The Puzzle Lady vs. the Sudoku Lady

by Parnell Hall

  “I am not talking to you.”

  “I noticed.” Cora took out the sudoku. “Wanna look at it? It looks tough but not impossible. Not what you would call diabolical. Actually, I don’t know what you’d call it. I haven’t read your books.”

  Minami maintained a dignified silence.

  “Of course you haven’t read mine. Why should you? Who cares, anyway? Just a bunch of damn numbers. Of course, choosing the right numbers, that’s an art. Making it just good enough to be fun. Took me a while to get that. Solving is easy. Constructing is a bitch.” Cora shrugged. “Aw, what do you care? You don’t. It’s just a lousy sudoku. Except … it’s with a dead body. That makes it interesting. Is it a clue? If so, what does it mean? Who left it? You wouldn’t expect the killer to leave something to implicate him. Or her. Or it. You know, in case she was killed by an asexual Martian robot.”

  Cora waited for a response but got none. Shrugged. “Huh. Might as well be talking to the wall.” She studied the puzzle. “I don’t know why you’re not interested in this sudoku.”

  “It is stupid. It means nothing. It is a fish that is red.”

  “A red herring.”

  “That is the one. That is what it must be.”

  “And why would the killer put it there?”

  “Because it is a very simple crime. If there was no sudoku, you would know who did it. So there is a sudoku, so you will not.”

  “You’re pretty smart. Even if you’re not that good of a crook. You may have experience with crime, but I bet it’s always been solving it. Committing it is a whole other proposition. Frankly, you’re just no good.”

  Minami refused to be baited.

  “Where you fall down is finding the body twice. Big mistake. Finding the body once is bad enough. But a second time? It’s an amateur move and you hate to see it. If anyone sees you the first time, it undercuts the second. The next thing you know you’re in a jail cell with little chance of escape. None, actually, if your lawyer won’t let you talk. Then your situation does not change and you’re here for the duration. That means the end, and there is no end in sight. And I can’t see staying here for it. Just overnight would be bad enough.” Cora patted the cot. “Imagine sleeping on one of these things? Barely wide enough. Good thing I don’t have to. I called my lawyer. I’ll be bailed out soon. You’ve already seen your lawyer, right? And it didn’t work. You’re still here. What a shame.”

  “Please stop. You make no sense.”

  “I just can’t figure out why you’d go back. The police think it was to plant the sudoku. But why would you do that? I can’t buy it. The risk is too great, the reward too small.

  “Unless you had to go back. Unless you left something there you’d forgotten. But how could you forget? It’s a crime scene. You’re on your guard. For every least little thing. You’d have to be really flustered to forget something. But you do. You go away. You come back with your niece.” Cora’s eyes widened. “Your niece. You go get your niece, and she tells you something and you have to go back. What could she know? Was she there before?”

  “That is just stupid.”

  “Is it? It clearly bothers you. Like I struck a nerve. How could your niece be involved? She didn’t know him. He had no connection … Oh, my God!”

  “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  “You said, ‘Oh, my God!’”

  “I did. Maybe it was a ploy to get you to talk.”

  “If it was, you would not tell me it was.”

  “Don’t count on it. I’m tricky.”

  “Why did you say, ‘Oh, my God!’?”

  “You’re interested. You think I said ‘Oh, my God!’ about your niece and you’re interested. Has your niece met anyone lately?”

  “You’re impertinent.”

  “I am not the one buying her sexy jeans. Has your niece made any new friends?”

  “I am not talking to you.”

  “Unless it suits your purpose,” Cora observed.

  “My lawyer said not to talk.”

  “I’m sure she did. Smart girl, that Becky. So, your niece had some interest in the crime scene.”

  “I am not talking to you.”

  “I wonder what it was.”

  Minami said nothing.

  “Maybe Chief Harper can find out.” Cora sighed and then said into the microphone, “Okay, Chief, let me out.”

  Chapter 27

  Becky Baldwin was adamant. “I can’t let you talk to her.”

  “Why not?”

  “I’m her attorney.”

  “You can’t be everyone’s attorney. You’re Minami’s attorney. You’re Dennis Pride’s attorney. You can’t be Michiko’s attorney, too.”

  “Why not?”

  “It’s a conflict of interest.”

  “Not at all. Michiko’s interests are the same as her aunt’s.”

  “You’re saying if Minami’s convicted of murder, Michiko should take the fall, too?”

  “Don’t be silly. Minami didn’t murder anyone.”

  “Then why is she in jail?”

  “The police made a mistake.”

  “You blame Chief Harper?”

  “Not entirely.”

  “You blame me?”

  “I don’t blame you.”

  “I’m glad to hear it.”

  “The whole thing is a terrible misunderstanding.”

  “So everyone can apologize and Minami can go home?”

  “You can be really annoying when you want to.”

  “I don’t want to be annoying. I just want to talk to little Miss Jailbait.”

  “That’s hardly the way to curry favor.”

  “Come on, Becky. You don’t really think the girl did it, and I don’t really think the girl did it. But she may have information that would be helpful.”

  “What makes you think that?”

