiom.”
“Uh huh,” Cora said.
She finished the sudoku and passed it over.
“What does that tell you?”
“You need the crossword puzzle.”
Sherry came back from the office, holding the puzzle. “Here you go,” she said, folding it up and handing it to Michiko. “That’s the original. I left the copy on the desk for you to solve, Cora.”
“Thanks a heap. I just did the sudoku.”
“What sudoku?”
“Take a look.”
Cora heaved herself to her feet and padded down the hall to the office.
There on the desk, just as she expected, was the completed crossword puzzle. Sherry had whizzed through it in under five minutes. Cora couldn’t have done it in under five days. She picked it up and looked it over.
The theme answer was “Sit in jail for a spell. Never fear. I won’t tell.”
Cora snorted. That wasn’t a blackmail note. Just a taunt.
Of course, in the note Cora got, the demands were hidden in the puzzle.
She scanned the puzzle for more clues.
She found 17 Across: Horizontal row in sudoku.
The answer was “Fifth.”
29 Across: Number of numbers in numbered row.
The answer was “Three.”
28 Down: With sudoku, address of house you went in.
The answer was “Elm.”
Cora padded back down the hall. “All right, where’s the damn sudoku? Ah, here we go.” She snatched it up off the coffee table. “Let’s see. Fifth row, first three numbers. One, four, six. So. Anyone happen to know who lives at 146 Elm Street? It wouldn’t happen to be Sheila Preston, by any chance?”
“That is the one,” Michiko said.
“You and your aunt figured that out, did you? When I asked you what the puzzle meant, and you said you couldn’t remember, you were not being entirely frank with me, were you?”
“Cora,” Sherry said warningly.
“No, no.” Cora waggled her finger. “Just because she’s young and pretty and Japanese doesn’t mean she can get away with everything. Trust me, I know. I was young and pretty once, and I didn’t. I certainly tried. Which is why I’m not being as hard on you as I should. The point is, you did all this fancy tapdancing around and made me solve a sudoku when you knew the answer all the time. And so did Minami. You guys figured it out while she was still in jail. Right? So, when she got out of jail she already knew she was being accused of going into 146 Elm. You picked her up from jail?”
“Yes.”
“And brought her straight here?”
Michiko’s eyes flicked.
Cora threw up her hands. “Teenagers! They lie so often and they’re so bad at it. You didn’t bring her straight here. Don’t tell me you did. Don’t even bother to try. Where’d you go first?”
“Back to the motel.”
“And? There’s an ‘and,’ isn’t there?”
“What do you mean?”
“Were you with your aunt all the time, or did she take a little side excursion?”
“Excursion?”
“Did she leave you at the motel and go out?”
“She went to the drugstore. She had been in jail. There were some things she needed.”
“How long was she gone?”
“I don’t remember.”
“It doesn’t matter. I can figure it out. The police will know when they let her go. I know when she got to my house. I bet there’s a chunk of time left in the middle. Good thing you can’t write this, Aaron. She’s just given us motive and opportunity.”
Cora turned back to Michiko. “Does Becky Baldwin know this?”
“I don’t know what my aunt has told her.”
“Keep it that way. Don’t ask Becky. Don’t ask your aunt. Don’t talk to anybody else. Luckily, you brought it to us first and we’re all sworn to secrecy. Which makes us all accomplices after the fact, but, hey, what’s a felony or two among friends? Well, congratulations. If you were trying to motivate me to save your aunt, you’ve done it. I’ve gotta get her off before we all wind up in jail.”
Michiko said nothing, looked down at the floor.
“So,” Cora said, “anything else you’re not telling us?”
“Nothing else,” Michiko said.
But she couldn’t meet Cora’s eyes.
Chapter 41
Cora caught up with Dennis in the bar at the Country Kitchen.
“Hey, Dennis, how you doin’? What you havin’? Here, let me buy you a drink. Barkeep, a Diet Coke and whatever poison he’s drinkin’.”
Dennis, clearly disconcerted, didn’t know how to respond. He forced a smile, said, “To what do I owe this honor?”
“Funny you should ask. You owe it to your keen powers of observation, your shrewd deductions, and your injudicious advances toward unfortunate adolescents.”
“Huh?”
“You blew it, baby, and you blew it good. Got yourself in a heap of trouble. Luckily, Aunt Cora’s here to get you out.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Excellent tack to take. Knowing what I was talking about would be an admission of guilt. Ignorance is a much better option. Ah, here’s our drinks. Well, ‘Bottoms up,’ as they used to say in the sorority. As I recall, they weren’t talking about drinking. Though they probably were. Drinking, I mean.”
