Puzzled to Death (19 page)

Billy Pickens squirmed.

“See here,” Sara Pickens said. “This seems to me like an interrogation.”

“It certainly shouldn’t be,” Chief Harper told her. “But Billy was observed talking to a woman of Mrs. Roth’s description by several witnesses. Including Miss Felton here. So I’m fairly sure of my ground.”

Sara’s eyes narrowed. Then widened. “Billy. Is that the woman who was talking to you while I was getting a piece of cheesecake?”

“I suppose so,” Billy mumbled. “Though what she wanted, I have no clue.”

“What did she say?” Chief Harper asked.

“Just what you said. That she was a neighbor of the woman who got killed. Vale. That’s what she was saying. That she was her neighbor. She was kinda boasting about it, like she was proud of the fact.”

“Interesting,” Chief Harper said. “And why was she telling this to you?”

“I have no idea.” As if inspired, Billy Pickens added, “I got the impression she was telling everyone.”

“What gave you that impression?”

“Her attitude. The fact she was bragging about it.”

“And what else did she say? Aside from the fact that she was Judy Vale’s neighbor? What other information did she claim to have?”

“She didn’t claim anything. She just acted as if she knew something. As if she knew more than she was telling.”

“Like what?”

“I have no idea.”

“No hint that she knew the identity of Judy’s murderer?”

“Good heavens, no,” Billy Pickens said, shocked. “I’d have remembered that!”

“Yes, I’d have thought you would,” the chief agreed. “Was there anything else specific in what she told you?”

“Not at all. In fact, I gathered this was a recitation she’d been trying on several people.” Having hit on that explanation, Billy Pickens clung to it.

“Interesting,” Chief Harper repeated. “So, there was nothing specific involving you?”

“No. Of course not!”

“No suggestion of meeting her later to discuss this further?”

“There was nothing to discuss. Whether she made suggestions to others, I couldn’t say. Obviously, since someone killed her, she struck pay dirt, so to speak. But whether she invited her killer or whether he showed up on his own, I certainly couldn’t say. Perhaps others can be more helpful.”

“Perhaps they can,” Chief Harper agreed. “Did you notice her talking to anyone else at the town hall?”

“No, I didn’t. I barely noticed her at all. If you hadn’t reminded me, I wouldn’t have remembered.”

“And I can vouch for that,” Sara Pickens interjected. “Because I just went to get some coffee and cheesecake. Which didn’t take long. On my way back I saw Billy talking to this old woman. By the time I got to him, she was gone. It was a very brief conversation. And I didn’t notice her after that either, if that’s your next question.”

“Actually, I was going to ask if you and your husband came home together after Fun Night.”

“Of course we did,” Billy Pickens said. “What kind of question is that?”

“And you were both home for the rest of the evening?”

Billy started to answer, then he hesitated.

“Yes? What is it?”

“Nothing, really,” Sara Pickens interposed. “Except Billy drove the baby-sitter home.”

“I see.” Chief Harper nodded, as if this were the most natural thing in the world and he would have expected Billy to do no less. “And I assume he came right back?”

“Of course,” Sara Pickens said, a little too hastily. She shot her husband a glance. “Now, if there’s nothing else, we’ve got work to do—”

“Nothing else for the moment,” Chief Harper answered. “Thank you both for your time.”

Sara Pickens escorted them to her front door. Chief Harper leaned his ear in after it closed, but all he and Cora Felton could hear was the young housewife’s footsteps fading away.

“A
LL RIGHT, WHAT THE HECK’S GOING ON?
”

Chief Harper swung the car out of the Pickenses’ driveway. “On?”

Cora scowled. “Don’t play coy with me, Chief. You didn’t need me to grill Billy Pickens. You even tried to send me out of the room with his wife. I don’t believe that’s what you brought me along for. So why is it that you’re so eager for my expertise that you yanked me out of the tournament—not that I wasn’t happy to go—but why did you do it? Come on, what’s up?”

“Now you’re talking,” Chief Harper said. “You were a little slow when I picked you up, but now you’re right on the ball.”

“Oh, is that so? Well, would you like to fill me in, because I’m really tired of playing games.”

Chief Harper pulled the cruiser up on the shoulder of the country road, put the car in park. He reached in his pocket, pulled out a folded piece of paper, passed it over.

Cora unfolded it with mounting misgivings.

