Last Puzzle & Testament

by Parnell Hall

  “Well, what do you think?” Sherry asked her aunt. “We gotta call Harper?”

  “I suppose we have to. I don’t like it. The Chief’s not going to be thrilled.”

  He wasn’t. When Chief Harper drove up to the greenhouse in response to their phone call, he looked like he was on his way to a lynching. By the time Sherry and Cora had ˀand Corafilled him in on the situation, he looked like they were the ones he intended to hang.

  “Let me be sure I have this straight,” he told them. “Chester Hurley got ahold of the crossword puzzle. Stole the last set of clues. And put a whole new set in their place?”

  “So it seems,” Cora Felton said.

  “And the reason he did this?”

  “Is obvious,” Cora said complacently. “Chester thinks the puzzle means something, the last answer is flower shop, this greenhouse is the only game in town, and he wants it for himself.”

  “Uh huh,” Chief Harper said. It occurred to Sherry he didn’t look particularly sold on the proposition. “And what do you expect me to do about this?”

  Cora Felton frowned. “Why, arrest him, of course.”

  “On what charge?”

  “Are you kidding?” Cora said. “We’ve had three murders connected to the Hurley estate. Well, two murders and an assault. All tied into this will contest. And here’s Chester Hurley, tearing the greenhouse apart, proving conclusively he’s totally obsessed with either winning the game or finding out what it means. Clearly, he would stop at nothing to do so. He’s even gone so far as to rig the game. And who was the last person assaulted? A crossword-puzzle constructor! A man who was desperately trying to tell me, the judge, that there was something wrong with the puzzle. I rest my case.”

  “I’m sorry, but I’m not sold,” Chief Harper said. “How could Harvey Beerbaum know there’s something wrong with the puzzle?”

  “Clearly he’s seen it.”

  “Say he has. Who showed it to him? Chester?”

  “Well, wouldn’t that fit?” Cora argued. “Someone rewrote the last quarter of the puzzle. Suppose it was Harvey what’s-his-face—Beerbaum? Suppose Chester was in league with Beerbaum all along? Harvey was solving the puzzle for him, and Harvey rewrote the clues.”

  “In return for which Chester hits him over the head?”

  “For getting cold feet,” Cora said. “Beerbaum gets cold feet, starts to chicken out. He tries to tell me, but I won’t listen. So, before he can tell anyone else, Chester makes sure he doesn’t.”

  “I’m not saying it couldn’t happen,” Chief Harper said. “I’m just saying there’s no proof that it did.”

  “So you’re not going to look into it?”

  “Did I say that? Of course I’m going to look into it. I suppose I have to talk to Chester.”

  “Have to talk to him? You meˀo him? Yan you’re not going to bust him?”

  “Not at the present time. I can bring him in for questioning.”

  “Yes, but—”

  Sherry Carter groaned. “Time out! You’re starting to give me a headache. Chief Harper, stop equivocating. There’s clearly something you’re not telling us. Why don’t you think Chester is guilty, and why are you so reluctant to arrest him?”

  Chief Harper nodded to Cora Felton. “Smart girl, your niece. Gets right to it every time.”

  “Gets right to what?” Cora demanded. “What’s the point here? How come you don’t think old Chester bashed the crossword-puzzle guy?”

  Chief Harper sighed.

  “Because I just arrested Daniel Hurley for it.”

  Chester Hurley, ignoring the barrage of shouted questions, stomped out of the police station, pushed his way through the crowd of reporters, heirs, and onlookers, hopped in his truck, backed up, gunned the motor, and peeled out, leaving rubber just like a rebellious teenager.

  The news crews filmed his exit gleefully. They hadn’t a clue what it meant, but it was great footage. And they could get comments on it from the other heirs, who were already speculating on the arrest of Daniel Hurley, which was widely rumored, but as yet unconfirmed, as the police had still not issued a statement.

  In the station, Chief Harper, who had just released Chester Hurley, let Cora Felton and Sherry Carter into his inner office.

  “Well,” Cora demanded, “what did he say? I assume it was pretty good, since you let him go.”

