$10,000 in Small, Unmarked Puzzles; A Puzzle Lady Mystery

8/3/2019 $10,000 in Small, Unmarked Puzzles; A Puzzle Lady Mystery

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This is a work of ction. All of the characters, organizations, and

events portrayed in this novel are either products of the authors

imagination or are used ctitiously.

.

An imprint of St. Martins Press.

10,000 , . Copyright 2012 by Parnell

Hall. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.

For information, address St. Martins Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, NewYork, N.Y. 10010.

www.stmartins.com

ISBN 978-0-312-60247-5

First Edition: January 2012

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Just keep calm, Cora said as she piloted the Toyota around

the curve.Keep calm? Sherry said from the backseat. Youre the one

driving like a maniac.

Dont distract her, Aaron said. He had his arm around Sherry

and was squeezing her hand.

Distract her from what? Sherry said. Skidding off the road?

Hold on, Cora said. Ill get you there.

Cora was driving Sherry to the hospital. Sherry had just goneinto labor, which seemed to panic the expectant great-aunt more

than it did the expectant mother. Cora had fallen all over herself

bustling Sherry into the car. Aaron had been lucky not to be left

behind.

The expectant parents were headed for the new hospital, a two-

story structure of stone and steel built in 1978. The old hospital

had closed in 1984, so there was only a six-year span during whichBakerhaven had two hospitals. Nonetheless, the residents still re-

ferred to the hospital by the mall as the new hospital.

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How are the contractions? Cora asked.

Wonderful, Sherry said. I have a deep, abiding love for all of

you. Do you have any more dumb questions?

Ill think of some. Aaron, did you bring her something to biteon?

Bite on?

Like in the movies when theyre digging out the bullet without

anesthesia.

Im ne, Sherry said. Cora. I need you to focus. The Puzzle

Lady column.

What about it?

You have to turn in the puzzles so people think you write the

damn thing.

Theyre not going to be impressed if I turn them in wrong.

Its not a problem. Im your secretary. I send out the cross-

word puzzles you create. Im on maternity leave, so you have to

send them out yourself. Youre somewhat spooked by the technol-

ogy. You hope you get everything right.

You can say that again.No, I dont mean it. Thats the part youre playing. Its your

excuse for any problem with the puzzles that you cant deal with.

Anything you have to ask me about. Any technical, secretarial prob-

lem having to do with the functions of the computer programs.

Youre the genius who scrawls crossword puzzles on the backs of

napkins. Im the functionary who deciphers your handwriting and

prints the things out.Couldnt have said it better myself. Could I actually hire a

functionary while youre in the hospital?

No.

Why not?

Because I write the puzzles. Because you couldnt construct

one if your life depended on it.

Thats cruel and hurtful. Ill put that down to labor pains.Youre clearly delirious.

Will you watch the road?


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Im watching the road. It hasnt moved since Ive been on it.

You just missed the turn for the hospital.

Huh?

Come on, Cora. Im not the rst person in the world to have ababy.

Yeah, well, youre early, Cora said.

The baby was premature. Sherry going into labor had caught

everyone off guard.

Five weeks, Sherry said. Thats nothing these days.

Easy for you to say. Theyll knock you out with drugs; you

wont feel a thing. They wont even give me a valium.

Cora hung a U-turn, headed back the other way.

The telephone rang.

Is that your phone? Sherry said.

If it is, Im not answering, Aaron said. No, not mine.

Well, its not mine, Cora said. I dont have one.

It continued to ring.

You wanna look in my bag? Sherry said.

You dont have to answer, Aaron told her.Yeah, but I can if I want to, right? I mean, having a baby

doesnt cut you off from the world. Sherry snapped open the

phone. Hello . . . oh, hi, Becky . . . yeah, Coras here. She cant

talk, shes driving . . . yeah, shes driving me to the hospital. . . .

No, nothings wrong, Im just having a baby. . . . Thank you, but I

havent had it yet. Im not sure of the protocol, but I think youre

supposed to wait until theres an actual infant. So, what do youwant with Cora? . . . No, shes driving. You tell me, Ill relay the

message . . . Youre in trouble and you need her help. Sherry looked

up from the cell phone. Beckys in trouble and she needs your

help.

Tell her Im busy, Cora said.

Shell be right there, Sherry said, and hung up.

Coras mouth fell open. Didnt you hear me? I said no.Sherry scrunched on the edge of her seat. Cora Felton. If you

let my having a baby make you give up the things you love, youll


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end up hating me and the baby. A sharp, young attorney at law

wants your help. Youre not going to blow her off just so you can

run around the hospital driving everybody crazy. Aaron and I can

handle the baby thing just ne. You drop us off, and go help BeckyBaldwin. Sherry looked out the window. Assuming you ever get

us to the hospital.

Huh?

You just missed the turn again.


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Becky Baldwin, easilyBakerhavens lawyer most likely to be

mistaken for a Miss America nalist, had a law ofce down a sidestreet over a pizza parlor.

Garlic and eggplant, Cora said, snifng the air. Wanna put a

side bet on it?

Becky pushed the long blond hair out of her eyes. What do

you mean blowing me off like that?

Like what?

