by Nero Blanc
“If he was kidnapped,” Belle responded. “Because we only have Karen’s word for it, don’t we? And she conveniently ‘forgot’ to tape the extortion phone calls.”
“Oh boy …” Rosco groaned.
“And she also insisted that the police not be included.”
“But Karen did report him missing. Plus, she would have had to take Lily along for the ride, if she did.”
Belle nodded. “I’m not insisting that she’s one hundred percent guilty of killing Dan, Rosco. I’m just asking, What if? Stranger things have happened.”
“I don’t know, Belle…. ”
“What if? That’s all I’m saying, Rosco. What if?”
“Okay … but first things first. We need to find one Frank O’Connell.”
“FRANKLY, DEAR …”
Across
1. ET craft
4. Vitamin jar inits.
7. HS course
10. Woman in uniform; abbr.
13. Road hazard
14. Petroleum
15. Mr. Solo
16. Cigar tip
17. “Can we talk?”
20. Scouting grp.
21. Ski run
22. Part of TGIF
23. Connect the——
24. Olibanum
28. TV network
31. Part-time post; abbr.
32. Act of boldness
33. Gold and silver
35. Donkey
37. Hoppers
41. Hanks-DiCaprio film
45. “Bless you,” preceder
46. Feather lei
47. Clinton’s Attorney General
48. Serling and Steiger
51. ——MacDonald
53. Stitch
54. Karloff role
59. Mild oath
60. Bread choice
61. Fells
65. Mr. Lincoln
66. Patterson or Rankin title
69. Hoopsters’ org.
70. Eden dweller
71. N.J. neighbor
72. Half CXXII
73. Flynn flick
74. Part of MPH
75. Have debt
76. Ford model
Down
1. Web addresses
2. 14-Across, e.g.
3. Mr. Preminger
4. Part of 19-Down
5. Expire
6. Mr. London
7. Zhivago portrayer
8. Dog
9. Sign
10. Auto choice?
11. Helpers; abbr.
12. See 54-Down
18. Sun blocking letters
19. JFK’s Attorney General
23. Miss the turn
25. Eden dweller
26. Wall St. inits
27. Roman author
28. Cocaine source
29. Bric-a-——
30. Son of 25-Down & 70-Across
34. Jeers
36. Bro or sis
38. Crack pilots
39. Hamlet, e.g.
40. 21-Across need
42. Fishing prop
43. Yard part
44. Bulldogs’ home
49. Deduce
50. Poet Gary——
52. “Hey—…”
54. With 12-Down, “The Creature Walks Among Us” actor
55. Religious leader
56. Mr. T group
57. “——how they run …”
58. Negative answers
62. Feeling fine
63. Kinks’, “Who’ll Be The——In Line?”
64. Lose control
66. With it
67. Fuss
68. Not 51-Across
To download a PDF of this puzzle, please visit openroadmedia.com/nero-blanc-crosswords
CHAPTER 27
Belle and Rosco’s desire to search for Frank O’Connell was placed on the back burner, however, because Belle found another crossword the moment as she stepped through their front door. Its title, “Frankly, Dear …” made her stop in her tracks the second she’d slit open the envelope. She stared at the return address and the name—Nicky O. Flanagan—then her eyes raced back to the puzzle and her mouth opened in a startled O.
“Lunch? What do we have?” Rosco asked as he entered the house behind her, oblivious to the paper in her hand. Bouncing around him were Kit and Gabby, who were displaying the kind of ardor normally reserved for humans returning from lengthy sojourns in wild and inaccessible places. The two canines and their human male companion were unaware that Belle was standing motionless in the center of the living room.
“Lunch?” she echoed as she scanned the puzzle clues. It was clear that she herself was clueless as to what her husband had just said.
“You know … the meal we’re supposed to eat between breakfast and dinner?”
“Ahh …” Belle frowned, then drew in a quick and apprehensive breath.
“We stayed at Karen’s longer than I’d anticipated,” Rosco offered with an indulgent smile. “Let’s see what I can rustle up.”
“Rustle?”