  “I all but had to.” Chief Harper was glum. “I can’t have two suspects arrested for the same crime.”

  “You really arrested Daniel Hurley?” Sherry said.

  Chief Harper jerked his thumb. “He’s in the back room. His lawyer’s over at the courthouse trying to get Judge Hobbs to release him now.”

  “What did you arrest him for?” Sherry asked.

  Chief Harper hesitated.

  That was more than Cora could take. “Never mind that,” she said. “You can figure out how much you want to tell us later. Right now I want to know what Chester Hurley said. Did he mess with the puzzle?”

  “So he says. According to him he’s always been a whiz at puzzles. Ever since he was a kid. Ripped right through them. Only one in his family who did. Didn’t know Emma had the knack. Was absolutely flabbergasted to find out΀ what she’d done. But once he had his piece of the puzzle, he solved it like that. He drove Annabel Hurley to the courthouse, where they found the next set of clues. He took one copy, left the rest for the others. He solved that, drove Annabel to the post office, where she fetched the next set of clues. Solved that, drove her to the laundromat. Solved that, then went to the greenhouse.”

  Chief Harper leaned back in his desk chair, spread his arms. “Where, as you know, he found nothing. Which was very frustrating to him. He was determined to solve the puzzle. Not because he wanted the inheritance. But because he wanted to know what Emma was up to. That was very important to him. He said the wording of her will made him think there was something behind her game. That it was really important in some way. Not so much who won, but in reaching the right solution.”

  Chief Harper drummed his fingers on the desk. “I must say that makes no sense to me. I’m not saying I don’t believe Chester—I do—I’m just not sure what he’s getting at. Anyway, if the solution of the puzzle was at the greenhouse, he didn’t want anyone else to find it first. So, when he couldn’t find it, he rewrote the puzzle to throw the heirs off the track. He took the puzzle as far as it went, three-quarters finished, then wrote a different solution. How he did it is beyond me, but he says it was easy. He just needed another store besides a flower shop. He chose a five-and-ten because it had ten letters. Filled it in, filled in the rest of the words, and made up a set of clues. He typed them up, Xeroxed them, and had Annabel Hurley swap them for the real set of clues hidden in the laundromat. He says if we check, we’ll find out Annabel was in there twice that day.”

  “The woman who runs the place only remembered her once,” Cora said.

  “Yeah, but Minnie’s husband’s on duty half the time,” Harper pointed out. “And Ray Wishburn’s got a brain like a sieve. Anyway, Chester claims that’s what he did. So when you found that phony set of clues, and declared that solving them would mean winning the game, Chester Hurley couldn’t have that. It wasn’t that he wanted to win. He just didn’t want anyone else to win. Which is why he showed up and turned in his puzzle. Yes, it’s a solution from bogus clues, and should mean nothing. But him being first eliminates the nuisance of some other heir claiming to win, if you get what I mean.”

  “It makes sense in a very convoluted way,” Sherry said carefully.

  “And what about Mildred Sims?” Cora said. “What’s the story there?”

  Chief Harper smiled. “I must say, that one I kind of like. According to Chester, he was having no luck at the greenhouse. He tried to get Mildred to admit she was the one Emma Hurley had sent around with the puzzle clues. He says Mildred denied it, and he believes her. Apparently, they’d always had a decent enough relationship.”

  “And just why do you kind of
like this?” Cora said.

  “Amateur detectives,” Chief Harper said. “Far be it for me to say anything against amateur detectives.”

  &Ӏn="justi#x201C;Come again?”

  “Chester Hurley’s rather sharp. Has to be, living alone in the woods like that. Has keen senses. Animal instincts, you might say.”

  “So?”

  “So, he comes out the door of Mildred Sims’s house, and what does he see? Two women in a Toyota watching him from the road. And darned if it isn’t the car belonging to the contest judge. Chester Hurley takes one look, and knows he’s being tailed by amateurs. So, what’s he gonna do? He’s not gonna let you follow him to the greenhouse, that’s for sure. Not that he couldn’t ditch you if he wanted to, but why should he bother? Plus, he’s got his own bill of goods to sell.

