Last Puzzle & Testament

by Parnell Hall

  Cora opened the refrigerator again, took out the orange juice, poured herself a glass. Her first husband, Jerry, had made her drink orange juice when he had taken on the formidable task of sobering her up. Cora had loathed orange juice ever since, but drank it religiously in times of crisis, as a deterrent to the other. Cora took a sip, made a face. As usual, the thought could use a little vodka crossed her mind.

  On the kitchen table, propped up against the sugar jar, was the manila envelope with the clues. Cora set her glass down, opened the envelope, pulled a sheet out, read it over. It was not the first time she had done so. Of course, the clues didn’t mean much without the puzzle grid. Cora had the one she’d used at the meeting to compare the heirs’ answers, but that grid only had the first quadrant filled in. Since this was the third set of clues, Cora needed the grid with the first and second quadrants, and Cora didn’t have that. In fact, she wasn’t even sure where Sherry’d put it.

  Most likely in the office.

  Cora padded down the hall, the clues in one hand, the orange juice in the other. She carried each at arm’s length. It was a toss-up which she found more distasteful.

  Cora went into the office and looked on Sherry’s desk, but the crossword puzzle was not in plain sight. That did not surprise her. Sherry wouldn’t leave it lying around. But where would she put it? The desk drawer? The file cabinet? If it was filed, what would it be under?

  Glancing around, Cora’s eyes lit on the computer. Of course. It didn’t matter where Sherry had hidden the grid. Sherry wouldn’t have worked on it anyway.

  Not in the computer age.

  Cora sat at the computer, switched it on. She was greeted by a reassuring whir. But the screen stayed blank. Damn, where’s that other switch? Cora found it, clicked it on. Sat and waited while everything booted up. Cora smiled, almost as pleased with herself at having remembered the term booted up as at having remembered how to turn on the infernal machine.

  Cora absently took a sip of orange juice, then grimaced as she realized what it was.

  On the screen, the various startup functions neared completion. Virus Scan completed its search—a process Cora Felton found unnerving, even though no virus was detected—and a series of tiny icons slowly came into focus on the screen. Cora found the one marked Crossword Compiler. She moved the mouse, double-clicked it as she’d seen Sherry do.

  Seconds later, a crossword-puzzle grid filled the screen. Only this was a totally empty grid. No numbers. No black squares. No letters. No clues. No nothing. Basically, a blank piece of paper to a crossword-puzzle compiler.

  For a non-crossword-puzzle compiler, a slap in the face.

  This couldn’t be right. She’d seen Sherry working on the screen.

  Cora leaned forward, peered at the grid. A quick count showed it to be a fifteen-by-fifteen square, just what Sherry had been working on. Of course, it wasn’t. At the top it read Crossword Compiler (untitled). Below there were certain choices. File, Edit, Grid, Words, Clue, Options, Windows, and Help.

  Cora needed help, but when she moved the mouse and clicked on it, it offered her Contents, Keyboard, Mouse, Crossword Compiler on the Web, Download updates from the Web, and About. That was definitely more than she wanted to deal with. She moved the mouse back to the beginning, clicked on File. She found New, Open, Save, Save as, Close, Export, Copy to clipboard, Print, Printer setup, Page setup, Headers, Information, Statistics. Who invented these things, she wondered irritably.

  And then, down at the bottom, numbered one through five, the last five puzzles Sherry had been working on. They were labeled 1) Will #2-B; 2) Will #2-A; 3) Will #1-B, 4) Will #1-A; and 5) Will Blank.

  Cora moved the mouse, clicked on 1) Will #2-B.

  And the crossword puzzle filled the screen. Just as Cora had seen it when Sherry had been working on it. The section with courthouse was filled in across the top. And the section with post office was filled in down the right side. There it was, the most up-to-date version of the puzzle, just as Sherry had left it.

