Another Word for Murder (22 page)

“I'm getting the same weird vibes…. Considering everything that Karen's been bombarded with, well, her reactions seem odd to me. For instance, no one has remotely suggested taking Lily away from her …”

“That bothered me, too.”

“Because she was almost bordering on hysteria when it came to that topic, Rosco.”

“I know.”

“And her use of the word ‘murder.'”

“Al
did
classify the death as a homicide, Belle…. ”

“But there was something in the way Karen pounced on the term…. ”

Rosco again nodded in agreement.

Belle thought for a long moment. “I hate to say this, but I'm beginning to wonder just how happy her marriage was.”

Rosco didn't immediately reply, although he took his eyes off the road for a split second to look at his wife. Her face was tense with worry, an expression of both empathy and concern muddying her gray eyes. “What makes you suspect that?”

“Karen said she was ‘just' a wife…. What does that mean? That Dan didn't value her as a life partner? Do you think of me as ‘just' a wife? I hope not…. It's not how I view myself, obviously. And by Karen's own admission, he kept his business dealings from her—”

“I'm not sure how thrilled I'd be to hear nightly accounts of inlays and gum disease if you were a dentist.” Rosco tried to jest, but Belle was in no mood for banter.

“And the word ‘strike' had real resonance with her, too. I didn't like that. I think she completely misinterpreted what I was asking at first.”

“You may be reading too much into that reaction, Belle. Karen's really shaken.”

“Perhaps … but I definitely got the impression that somewhere someone had hit her. Call it intuition, but I believe she has bad associations with that word.”

Rosco nodded. “Okay … so maybe her marriage wasn't peachy, and maybe her history with her family—whoever they are—is also problematic—”

“Or abusive,” Belle interjected.

“Intuition again?” Rosco asked; his tone was pensive.

“I don't know what it is,” was Belle's quiet reply. “But I can tell you that I'm certain that Karen is hiding something.”

“You're not going so far as to suggest that
she
may have plotted to kill her husband, are you?” This time Rosco's voice had a quizzical rather than serious edge.

Belle considered the question, and as she did, she hunched her shoulders in concentration and scrunched down further in the seat. “What do you think, Rosco?”

“I'd say that was a pretty big leap, Belle, and that we don't have any means of connecting the dots…. Karen would have to have arranged Dan's kidnapping—”

“If he was kidnapped,” Belle responded. “Because we only have Karen's word for it, don't we? And she conveniently ‘forgot' to tape the extortion phone calls.”

“Oh boy …” Rosco groaned.

“And she also
insisted
that the police not be included.”

“But Karen
did
report him missing. Plus, she would have had to take Lily along for the ride, if she did.”

Belle nodded. “I'm not insisting that she's one hundred percent guilty of killing Dan, Rosco. I'm just asking, What if? Stranger things have happened.”

“I don't know, Belle…. ”

“What if? That's all I'm saying, Rosco. What if?”

“Okay … but first things first. We need to find one Frank O'Connell.”

“FRANKLY, DEAR …”

Across

  1.  ET craft

  4.  Vitamin jar inits.

  7.  HS course

10.  Woman in uniform; abbr.

13.  Road hazard

14.  Petroleum

15.  Mr. Solo

16.  Cigar tip

17.  “Can we talk?”

20.  Scouting grp.

21.  Ski run

22.  Part of TGIF

23.  Connect the——

24.  Olibanum

28.  TV network

31.  Part-time post; abbr.

32.  Act of boldness

33.  Gold and silver

35.  Donkey

37.  Hoppers

41.  Hanks-DiCaprio film

45.  “Bless you,” preceder

46.  Feather lei

47.  Clinton's Attorney General

48.  Serling and Steiger

51.  ——MacDonald

53.  Stitch

54.  Karloff role

59.  Mild oath

60.  Bread choice

61.  Fells

65.  Mr. Lincoln

66.  Patterson or Rankin title

69.  Hoopsters' org.

70.  Eden dweller

71.  N.J. neighbor

72.  Half CXXII

73.  Flynn flick

74.  Part of MPH

75.  Have debt

76.  Ford model

Down

  1.  Web addresses

  2.  14-Across, e.g.

