"You're not. We're talking hypothetically."

"There wasn't a lot of blood. Which would indicate the shot was muffled by something that soaked it up."

"Was there a towel or pillow missing from the unit?"

"No. And there were powder burns around the wound which there wouldn't have been in that case."

"What if he was killed somewhere else and the body moved?"

"With the gun you were playing with in his motel room after the time the medical examiner says he died? The gun you claim hadn't been fired? He was killed somewhere else with that gun?"

"Am I correct in assuming you don't think much of that theory?"

"You see the problem? I wish I could tell you something that helps. But nothing does. All the evidence we turn up indicates you killed the guy."

"Great. I'm so glad we had this little talk. So what do you advise me to do?"

"Keep a low profile."

Chapter 40.

THERE WERE HALF a dozen news crews camped out at the foot of the driveway. Cora kept a low profile as she plowed through them, flooring the Toyota and sending camera, light, and sound technicians diving for safety. She zoomed up the drive, screeched to a stop, and was in the front door before anyone recovered in time to get a shot.

Sherry sprang up from the couch to meet her. "Cora, are you all right?"

"Fine. Where's Aaron?"

"On the computer."

"Oh?"

"Filing his story." At her aunt's look, Sherry said, "Well, he has to cover it, Cora. I told him to go, but he won't leave."

"True devotion."

"He's just afraid Dennis is still around."

"Is he?"

"How the hell should I know? He left with Brenda, so I assume she's got him under control."

"This whole mating ritual used to be easier." Cora flopped down on the couch, took her cigarettes out of her purse.

"You're not going to smoke in here."

Cora shrugged. "I need practice. Cigarettes will be like money in the pen."

Aaron came down the hallway. "So, you're out. Did you make bail, or are you on the lam?"

"That has a nice ring to it. I suppose I could try a combo, and skip bail."

"Pardon me for asking, but what happened?"

"Off the record?"

"Why does it have to be off the record?"

"Well, Aaron, if you want a confession, it's gotta be off the record. Otherwise, you're an accessory, and you can go to jail."

"Confession?"

"She's just kidding you, Aaron."

"The hell I am. I didn't kill Benny Southstreet, but I'm guilty of so many other things, I don't know where to begin."

"Give it a shot."

"Aside from plagiarism, which Sherry did for me, I'm guilty of fraud, false advertising, using the Internet to defraud, conspiracy to commit fraud and false advertising, and all that, in addition to bidding on my own object to drive the price up, which I'm not sure of the name of, but it can't be good. Then there's breaking and entering, two counts, criminal trespass, two counts, burglary, larceny, and/or petty theft, depending on how much Harvey's chairs are worth. When you add in the murder charge, which is the only thing I didn't actually do, it hasn't been a really great day." Cora settled back on the couch and sighed. "You know what I'd like right now?"

"A visit from Harvey Beerbaum?" Sherry said from the window.

"Not even close." Cora's eyes widened. "What, you mean he's here?"

"Coming up the walk." Sherry went and opened the door.

"Come in, Harvey, join the defense team," Cora said. "You wanna be a character witness or an alibi witness? To be an alibi witness you have to fib a little. To be a character witness you have to outright lie."

"It's not funny," Harvey said. "You know what the police did?"

"You mean arrested me, Harvey? Yeah, I noticed."

"They took my chairs. My dining room chairs. How do you like that? First Benny takes my chairs. Then you get them back. Then the police take them."

"Why did they take the chairs?" Aaron asked.

"They said they're going to fingerprint them. It's very unsettling. Suppose they find my fingerprints?"

"So what if they find your fingerprints, Harvey, they're your chairs," Cora told him.

"I know, I know." Harvey slumped down on the end of the sofa. "I'm just upset because I feel bad."

"You feel bad about what?"

"The puzzle they found with the body. The police wanted me to solve it. Ordinarily, they'd ask you. That's what they always do. Not that I mind being second choice. Even so, under the circumstances, knowing they were only coming to me because you were the suspect..." Harvey shook his head.

"You're saying you solved the puzzle for them?"

"I felt bad about it, but if I didn't, someone else would."

"So you solved it. Do you remember what it said?"

"I can do better than that. I made a copy."

"The police let you make a copy?"

"No. I reconstructed it from memory."

"You can do that?" Cora said.

Sherry coughed warningly.

"Of course I can. I'm sure you could too. Not that I can remember every puzzle I ever solved, but when I needed to, it wasn't any trouble." Harvey took a folded piece of paper out of his jacket pocket, passed it over. "There you go."

"Let's see the theme entries." It was all Cora could do to keep from side-spying up at Sherry to see if her niece was giving her points for remembering the term theme entries.

"It's a ditty," Harvey said.

"A ditty?"

"A rhyme, really. Have a look. See?" Harvey said. He recited: "I don't mind if

You thrill me

Just try hard

Not to kill me."

Cora offered a comment that could hardly be construed as constructive criticism.

"Miss Felton!" Harvey said, astonished.

"It couldn't just be a simple nursery rhyme. No, there has to be a sinister element."

"Of course. Otherwise, what would be the point?"

"What's the point at all?" Cora demanded. "I mean, come on. Some moron's littering the crime scene with cryptic crosswords hinting at a homicide? Give me a break!"

"It's not a cryptic," Harvey corrected. "It's a simple fifteen by fifteen."

"I'm going to hurt you, Harvey. You happen to tell the police when I brought you the chairs?"

"Right around four-thirty."

"Four-thirty? Harvey, it was three -thirty."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I've reconstructed my whole day."

"I haven't, of course, but it seemed like four-thirty."

" 'Seemed like' isn't the same as 'is.' "

"Well, I could be mistaken."

"That's the stuff, Harvey. How badly might you be mistaken?"

"I don't know."

"Well, I do. You've got that clock on the wall. You know the one I mean."

"It's a trophy. From a regional tournament."

"Right. The miniature grandfather. With the hands and the pendulum. It works, doesn't it? It tells time?"

"Of course."

"When you thought it was four-thirty, maybe the big hand was on the six. That's where you got that impression. But the little hand, which is pretty little, who's to say whether it was between the three and the four or the four and the five. You see what I mean?"

"You think I made a mistake?"

ACROSS.

* 1 Grounds for a suit * 5 "__ Frutti" (Little Richard song) * 10 Erie Canal mule * 13 African lilies * 15 Reaction to, "Pick a cod, any * cod"

* 16 "___ pasa?"