Anatomy of a Crossword (22 page)

“I represent the common man, Stanley.”

Stan McKenet threw back his wide head and laughed until he wept. “You kill me, Orso. You wouldn't be sitting in this room with me right now if that were the case. The common man can drop dead as far as you're concerned.”

“I'm the common man who just found himself five hundred grand richer than he thought.” Then Gerry Orso's gaze shifted from the producer's still-merry face to the door. “I don't like it that Rolly Hoddal's skulking around up here. What's he up to?”

McKenet stood, stretching upward in his petite and well-shod feet. “You worry too much, Orso. I say, let's be grateful for what we got.” He raised an invisible glass. “To Debra Marcollo's dearly departed boyfriend. What a terrible, terrible tragedy!”

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Across

1. 60s grp.

4. Ms. Fabray, to friends

7. With 24-Across & 39-Down, Spacey flick

10. With 26-Across, Gibson flick

13. Fisherman's aid

14. Globe

15. Charged particle

16.
Where the Boys___

17. With 54-Across, Curtis flick

20. Dealer's nemesis; abbr.

21. Gather up

22. Classic dictionary; abbr.

23. ___
Streets
; De Niro flick

24. See 7-Across

26. See 10-Across

27. Wire measure

28. Aug-Oct link

29. Normal school? abbr.

31. Stage whisper

34. Carmen___

36. “Under My Thumb” group, familiarly

37. CIA predecessor

40.
Ozzie & ___

42. She sheep

43. Reliable

45. 5-Down, e.g.

46. “A___of Honey”

47. Summer at 5-Down

48. Hotel or cloth add-on

51. Bad review

52. Teary

54. See 17-Across

56. “___there, done that”

58. Lt.'s school

59. Tight

60. Mandela's grp.

61. Tracy flick

65. It's a dying company

66. Syr. neighbor

67. Ms. Grant

68. It can be slippery

69. Football scores; abbr.

70. Mr. Knotts

71. TV flick; abbr

72. Aves. & sts.

Down

1. Road blocks

2. Subdue

3. Agitate

4. Japanese drama

5. L'___de Triomphe

6. Lakers org.

7. Mildew remover

8. Worked in the garden

9.
The
___, Reynolds flick

10. Ms. Kahn

11. Space

12. Mr. Jones

18. Hearst grp.

19. Deal memo; abbr.

23. Japanese soup

25. Take a load off

26. The Ghost and Mrs.___

27. Mr. Broderick

30. One-horse carriage

32. Morning wetness

33. Brooklyn or computer add-on

35. Mr. Parseghian

36. Religious group

37. Giant slugger

38. Spanish Mrs.

39. See 7-Across

41. Sore

44. Ollie's partner

48. More idiotic

49. Brought out

50. Honey badgers

52. Reason for revenge

53. “___me no questions, …”

55. Week-glance connection

56. James “Maverick” role

57. Sir Geraint's wife

58. Italian bear

61. Bridge statement

62. It can be slippery

63. New prefix

64. Mr. Ayres

To download a PDF of this puzzle, please visit
openroadmedia.com/nero-blanc-crosswords

CHAPTER 26

The crossword puzzle had been burning a hole in Belle's purse almost since the moment she'd removed it from her in-box. It had been carefully tucked beneath a cast memo that she'd casually picked up after returning from lunch at the studio commissary. Rosco hadn't been with her; instead, he'd been watching rehearsals for another of Sara's scenes; Dan Millray's character had been successfully “murdered,” the five takes subsequently “okayed,” and here was Belle suddenly facing three crucial challenges.

One: No one other than she, Rosco, the director, the key grip, and the producer were aware that live ammunition had mysteriously appeared on the set that morning.

Two: She'd just been targeted with another crossword—this one filled with familiar names and a message that declared an ominous
THE USUAL SUSPECTS.

And, three: As consultant to the film, and friend and adviser to Sara, Lew Groslir had warned Belle to act nonchalant, whether or not she had suspicions of foul play. Nonchalant!

No wonder she became a bundle of nervous energy for the remainder of the workday. Her smile, when she passed Rosco or her elderly friend, felt so pushed and strained that she almost imagined she was undergoing extensive dental work. Dean Ivald, on the other hand, seemed preternaturally cool and focused. As he guided Sara through her afternoon scenes, Belle was struck by his ability to dissemble and pretend; it was as if nothing untoward had ever happened on the set.

When the workday finally ended, Belle fairly bounded into the Mustang, then jounced up and down edgily in the bucket seat while Rosco drove back toward Santa Monica. Sara rested regally behind the couple, describing in minutest detail the events of her hours spent on the
Anatomy
set, as if her companions had spent the day not among her fellow thespians but far away in Oxnard. It wasn't until Rosco handed the car keys to the hotel's valet parking attendant, and the older woman suggested she'd like a “bit of a lie-down before dinner” that Belle took a steadying breath. For the hour or two that Sara was resting in her rooms, Belle would finally be able to share her findings with her husband.

The endeavor wasn't as simple as she'd imagined. Rosco's first thought on reaching the hotel was to jump into the heated outdoor pool. Belle tried to protest that they needed to focus on what she considered a major breakthrough in the Darlessen situation, but then realized the best way to talk to her husband would be to just join him. So she slipped into her own bathing suit and grabbed a hotel-supplied terry cloth robe.

“But the names are all there, Rosco,” she insisted as they left their suite and began heading for the elevators that would carry them downstairs. “LEW, SHAY, DEAN—”

“But the crossword lists DEAN as
Mr. Jones
.”

