by Parnell Hall
Instead, she wasted several seconds while her eyes became accustomed to the dark. She could vaguely see the outline of the graves. She forged ahead, counting gravestones. At least going north, the gravestones were coming at her, and she was counting them head-on, an easier task than approaching from the side.
As Cora got nearer and nearer her blood began to race. The last time she’d been in the graveyard, a girl had been found murdered there. That seemed so long ago. And yet that sort of memory doesn’t fade. Even dulled by the fact Cora had still been drinking at the time, the memory was clear as day. Cora wasn’t eager to reach her goal.
Eight.
Nine.
Her ninth grave.
No need to consult the directions. To use up what was left of her lighter. Four graves to the right. Pinehurst. If the name was on the stone she was there.
Cora counted carefully, not wanting to blow it, not wanting to miss some grave slightly out of line.
She reached the fourth grave. There appeared to be no dark form on the ground.
Of course this might not be it. She had to risk the lighter.
She raised it.
Flicked it.
Once.
Twice.
Third time’s the charm.
A spark ignited the flame.
There on the stone was the name Edward Pinehurst.
Shielding the lighter from the wind, Cora moved it down the gravestone toward the ground.
There was no girl’s body lying there.
Instead there were two sheets of paper.
A crossword puzzle and a sukoku.
ACROSS
1 Enthusiastic to the max
5 Tabloids couple
9 Dull as dishwater
14 #2, famously
15 1953 Mel Ferrer musical
16 Essential acid type
17 Start of the hint
19 On the lam
20 Very recently
21 Scouts seek them
23 Upholstered couch
25 Fighter in gray
26 Port-__ cheese
30 Part 2 of the hint
35 Set in order
37 Rock’s ZZ Top, e.g.
38 Prepare to drag race
39 Seine feeder
40 Cooling down
42 Raise the roof
43 Sushi roll topper
44 Basics
45 Parents’ hiree
47 Part 3 of the hint
50 Stopwatch button
51 With 68-Across, how corners yield hint
52 “Eh”
54 Some athletic wear
58 Chanted words
63 IRA-establishing legislation
64 End of the hint
66 Pep up
67 In the thick of
68 See 51-Across
69 Looks from Groucho
70 Stage award
71 Gaelic tongue
DOWN
1 Greek earth goddess
2 Gung-ho
3 Billion: Prefix
4 Hardly ruddy
5 Volunteer’s offer
6 Close with a suture
7 December helper
8 Oven accessory
9 California’s “City of Opportunity”
10 Lab slide critter
11 Subatomic bit
12 Technical sch.
13 Is sufficient
18 Take a bite of
22 Pieces in the game Risk
24 Many loft dwellers
26 Sound from the bull pen
27 Grade school quintet
28 Type of pointer
29 Beehive State Indian
31 Tolkien beast
32 Headaches for a 45-Across
33 Flood zone sight
34 For all to see
36 Insignificant one
41 ATM-making co.
42 Tpk. or hwy.
44 Incas, e.g.
46 O. Henry technique
48 Egyptian president before Sadat
49 Pinpoint, with “on”
53 “Arf !” utterer in comics
54 Take form
55 Toledo’s lake
56 Tear apart
57 Whack hard
59 Fundraiser gift, perhaps
60 German coal region
61 Gets mellower
62 A handful
65 Coverage co.
Chapter
29
Cora was so startled she dropped the lighter, plunging the grave into darkness, as a stream of frustrated expletives filled the night.
What a horrible turn of events. Here was a crossword puzzle she couldn’t solve, even if she could have seen it. This was something the blackmailer hadn’t thought of, could not have possibly foreseen. He thought she was a competent cruciverbalist, who ate crossword puzzles for breakfast and was smart enough to bring a flashlight. Well, wrong on both counts, buddy. Your blackmail scheme has just hit a big, fat snag.
Except for the payoff. Cora was making the payoff. Whatever else the blackmailer wanted her to do would have to wait.
Cora folded the pages, shoved them into her floppy, drawstring purse. She pulled out the blackmail money. She had to smile in spite of herself. She’d been so afraid the blackmailer would be able to tell the envelope wasn’t big enough to hold ten thousand dollars in small unmarked bills. There wasn’t a chance the guy could see a thing.
Cora set the envelope on the grave, propped it up against the gravestone.
And got the hell out of there.
All right, what was it? Four back? Nine down?
Who cares? She didn’t have to follow the same path. She was looking for the main gate. She got her bearings, set off for it.
It was fairly easy going, except for barking her shins on gravestones. She reached the gate in minutes. Now, over the wall? No, the gate’s open. Unless it was locked. If it was locked now, she was going to be pissed. It wasn’t. She pushed against it and it swung open. She slipped out, pushed it closed. Hurried to the road. The car was right where she left it. She hopped in, drove off.
Things were not going well. That was an understatement. Becky was going to be pissed. Chief Harper was going to be pissed. The whole world was going to be pissed.