  3.  Mr. Preminger

  4.  Part of 19-Down

  5.  Expire

  6.  Mr. London

  7.  Zhivago portrayer

  8.  Dog

  9.  Sign

10.  Auto choice?

11.  Helpers; abbr.

12.  See 54-Down

18.  Sun blocking letters

19.  JFK's Attorney General

23.  Miss the turn

25.  Eden dweller

26.  Wall St. inits

27.  Roman author

28.  Cocaine source

29.  Bric-a-——

30.  Son of 25-Down & 70-Across

34.  Jeers

36.  Bro or sis

38.  Crack pilots

39.  Hamlet, e.g.

40.  21-Across need

42.  Fishing prop

43.  Yard part

44.  Bulldogs' home

49.  Deduce

50.  Poet Gary——

52.  “Hey—…”

54.  With 12-Down, “The Creature Walks Among Us” actor

55.  Religious leader

56.  Mr. T group

57.  “——how they run …”

58.  Negative answers

62.  Feeling fine

63.  Kinks', “Who'll Be The——In Line?”

64.  Lose control

66.  With it

67.  Fuss

68.  Not 51-Across

To download a PDF of this puzzle, please visit
openroadmedia.com/nero-blanc-crosswords

CHAPTER 27

Belle and Rosco's desire to search for Frank O'Connell was placed on the back burner, however, because Belle found another crossword the moment as she stepped through their front door. Its title, “Frankly, Dear …” made her stop in her tracks the second she'd slit open the envelope. She stared at the return address and the name—Nicky O. Flanagan—then her eyes raced back to the puzzle and her mouth opened in a startled O.

“Lunch? What do we have?” Rosco asked as he entered the house behind her, oblivious to the paper in her hand. Bouncing around him were Kit and Gabby, who were displaying the kind of ardor normally reserved for humans returning from lengthy sojourns in wild and inaccessible places. The two canines and their human male companion were unaware that Belle was standing motionless in the center of the living room.

“Lunch?” she echoed as she scanned the puzzle clues. It was clear that she herself was clueless as to what her husband had just said.

“You know … the meal we're supposed to eat between breakfast and dinner?”

“Ahh …” Belle frowned, then drew in a quick and apprehensive breath.

“We stayed at Karen's longer than I'd anticipated,” Rosco offered with an indulgent smile. “Let's see what I can rustle up.”

“Rustle?”

“As in food … as in opening the refrigerator and checking to see what we've got on hand—”

“FRANKINCENSE,” Belle muttered in reply.

“Not especially nutritional, I wouldn't think—”

“It's the solution to 24-Across…. ” Belle looked up for a moment, but Rosco could see how distracted her gaze appeared. “
Olibanum
is the clue, which is its other name.”

“Oh,
that
frankincense.” Rosco chuckled, but Belle seemed not to notice his amused tone.

“It was never considered nutritional, but it
was
used as a medication in ancient times … especially in Greece and China. In ancient Rome, it was an antidote to hemlock poisoning.”

“How do you know all these things? I'm surprised there's room for anything else in your brain.” Rosco laughed again as he began moving toward the kitchen, the two dogs at his heels and wiggling in pleasure at the treats they knew were in store.

“I spend too much time reading the encyclopedia,” Belle stated simply. Without waiting for a reply, she walked toward her office while Rosco shook his head in amusement, then he continued into the kitchen where he parceled out dog biscuits for the “girls” and began putting together a vegetable salad. Belle joined him less than five minutes later. The crossword was already spottily filled in with her signature red ink.

“41-Across …
Hanks-DiCaprio film
?”