“Naturally, the names have other references,” Belle answered with some warmth. “That's what makes the puzzle so intriguing and so clever. NAN's clue is
Ms. Fabray, to friends
, though obviously it doesn't mean—”

“Give me twenty minutes, and then we'll discuss it. I need to stretch some muscles if you want my brain to work. Who knew making movies required so much sitting on your duff?”

Belle sighed stagily.

Rosco smiled at her. “You know what your problem is?”

“I know … I know … I'm impatient.”

“Twenty minutes, that's it.”

“Honestly, Rosco, I don't understand how you can concentrate on something as mundane as swimming when—”

“We're not going to discover who killed Chick Darlessen by examining this crossword, Belle, even if it really wasn't Debra Marcollo. Besides, swimming is a form of meditation. Sound body, sound mind. It's very Zen.”

Belle ground her teeth, but didn't otherwise respond.

The elevator carried them to the first floor where they crossed a flower-and-palm—lined patio. A white mist hovered above the azure blue of the long tiled pool, and exterior lights illuminated the trunks and fronds of the palm trees as well as the many terra-cotta pots that were filled with hibiscus and camellias, winter pansies, and feathery pale ornamental grasses, which shivered delicately in the evening breeze. Against this tropical backdrop, the sky was a clear, deep purple. The air felt almost too cold to swim.

“Are you sure you want to take a plunge?” Belle remarked meaningfully. “It's kind of chilly.” The completed and folded crossword was still clenched in her hand.

But Rosco was already in the pool and churning his way down the lane reserved for laps. “Twenty minutes,” was his watery reply, then he added, “You should, too … It'll loosen you up!” But the suggestion was lost in his splashing wake. Belle huddled in her robe, spread the puzzle on her lap, and stared intently at it. Her trusty red pen had not only filled in the solutions, but circled the crossword's many names. “SHAY,” she said aloud. “MISO, LEE, MADELAINE …”

Rosco churned back in her direction. “Not coming in?”

She held the puzzle aloft.

“Might not … be …
Anatomy
cast …” she heard as her husband performed an expert turn against the pool's edge.

Belle's response was a nettled “Just because the clues list MISO as
Japanese soupy
and SHAY as a
One-horse carriage
, I'm supposed to be thrown off track? The puzzle uses the same grid as the one I constructed for the show, for Pete's sake! There's no way this is an accident, or even a practical joke like Dan's supposed-to-be-funny stunt this morning! Especially if you consider the bullets—”

But Rosco had already steamed away.

“Especially if you consider the
real
bullets that almost made an appearance in the
make-believe
murder scene,” Belle continued explaining to the breeze. It was fortunate the couple were the only people enjoying the pool and garden; conversations concerning live ammunition and homicide were known to make the average hotel guest uneasy.

Belle returned to her contemplation of the crossword, frowning as she studied it. Her eyes grew so narrowed and focused they looked as though they were trying to bore holes through the paper in hopes of unlocking the truth hidden there. “LEW … DON … LANCE … And then there are the folks from
Down & Across …
STAN, which obviously refers to Stan McKenet rather than
Ollie's partner
… Gerry ORSO—”

“… thought you said … clue for ORSO was
Italian bear
…” her husband tossed in as he made another turn.

“If you're not going to fully participate in this discussion, Rosco, then you can't lob snide comments. This isn't water polo.”

He waved, or perhaps it was merely his arm pausing midstroke, before heading for the deep end of the pool once again. Belle's frown increased; this time, there was marked irritation in it. “That's not helpful,” she called out. “What other ORSO would there be? And what about the reference to HARRIET? Or MATTHEW? Or to BART? Because that solution simply has to be the game show's Grand-Slam Winner Bartann Welner … I don't care if the clue is
James' Maverick role
—or if the one for HARRIET is
Ozzie and
___.” She wrapped the robe tighter, her bare toes looked blue against the sand-colored patio tiles. For a moment, she considered jumping into the water and warming up with a few quick laps of her own, but her curiosity got the better of her. “But who's MAX? And who on earth is WANDA?”

“… met a MAX yesterday … working for Jillian Mawbry … He's a landscaper.” Rosco offered before commencing another turn.

“What?” Belle jumped up as he began swimming in the opposite direction. She scurried along the pool's stone coping as she called down toward the swimming figure. “Rosco, what did you say?”

“… MAX … Chugorro …” came the puffed response. “Landscaper … owns a company called … Marquis de Sod …”

“Aaarrrgghhh! This is no way to run an investigation,” Belle all but shouted. She marched to the deep end of the pool. “Is it twenty minutes, yet?”

“Not quite,” was Rosco's teasing response as he flipped into another turn.

“I suppose you're going to tell me you know a WANDA, too,” Belle called after him. Then she returned to her lounge chair and stared at her husband as he sliced through the blue water. He seemed impervious to everything except the rhythmic movement of his body and his measured swimmer's breaths. For a moment, she wished her own brain was capable of such total disassociation and peace. Her ability to multitask even affected her thought process, making it impossible to focus on one subject.

“MATTHEW,” she muttered. “HARRIET introduced me to a MATTHEW. He's the key grip of
Down & Across
, but what's she doing in the puzzle? And who on earth are WANDA and ENID?”

As the questions hovered unanswered in the air, Belle became aware of footsteps padding toward her. “ENID?” she heard Rosco repeat.

Belle glanced up. There stood her husband, toweling off as water puddled around his feet sending up miniature puffs of steam when it met the night-cooling ground.

“Are your ‘twenty minutes' finished?”

“I took pity on you.”

Belle cocked her head to one side. “This can wait, Rosco.”

He laughed. “Oh, right, Miss No-time-like-the-present.”

“I'm just not comfortable leaving problems unresolved.”