  “Her sexy jeans.”

  “Huh?”

  “She’s just the type of nymphet to appeal to a certain type of predator. If there was any young man around with a notorious lack of moral character—”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I don’t mean to point any fingers, but you have a client who would seem to match that description.”

  “You mean Dennis?”

  “Is it that obvious? You better be nice to me, or I’ll tell him you got it in one guess. Of course, you do have a rather short client list.”

  Becky looked at Cora narrowly. “I’m really ticking you off, aren’t I? You’re not usually quite so caustic.”

  “I’m not usually dealing with the inscrutable Japanese.” Cora frowned. “Or is it the Chinese that are inscrutable? I have to watch my political incorrectness. Anyway, I’m wondering if Dennis has taken an interest in the niece.”

  “Why are you wondering that?”

  Cora cocked her head. “You know, if we were leveling with each other, I’d be inclined to share that information with you. But since we’re dealing at arm’s length—”

  “I’ve told you all I can.”

  “Fine. Now, let her tell me all she can. How about I talk to her in your presence? You could tell her what questions to answer.”

  Becky considered the proposition. “Not at the moment.”

  “Okay, back to the drawing board. Wanna see the sudoku?”

  “You have the sudoku?”

  “Harper gave it to me. Wanna see it?”

  “Sure.”

  Cora dug the sudoku out of her purse.

  Becky unfolded it and took a look.

  Cora jerked her thumb at the sudoku.

  “You hadn’t seen it yet?”

  “No.”

  “You didn’t demand a copy?”

  “Why?”

  “For your client to solve.”

  “What good would that do?”

  “I don’t know, but it’s the logical move.”

  “Why?”

  “What do you mean, why? That’s what you do with sudoku. You solve ’em.”


  “Yes. And whaddya got? A bunch of numbers.”

  “You don’t think it’s important?”

  “Of course, I think it’s important. It’s an attempt to frame my client.”

  “I mean in and of itself.”

  “No, you don’t. You mean the solution. I don’t think the solution is important. It’s just a bunch of numbers. The importance of the sudoku is that it’s a sudoku.”

  “You think someone left it there to implicate your client?”

  “Or to implicate you.”

  “What?”

  “You’re a sudoku expert. You’ve got your own set of books.”

  “In Japan. No one connects me with sudoku here. Not in my column. Not on TV.”

  “Yeah, but locally—”

  “Locally, smocally. People know I can do sudoku. That doesn’t mean they’re gonna leave ’em lying around for me. Any more than they’re gonna leave me a pack of Camel filters or a stray husband. The sudoku doesn’t point to me in any way whatsoever. Much as you might like it to.”

  “Did I say that?”

  “No, but I know what you’re like when you’ve got a client. Everyone else in the world is guilty.”

  “Except my other clients.”

  “Right. In a perfect world everyone would be your client and there’d be no crime. You’re not gonna let me talk to the girl?”

  “No.”

  “Okay, I won’t.”

  Chapter 28

  Michiko picked at a french fry. “I’m not supposed to talk to you.”

  “Your lawyer said it was all right.”

  “Are you sure? She said no one.”

  “Becky and I go way back. Besides, I bet you talked to someone already.”

  Michiko’s eyes shifted. “What do you mean?”

  “A pretty girl like you. I bet you got a lot of admirers.”

  “Don’t be silly.”

  “Why is that silly?”

  “I am a stranger here. I don’t know anyone.”

  “You are pretty. Men will talk to you.”

  “I am always with my aunt.”

  “Always? That doesn’t seem fair.”

  “No, but it is the deal.”

  “Deal?”

  “I can go to America if I do what she says. Is that fair?”

  “I’m sure you think it isn’t.”

  “How would you like it if you had someone looking after you? Keeping you out of trouble?”

  Cora smiled. She couldn’t help thinking how many times her niece Sherry had slipped into that role. “It must be very frustrating. Then to find a dead body.”

  “I barely got to see it.”

  “Oh?”

  “We had just arrived. Then the police came.”

  “You hadn’t seen it before?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You know what I mean. Your aunt found a body. Something about it made her think of you. She went back and got you. Too late. The police were there.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I’m not saying anything. The police will say a lot. That is why your lawyer wants you to keep quiet. Don’t tell them anything when she is not around. You may think you know it all, but you are young. These people are tricky. They will get things out of you.”

  “No one will get anything out of me.”

  “I’m glad to hear it. So, you didn’t know the body was there?”

  “I just told you. I had not seen it.”

  “I know you did. But someone might have told you it was there.”

  “You mean my aunt.”

  “I know she told you. I mean someone else.”

  “Who?”

  Cora smiled. “That is a silly question. I’m not the one who would know. You’re the one who would know. You should not be asking me what you know.”

  “What you think is wrong. I know there is no one. I am asking you to tell me what wrong thing you think.”

  “I think you met a man with long hair.”

  Michiko’s eyes faltered.

  “I thought so. What did he tell you?”

  “Who?”

  Cora shook her head. “No good. Unless you’ve been seeing a lot of men with long hair. Which I doubt. We’re talking about the one with the business suit. And the rental car. And the wife.”