“Are you drunk?”
“Drunk with power. Drunk with knowledge. But alcohol? Haven’t had a drop. Don’t miss it as much as I used to. Even in a bar. So, you want me to tell you where you went wrong?”
“If you’re going to lecture me, I don’t want the drink.”
“It’s not a lecture. It’s shrewd advice. The type your lawyer’d give you, if she wasn’t representing everybody else. But don’t tell her I said so. If Becky thought I was costing her business, there’d be hell to pay.”
“Any time you’d like to get to the point.”
“Boy, a bourbon doesn’t buy you as much as it used to. I expected at least a little civility.”
“I think I’m gonna go.”
“Making you nervous? That’s not surprising, considering the fix you’re in.”
Dennis got up from his stool and started for the door.
“I know about the blackmail note.”
Dennis stopped in his tracks. He didn’t turn, but he didn’t leave either. He just stood there.
Cora walked up behind him. “Where you made your big mistake was running a bluff on the kid. It worked, sure, it was bound to work. And you know she’s not going to the cops. But you didn’t count on her coming to me. And while she may not be old enough and wise enough to make the connection, I had no problem.
“The connection, of course, is where did you get the idea? You’re not bright enough to have come up with it yourself, so something must have put it in your head. Now what might that be? Only one thing I can think of. You got one, too. Wanna tell me about it?”
He turned around. “Now, look here.”
“Yes?”
His eyes shifted.
“That’s funny. You’re outraged, but you can’t think of anything to say that doesn’t get you in deeper. Never fear, Cora’s here. Let me walk you through this. Come over here where no one can eavesdrop and unburden yourself.”
Cora steered Dennis over to a corner booth and sat him against the wall. “Good. See, no one can sneak up behind you. Keep your voice low, try not to fly into an indignant fury, and you’ll do just fine. Now, tell me about the blackmail note.”
“What makes you think there’s a blackmail note?”
“What makes me think the sun rose? I see it in the sky. I don’t wonder how it got there. I’m just glad it did.”
“You’re loopier than ever.”
“Well, who wouldn’t be? I got a Japanese counterpart on a bizarre book tour, doing a Jack Abbott bit.”
“Who?”
“That’s before your time? Good lord, where did the years go? Never mind. We’re talking about you. You teased the little girl about her aunt getting a blackmail note. You’re not smart enough to have thought of it yourself, which means you must have got one, which means you were there.”
Dennis opened his mouth to speak.
“Not at Thelma Wilson’s. At Sheila Preston’s. Before the body was found. At least, before the body was reported. Thelma Wilson saw you go in.”
“That’s a lie!”
Cora made a face. “Oh. Bad line reading. That’s not convincing at all. I know Thelma Wilson saw you go in. She told me so herself.”
His eyes flicked.
Cora waved his reaction away. “Not in so many words. But she told me about your visit. After Minami was arrested. You went and interviewed her. I wondered why. Mrs. Wilson had already identified Minami. The police had taken Minami off to jail; there wasn’t much more to learn. What did you want to know? I asked Thelma Wilson about it, and guess what? She couldn’t come up with an answer. At least, not a good one. There seemed to be no purpose for your visit. But I knew there was. What could it possibly be? There was only one thing I could think of. You were at Sheila’s house that day, and you wanted to know if Thelma Wilson had seen you go in.”
Dennis said nothing and took a slug of his drink.
“So, what did the note say?”
“What note?”
“Dennis, Dennis, if you don’t tell me about the note, then I gotta go to Chief Harper, and I don’t wanna go to Chief Harper ’cause he’ll just be mad that I know more than he does. Then he’ll drag you in and interrogate you without me, in an attempt to know more than I do. Then Becky Baldwin will get involved, and she won’t let you answer his questions. But she’ll have a bunch of her own. Think about it. Who would you rather tell your story to? Me, Chief Harper, Becky Baldwin? Or your wife?”
His face fell.
Cora smiled. “Ooo. Surprise left jab stuns opponent, leaves him open to uppercut. Didn’t see that coming, did you?”
“Are you having fun?”
“No, I’m really not. Come on, what did the note say?”
He glared at her for a moment. “It said, ‘I know what you did.’”
“Is that all?”
“That’s the gist of it.”
“It didn’t ask for money?”
“No. Why?”
“Why? Blackmail notes usually ask for money.”
“This one didn’t.”
“What else did it say?”