  Cora Felton held up the new list of clues:

  ACROSS

  25. Amiable

  30. Chinese gelatin

  35. Perfect rejoinder

  40. Barbie’s buddy

  41. Do ____ (second chances)

  44. Wipe out

  48. Unfruitful

  52. Me first man

  57. Peru city

  61. Alda

  64. So far

  DOWN

  23. Attitudes

  25. Wolf gathering

  26. Monster

  27. Close recycling place, so to speak?

  31. Worry

  36. Golf course features

  45. Character in “Wheel of Time” books

  48. Stop

  49. Spry

  Cora Felton looked at the grid and grinned.

  Because she had a word. She had an answer. She had a solution to one of the clues. That was why she’d been so eager to find the grid. She’d seen the clue in the kitchen, th she hand she’d wanted to make sure. Because the answer just had to be.

  And it was.

  The answer to forty across, Barbie’s buddy, was three letters, just as she’d thought.

  Cora Felton triumphantly moved the mouse, and typed in Ken.

  The doorbell rang.

  The smile froze on Cora Felton’s face.

  Uh, oh. Whoever it was, they mustn’t see this. But how did she hide it? A paper she could hide, but a computer?

  Cora looked at the screen. Did anything say Hide? No. Or Exit? No. But she’d seen it. She was sure she’d seen it. Now, what had she opened? Help and File. It wasn’t Help, it must be File.

  Cora clicked on File. Scanned down quickly. Eureka! Exit. She clicked on Exit.

  The computer didn’t exit the program. Instead, a new screen came up. It read Puzzle has been modified: do you wish to save Will #2-B? There were three choices to click on: Yes, No, and Cancel. Cora wasn’t sure what that meant. If she said Yes, would that replace Sherry’s puzzle with the one she’d just typed? If she said No, would it erase Sherry’s puzzle?

  The doorbell rang again.

  Which was it? Yes? No?

  Cora hit Cancel.

  The puzzle remained on the screen. Cora jumped up, knocking over her orange juice. It spread on the desk, headed for the mouse.

  Cora glanced around for tissues, saw none. She grabbed the mouse, set it on the keyboard. The orange juice was approaching fast.

  The doorbell rang again.

  Cora looked around frantically. She grabbed paper out of the printer, slapped it down on the desk in the path of the orange juice, creating a dam.

  There. Was that enough to hold it?

  Cora grabbed more paper from the printer, slapped it on top.

  The doorbell rang again. More insistently this time.

  Cora took one last look at the computer screen, then fled from the office, slamming the door behind her.

  She hurried to the front door and flung it open to find a rather impatient Chief Harper on her threshold.

  “Well, it’s about time,” the Chief said. “If it weren’t for your car in the driveway, I was starting to get the impression you weren’t here.”

  “Oh, yes? Well, I’ve got news for you. Sherry and I sometimes leave the car here and go out with someone else.”

  “Well, I’m glad this wasn’t one o#x2go out wif those times.”

  “Actually, it is. Sherry’s out with Aaron Grant.”

  “That’s all right. I came to see you.”

  “Why?”

  “The new clues. Have you solved them yet?”

  “Are you kidding?”

  “No, I’m not. Do you have the new clues for me?”

  “You have two murders on your hands and you want the new puzzle clues?”

  “I have two murders on my hands connected to the new puzzle clues. So, what’s the solution? Do you have the next part?”

  “No, I don’t.”

  Chief Harper sco
wled. “Well, why not? You’re the world-famous puzzle expert. You’ve had time to work on it.”

  “I’m sorry,” Cora said. “I don’t mean to be rude. You want to come in and have some coffee?”

  “Coffee wouldn’t hurt,” Chief Harper said. “But what’s with the puzzle? You really don’t have it?”

  “Actually, I don’t,” Cora said, leading him into the kitchen.

  “And why is that?” Chief Harper asked.

  Cora took the coffeepot over to the sink and washed it out, thinking fast. “The problem is, Sherry’s not here. While I was giving out the puzzle clues to the heirs, she took off with Aaron Grant.”

  “So?”

  “It’s been a full morning, Chief. We went straight from the post office to the crime scene to a powwow with the heirs. We had the puzzle clues with us, of course.”

  “Don’t tell me.”

