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