“Nothing.”
“Where is it?”
“It’s gone.”
“Oh?”
“I don’t have it anymore.”
“Why not?”
“I just don’t.”
“You just don’t because you lost it? Because you turned it over to the police? Because you left it at the scene of the crime? Any time I hit one you like—”
“I destroyed it.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t want to get in trouble.”
“That might have worked if you hadn’t made a pass at the little girl.”
“I didn’t make a pass at her.”
“You know what I mean. What else did the note say?”
“Nothing.”
“It didn’t ask you to come to see her?”
“No, why would it? I’d already been to see her.”
“Yeah, but you hadn’t admitted anything. You hadn’t told and she hadn’t asked. You were being accused. That changes things. I would think she’d want to see you.”
“Well, you’re wrong.”
“And you conveniently destroyed the note so we can’t prove any different.”
“That’s not why!”
“Nonetheless, that’s the result.”
“I can’t help that. It’s the truth. It’s the whole truth. I told you everything I know. I kept my end of the bargain. Now, you going to the cops?”
Cora patted him on the cheek. “Absolutely not.”
Chapter 42
“Dennis got a blackmail note.”
Chief Harper’s scone stopped halfway to his lips. He lowered it reluctantly, looked over at Cora. “What?”
“He got a blackmail note. From Thelma Wilson. If I were you, I’d pick him up and sweat him.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Not at all. He’ll probably deny it. He destroyed the note, and he swears he didn’t go see her. At least on the day of the murder. Of course, he could be lying.”
“Son of a bitch!”
“That’s him, all right. If I were you, I’d haul him in. He’s either gonna talk or call his lawyer. If he calls Becky Baldwin, that will put you in the perfect position to argue conflict of interest. Becky won’t have a leg to stand on. Whether or not one client got a blackmail note from the victim has to have an impact on whether or not another client did the deed.”
Harper put up his hand. “Hold on, hold on. Let me think about this.” The move was clearly to allow him to eat his scone because that’s what he did. He took a huge bite, washed it down with coffee. The world looked immediately brighter. He took another bite of scone.
“While you’re eating, Chief, allow me to point out that any evidence connecting Minami to the crime is almost certainly manufactured. With so much evidence against Dennis, it’s gonna be hard to convict her.”
“Hang on a moment.” Harper chewed and swallowed. “I’ve lost sight of your motivation in all this. Whose side are you on?”
“My own, of course.”
“Of course. So what do you hope to gain by coming to me?”
“What do you mean? We’ve alwa
ys worked together.”
“Not this time. You’ve been playing me ever since this thing started. Giving Becky’s clients advice. Giving Becky advice. Giving me advice. Until I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
“Chief, I wouldn’t steer you wrong. Well, I might, but not in a way you could get hurt. This is a case with too many suspects, and they’re all represented by Becky Baldwin. No one will talk to me. Someone’s gotta talk to you. I’m hopin’ if I give you a tip, you’ll let me in on where it leads.”
“That’s all you want?”
“Absolutely.”
Chapter 43
Becky Baldwin slammed the door of her Honda and thundered up the path on high-heeled shoes, her blond hair bouncing around her neck like the mane of an angry lion.
Cora saw her coming and opened the door. “Come right in. You’re just in time for tea.”
“Damn it,” Becky said, sweeping in the door. “How could you do that?”
“Do what?”
“You know what. You sicced Chief Harper onto Dennis.”
“Is that what he says?”
“Don’t get cute. You did it and you know it, and you cost me a client.”
“Dennis?”
“No, not Dennis. I can’t lose Dennis. I’m representing him with the probation board.”
“Minami?”
“That’s what Harper says.”
“How can you quit Minami? She’s up on a murder charge.”
“The chief says I can’t do both. And whose fault would that be?”
“I would say yours, for picking guilty clients.”
“I’m not quitting Minami, and I’m not quitting Dennis, and now I got a hearing in front of Judge Hobbs to show cause why I should not be relieved as Minami’s counsel due to a conflict of interest.”
“That doesn’t sound like fun.”
“Damn it, Cora, why’d you do it? I thought we were friends.”
“We are friends. But lately the friendship’s been a little one-sided. You got me workin’ on a case, and keeping me in the dark.”
“So you decided to get back at me?”
“Don’t be silly. I’m trying to save my own skin. You’re not leveling with me. Harper’s not leveling with me. Dennis certainly isn’t, and you won’t let me talk to Minami. It’s a rather frustrating situation. Everyone I wanna talk to is either dead or your client.”