  Cora filled the pot with water, brought it back to pour in the automatic drip machine. “I’m sorry, but there you are. Sherry’s off with Aaron, and I can’t work on the new clues until she gets back. Just one of those unfortunate things. How do you like your coffee, pretty strong?”

  “She took all the sets of clues?”

  “They were all together in an envelope.” Cora didn’t like lying. So far, every statement she’d made to Chief Harper had been the absolute truth. If he happened to misinterpret those statements, that was hardly her fault.

  Cora changed the filter, spooned in coffee, set the machine, and switched it on. “There you go, Chief. We’ll have coffee pronto. You want me to see if I’ve got some sort of pastry to go with it?”

  "0eght="0em" width="1em" align="justify">“Coffee will be fine,” Chief Harper said.

  “So what have you got?” Cora asked him. “Anything new?”

  “I really shouldn’t discuss it.”

  “Of course.”

  Chief Harper sat at the kitchen table, rubbed his head. “But then you helped me before, didn’t you? And the long and the short of it is, I got no one to answer to but me.” He sighed. “Actually, I gotta answer to the prosecutor, the selectmen, the townspeople. Just about everyone, when you come right down to it. Anyway, here’s the scoop. As of right now, everything points to the kid.”

  “Daniel Hurley?”

  “That’s the one. The landlady confirms Annabel Hurley called on him last night.”

  “Well, of course she does. Daniel told you as much. It would only be remarkable if she didn’t confirm it.”

  “Yeah, but she also confirms this: right after Annabel Hurley left, Daniel went out.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yes. And he didn’t mention that. It is rather interesting, if he was following her home to see where she went.”

  “And why would he do that?”

  “Why would anyone do that? We have no idea what the motive is. At this moment, we’re talking opportunity. And here’s a great big opportunity, too blatant to ignore.”

  “Anything else point to him?”

  “Indirectly.”

  “Ugly word. What indirectly points to Daniel Hurley?”

  “The puzzle. Yesterday, to all accounts, Daniel Hurley had no intention of working on the puzzle. Then this morning he turns it in. That’s right, isn’t it? Did he give you a solution?”

  “Yes, he did.”

  “Was it correct?”

  “It was correct enough to move on.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “You gotta understand, Chief, as far as judging this event goes, I’m making it up as I go along. I’m still not sure how I’m gonna judge the final puzzle. As far as the segments go, anyone who’s managed to solve the long clue can move on. Even if they don’t have everything else.”

  “And Daniel Hurley didn’t have everything else?”

  Cora Felton waggled her hand. “There’s a gray ar19;ythea on some of the shorter clues. For instance, in what they just solved there’s an Italian village intersecting with a Tibetan town. It was possible to get everything else in the puzzle except the one letter that was common to both words. So, if you didn’t know either answer, you couldn’t fill in that letter, even though you could get everything else.”

  Cora Felton poured the coffee and explained the crossword-puzzle situation with great assurance. Knowing it would be a bone of contention, Sherry Carter had briefed her very carefully on those points.

  Chief Harper accepted the coffee, dumped in milk and sugar. “So you’re saying Daniel Hurley didn’t get those right?”

  “He had one letter wrong. But you were saying. Why does the puzzle point to Daniel Hurley?”

  “Because, like I say, he wasn’t going to work on it. Everyone confirms that. Even his lawyer. She was surprised he’d done it. Because he told everyone he wasn’t. Until Annabel Hurley calls on him. Then he follows her out when she leaves, and the next time someone sees her, she’s dead. And she was close to Emma Hurley, has been seen in the places where the puzzle pieces were hidden, and is known to be not playing the game.”

  “So?”

  “So, maybe she knows the solution. Between late last night and early this morning, Daniel Hurley got the solution from somewhere. Why not from her?”

  Cora Felton considered. “Then why would he get one letter wrong?”

  Chief Harper frowned.

  “Anyway,” Cora Felton said. “What do you think of my theory?”

  “What theory?”

  “That Emma Hurley was bumped off.”

  “I think the less said about that the better,” Chief Harper said.

  “Really?” Cora said. “Didn’t you see what a reaction it provoked? Philip and Phyllis were at each other’s throats.”