Rosco thought for a moment as he sprinkled Greek olives and feta on the sliced carrots, red bell pepper, and celery. “CATCH ME IF YOU CAN.”

“That's right … I forgot…. That's the story about a con artist who operated under different guises, isn't it? And the DiCaprio character was always one step ahead of the Feds…. ”

“I guess it would be too much if I were to ask what this is all about, Belle?” Rosco asked with a grin, but his wife's response was a distracted: “And a
Patterson or Rankin title
that starts with an H and ends with a K?”

“You got me.”

She glanced up momentarily. “That doesn't begin with an H.”

Rosco raised an eyebrow, but Belle had already returned her focus to the crossword. H … I… D as in SNYDER at 50-Down … Oh, my gosh!” Her eyes, as she looked at her husband, were huge. “Here! Here's the boy who was killed in the hit and run!” Her red pen jabbed the paper.

Rosco glanced over her shoulder. “But the clue indicates a
Poet Gary
, Belle…. Besides, I'm sure there are lots of other Snyders out there—”

“Name one.”

“Well … let's see … there's Snyder's Pretzels—”

Belle sighed and made a face. “Thank you, Mr. Nutrition.”

“Just give me a minute, I'm sure I'll come up with a bunch of reasonable …”

But Belle was no longer concentrating on Rosco's halting answer. Instead, she was filling in the final letters of the solutions to 66-Across. “HIDE AND SEEK! That's the title of both a James Patterson and Ian Rankin book! And the name FRANK runs throughout the solutions … SNYDER is at 50- Down … Rosco! Frank O'Connell killed that little boy, and someone's blowing the whistle on him. That's got to be it!”

“Whoa … whoa …” Rosco held up his hands. “Let's not jump to conclusions…. ”

But Belle was on a roll; she wasn't about to pause to listen to her husband's words of protest. “And that was what Sara suggested when we had supper at her house last night, wasn't it? Well, not that Frank O'Connell was the guilty party, I mean … but that the crosswords might relate to the crime…. ” Belle fairly quivered in her excitement; in fact, except for the color of their hair and a certain style of walking, she and Gabby had a lot in common. “All this time I'd assumed the nursery rhyme puzzles were connected to Lily … but Lily's fine…. It's the Snyder child who died. Different authorship or not, I'm convinced the same person created every one of these puzzles.”

“Belle, I love you a lot. You know I do. But this is a pretty extreme conclusion you're drawing. I don't see any evidence that supports—”

“This is not extreme. SNYDER is in the puzzle; you've been asked to look into the case; and the answer to 17-Across is LET'S BE FRANK. If that doesn't spell it out, I don't know what does!” Belle waved the crossword in the air.

“As it were.”

“What?” Her blonde hair flew around her excited face. “What do you mean ‘as it were'?”

“You said ‘spell it out.' That's what word games do…. Never mind. It was a bit of a joke.”

“Rosco! This is no time for levity!”

“Uh-huh …” Rosco folded his arms across his chest. “Okay, Miss Cruciverbalist, What about 41-Across … CATCH ME IF YOU CAN?”

“What about it?”

“Well,
if
you're correct about this crossword referring to the hit-and-run case—which, by the way, is a huge if—and
if
the numerous FRANKS in the puzzle refer to Bonnie O'Connell's feckless brother, then it seems to me that the title suggests that he's blowing the whistle on himself; daring us to catch him—”

“So you're thinking Frank may be our mysterious puzzle constructor?” Belle shook her head in disagreement. “I don't know…. A guy who hangs out at the Black Sheep, whose buddy, Carlos Quintero, all but confirmed he was into certain nefarious activities, doesn't create crosswords, Rosco.”

Rosco tilted his head as he regarded his wife. “That's a pretty snobbish assessment. Besides, some criminals can be awfully clever. Not the ones who get caught. But there are some who literally do get away with murder. And let's not forget that you crossword folks love playing with people's heads.”