Arsenic and Old Puzzles (11 page)

“For me that’s high,” Cora said.

“Your heart rates a little accelerated.”

“My pulse is always high at the doctor’s. I’m afraid you might find something wrong.”

“Let’s check those lungs.” He slipped the stethoscope under her shirt.

“Why, doctor. We barely met.”

“Breathe in, please.”

Cora did so.

“And out.”

She exhaled.

He listened to the other side, then lowered the stethoscope. “You smoke, don’t you?”

“Why? What do you hear?”

“Nothing. Your lungs are fine.”

“Then why did you say that?”

“Just an observation. You’re lucky to have good lungs. You shouldn’t abuse them.” He looked at her closely. “There’s nothing wrong with you. Why are you here? As far as the case goes, I’m sure Chief Harper told you everything I know. There’s no reason for you to be here unless you’re working on some angle to trip me up on the stand.”

“That wasn’t my intention.”

“Oh, no? Becky Baldwin’s got a client, doesn’t she? The nephew. I don’t know what you’re trying to prove, but cut me a break, I’m not in the mood.”

“Yeah, I know,” Cora said.

“I beg your pardon?”

“I understand you’re going through some hard times. Been there, done that. I know it’s hell. I’ve been there four of five times, so I know how you feel. The first one’s always the hardest. This is your first one, isn’t it? I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be personal, but you’re not yourself lately, and I had to know why.

“First time I didn’t handle it well. Drank too much. Chased after men. Your basic, self-destructive behavior. Anyway, you start feeling self-destructive, give me a call; I’ll try to talk you down.”

“I don’t need your help.”

“Of course not.” Cora buttoned up her blouse. “I’m just saying, if you do, you know who to call.”

Chapter

23

Cora got in
her car and drove home. She went in the front door, was surprised to hear sounds coming from the living room. Her hand ventured into her drawstring purse, gripped the butt of her gun. She crept to the door of the living room, peered in.

Sherry was playing with Jennifer on the living room floor.

Sherry looked up, smiled. “Hi, Auntie Cora.”

“I thought you were a burglar.” Cora set her purse on the coffee table, flopped down on the couch.

“Say hi to Jennifer.”

“I’ll say hi to Jennifer. I don’t need any prompting. Hi, Jennifer. You having fun on the carpet?”

“It’s a little dirty. You might want to run the vacuum cleaner.”

“I certainly would have if I’d known you were going to be hanging out on the floor. What are you doing at this end of the house?”

“Jennifer has to get used to it. I don’t want my daughter growing up thinking this is the secret, forbidden place where wicked Aunt Cora lives.”

“Great,” Cora said. “You want to post a daily schedule so I’ll know which room to clean?”

“It won’t do much good when she’s a toddler. She’ll be everywhere.”

“How soon can I look forward to that?”

“Don’t be a killjoy. I thought you were impatient for her to walk.”

“I was impatient for her to walk out there. In the grass. Which doesn’t have to be vacuumed.”

“No, but the leaves could use a raking.”

“That sounds like a job for Daddy. If I were you, I’d ask him.”

“He’s at the paper. Writing about the murders. He’s trying to find an angle that doesn’t make you and Chief Harper look like total incompetents.”

“He can write about the chief all he wants. It’s got nothing to do with me.”

“Except for the puzzles.”

“The puzzles don’t mean anything. They’re just a red herring to keep the chief from finding the real killer.”

“The real killer. You know who you sound like?”

“Rita Hayworth.” Cora picked up her purse, pulled out a pack of cigarettes.

Sherry waggled her finger. “Uh-uh. You can’t smoke around the baby.”

Cora’s eyes widened. “Oh. My. God. So
that’s
your evil plan. That’s why you’re so keen on bringing the baby into this part of the house. So I won’t be able to smoke.”

“Well, you wouldn’t want to set a bad example.”

“I don’t believe it. You had this kid to get me to stop smoking?”

“No. It’s just one of the fringe benefits.”

Cora shoved her cigarettes back in her purse.

On the coffee table were the folded pieces of paper Cora had dug out with her cigarettes.

Sherry picked them up. “What’s this?”

“The sudoku. And the crossword. Chief Harper made a copy for me. I told him I’d already seen it, but he gave it to me anyway.”

“Did you look it over?”

“I don’t have to. It’s the one you solved last night. Off the Internet. We know it doesn’t mean anything.”

Sherry unfolded the crossword, studied the puzzle. “This isn’t the puzzle I solved last night.”

“What?”

“It’s a different puzzle.”

“Hey, let me see that.”

“You watch Jennifer. I’ll check it out.”

Sherry hopped up, ran out of the room.

“Hey!” Cora said. “What, taking care of a baby is supposed to make me nervous? Like there’s something so tough about it. Well, Jennifer, you and Auntie Cora are going to get along just fine.”

Jennifer burst into tears.

“Oh, for goodness’ sake.”

Cora hopped down off the couch, waggled a toy cat in Jennifer’s direction. “Look at the kitty. Isn’t she nice? Nice kitty, nice kitty.”

Jennifer was having none of it.

“Not a cat lover, huh?”

There came a scrabbling at the side door.

“Oh, come on,” Cora said. “How did Buddy get locked in the end?”

Cora knew immediately how the toy poodle had gotten locked in the end. Sherry had put him out there so the baby could play on the floor. On hearing Cora’s singsong baby voice, he’d gone nuts, and was desperate to get in.

Cora picked up Jennifer, threw her over one shoulder, struggled to her feet. She stumbled through the foyer to the breezeway that led to the addition, and managed to open the door before the little poodle tore it down.

