Free Murder in Wonderland by Leslie Leigh Page B

heirloom or an ashtray or just something sentimental, to keep it from being sold as part of an estate sale or whatever. Anyway, Tori gave June these collectible playing cards to hold. Then after the murder—God, it still sounds weird saying that, doesn't it? After the murder, June gave them to me. To be honest with you, I forgot I had them until just now."
                  "Benjamin, do you think I could have a look-see at those cards?"
                  Ben produced the deck from the top drawer of his kitchen counter.
                  Allie took the deck, unbelieving. "These are them?"
                  "They are."
                  She chuckled. "These?"
                  "Yeah, why?"
                  "You’re sure these are the ones Tori gave her."
                  "Yes, I'm sure. What's wrong with them?"
                  "Nothing, except that they're ordinary Bicycles. I thought maybe they were going to be, like, I don’t know, fancy old Italian cards or something. Not a deck of red Bicycles I could buy down at the supermarket."
                  "Are you sure?"
                  "Are you forgetting Tom was a poker player? There was always a deck within arm's reach wherever one sat in our house. There still is."
                  She stared at the box for a moment.
                  "Mind if I take these out and look at them?"
                  "You can start a game of solitaire if you want. I don’t care."
                  Allie spilled the deck into her hand and began to thumb through.
                  "I'll be over here," Ben said, "You know, in case you need a hand massage or fashion tips. Otherwise, you mind clueing me in on what you're looking for?"
                  "I'm not sure, really."
                  "Alrighty then. I'm going to practice," he said, heading back to the piano.
                  As Ben began to play a slow, brooding tune, Allie passed the cards one by one between hands, then stopped, went backwards, stopped again.
                  She walked over to the piano. "Uh, ok, actually, I know what I was looking for now. Do you know when she gave June this deck?"
                  "When? I don’t know. A couple of weeks ago? Three weeks? Four? I don’t remember."
                  "Was it before or after my invitations to the book club went out?"
                  "Oh it was after. Way after. I remember because she said Tori had been complaining about having to read a silly kid's book and go to your house on a weekend and all that. Sorry, hon."
                  "Do you mind if I hold on to these for a little while?"
                  "Be my guest. I don’t even like solitaire."
                  She left, her mind racing in a new direction. Perhaps, she thought, the Mock Turtle wasn't such a strange creature after all.

6
     
                  "I want to show you something."
                  She and Del sat at Allie's dining room table. The eye was watching them. Allie had a pad and pencil before her. She took out the deck of cards and opened it.
                  "You gonna do a magic trick?"
                  Allie smiled and spread them out face-up on the table. "Look." She pointed to the queen of hearts and then slid it out from the rest of the pack.
                  There, to the immediate left of the queen's picture, someone had written something in tiny block letters, so neat it looked as though a machine had put it there.
    KW-ALICE
    cel
    qa
    ul
    omt
    rte
                               
                  "This is a code," said Allie.
                  "Ok," said Del.
                  "It took me a while to get it, but I