“As in food … as in opening the refrigerator and checking to see what we’ve got on hand—”
“FRANKINCENSE,” Belle muttered in reply.
“Not especially nutritional, I wouldn’t think—”
“It’s the solution to 24-Across…. ” Belle looked up for a moment, but Rosco could see how distracted her gaze appeared. “Olibanum is the clue, which is its other name.”
“Oh, that frankincense.” Rosco chuckled, but Belle seemed not to notice his amused tone.
“It was never considered nutritional, but it was used as a medication in ancient times … especially in Greece and China. In ancient Rome, it was an antidote to hemlock poisoning.”
“How do you know all these things? I’m surprised there’s room for anything else in your brain.” Rosco laughed again as he began moving toward the kitchen, the two dogs at his heels and wiggling in pleasure at the treats they knew were in store.
“I spend too much time reading the encyclopedia,” Belle stated simply. Without waiting for a reply, she walked toward her office while Rosco shook his head in amusement, then he continued into the kitchen where he parceled out dog biscuits for the “girls” and began putting together a vegetable salad. Belle joined him less than five minutes later. The crossword was already spottily filled in with her signature red ink.
“41-Across … Hanks-DiCaprio film?”
Rosco thought for a moment as he sprinkled Greek olives and feta on the sliced carrots, red bell pepper, and celery. “CATCH ME IF YOU CAN.”
“That’s right … I forgot…. That’s the story about a con artist who operated under different guises, isn’t it? And the DiCaprio character was always one step ahead of the Feds…. ”
“I guess it would be too much if I were to ask what this is all about, Belle?” Rosco asked with a grin, but his wife’s response was a distracted: “And a Patterson or Rankin title that starts with an H and ends with a K?”
“You got me.”
She glanced up momentarily. “That doesn’t begin with an H.”
Rosco raised an eyebrow, but Belle had already returned her focus to the crossword. H … I… D as in SNYDER at 50-Down … Oh, my gosh!” Her eyes, as she looked at her husband, were huge. “Here! Here’s the boy who was killed in the hit and run!” Her red pen jabbed the paper.
Rosco glanced over her shoulder. “But the clue indicates a Poet Gary, Belle…. Besides, I’m sure there are lots of other Snyders out there—”
“Name one.”
“Well … let’s see … there’s Snyder’s Pretzels—”
Belle sighed and made a face. “Thank you, Mr. Nutrition.”
“Just give me a minute, I’m sure I’ll come up with a bunch of reasonable …”
But Belle was no longer concentrating on Rosco’s halting answer. Instead, she was filling in the final letters of the solutions to 66-Across. “HIDE AND SEEK! That’s the title of both a James Patterson an
d Ian Rankin book! And the name FRANK runs throughout the solutions … SNYDER is at 50- Down … Rosco! Frank O’Connell killed that little boy, and someone’s blowing the whistle on him. That’s got to be it!”
“Whoa … whoa …” Rosco held up his hands. “Let’s not jump to conclusions…. ”
But Belle was on a roll; she wasn’t about to pause to listen to her husband’s words of protest. “And that was what Sara suggested when we had supper at her house last night, wasn’t it? Well, not that Frank O’Connell was the guilty party, I mean … but that the crosswords might relate to the crime…. ” Belle fairly quivered in her excitement; in fact, except for the color of their hair and a certain style of walking, she and Gabby had a lot in common. “All this time I’d assumed the nursery rhyme puzzles were connected to Lily … but Lily’s fine…. It’s the Snyder child who died. Different authorship or not, I’m convinced the same person created every one of these puzzles.”
“Belle, I love you a lot. You know I do. But this is a pretty extreme conclusion you’re drawing. I don’t see any evidence that supports—”
“This is not extreme. SNYDER is in the puzzle; you’ve been asked to look into the case; and the answer to 17-Across is LET’S BE FRANK. If that doesn’t spell it out, I don’t know what does!” Belle waved the crossword in the air.
“As it were.”
“What?” Her blonde hair flew around her excited face. “What do you mean ‘as it were’?”
“You said ‘spell it out.’ That’s what word games do…. Never mind. It was a bit of a joke.”