  “So, he ducks back inside to Mildred Sims, who has just gone through this whole routine saying she’s sorry she couldn’t help him, but if there was ever anything she could do, and Chester says, As a matter of fact, you can, Mildred. Could you rush on down to Odds and Ends before it closes and buy me a dish rack? I’d go myself, but I don’t have time because of the puzzle. If you could do that for me now, I’ll pick it up later tonight. Only, don’t tell anyone it’s for me, because I don’t want them to know what I’m doing.

  “And Mildred figures it’s a pretty weird request, but she can’t really say no, because she just offered to help. So, off she goes and gets in her car, and, just like Chester Hurley intended, you follow her to Odds and Ends. Which does two things. It helps sell the five-and-ten in the puzzle he altered, and it keeps you away from the greenhouse.”

  “And what about the puzzle?” Cora Felton demanded. “Do you buy the fact he did it all himself? I mean, what about the theory the puzzle expert did it for him, and that’s why he brained him?”

  “I don’t much like it. I could see Beerbaum helping Chester solve the puzzle—nothing really wrong with that—but altering it is something else. Beerbaum’s gonna help Chester rig a contest with millions of bucks involved? I don’t think so. He’d be risking his whole reputation. I just can’t see him doing it.”

  “Because you have Daniel Hurley in jail?” Sherry said.

  “For one thing.”

  “You gonna tell us why?”

  “For starters, he’s the one with the big opportunity. You’ll recall he was in the parking lot with Beasley just before Beasley got killed. Annabel Hurley came to call on him the night she got killed. And he was in the Country Kitchen last night with Harvey Beerbaum.”

  “Not with Harvey Beerbaum,” Cora objected. “They were both there, big deal.”

  “But close enough to have overheard you, isn’t that right?”

  “He—”

  “Oh, please,” Sherry interrӀSherry iupted. “Let’s not quibble. Daniel had opportunity. So had lots of people. What about motive? Why is he doing this?”

  “How’s fifteen million dollars sound? Say Daniel Hurley wants the money. He came here to get it by fair means or foul. Jeff Beasley knew that—how, I don’t know yet—but he did. Beasley said so in the bar. Called Daniel prodigal son. Let Daniel Hurley know he was on to him.”

  “On to what?” Sherry said. “Give me a break.”

  Chief Harper’s face darkened. “You want this or not?”

  “We want it, we want it,” Cora said. “Sherry, shut up, let the man make his case. Go on, Chief, what else have you got?”

  “Well, that’s Beasley. He’s in the Country Kitchen that night with Daniel Hurley and Harvey Beerbaum. So say Daniel Hurley came here specifically to win the contest. Only he’s no good at crossword puzzles. And his way of cracking the puzzle happens to involve Harvey Beerbaum.”

  “Wait a minute,” Sherry objected. “I’m not going to be quiet and let something like that go by. This is the night before the will is read. Nobody even knows there’s a puzzle. How could Harvey Beerbaum be part of Daniel Hurley’s plan then?”

  Chief Harper shrugged. “You say nobody knows there’s a puzzle because the will hasn’t been read. But who wrote the will? Emma Hurley. Emma knew there was a puzzle. She could have told someone there was a puzzle. Like the housekeeper, Mildred Sims, for instance. Or like Annabel Hurley. Or anyone else, for that matter. So, say someone knows there’s a puzzle. And say that information reaches the ears of Daniel Hurley. And say that night at the Country Kitchen he has a reason to be meeting with the puzzle constructor.”

  “You arrested him on speculation like that?” Sherry said, incredulously.

  “I did not,” Chief Harper said. “I’m indulging in speculation like that to counter some of the objections I’ve been hearing. But it’s not why I arrested him at all.”

  “You said this was his motive.”

  “It’s tied into his motive. But go back to the original premise. Daniel Hurley’s trying to outfox the other heirs and get the millions. Jeff Beasley’s on to him. Daniel does Jeff in. Annabel is Daniel’s confidant and co-conspirator. Not in the murder, but in trying to solve the puzzle. She’s shocked and terrified by Beasley’s murder. She goes to Daniel, to find out if he’s involved. He denies it, of course, but she’s suspicious. She becomes expendable.”