  “Philip and Phyllis are always at each other’s throats.”

  “Yes, but not so specifically,” Cora said. “You think Phyllis really did in her husbands?”

  “Frankly, no. And even if she did, I can’t see how it would relate to the current case.”

  “You can’t? Annabel Hurley tells me she’s suspicious of her. Annabel tells me to make sure she didn’t poison her aunt. Annabel is subsequently killed. And you can’t see a possible connection?”

  “You’re telling me Phyllis Hurley Applegate is a serial killer who bumped off her husbands, her aunt, and her cousin, not to mention the town drunk, by at least three different means—poison, a blunt object, and a knife? Can you imaginCansbands, hee me selling that concept to the county prosecutor?”

  “Well, when you put it that way,” Cora said.

  There came the sound of tires in the driveway.

  Cora Felton’s face lit up. She controlled herself, tried to keep from reacting as if she’d just gotten a death-row reprieve. “There’s Sherry now. Relax, drink your coffee, I’ll go get those clues.”

  Cora Felton tore out of the kitchen, sprinted through the foyer, and flung open the front door to find Sherry Carter and Aaron Grant climbing out of Aaron’s car.

  “Sherry,” Cora cried, bounding down the front steps. “Come here, come here. Boy, am I glad to see you. Hi, Aaron, excuse me a minute. Sherry, Chief Harper’s here. You know that, of course, there’s his car. He’s in the kitchen. And he wants the solution to the puzzle, and I couldn’t work on it because of the clues.”

  “The clues?” Sherry said.

  “Yes, yes, the clues,” Cora said, grabbing her by the elbow and piloting her toward the house. Cora called over her shoulder, “Aaron, go have coffee with Chief Harper, I’ve gotta talk to Sherry. Come on, Sherry, in the office.”

  Cora dragged Sherry through the front door, called, “Be with you in a minute, Chief,” and herded Sherry down the hallway. She pushed Sherry into the office, slammed the door. “Thank goodness you’re here. What a nightmare. You’ve gotta help me.”

  Sherry’s eyes widened. “What’s that!” she said, pointing to the desk.

  “Oh, the orange juice! The doorbell rang, and I was so pleased about the Ken doll, and I couldn’t find a paper towel.”


  “What on earth are you talking about? It didn’t reach the keyboard, did it?”

  “No, it didn’t. Sherry, look. I stalled Chief Harper, made him think you had the clues with you so I couldn’t work on the puzzle. As far as he’s concerned, you’re bringing them back to me now. But he’s gonna want me to solve them, and what do I do?”

  Sherry was still looking at the screen. “You added Ken?”

  “I’m sorry. I got excited because I knew one.”

  “It’s all right,” Sherry said. “Okay, here’s what you do. Go out there and stall Chief Harper another five minutes. That should be enough. And get rid of Aaron. You can kill two birds with one stone there, because Chief Harper doesn’t want Aaron to have the solution. So go out there, say you’re not going to work on the puzzle until Aaron is gone.”

  “Will he buy that?”

  “It doesn’t matter if he buys it or not, you’re just stalling to t s

  “What do I tell him you’re doing?”

  “I’m programming the computer for you. You’re the crossword-puzzle genius, I’m the computer nerd, remember?”

  “Gotcha.”

  In the kitchen Cora was relieved to find Aaron Grant filling Chief Harper in on Chester Hurley.

  “He had a gun?” Chief Harper asked.

  “A cannon,” Aaron answered. “That pocket in his overalls must go down to his knee.”

  “But he didn’t threaten you with it?”

  “No. Just waved it around. He also made a few vague threats at whoever killed his niece.”

  “He had no idea who that might be?”

  “None he wished to share. It’s hard to tell what that guy’s thinking. So, you got anything I can use for the paper tomorrow? Somehow, VICTIM’S UNCLE PACKING HEAT is going to be a tough headline to sell my editor on.”

  Chief Harper winced. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t.”

  “You got anything better?”

  “Nothing you can use. Cora’s about to give me something, but you can’t have it.”