Cora slowed down as she hit the center of town. What now? Go see Becky Baldwin? With an unsolved puzzle? Not likely.
Cora drove straight to the hospital. She parked, went inside. Visiting hours were over. Cora assured the woman at the front desk she knew that, she wasn’t visiting. While the woman was thinking that over, Cora hopped in an elevator, went upstairs.
Sherry was alone in the room. She was lying in bed with her head on the pillow. She was quiet, peaceful. Cora hated to disturb her.
Damn.
Cora flopped into the chair, reached in her purse, pulled out the crossword puzzle. If it wasn’t too difficult, maybe she could solve it herself.
It looked like Sanskrit.
Which was silly. Some of the clues sounded pretty easy. And then she looked from the clue to the grid, and the answer she had thought of always had the wrong number of letters. Who were the people who actually solved these thing? Freaks, that’s what they were.
“Cora?”
Sherry’s eyes were open.
“Hi, kid. How are you?”
“I have a baby.”
“Yeah. Isn’t she wonderful?”
“Yeah.”
“Where’s Aaron?”
“They kicked him out. It’s after hours.” Sherry’s eyes widened. “Hey, what are you doing here?”
“Oh.”
“What you got there?”
“It’s a puzzle.”
“Gimme.”
“You sure?”
“Come on. Come on. I’m going stir-crazy. Give me the puzzle.”
Cora passed it over.
“Where did you get this?”
“A blackmailer left it by a gravestone.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“I wish I
were.”
“How bad is it?”
“I’m afraid it’s telling me to do something I didn’t know to do.”
“What will happen then?”
“I have no idea. Becky won’t tell me a damn thing. She won’t even tell me who the client is. Even though I know.”
“Who is it?”
“Melvin.”
“He’s here?”
“Yeah.”
Sherry’s pencil was flying over the puzzle. She looked up. “That doesn’t make any sense. Who could blackmail Melvin?”
“I don’t know. But he put up ten grand to keep them from doing it. I left it by the gravestone. I’m hoping these puzzles don’t say that was the wrong thing to do.”
“Aha.”
“Aha? What do you mean by aha?”
Sherry grimaced. “You’re not going to like this.”
“Why? What does it say?”
“Did a sudoku come with this?”
“Oh, don’t tell me.” Cora snatched the puzzle from Sherry, read the theme entry.
* * *
“‘Eight left from Jablo. Turn north when you go.’”
“What’s Jablo?”
“There’s a tomb of someone named Jablowsky in the cemetery.”
“Well, that’s pretty straightforward.”
“Yeah. Why did you think there was a sudoku?”
“Oh. Look at 51-Across.”
Cora read, “‘With 68-Across, how corners yield hint.’ And the answers are ‘add’ and ‘them’.”
“Is there a sudoku?”
“Yes.”
“Did you solve it?”
“No.”
“Better do it.”
Cora took the pencil back from Sherry, whipped out the sudoku, sat down, and started solving it.
“Damn.”
“What?”
“It’s challenging.”
“You can’t do it?”
“Of course I can. It’s just difficult. I have to think harder and it will take longer.”
“What’s it say?”
“I’m still working.”
“Did you get the corners?”
“Be quiet.”
“You don’t have to solve the whole thing, just the corners.”
“If you weren’t here in the hospital, I’d put you in one.”
“If you just had the corners, you don’t need the rest.”
“Will you shut up?”
“See?” Sherry said. “Now you know how I feel when I’m trying to solve a crossword puzzle.”
“In a moment you’re going to know how you feel when you try to eat a crossword puzzle.”
“That’s right. Attack a poor, defenseless mother.”
“I don’t believe it. You’re playing the mom card already? I warn you, it has a limited number of uses. You use ’em up, you’re out of luck.”
“That’s what you think. The mom card is forever.”
“Will you shut up? You made me write a five instead of a seven.”
“Is that bad?”
“Oh, you’re really being naughty.” Cora filled in the last number. “And … done!”
Cora looked at the sudoku. “Okay, the four corners add up to seventeen. Seventeen graves north of the tomb.”
* * *
A nurse stuck her head in the door. “Hey, you can’t be in here.”
“It’s all right, I’m not,” Cora said, and pushed by her out the door.
Cora ran down the corridor, right by the empty nurses’ station. She couldn’t wait for the elevator. She took the stairs two at a time, ran out the emergency room entrance, jumped in her car, and broke the speed laws back to the cemetery, praying she wouldn’t be too late.
She was too late.
Cora got to the front gate just in time to see Chief Harper and Dan Finley leading Melvin out in handcuffs.
Chapter
30
Cora skidded to a stop, blocking the police cruiser. She hopped out of her car, strode up to Chief Harper.
“What the hell is going on here?”
“We just arrested your ex-husband.”
“What for?”
“Murder.”
“Who’s dead?”
“That’s what we’d like to know.”
“Don’t piss me off, Chief. I’ve got a short fuse on this one.”
