Last Puzzle & Testament (12 page)

“Huh?”

“I thought I saw clues with blanks. If there’s any clues with blanks, start with them. They’re easier.”

“Yes, there’s two blanks. Six across. Blank
fall
.”

“Waterfall.”

“No, it’s four letters.”

“Why didn’t you say so?”

“I’m saying so. Blank
fall.
Four letters.”

“I don’t know. Any others?”

“Yeah. Three down.
Entre
blank. Four letters. And it’s French.”

“French?”

“It says
fr.
Doesn’t that mean French?”

“How should I know. You think I do crossword puzzles?”

“Well, that’s the clue.
Entre
blank. You know what that is?”

“You have any damn clues in English?”

“One across. Italian village.”

“
Italian
village?”

“That’s what it says.”

“I said in English.”

“The clue’s in English.”

“The answer isn’t. What else have you got?”

“Thirteen across.
World War II vessel.
Five letters.”

“World War II, for cryin’ out loud!”

“Phyllis, I didn’t write these clues. I’m just reading them.”

“Well, you’re not making me happy.”

“I know. And, Phyllis …”

“Yes?”

“There’s some other clues aren’t going to please you much.”

“Such as?”

“Four down.
Tibetan town.
Three letters.”

“Oh, for goodness sakes.”

They were hurtling down the main street in town. Phyllis Applegate slammed on the brakes, skidded to a stop in front of the police station, waved the car behind her around, made a U-turn, and pulled up in front of the Bakerhaven library.

“Phyllis!” Morty shrieked. “You just made a U-turn in front of the cops.”

“Big deal. There’s no one there.” Phyllis Applegate jerked the door open and got out of the car, cutting short her husband’s protests. “Come on, you want Philip to beat us?”

“What are we doing here?”

“You know a three-letter word for Tibetan town?”

“No.”

“Neither do I. Let’s go.”

Edith Potter the librarian looked up expectantly when the front door opened, but Phyllis Applegate ignored her, glanced around, and declared, “Oh, there’s the reading room,” in a voice loud enough to make Edith wince. Phyllis pushed by the front desk, stalked to the table, took out the puzzle and clues, and announced, “Let’s get organized. First off, let’s make a list of anything we need to look up.”

An old man with a newspaper cast an evil eye in her direction and said, “Shhh!”

Phyllis Applegate took no notice. “Start in on the Italian village. If we get that, it will help with the Tibetan town.”

Edith Potter appeared in the doorway. “I will have to ask you to keep the noise down. People are trying to read.”

“Sure, sure, lady.” Phyllis did not lower her voice one decibel. “Listen, where do you look stuff up?”

“Stuff?”

“Stuff you need to know. Like a town in Tibet. Stuff like that. Where would you find it?”

“If you keep your voice down, I can help you. If you’re going to be e g

“We’ll be quiet as mice,” Phyllis Applegate vowed, raising her voice for emphasis.

Edith Potter rolled her eyes and went and flushed her son, Jimmy, from the stacks, where he was at work shelving books. A tall, gawky boy of college age, Jimmy Potter had always been a little slow, but was a diligent worker, and loved to have a task.

“They want me to look stuff up?” Jimmy said.

“Yes,” Edith Potter said. “Help them look stuff up, but try to keep them quiet. Make sure they don’t disturb the other people in the reading room.”

“Okay, Mom,” Jimmy Potter said. And he certainly had the best of intentions. But when he saw they were working on a crossword puzzle, he completely forgot, and spoke right out loud. “Crossword,” he exclaimed, and grinned a big grin. “You’re working on a puzzle? Wow. Just like the lady on TV.”

“Who?” Phyllis Applegate scowled.

“The Puzzle Lady on TV. Didn’t you ever see her? She’s right here in town, you know.”

Phyllis Applegate nodded grimly. “Yeah, kid. We know.”

Daniel Hurley dumped cream in his coffee and pushed the pitcher across the table. Becky Baldwin added cream to her coffee, regarded him with interest.

Becky Baldwin was not used to men like Daniel Hurley. She was used to men who would defer to her sex, would make a point of offering her the pitcher first. The fact that he hadn’t intrigued her.

It seemed absolutely casual. Just two people having coffee. He takes some cream, and offers her some. Treating her as an equal with no ulterior motive.

Or he takes cream first deliberately, as a calculated display of flouting the conventions.

Or he is merely young, stupid, boorish, and doesn’t know any better.

Becky Baldwin peered at the man behind the beard, tried to determine which.

“You asked me for coffee,” Becky Baldwin reminded him.

“Yes, I did,” Daniel Hurley said. He raised his cup. “Cheers.”

Becky Baldwin took a sip of the coffee, which was rather bad, evoking memories of the diner from her high school years. “Thank you. I just wonder how you can take the time.”

“You mean when there’s a puzzle to be solved?”

“Exactly. The other relatives took off like there was no tomorrow. I’m sure they’re all working on it now. Ath="nd here you sit, having coffee.”

“And rather bad coffee at that,” Daniel Hurley said. “You might have warned me. Or haven’t you eaten here before?”

“Not in years. I would have thought by now they’d washed the pot.”

