Aaron grabbed it before Sherry could.

"Hey! You didn't do that before we were married."

"Sorry. You go first."

"Okay. Now, you put this together with the crossword."

"Crossword!" Aaron said. "What crossword?"

"Oh," Cora said. "Is your wife holding out on you? That's never a good sign."

"There was a crossword?"

"Don't ask me," Cora said, putting up her hands. "I'm not the crossword person. I'm just the pretty face."

"Sherry?"

Sherry grimaced. "There's a clue, and you can't write it. Would you like to know what it is?"

"I'm your husband."

"Good. Get in husband mode and out of reporter mode and I'll show you the crossword."

"What crossword? What are you talking about?"

"Go get it, Sherry. I'll fill him in."

Cora told Aaron what happened while Sherry retrieved the crossword.

Aaron picked up the puzzle, looked it over. " 'Being a bad boy in court cut his life very short?' That points to you."

"Thanks for your help," Cora said. "I never could have figured that out."

"So, what does it mean?"

"Seeing as how I didn't kill him, I haven't a clue."

"What about the KenKen numbers? Are they any help?"

"Not really. According to the crossword puzzle, the answers to 20 and 47 Across tell you where to look. The answers are 'second line.' If that means the second line of the KenKen, it's 3, 5, 6, 2, 1, 4. Which is not particularly helpful."

"Suppose the numbers aren't numbers," Aaron said.

Sherry frowned. "How could that be?"

"Easy. They stand for letters of the alphabet."

"Pretty short alphabet. You've got only six numbers. A, B, C, D, E, F."

"So?" Aaron said. "Maybe that's all you need. Let's see what we've got. The numbers are 3, 5, 6, 2, 1, 4. That's C-E-F-B-A-D."

"Cefbad?" Sherry said. "That's not particularly illuminating."

" 'Bad' sounds like Melvin," Cora pointed out.

"Yeah. And what's 'cef'?"

"That's a little harder," she admitted. "I suppose they could be the notes of a scale. As long as you don't have a ti."

"What?" Aaron said.

"You've got do, re, me, fa, sol, la. You don't have ti."

"We have coffee," Aaron said.

"Hit him for me, Sherry. Come on, what if they're notes of a scale. Then 3 would be me, 5 would be sol, 6 would be la, 2 would be re, 1 would be do, and 4 would be fa. So we've got me-sol-"

"Isn't that a soup?" Aaron suggested.

"You're not helping," Sherry said.

"And we've got la-re-do."

"The town! It's a soup in a town!"

"Sherry, you married a wise-a.s.s punk and I'm going to kill him."

"What's the last one?"

"Fa." Cora looked at Aaron. "Because it's too fa to go to la-re-do to get your soup."

"Okay," Sherry said. "If it's not the first six letters of the alphabet and it's not musical notes, what have we got?"

"Have we ruled out the 'numbers are numbers' theory?" Aaron said.

"Six numbers. It's too short for a telephone number. Too short for a Social Security number."

"Suppose it's a lottery number?" Cora suggested.

"Oh, that's helpful."

"Hey, if this number wins, don't blame me."

"Could it be a license plate number?" Aaron said.

"They're letters and numbers."

"There you go. Maybe it's a license plate."

"Sure, if the license plate doesn't have any letters beyond F. When you try to represent twenty-six letters with six numbers, it just doesn't work."

"Suppose you got more," Aaron said. "We've got 356214. Say 21 is not BA, it's the twenty-first letter of the alphabet."

"Which is?"

"It's U."

"You think it's me?"

"I think it's the letter U. That's the twenty-first letter of the alphabet."

"Okay," Cora said. "Then, taking them two at a time, what is the thirty-fifth letter of the alphabet?"

"Okay, let's compromise," Aaron said.

"What do you mean?"

"How about something that uses more of the letters of the alphabet."

"All of them?"

"No, but maybe enough. Six isn't good. What if we use three times that."

Cora frowned. "What do you mean?"

Aaron took out his cell phone, flipped it open. "It's a text message. 2 is A, B, C. 3 is D, E, F."

"I see what you mean," Cora said. "So, what have we got here?"

"Well, let's see. 356214. 3 is DEF. 5 is JKL. 6 is MNO."

"What about the 1? It doesn't stand for any letters."

"1 is 1. This could be a combination of numbers and letters. If it's a license plate number, it probably is. A lot of license plate numbers, the first digits are letters, and the last three are numbers."

"Oh, really," Cora said. "Those last three numbers are 214."

"So?"

"Those happen to be the numbers of my license plate."

"Oh, yeah. What's the rest of it?"

"Electric Light Orchestra."

"Huh?"

"ELO."

"Let's see. 3 could be E. 5 could be L. 6 could be O. There you are. ELO214."

Aaron looked up at Cora. "Looks like you did it."

CHAPTER.

26.

Judge Hobbs surveyed the crowded courtroom with distaste. "It is somewhat unusual to have so many spectators at a simple alimony hearing. I understand how the circ.u.mstances of the past forty-eight hours have created interest in this matter. However, those circ.u.mstances have absolutely no bearing in this case, and are not to be raised. If that is why you are here, you are bound to be disappointed. So, when you find out this is not what you hoped to see, I would ask you to please leave quietly and not disturb the proceedings.

"Now then. When we adjourned, the plaintiff was putting on his case."

Becky was on her feet. "Actually, the plaintiff was doing nothing of the sort. The plaintiff isn't even here. The plaintiff's lawyer was putting on his case, but I don't see his client."

"Mr. Fleckstein, do you intend to proceed in the absence of your client?"

"No, I do not, Your Honor. In fact, here he is now."

All heads turned as Melvin made a star's entrance through the back door of the courtroom and strode down the aisle. Every eye was on the charismatic figure. Even Cora was impressed. The man still had it. Smug, arrogant, self-a.s.sured, Melvin was at his scene-stealing best. He pushed open the gate, walked through, and sat down next to his attorney.

"Mr. Crabtree," Judge Hobbs said. "Nice of you to grace us with your presence."

"My pleasure, Your Honor. But if we could move things along, I need to get back to work. I happen to be supporting several ex-wives."

A ripple of amus.e.m.e.nt, largely female, swept through the courtroom.

Judge Hobbs banged the gavel. "Mr. Crabtree. In the future, if you wish to address the court, please do so through your attorney. Mr. Fleckstein, call your next witness."

Before he could, Becky Baldwin rose to her feet. "One moment, Your Honor. I think you may have lost track of the fact that court was adjourned before I had an opportunity to cross-examine Mr. Randolph."

"You were certainly given that opportunity."

"I don't believe I was. He completed his direct examination, you asked me if I had anything to refute it, I asked for an adjournment, and you granted one. I don't recall being offered the opportunity to cross-examine, and I don't recall saying, 'No questions.' Before Mr. Fleckstein calls another witness, I would like the opportunity to cross-examine his last one."

"Oh, Your Honor-"

Judge Hobbs banged the gavel. "That will do, Mr. Fleckstein. I'll handle this. Ms. Baldwin, obviously you cannot cross-examine the last witness, as you well know. But your claim that you were not given an opportunity to do so is tenuous at best. I think a look at the transcript will prove that is not correct."

"I doubt that, Your Honor. I ordered a copy of the transcript and went over it quite carefully. Clearly, I was never asked to cross-examine."

"That might well be, Ms. Baldwin. But the point would seem somewhat moot."

"Not at all, Your Honor. The witness gave direct examination. If I am not allowed to cross-examine, it stands uncontested. Which, of course, it cannot be. I therefore move the witness's entire direct examination be stricken from the record."