Death on the Diagonal - By Nero Blanc Page 0,45

the darkened beach, Frank swiveled around in the car seat to see if any other cars had approached.

“Will you settle down?” The voice was a snarl. “You’re going to blow this, you know that? You’re going to blow it for both of us. I’m willing to go out on the limb here, but you have to do your part.”

The response was another near-shout. “Why don’t you call that damn Polycrates and disguise your voice? You’re good at pulling accents. I’ve seen you do it at parties.”

“There’s a brilliant idea. Why don’t you call him yourself?” When there was no answer, Frank added a cold, “Point made, I take it . . . Which brings me back to our PI’s snooping wife. Now, maybe our other attempt failed . . . maybe the fax was screwy, who knows? But we made a mistake. The thing didn’t look genuine enough, maybe; and these things get signed, too. Like books. They’ve got authors’ names—”

“Are you nuts? We sign our names?”

“Not our real ones! What do you take me for? And no Bonnie and Clyde, or Frank and Jesse . . . or stupid Ant and Grasshopper, either. Why clue her in to the fact that there are two of us? But we do need a moniker that piques her interest. We want her to do the damn crossword, don’t we? Isn’t that what we’re doing sitting out here all by our lonesome? So, give me a name, any name.”

Jesse stifled another groan. “Alfred Hitchcock. You want to play guessing games, be my guest.”

“I’m doing this for both of us, remember?” A mini flashlight was flicked on. “And we title our little oeuvre ‘To Catch a Thief.’ ”

“ ‘Thief ’ isn’t altogether accurate, in case you’d forgotten.”

“Just stuff it, will you? Besides, that’s your opinion. The point is to get their attention. Accuracy comes later. Okay, let’s start to do some work here.” A fifteen-square area was marked out on a sheet of graph paper. “All right; give me some movie titles.”

“There’s that Mel Brooks one. That should attract attention.” Jesse’s answer was sarcastic and flat, and Frank responded in kind with a short, mean laugh.

“There you go! Now you’re getting the hang of it.”

“This is the last time I do this, brother dear,” was the icy reply.

“Never say never, Jes.”

“I’m serious, Frankie. I can’t do this any longer. I can’t.”

Across

1. Brown or Thorpe

4. Govt. consumer agcy.

7. Grocery chain

10. Cut grass

13. Boxing great

14. “Give me some ___!”

15. Atomic energy watchdog; abbr.

16. Baseball stat.

17. With 19-Across, film by 10-Down

19. See 17-Across

21. Summer in France

22. Dry, in Roma

23. Beals hit film

27. Pen tips

31. Mr. Disney

32. Drunkard

33. M.A.S.H. role

34. Surface fish

35. Construction sign

37. Idaho range

38. Classic Romero film

41. Dollars and cents

42. Shakespearian bad guy

43. Collar

45. Ensemble

46. Prescription notation; abbr.

47. Mr. Autry

48. Six-sided state

49. Classic McQueen film

52. Moral element

54. ___ guzzler

55. With 58-Across, classic O’Toole film

58. See 55-Across

62. Some savings; abbr.

63. Diplomat; abbr.

64. Cry of surprise

65. New, prefix

66. Neither’s partner

67. Female ruff

68. Pig pen

69. Mr. Beatty

Down

1. Option for 13-Across

2. Not well

3. Ms. Farrow

4. Trust

5. Ate

6. Patagonia’s home; abbr.

7. Bee or ant

8. Meal prayer

9. Current option

10. Director, Brooks

11. Mine find

12. Had been

18. Pep

20. Offer up

22. Willy’s winter weather wear

23. Send on; abbr.

24. Illustrated

25. Its capital is Tiranë

26. From here on

28. Reaffirm one’s vows?

29. Cowboy’s cloth

30. Grads

33. Make over

35. Dagger

36. ___ Angeles

37. two-year-old sheep

39. Bound with osiers

40. “If we don’t ___ together . . .”

41. Bozeman campus; abbr.

44. Turkish title

46. Ms. Cates

47. Deep cut

49. Cooking herb

50. Shore bird

51. Still wet

53. Ski lift

TO CATCH A THIEF

55. Sloe ___ fizz

56. Spanish gold

57. Crewman

58. Mine in France

59. Rest stop

60. Que preceder

61. Turf

CHAPTER

19

The persistent beep of her home fax machine startled Belle out of a reverie that was far from pleasant. Ryan Collins’s brutal murder was weighing heavily on her. Added to the slaying was her memory of Todd Collins and his offspring, their backbiting and jockeying for position, their casual cruelty when dealing with one another. And then there was the media circus currently surrounding the dead woman. Stabbed in a guest bedroom at King Wenstarin Farms, she’d been reduced to the unkindest of boldface slurs. It was enough to make anyone weary of reading a newspaper or watching the local evening news.

Belle released a sigh that was more like a heartfelt groan, pushed back from her desk, where she’d been staring blankly at a piece of graph paper, then rose and walked to the fax. What now? she groused. Some frothy crossword submission naming state flowers or trees, or the world’s longest