One thing you should know about cell phones. If you talkloudly next to a cell phone, the person on the other end can hear.

Tell her Im busy. Now, is that what you tell a person who has an

emergency?

Youre a lawyer. You dont have emergencies. Its not like youre

a doctor with a dying patient. If you dont bail out your client,

tough rocks, he sits in jail. Whats an hour or two? Probably do him

good.My clients not in jail.

Then its not an emergency.

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Yes it is.

Is it a kidnapping?

No.

Is someones life at stake?Not really.

You wanna play twenty questions, or you wanna tell me what

it is? If it was really an emergency, I wouldnt think you had this

much time to waste.

Actually, I do.

Cora stood up. Im going back to the hospital.

No, wait. My clients in trouble. They need you to get them out.

They? You have more than one client?

Not necessarily.

Cora suggested practices for Becky which probably would have

kept her out of law school and might have even gotten her com-

mitted.

Nice talk, Becky said. I said theyto avoid a gender-specic

pronoun. I have a client. The client needs your help. Its serious

and its urgent.What is it?

Becky sighed. Its blackmail.

Cora searched in her oppy drawstring purse, pulled out her cig-

arettes.

You cant smoke in here.

Then lets go out there.

I dont wanna go out there.I dont wanna be here at all.

Fine. Well go out there.

Cora and Becky went out of the ofce and down the steps into

the side alley. The odor of pepperoni was almost overwhelming.

Cora lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, exhaled. Okay, lets talk

turkey. If you dont want me to know if your clients a man or a

woman, youre not going to tell me who your client is. Which seri-ously decreases my interest in the matter. Plus the fact that black-


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mails illegal, so whatever you want me to do is probably illegal.

This is a very unappealing prospect indeed. Start talking. Youve got

two minutes or until I nish this cigarette, whichever comes rst.

I got a blackmail demand. For ten thousand dollars.In small, unmarked bills?

Isnt it always? My client wants to pay it.

What do you want?

I want your help.

In talking your client out of it?

No. In making the payment.

Oh.

Well, I cant let my client do it. And Im not going to do it.

I, on the other hand, am expendable.

Dont be silly. This is right up your alley.

Oh?

Its a mystery. Its intrigue. Youre being hired as a private in-

vestigator to do something new. Youve never been involved in a

blackmail, have you?

For good reason. People involved in blackmail get arrested.They go to jail. If you dont believe me, ask Chief Harper.

Id prefer to leave him out of this.

Ill bet you would. The whole thing sounds shy as hell. Her

eyes narrowed. Tell me this isnt something you and Sherry hatched

up to keep me out of the hospital. Some secret signal she could

text-message you, or what ever the hell it is people do now. When-

ever you got it you were to call Sherry on her cell phone, tell herits an emergency and you had to see me at once.

You know how paranoid you sound?

Hey, when people are out to get you, youre not paranoid.

Youre either conspiring with Sherry to keep me from the birth of

her baby, or trying to involve me in a blackmail. Either way, youre

out to get me.

Im not out to get you. Im on your side. I want you on my side.Making a blackmail payment.


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Unfortunately, thats my side. Are you in or out?

Cora shook her head. Youll have to give me more than that.

Okay, come back inside, Ill show you the note.

Theres a note?Of course theres a note. You cant have a blackmail without a

note.

You didnt mention a note.

I was leading up to it.

Spit it out, will you? First you say theres no time, then you

pussyfoot around like weve got all the time in the world.

Actually, we have until noon. Thats when youre delivering

the money.

Delivering it to who?

I have no idea.

Youre doing it again.

Sorry, but I have no idea. Come back inside, Ill show you the

note.

They went back into Beckys ofce. She opened her desk drawer,

took out a manila envelope. She reached in, pulled out a sheet ofpaper. It was a piece of white posterboard. Pasted onto it were

words cut from newspaper headlines.

10,000 , -

. .

Well, thats a little ambiguous, Cora said. But its gotta

mean closed station, not closed Dumpster. Tell Chief Harper to

stake out the abandoned Chevron station north of town and pickup whoever comes for the money.

Yes, wouldnt that be nice, Becky said. But then my clients

good name would get smeared.

Your clients got something shes willing to pay ten grand for,

her good reputation aint worth squat anyway.

The actions of my client, whoever he or she may be, are not

necessarily motivated by logic. Its a blackmail demand; my clientwants to pay up. Whaddya say?

What blackmail demand? I see a request for money. I dont see


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a blackmail demand. I dont see any threat like: If you dont do

what I say Im going to send your wife that motel registration re-

ceipt. Or Im going to prove you forged hubbys will. Or Im going

to tell the authorities where they can put their hands on the arse-nic you fed Grandma.

Nice shing expedition.

You cant just walk up and ask someone for money. Youve

gotta have a motivation. Otherwise, people would be blackmail-

ing each other all the time. So, can we assume this wasnt the only

letter? Or can we assume there was something else in the letter?

Actually, there was something in the letter, Becky said.

Oh? What was that?

Becky reached in her desk, pulled out a sheet of paper, passed it

over.

It was a sudoku.


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Parnell Hall

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$10,000 in Small, Unmarked Puzzles; A Puzzle Lady Mystery

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