“Rosco! This is no time for levity!”
“Uh-huh …” Rosco folded his arms across his chest. “Okay, Miss Cruciverbalist, What about 41-Across … CATCH ME IF YOU CAN?”
“What about it?”
“Well, if you’re correct about this crossword referring to the hit-and-run case—which, by the way, is a huge if—and if the numerous FRANKS in the puzzle refer to Bonnie O’Connell’s feckless brother, then it seems to me that the title suggests that he’s blowing the whistle on himself; daring us to catch him—”
“So you’re thinking Frank may be our mysterious puzzle constructor?” Belle shook her head in disagreement. “I don’t know…. A guy who hangs out at the Black Sheep, whose buddy, Carlos Quintero, all but confirmed he was into certain nefarious activities, doesn’t create crosswords, Rosco.”
Rosco tilted his head as he regarded his wife. “That’s a pretty snobbish assessment. Besides, some criminals can be awfully clever. Not the ones who get caught. But there are some who literally do get away with murder. And let’s not forget that you crossword folks love playing with people’s heads.”
“Ugh.” Belle’s frown of perplexity deepened. “I don’t mean to sound like an intellectual elitist, but the personality of most puzzle constructors verges on the obsessive-compulsive. We’re stubborn; we don’t like to lose; we hammer away at lexical problems until we find the answers—even if it takes hours—and those aren’t the overriding characteristics of people who loll away their afternoons in bars. And, ‘playing with people’s heads’ isn’t very flattering.”
“How about ‘whipping up their gray matter’ or ‘noodling with their noggins’?”
“Better … although they sound more like kitchen activities.”
“And we wouldn’t want an ‘egghead’ like you to be accused of culinary expertise.”
“Ho, ho …” She sighed again, then shut her eyes tightly as she thought. “‘Sugar and spice,’” she murmured at length. “That was what Carlos said…. He meant Bonnie … but …” Belle opened her eyes and looked at Rosco. “Wait! Could Carlos be our puzzling Mr. Flanagan or Anderson or Isaacs or Everts?”
“I think we’re getting too far afield, Belle. Besides, unless Carlos is a different type than the one you described when you came home yesterday, he doesn’t seem any more ‘obsessive-compulsive’ than the other denizens of the Black Sheep.”
“Darn it all!” Belle fumed in sudden frustration. “For a moment, everything looked so simple…. Now, it’s just another jumble of loose ends.”
“Well, dearly my Frank, I don’t give a …”
“I’m not even gracing that with a teeny, weeny laugh, Rosco.”
“You’re smiling, though.”
“That’s a grimace you see on my face.”
“It’s a smile, and you know it.”
They’d only just set their two salad plates on the kitchen table when Al Lever knocked at the front door. Belle hurried through the living room and opened it, accompanied by a series of yip and barks, then led their visitor back into the kitchen. “Bonnie O’Connell sure is becoming one unhelpful lady,” Al announced without wasting time on preliminaries. “I drove over to the brother’s apartment right after we left Sonny’s Autobody. No one home. Landlord hasn’t seen the tenant in days. Or claims not to have seen him. He’s a weird duck, though, so I’m not sure I’m buying his line…. Then I returned to Smile!; Bonnie also insists she doesn’t know where dear, old Frankie is.” At this point, Al spotted the food on the table, the two places nicely set, and Rosco, who was now obviously waiting before reseating himself. “Oh hey, sorry to interrupt you two.” Lever peered down at the plates. “What is this stuff?”
“Salad.” Rosco’s reply sounded more like a question than a statement.
“Salad?”
Rosco chortled. “Is there a echo in this house? I went through the same routine with Belle about half an hour ago. Belle wasn’t listening, but in your case, I gather you don’t know what salad is.”
“Harumph.” Lever looked at Rosco in disgust. “You can’t expect to pack on extra pounds if you eat rabbit food, Poly—crates.”
“Did I say I wanted to gain weight, Al?”
“No, you didn’t. But you should. A married man like yourself … you don’t want to look like a buff, young bachelor. How do you explain something like that to your wife?”