“Cora, shut up,” Melvin said. “I can take care of myself.”
She eyed him witheringly. Even in handcuffs he looked haughty, brash, the cock of the walk. “Oh, sure. What a big boy you are.”
“I’m not supposed to talk. They say I’ve got a right to an attorney. I hope that cute blond one’s available.”
Cora exhaled angrily. “I don’t know which of you is more annoying. Chief, you wanna let me in on what’s happening here, or do I have to go postal?”
“That’s a rather prejudicial remark. I think Miss Blakely would take exception to it.”
Cora made a comment the postmistress, Miss Blakely, would almost certainly take exception to.
“There’s my little spitfire!” Melvin said.
Cora ignored him, stared down the chief. “Come on. What the hell happened?”
“We had a phone call. Report of shots fired in the cemetery.”
“Shots!”
“That’s right, shots,” Melvin said. “So you go out and arrest an unarmed man.”
“Anyone can throw away a gun,” Harper said.
“What shots? What gun?” Cora demanded. “When did this happen?”
“Must have been twenty minutes ago.”
“Twenty minutes?”
“See how stupid that is?” Melvin said.
Cora looked at him sharply, but his face was angelic. For Melvin.
“Who made the complaint?”
“It was a phone call.”
“An anonymous phone call?”
“The person didn’t give a name.”
“See?” Melvin said. “It just gets worse and worse. My attorney’s going to have a field day.”
“Fine,” Harper said. “And you can call your attorney. Just as soon as Dan gets you down to the station and gets you booked.”
“What’s he charged with?” Cora said.
“I’m not charged with anything, because I didn’t do anything.”
“He’s charged with trespass and illegal entry.”
“Oh, give me a break.”
“He was tiptoeing around the cemetery after dark with ten thousand dollars in his pocket, and he won’t say why. Now, I’m not claiming he shot someone and took it. On the other hand, it would seem a poor time to be getting belligerent.”
Cora gave Melvin a look.
He smiled, shrugged his shoulders. “Chump change. Tell ’em what I used to carry in Vegas.”
“Wanna move your car so Dan can take him down to the station?”
“You’re not going?”
“I gotta follow up on that report of shots fired.”
“Sure thing.”
Cora hopped in her car, backed up, pulled off to the side.
Dan Finley backed the cruiser out of the drive, turned around, headed back toward town.
Cora didn’t follow. She walked over to where Chief Harper was getting a flashlight out of his car.
“You going with your husband?”
“He’s not my husband.”
“Your ex-husband. Aren’t you going with him? Or are you more interested in prowling around the cemetery?”
“I wasn’t until you said shots fired.”
Chief Harper looked at her, cocked his head. “You got your gun in your purse?”
“You know I do.”
“Can I see it?”
“It hasn’t been fired, Chief.”
“Then you won’t mind me making sure.”
Cora dug in her drawstring purse, handed him the gun.
He sniffed it, handed it back.
“Now you know I didn’t fire those shots, you mind if I help you find
who did?”
“Be my guest.”
“You got a flashlight?”
“You didn’t bring one?” Harper asked.
“Why would I bring one?”
“I don’t know. Why are you here?”
“Are you kidding me?” Cora said. “Report of shots fired.”
“You didn’t know there were shots fired.”
“That’s what I told Melvin. If you wanna go by what I told Melvin…”
“Are you saying you did know there were shots fired?”
“I’m not making any statements until I know what the facts are. That would be pretty stupid. What do you say we check this out?”
“What do you say we do? And if it doesn’t check out, you and I are going to have a little talk.”
Harper popped the trunk, took out a second flashlight, gave it to Cora. “Come on.”
“Where are you going?”
“We gotta go over the wall.”
“You can go over the wall, Chief. I’m going in the gate.”
“The gate’s locked.”
“I don’t think so.”
“What?”
“Don’t they lock it with a chain? It’s been a while, but isn’t that the way it works?”
Harper gave her a look. He walked up to the gate. Pushed on it. It swung open.
“That’s a break,” Cora said. “I’m not really wearing climbing gear. Okay, where do we look?”
Harper pointed off to the right. “That way.”
“How come?”
“That’s where Dan saw Melvin moving.”
“He saw him moving?”
“His light.”
“Oh. Didn’t Dan already search there?”
Harper shook his head. “Huh uh. Melvin was coming this way. Dan didn’t want him to run. He waited for him to come out.”
“When did he arrest him?”
“When he came over the wall.”
“How come you don’t have Sam?”
“Don’t need him. So far it’s just shots fired. Dan caught it, checked it out. Saw the light moving and called me. I showed up right after he made the arrest.”
“Nobody lives around here, Chief.”
“What’s your point?”
“Who’s gonna hear shots fired?”
“So far it’s just a theory.”
“So’s the idea the shots came from the cemetery just because Melvin did. Melvin doesn’t have a gun. I’ll bet you he hasn’t fired one.”
“So?”
“You check to the right, I’ll check to the left.”