"How do you know it's evidence?"

"Don't get cute with me. It's evidence, and you know it."

"Yeah, but you don't like that. Trust me, you'll be much happier if you take the position that it isn't evidence."

"Cora, this is not a game. This is a murder case, and we have to cooperate with the police."

"And we will. But we have to be careful how we do it."

"Why?"

"You haven't thought this through. If we call the cops, what's gonna happen?"

"They're gonna come here, they're gonna take the evidence, end of story."

"No, it's not the end of the story. Then they're gonna grill Bambi and arrest Melvin. On the grounds they had the murder weapon."

"But they didn't."

"Yes, they did. Look at it from the police's point of view. Bambi comes and gets us, feeds us a load of c.r.a.p, practically forces us to search the motel unit. Why? Because she realized Melvin had it, got cold feet, and wanted a way out."

"That's really stupid."

"Well, Bambi isn't very smart."

"Come on, Cora, you can't have it both ways. She can't be clever enough to plan this, and too stupid to plan it well. That's the type of thing you always say, only it's Melvin, so you can't think straight."

"I'm thinking straight, d.a.m.n it. I'm thinking just fine. If you call Chief Harper, you know what he's gonna do? He's gonna arrest Melvin. With all the pressure on him to come up with something, he can't help it. It doesn't matter if he can make it stick. The fact is, he'll have to haul him in with the media attention and the whole bit. What will happen then?"

"You'll throw a party and laugh yourself sick."

Cora shook her head pityingly. "You're the one who isn't thinking. He'll find himself accused of murder. He'll hire an attorney."

"He has an attorney."

"He has a divorce lawyer. You think little Mr. Shysterpants ever handled a murder case? He'll need a criminal attorney. He'll hire Becky Baldwin."

"He can't do that."

"Why not?"

"She'll turn him down."

"Yeah, right. Becky's really in a position to turn down a six-figure retainer."

"Six-figure?"

"Melvin's got it. Melvin's always got money. Anyway, he'll tie up Becky Baldwin so she can't represent me in the alimony suit."

"But you hired her first."

"Right. I'm sure that will be a point in my favor when I stand up to Melvin and say, 'No, you can't have her, I had her first,' while Becky is saying, 'Yes, he can.' "

"You're not going to turn over the gun?"

"Of course I'm going to turn over the gun. I'm just not going to turn it over like this."

"So, what are you going to do?"

"The same thing you're going to do. I'm going to go back to the house, look Bambi straight in the eye, and tell her we searched the motel room and couldn't find a thing."

CHAPTER.

32.

Bambi was incredulous. "Nothing?"

"Absolutely nothing. A hundred and six must mean something else."

Bambi scrunched up her nose. "I don't understand."

"There's nothing to understand. There was nothing there."

Aaron had been feeding Bambi coffee and she seemed to have sobered up. "That's stupid. With so much coincidence, it must be true."

"What coincidence?" Cora said.

"Well, the letter. Coming under our door. In one oh five. And telling us to look in one oh six."

"It doesn't really tell us to look in one oh six."

"It adds up to one oh six."

"That was your idea. It's just a theory. There are other theories."

"Like what?"

"One oh six could be a post office box number."

"That's silly."

"The idea the numbers add up at all is far-fetched."

"But the crossword said-"

"Yes, it did. Let me take another look at the puzzle."

Cora scanned the crossword, looking for something she could point to.

The word main jumped out at her.

"Look at that," Cora said.

"What?"

"33 Across. Main. We have a Main Street in town."

"Every town has a Main Street."

"Every town doesn't have a murder and a crossword puzzle and a KenKen."

Cora slapped the puzzle on the coffee table, headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Bambi said.

"To check out this lead."

"What lead? There's no lead. What are you talking about, 'this lead'?"

"Sherry, come with me. Aaron, keep feeding her coffee. You're doing a great job."

Sherry ran after Cora, hopped into the car as Cora took off down the drive. "Where are you going?"

"I'm following this new lead. One oh six Main Street. It seems very promising. I want to check it out."

"Slow down. What's the hurry?"

"I want to get there before Bambi overpowers your hubby and catches up with us."

"That's not going to happen."

"You don't know for sure. Women have an amazing amount of strength where Melvin is involved. They can bench-press five times their own body weight."

"Cora."

"What's the street number of the police station?"

"I never noticed."

"Me either. It would be embarra.s.sing if it was one oh six. But I don't think it has a number. I think it just says 'Police Station.' I mean, it's not that it doesn't have a number, I'm sure it has a number, it's just that it doesn't say the number."

"Watch the road, will you?"

"I'm driving just fine. But you're right. It would be a h.e.l.l of a time to get pulled over."

Cora cruised into town. The police station was indeed without a number. But the library across the street was 11.

"There you are," Cora said. "The police station must be ten or twelve or something. And, yes, the drugstore's eighteen. The numbers go up as you go out of town."

Cora drove along Main. A half mile out of town, the houses got farther apart.

"Here we go. Let's see, ninety-six, a hundred, a hundred and two, a hundred and eight."

Cora slammed on the brakes. The car skidded to a stop.

"No hundred and six?" Sherry said.

"Shut up."

"Gee, it was such a good theory."

"It's still a good theory."

"How?"

"It's a two-way street."

"What?"

Cora wrenched the wheel through a U-turn, sped back toward town. Slowed as she neared the library.

"Okay, here we go. Eleven. Seven. Five. And we're at the corner. Look. See? The numbers start up again."

"This is North Street," Sherry said.

"North Main Street."

"It's North Street."

"So what? It's the same street. Did we turn a corner? No. We're going in a straight line."

"I don't recall the word north in the puzzle."

"I don't either."

"So what made you try this way?"

"Because it wasn't that way."

"Cora."

"Sherry, I've got a gun in my purse. Actually, two guns. One I always have. The other is superfluous. I've gotta get rid of it. I'd like to do that without making us accessories to a murder. Which we would be if I threw it in the woods. Which is starting to look more and more tempting."