  “Wife!”

  “Yeah. He probably didn’t mention her, did he? So covering up for him is not such a hot idea.”

  “I am not covering up for him.”

  “But you know him. And you tried to keep his name out of it. Are you trying to tell me he knows nothing about the murders?”

  “Of course he knows nothing about the murders.”

  “Did you ask him?”

  “What?”

  “Did you talk to him about the murders? Did he tell you what he knows?”

  “He knows nothing about the murders.”

  “Did you ask him about them?”

  “Why should I? I know nothing about the murders.”

  “Really? Then why were you looking them up in the files of the Bakerhaven Gazette?”

  Michiko’s hand stopped with a french fry halfway to her mouth. “Are you following me?”

  “Of course not.”

  “But you know what I do. You know who I see.”

  Cora shrugged. “It’s a small town. Everyone knows what you do in a small town.”

  Michiko frowned, ate the french fry.

  “So why’d auntie want you to see the corpse?”

  Michiko’s eyes narrowed. She peered at Cora suspiciously. “Are you sure my lawyer said you could talk to me?”

  “Absolutely. Becky and I are like that.”

  Michiko cocked her head with the saucy smile of a teenage girl.

  “Then ask her.”

  Chapter 29

  Becky was furious. “You talked to her?”

  “Maybe a little.”

  “After you told me you wouldn’t.”

  “Is that what I said?”

  “You know damn well what you said. You said you’d leave her alone.”

  “Are you saying I broke my promise? That’s what it sounds like you’re saying. That’s the type of fight I used to have with Judy Griswold in fourth grade. I usually won, as I recall.”

  “It’s no joke, Cora. It’s an abuse of attorney-client privilege.”

  “Oh, Michiko is your client now? What has she done?”

  “She hasn’t done anything.”

  “Then why are you representing her? Are you so hard up for work you’re taking on clients for no particular reason?”

  “She’s a witness in the case against her aunt. I’m representing her aunt. Ergo—”

  “Ergo? You’re coming at me with an ‘ergo’? Becky, it’s me—Cora. I’m on your side. Hell, you hired me for goodness’ sake.”

  “I may have to let you go.”

  “You can’t. You haven’t paid me yet. Besides, I haven’t given my report.”

  “Report on what?”

  “On information you need to keep your client out of the hoosegow. Now, just because I obtained that information by talking to a relative of your client, which, aside from a spouse, isn’t covered by attorney-client privilege. Or am I mistaken?”

  “What information did you come up with?”

  “I’m not sure I should share it with you. After all, it wasn’t obtained in a method you approve of, so you probably aren’t going to pay me for it.”

  “Damn it, Cora—”

  “I don’t see why we’re having a problem. Aside from the you-promised hissy fit you seem determined to throw. Anyway, Michiko appears to know something about the murder she isn’t letting on. I throw that out for what it’s worth. Your move.”

  “What do you think she knows?”

  “Ah, now you’re interested? I will answer that question if you promise not to bawl me out about it.”

  “Now you want me to promise?”

  “Only so I can needle you when you break it.”
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  “Oh, hell, just tell me what you know.”

  “I don’t know anything. I have my suspicions.”

  “About what?”

  “Michiko’s been hanging out with Dennis Pride. Who, I believe, is one of your clients.”

  “You saw them together?”

  “No.”

  “What makes you think they’ve been together?”

  “She was upset when I told her he was married.”

  Becky frowned. “Oh.”

  “Yeah, that seemed a bad sign.”

  “And just why did you tell her Dennis was married?”

  “She’s young. Impressionable. I thought she should know.”

  Becky snorted in disgust. “I’m a lawyer and you’re going to give me circular logic? You think she’s been seeing Dennis because she reacted when you asked her. And you asked her because you think she’s been seeing him?”

  Cora took a breath. Sighed. “Okay. I hate to rat anyone out. Even Dennis. But here’s the scoop.”

  Cora told Becky about seeing Dennis go into the victim’s house. By the time she was done, Becky’s mouth was hanging open.

  “Dennis might have killed her?”

  “Don’t be silly. Dennis never killed anyone.”

  “But he had the opportunity. He’s my reasonable doubt. All I have to do is produce Dennis and Minami’s out of jail.”

  “And Dennis is in it. Isn’t there some sort of law about turning in your client? Wouldn’t that be a genuine conflict of interest? Maybe you should ask the bar association.”

  Becky put up her hand. “All right, all right. Why’d you have to tell me this? You put me in a terrible position.”

  Cora smiled. “Yeah. If I’d known it was going to be this much fun, I’d have told you right off.”

  “Damn it. I may have to bring in outside counsel.”

  “That’s no good. I suppose they’d want to be paid.”

  “Cora.”

  “What’s the problem? Dennis is your client. Bring him in and sweat him.”

  “Right. And who shall I say is accusing him?”

  “You don’t have to say anything. Just present him with the proposition and see how he squirms.”

  “Wait a minute. You saw Dennis go into the house?”

  “That’s right.”

  “What were you doing there?”

  “I refuse to answer on the grounds I’m not your client.”