Sucked in her breath.

It was—

A crossword puzzle.

Her worst dread.

And yet …

The sudden rush of icy fear was replaced by a sudden surge of relief.

The heading read:
CURIOUS CANINES by Craig Carmichael
.

This was not some cryptic clue left by the killer. It was one of the games from Fun Night. The puzzle didn’t have a thing to do with murder.

Better still, it had been filled in. So even if Chief Harper got the crazy idea it
might
mean something, Cora wouldn’t have to solve it. As far as crossword puzzles went, it was the best of all possible worlds.

Cora looked it over with assurance.

“So,” Cora said, looking at the chief. “It’s a puzzle from Fun Night. What about it?”

“It was found on the body.”

“Oh?”

“Under the body, actually. Mrs. Roth was lying on top of it, just a corner peeking out.”

“It wasn’t there when I saw her body.”

“No, it wasn’t. I’d removed it.”

“And immediately bagged it for evidence?”

“Yes, that would have been better, wouldn’t it?” the chief replied mildly. “But I didn’t want anyone to see what it was.”

“Why, Chief? It’s just a stupid crossword puzzle from Fun Night. We know Mrs. Roth went to Fun Night. That fact was established by several witnesses, including me. We don’t need a crossword puzzle to place her there.”

“No, but we have to stop and figure. How does the puzzle wind up on her body?”

“Are you kidding? Half of the town got a puzzle. Volunteers were handing them to everybody there. They even gave one to me.”

“What did you do with yours?”

“Threw it away. What did I want with a puzzle?”

“Yeah, well, she took hers home. Assuming it’s hers.”

“Oh, come on, Chief. You think the killer deliberately left the puzzle on the body?”

“It’s a theory.”

“It’s a
bad
theory. It makes no sense.”

“Why?”

Cora exhaled in exasperation. “All right, this puzzle is folded. Did you fold it?”

“Yes and no.”

“Could you be any more irritating?”

“Sorry. The puzzle was lying under the body. It was not folded, but it
had been
folded. Those crease marks were not made by me. I merely refolded it.”

“Exactly,” Cora said. “And do you know what that means?”

“I’d be happy to have you tell me.”

“The woman was at Fun Night. Someone handed her a puzzle. She didn’t know what to do with it. She wasn’t near a garbage can, she wasn’t going to just throw it on the floor. She folded it, stuck it in her pocket. Or her purse. Or whatever. And wound up taking it home.”

“So who solved it?”

“She did.”

“Oh, really? Did the woman ever express any interest in crossword puzzles? Had she done one before?”

“Probably not. She probably never even tried. But this is different. She comes home, she’s been given a puzzle, she finds it in her pocket or her purse, she checks it out. It’s called
Curious Canines
. Who knows, maybe she likes dogs. She takes a pencil, starts to fiddle. Lo and behold, it’s not that hard. So she keeps at it, and this is the result.”

CURIOUS CANINES
by Craig Carmichael

“Uh-huh.”

“You don’t buy that?”

“I can buy that. But
why
does she sit there doing the puzzle? Is that her normal routine?”

Cora considered. “No. That time of night she’d always be getting ready for bed. She isn’t because she’s expecting someone. So she’s doing the puzzle to kill time.”

“Exactly,” Chief Harper said. “I’m going to have a handwriting expert check this out to see if she wrote it. Though what they can tell from just capital letters I have no idea. But it’s certainly one explanation.”

“You got another?”

“Sure. The killer left it on the body.”

“Oh, come on.”

“You got a problem with that?”

“I certainly do. The killer left the puzzle. For what purpose? It’s a simple, ordinary puzzle, nothing special about it, everyone in town had one.”

“That may be. But the clue may not be in the puzzle itself, but in the fact it was left.”

Cora took a breath, exhaled. “It seems to me we’re back where we started, Chief. You brought me out here to show me a crossword puzzle. On the one hand it has nothing to do with the crime, on the other it’s already filled in. You can come up with as many theories as you like for how it got there, but most likely it’s just like I say. The woman brought it home, did it herself. She was strangled and fell on the puzzle, and there you are, that’s all there is to it. In which case I don’t see why you need me.”

Chief Harper looked at her for a moment, sighed, reached in his jacket pocket, pulled out another folded piece of paper. Handed it over without a word.

Cora unfolded it.