“That’s even worse,” Daniel said, “if this place is so bad you haven’t been here in years.”

“It’s not like I’ve been avoiding it. I’ve been away at law school.”

“Oh, that’s right. You’re a lawyer.” He frowned. “So, what brings you back to town?”

“Actually, I’m on my way to Boston. I just stopped off to see my folks.”

“Oh? So you’re staying with them?”

“Yeah. They have a house on Chestnut, just off Glen.”

Daniel shrugged. “Wherever that is. I’m in a bed-and-breakfast up the street.”

“Stone Mill Inn?”

“That’s the place.”

“What did the Walanders think of the motorcycle?”

“That’s their name? I don’t think they saw my bike until after I signed the register.”

“They saw you, didn’t they?”

“Yes, they did,” Daniel Hurley agreed. “But they couldn’t think of a reason not to rent to me. I bet they would have loved to be able to say the place was full.”

“Uh huh,” Becky Baldwin said. “So what do you do when you’re not inheriting millions?”

“Well put,” Daniel Hurley said. “You’re right, I’m a bum, guilty as charged. I have no money. I drift from job to job.”

“You’ve got a pretty neat motorcycle.”

“Dad had some insurance. Don’t ask me why. No car, no house, no possessions to speak of. And yet, a life insurance policy. Not large, but welcome. I immediately invested the money in a tangible expression of Father’s accomplishments.”

“Uh huh,” Becky Baldwin said again. She took a sip of coffee, grimaced. “All right, you’ve waited me out. I can’t take it any longer. You gonna look at the puzzle or not?”

“Is that why you agreed to have coffee with me?”

“Come on, give me a break,” Becky said. “I don’t know if I’m supposed to find this intriguing or what, but, frankly, your calnkl1C;Comculated indifference is getting on my nerves. Yes, I want to see the puzzle. I can’t imagine why you
don’t
want to see the puzzle.”

“Okay,” Daniel said. He fished two folded sheets of paper from the back pocket of his jeans. “Here you go.”

Becky Baldwin smoothed the pages out on the table in front of her, and studied them eagerly.

Daniel Hurley watched her with some amusement. “So,” he said, “you get anything?”

“Lucy.”

“Huh?”

“One down is
Lucy
.”

“Are you sure?”

She pointed. “The clue is
Ricardo.
So it’s
Lucy.
From
I Love Lucy.
Lucy Ricardo.”

“Why does it have to be Lucy? It could be Desi.”

“No, it couldn’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s not Desi Ricardo. It’s Desi Arnaz. It’s
Ricky
Ricardo. And Lucy Ricardo. And Lucille Ball. If the clue was Arnaz, it could be Desi. And if it had five letters, it could be Ricky. But a four-letter
Ricardo
has got to be
Lucy.
See?”

Daniel shrugged. “Puzzles were never my thing.”

“Really? Then how do you expect to win?”

“I don’t know,” Daniel Hurley replied pleasantly. “But I do know this. What I have here is only the first piece of the puzzle. So solving this, big deal. When someone solves this we’ll find out the next piece of the puzzle.”

“
They’ll
find out the next piece of the puzzle.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Daniel Hurley said. “I would say there’s a good chance someone solving the first piece would result in a general announcement. In which case, I’ll learn the same thing they do. Without lifting a finger.”

“You don’t know that.”

“No, I don’t. But I do know I’m no good at puzzle solving.”

“You want help?”

“I thought you were just passing through.”

“I was. But I got roped into taking a case, and now my client’s dead. I guess I gotta stick around till that gets straightened out.”

Daniel grinned. “And in the meantime, you’d like to help me solve the puzzle?”

“Not really. I was thinking of something else.”

“Like what?”

“The whole setup. I’m not sure it’s legally binding.”

“What do you mean?”

“An elderly woman writes a holographic will without benefit of legal advice, and bequeaths an enormous fortune to the winner of a foolish game. If one wanted to, there would seem to be lots of grounds to contest such a will. Would that interest you?”

Daniel Hurley pushed his coffee cup aside, put his elbows on the table, leaned his chin in his hand.

“Tell me more,” he said.

Cora Felton nearly sloshed her cup of coffee. “You solved it already?”

“Sure, I did. It wasn’t hard. It’s a simple, straightforward crossword puzzle. There are no tricks. It can be solved by anyone who’s used to doing daily puzzles.”

“By one of the heirs?”

“I don’t know,” Sherry said. “Frankly, none of them strike me as the type. But that doesn’t mean they couldn’t do it. Anyway, take a look at the puzzle.”

“Sherry, I have a headache.”

“I can’t help that.”

“And I’m no good at puzzles.”

“That’s why I’m going to explain it to you.”

“I’m not great at explanations, either. This puzzle stuff leaves me cold.”

“I know that. But you’ve got to know enough to fake it. You’re the one who has to explain it to the heirs.”

“Yes, I know. But—”

“Fifty. Thousand. Dollars.”

Cora sighed. “Keep reminding me of that, will you?”

“Never fear,” Sherry said. “Okay, take a look at this.”

Cora Felton leaned in and looked at the computer. Sherry had typed in the answers to the clues in the grid.