Rosco’s response was another easy laugh. “Sit, Al. There’s enough for three.”
Belle walked to the cabinet and retrieved another plate, while Lever sat and gazed searchingly at the meal Rosco had prepared.
“Now, the cheese part I can appreciate … and olives … but the rest of it? It’s so … so … so green. If you think about it, green is a very weird color for food—”
“So, what did Bonnie tell you?” Belle interrupted as she began divvying up the salad.
“What she didn’t tell me is more to the point,” was Lever’s grumbling response. “First off, she pretended she was too busy to talk to me. Kept answering the phone while I was trying to question her, then made me repeat myself. Not once, but with nearly every query. Meaning that I did a lot more yakking than she did—which is not the optimal mode for interview procedure. Long story short: Ms. O’Connell insists that she and her brother aren’t close. She hasn’t seen him in a long time—but couldn’t confirm how long—and she has no clue as to where he is. He’s a sometime drummer, bounces from band to band, and she has no interest in his career or his whereabouts.”
“Which is the complete opposite of the impression I got when she was talking to Carlos,” Belle said. “She was genuinely distraught that she couldn’t find her brother. In fact, she told Quintero she ‘needed Frank now,’ and she stressed the last word—just before she barreled out of the place in tears.” Belle’s forehead creased in thought. “Frank’s disappearance and Rob Rossi’s and Dan Tacete’s seemed to be vitally connected—at least in Bonnie’s mind.”
“Where does Jack Wagner fit into all of this?” Al asked.
“You mean other than being Bonnie’s clandestine lover?” was Belle’s breezy reply.
“We don’t know that for a fact,” Rosco tossed in.
Belle looked at him. She looked at Lever. She shook her head. “Come on. It was Al who first made the suggestion. Don’t tell me you guys are now insisting on physical evidence. Maybe this is why no one ever coined the term ‘male intuition.’” She arche
d an eyebrow. “Maybe it’s even an oxymoron.”
“I’ve been called a ‘moron,’” Al stated. “But no one’s ever said I was an ‘ox.’”
Belle chortled. “More salad, Al?”
“Not if it’s the kind of fodder oxen munch on.”
Belle laughed again while her husband turned to her. His expression had turned serious.
“Okay, Belle, let’s say accept that Wagner and Bonnie are romantically involved. Where does that leave our vanished Rob Rossi? Or Frank O’Connell? Or Dan Tacete? And what bearing does any of this have on the Snyder case?”
“I’m just a crossword editor—or a ‘noggin noodler’—in case you’d forgotten.” She dangled the latest puzzle under their noses. “But the answer lies within this puzzle. Whoever created it holds all the solutions.”
CHAPTER 28
After leaving Belle and Rosco’s home on Captain’s Walk, Al Lever returned to the Newcastle Police headquarters while Rosco drove to a previously scheduled meeting with Elaine Vogel, the attorney working on the Snyder case. Given everything that he and Belle and Al had discussed over their late and impromptu lunch, the timing seemed particularly apt, although Rosco needed to keep reminding himself that he had nothing of substance to share with Elaine. Not yet, anyway. Although he had a sneaking suspicion that he might in the not-too-distant future.
As Rosco parked his car and sat for a moment staring up at the tall and somber facade of the downtown office building that housed Elaine’s firm, Al, simultaneously pushed open the smeary glass doors of the NPD station house. It was six minutes past three. By chance, Abe Jones had preceded Lever by less than a minute, and the two men walked in almost perfect unison toward the duty desk. The uniformed sergeant stationed there cocked his head toward Lever’s office and uttered a laconic and disinterested, “You’ve got visitors, Lieutenant.”
Lever gazed past the sergeant’s shoulder. The office door with its frosted glass panel was ajar, and he could see a woman who appeared to be in her mid thirties seated opposite his desk; with her was a boy who looked about ten or eleven—twelve tops. The expressions on both their faces were tight and worried. “What’s up?” Al asked the sergeant after a silent moment.
“I think you’d better hear it from the horse’s mouth, Lieutenant.”