Buddy came through like a rocket, circled the living room, slammed to a stop in front of Cora, and sat, expecting a treat.

Jennifer giggled.

“That’s better. Wanna give the puppy a treat? Let’s give the puppy a treat. Except we don’t have any treats, they’re in the kitchen, here we go to the kitchen, umpty dumpty bumpty dumpty da di into the kitchen.”

Jennifer began bawling again at being taken away from the dog. The fact that Buddy came along failed to mollify her.

Cora went into the kitchen, grabbed a handful of biscuits out of the box. Tried to figure out how to hand Buddy just one without dropping the baby. It would have been easy with three hands.

“Jennifer. Want to give the puppy a biscuit?”

Jennifer took the biscuit and put it in her mouth.

“No!” Cora yelled, pulling the baby’s hand away.

The biscuit, however, remained in the mouth.

Cora threw the biscuits on the table, stuck her finger in Jennifer’s mouth.

“What in the
world
are you doing?” Sherry demanded, from the doorway.

“She’s got a biscuit in her mouth.”

“You gave her a
dog
biscuit?”

“Not to eat.”

Sherry took the baby, reached a little finger in, flicked the biscuit out. “What in the world were you thinking?”

“Hey, I was trying to deal with a baby and a dog. It’s not easy. You couldn’t do it. You locked the dog out.”

“If you want to be a babysitter, you’re going to need more practice.”

“Who said I wanted to be a babysitter?”

“Every aunt wants to be a babysitter. It’s what aunts are for.”

“Good to know.”

Cora followed Sherry back into the living room.

“The problem with the dog is, when she’s on the floor he’s on her level. Buddy’s a nice dog, but he doesn’t know any better not to jump on her and knock her down.” Sherry sat on the couch, held Jennifer on her lap. “So if he’s going to be in here, the baby’s gotta be on the couch. Unless you’re letting him up on the couch now.”

“Of course not,” Cora said. She remained standing, hoped Buddy wouldn’t jump up. He’d taken to lying next to her.

“I found Harvey’s puzzle.” Sherry held out a sheet of paper. “Here. I printed you a copy.”

Across

  1  Cake with a kick

  5  Coffeehouse reading

  9  Sacked out

14  Ltrs. near “0”

15  Up to it

16 “What hath God wrought?” sender

17 “North by __”

19  Spectrum producer

20  Some auto-sticker listings

21  Org. with a noted journal

23  Uniform features: Abbr.

24  Stock unit

26  Sleep like __

28  You can’t take it with you

31  Church figure

35  Performed superbly

36  Explorer Tasman

37 “Puppy Love” singer

38  Pit yield

39  “__ and Old Lace”

42  Eight pts.

43  __ out (barely made)

45  “The auld sod”

46  45  degrees, say

48  A bit

50  Brunch fare

51  He directed Marlon

52  Country’s K.T.

54  June, to the Beaver

56  Lockout org. of 2011

58  Nicaraguan rebels

62  Hitting

64  Movie star, and clue to four answers in this puzzle

66  Jobs in computers

67  Ashtabula’s waters

68  Ratio words

69  More steamed

70  Dirty Harry’s law org.

71  Shot from the apron, perhaps

Down

  1  Singer-turned-congressman Sonny

  2  Each, slangily

  3  A Bobbsey twin

  4  Apt anagram for “Sinatra”

  5 “Dances With Wolves” tribe

  6  Needing a seatbelt extender, say

  7  Raised rails

  8  Intro to physics?

  9  Classic Chevy

10  Scand. land

11 “__ Baby”

12  Flying “A” competitor of old

13  Many govs.

18  Chinese restaurant freebie

22  Bruno __ (designer shoe brand)

25  Clemente in Cooperstown

27  __ first-name basis

28  __ Park, Colo.

29  Parade hat

30 “An Affair __”

32  Coty or Clair

33  Pursue a puck

34  Whoppers

36  Home to many Georgians

40  Drying-out place

41  Compassionate

44  One of the orig. 13

47  Suffix with helio- or ethno-

49  Time for plowing, maybe

50  Was too sweet

53  Rx, for short

54  Physics measurement

55  “Beetle Bailey” pooch

57  Part of a dead man’s hand

59  Diaper problem

60  Prefix with trust

61  Boarding place

63  Forum greeting

65  Comics bark

“What are you talking about?”

“That’s the one Harvey solved. The one in the newspaper. The one that appeared in the Hartford paper on September seventeenth.”

“I thought you already found it.”

Sherry shook her head. “No. That’s where I made a mistake. It’s a syndicated column. But it’s an evening paper. It doesn’t print the puzzle that comes out on the morning of the seventeenth. It prints the puzzle that comes out on the morning of the eighteenth. Of course most people
get
the paper on the morning of the eighteenth, but it’s still dated the seventeenth.”

“You’re saying the puzzle you found online isn’t the puzzle Harvey solved?”

“No. This is the puzzle Harvey solved. And it’s kind of interesting. Here, take a look.”

Cora looked up from the puzzle. “It’s not solved.”

“Oh. Sorry. Here’s the solution.”

Sherry passed it over.

“Let’s see. What are the theme entries. ‘BRINGING UP.’ ‘TO REMEMBER.’ ‘NORTHWEST.’ ‘CARYGRANT.’ Oh! They’re Cary Grant movies.
Bringing up Baby
.
An Affair to Remember
.
North by Northwest
. Right?”

“Right. And the one that matters—”

“Don’t tell me. I can do it.
Bringing up Baby
. That’s you. Though you’ll be happy to know I don’t really suspect you.
An Affair to Remember
. That’s Becky Baldwin and Alan Guilford.”