Free Dead Man's Puzzle by Parnell Hall

sighed.
    Was this what she’d risked Chief Harper’s wrath for?
    Of course not. The numbers weren’t the message. Overmeyer had scrawled his message on the back of an old piece of paper because he didn’t have a clean piece of paper. Probably hadn’t in years. The message was on the other side.
    Cora turned over the paper.
    Groaned.
    It was a crossword puzzle.

     ACROSS

    1 Pre-op wash
    5 “Zorba the Greek” setting
    10 Indian king
    14 Juno, to the Greeks
    15 Crude carrier
    16 Four Corners state
    17 Start of a message
    19 Old TV clown
    20 Kind of point
    21 Nervously excited
    23 Reactionaries of 1917
    26 Beach color
    27 Wheel rotator
    28 Large cask
    29 Is down with
    32 Hum or seethe
    35 Part 2 of message
    38 Blow one’s mind
    40 Big gobbler
    41 Impressive spread
    42 Part 3 of message
    45 Vegas calculation
    46 E. Lansing school
    47 Mensa high marks
    48 Sukiyaki ingredient
    50 Good name for a cook?
    51 “The Hustler” locale
    55 Executed First World War spy
    59 Pushover school course
    60 Snobbish attitude
    61 Part 4 of message
    64 Holiday season, for short
    65 Davy Jones’s locker
    66 Downwind, nautically
    67 Early Cosby series
    68 Wipe again
    69 Cassandra, for example
     
    DOWN

    1 Comic interjection
    2 Moves, in realtor lingo
    3 “Fear of Flying” author Jong
    4 Britney Spears photographers
    5 Miler Sebastian
    6 Ipanema’s city
    7 Graceland’s former resident
    8 Adolescent
    9 Galley goof
    10 Apply, as cream
    11 All-inclusive
    12 Charlie Parker’s music
    13 “Hi, sailor!”
    18 1,059 another way
    22 Tucker who sang “Strong Enough to Bend”
    24 School-zone sign
    25 Tithe amounts
    28 Ketchup ingredient
    29 Like some candy
    30 Part of U.S.N.A.
    31 “The ___ the limit!”
    32 Toto’s creator
    33 “Ball!” callers
    34 Early film actress Pitts
    36 Sock part
    37 Loud hubbubs
    39 Archie Bunker’s wife
    43 0 degrees latitude
    44 “Cock-a-doodle- ___”
    49 Went by plane
    50 In-your-face style
    51 Pierced
    52 “Oh, look ___” (shopper’s remark)
    53 Paris school
    54 West Coast NBA hoopster
    55 60’s–70’s dress
    56 Intentions
    57 Bend in a sink’s pipe
    58 Marathon, for one
    62 Hearing aid
    63 Whatever amount

Chapter 19
    On her way to the police station, Cora bumped into Harvey Beerbaum.
    “Well, what do we do now?” he said.
    “What do you mean?”
    “I solved the puzzle and a man is dead.”
    “I don’t think it’s cause and effect.”
    “Don’t be silly. Mr. Overmeyer was murdered. The puzzle is a valuable clue.”
    “You solved it.”
    “Yes, but I don’t know what it means.”
    “Join the club.”
    “How can you be so calm about this? We’re involved in a murder.”
    “Maybe you are, Harvey. I have an alibi.”
    He looked shocked. “You’re joking. Please tell me you’re joking.”
    “I’m joking.”
    “How can you joke about a thing like that?”
    “Make up your mind, Harvey. You just told me to say I was joking.”
    “Have you talked to Chief Harper?”
    “Yes, have you?”
    “What does he think?”
    “That’s what I want to know.”
    “I asked you first.”
    “He thinks it has something to do with the puzzle.”
    “You’re kidding!”
    “Okay, he doesn’t think it has something to do with the puzzle.”
    “Cora.”
    “I don’t know what you want me to say, Harvey. But you solved the puzzle. Surely you noticed all the references to computers in it.”
    “What?”
    “You didn’t notice? Well, take another look. I have no idea what it means, but if you think of anything, let me know.”
    “There was nothing in the puzzle.”
    “That’s what I would have said, too. But the man is dead.”
    “My goodness.”
    Harvey hurried off, no doubt to look at the puzzle.
    Cora felt bad for deceiving him. And for not trusting him. It was one thing to let him solve a puzzle when it didn’t mean anything. And before she knew it was a murder. It was something else to let him solve a puzzle she’d pilfered from a crime scene under the eyes of the cops. It simply