  Chief Harper raised his hand to override any possible objections. “But I don’t wanna argue that now. I’m just trying to give you an idea of where I’m coming from so you won’t be so shocked when you see the news tonight.”

  “When we see what on the news tonight?” Cora Felton asked.

  “My statement on the arrest of Daniel Hurley. I’m going to have to make one sooner or later. When I do, I can assure you none of this will be in it.”

  “What will be?” Cora said.

  Chief Harper grimaced. “Well, now, that’s the thing. At the moment I’m waiting for confirmation. I kind of hate to say anything until I get it.”

  “Confirmation of what? No one’s quoting you here, Chief. Just spit it out.”

  “Okay, but this doesn’t leave this room.” Chief Harper ran his hand through his hair. “I got witnesses.”

  Sherry Carter and Cora Felton stared at him.

  “Witnesses?” Cora said. “You care to elaborate on that, Chief?”

  “Not particularly. It’s a little tricky. The problem is, they’re kids.”

  “Kids?”

  “Yeah. The Goldfarb kids. Jesse and Abby Goldfarb. They had a sleepover last night at the Olsen house. This morning they’re coming back through the meadow behind the old paper mill, you know where I mean?”

  “Not at all,” Cora Felton said.

  “Right, you wouldn’t,” Chief Harper said. “Well, the mill’s by the creek, of course. And there’s a culvert, where the stream goes under the road. The road’s barely used anymore, now that the mill’s shut down. Well, except if you were going up to the ranger station, only no one ever does, it’s not like it was a public park.”

  “Chief.”

  “Sorry,” Harper said. “Well, like I say, the Goldfarb kids are coming home across the meadow. And they see a motorcycle coming up the road. Which is a rare enough occurrence that they pay attention. Particularly when it stops just where the stream goes under the road. So they’re there watching while Daniel Hurley in all his long-haired glory gets off his motorcycle, unbuckles his saddlebag, takes something out, climbs down the bank beside the road, and throws whatever it is into the culvert. Then he climbs back up, gets on his motorcycle, and drives off.

  “Well, the Goldfarb kids are falling all over themselves to see what it is, and they scurry down the bank, and Abby winds up knocking Jesse into the creek, and Jesse gets up and pushes Abby down, and they’re both wet and muddy and hopping mad by the time they find it. Plus they’re kids, which is why they just pick it up without stopping to think.”

  “Pick what up?” Cora was raging with impatience.

  Chief Harper shrugged. “I won’t know for sure till the lab’s done with it. Which is why I’m holding up my statement. But it’s a big carving knife wit
h blood onӀwith blo it, and five will get you ten it’s our murder weapon.”

  “It doesn’t add up,” Sherry said.

  “Eat your pasta,” Cora told her.

  Sherry, who’d been too agitated to cook, had still managed to whip up a pasta salad with the pesto she’d made the day before. Cora was digging in ravenously, but Sherry had barely touched hers. “I’m not hungry,” she muttered.

  “You are hungry,” Cora told her. “You just think you’re not hungry, because you’re upset. I’m upset, but I don’t let that affect my appetite. It’s a good lesson to learn. You can’t accomplish anything if you don’t take care of yourself.”

  “What are you babbling about?”

  “Well, I like that.” Cora was indignant. “Look, I’m not telling you not to think. I’m just saying think while you eat. You put the fork in the pasta, you put the pasta in your mouth. You chew it around and the mind keeps going. Your mind doesn’t short-circuit just because some young man gets accused of a murder.”

  “That’s not it.”

  “Or because some other young man’s too busy to see you because he’s writing the crime up.”

  “That’s not it either.”

  “Well, that should be. This murder, quite frankly, is none of your business. Your personal life is more important.”

  “Is that how you feel?”

  “No. But I’ve been married several times. A relationship right now is not my number one priority.”

  “Aunt Cora—”

  “You, on the other hand, have had one disastrous marriage. You now have a shot at something better. You would be wise not to blow it.”

  “Aunt Cora. Not now.”

  “And the way to blow it would be getting hung up on a young man just because he was unfortunate enough to get charged with murder.”