“What clock?” He walked away without answering. “Way to jack up the pressure, Mr. Crossword.”
He turned at the door. “That’s not my only game. And pressure is part of every game.”
The door slammed behind him in a way it never did with me. Either the wind was high or he was making a statement.
“He made a lot of statements,” Bixby said, voluntarily using our inside line. “We’d better get cracking.”
“Yeah, but how?”
He was silent for a moment and I could feel him poking around in my brain looking for something. “I suggest moving to another chair so you can watch the door. Then pull out your crossword puzzle.”
“But it’s done.” I still did as the dog asked. “Maybe I got something wrong.”
“He said you have everything you need and maybe more. Let’s go over it again. It was deceptively simple.”
Nodding, I let my pencil trail over the clues. “I’ll never be an ink girl when it comes to things like this.”
“Maybe not, but Liberty is. Full of confidence, at least normally. Is there a possibility you gained some of her puzzle skills in your energy exchange? Norris may have been dropping a hint.”
I leaned back, startled. “I wonder. Sometimes it feels like there are things on my mental shelves I didn’t put there but I don’t even know where to look. How will I know?”
He poked the puzzle with his nose, leaving a damp mark. “Again.”
This time I ran my fingers over the page and words started to dance across my mind-scape, as if it were a huge white board. There were more puzzles, overlapping, and it merged into one great crossword puzzle. “I have everyone’s. Ren’s, Sinda’s, Cassie’s, Blaine’s, Marli’s and even Octavia’s. I guess when they touched me, I picked them up by accident.”
“And completed them all,” Bixby said. “Betrayal isn’t on your puzzle. It’s on Cassie’s.”
I felt uneasy with what was essentially stolen information. “Is this fair, do you think?”
“Fair in our current environment is using the abilities you have for good. Even if you’d taken it deliberately with an intention to solve a threat to public safety, I’d argue that’s the correct action.”
“The solution is in here?” I ran my fingers over the page again.
He reached up and nudged my cheek. “It’s in there. A little higher, but I’m height-challenged.”
My gaze blurred as I pondered the image of the merged puzzles. “Wait! I get it. It’s a word search, now.”
“Inside voice,” Bixby said, looking around. “I rarely have to caution you, but the walls do have ears.”
“I wish I had it in print. How can I—? Uh-oh. I see it.”
“See what?”
“Every puzzle has a name from a former Wyldwood leader. Mine has Tingle, remember? And I accidentally exposed the statue of Orville Tingle. A town sentry. Ruthann said there were others and between us, we have six names that correspond to locations. And Tavi’s puzzle had the word ‘coup.’ Is Oscar’s crew going to siege them all?”
“If so, you’re going to be busy.”
I sat there, overwhelmed with the enormity of the task. “I don’t know where to start, let alone how.”
He thumped his paws in my lap. “Are you sure?”
My eyes cleared and I pushed the chair back so abruptly the dog yapped in annoyance. “Sorry, buddy. I still don’t know how, but I do know where. It was in Norris’s puzzle. He gave me the answer when he let the paper brush my fingers.”
“He gave you the means to find it yourself.” He swept his nose at the car. “We’d better go. Someone’s waiting.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Minerva was sitting on the hood of my car when I stepped out of the café. The big gray cat jumped down and stood beside the passenger door.
“Hey, that’s my seat, lady,” Bixby called down from my arms. “We’re on an urgent mission and Janelle needs me right beside her.”
The cat lifted one paw, claws extended. The message was clear.
“You good with the back seat, Bixby? Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor.”
“This time,” he grumbled. “Let’s not make a habit of it.”
I opened the front door first, and Minerva jumped into the passenger seat. Then I carried Bixby around to my side and put him in the back. “Alright. Ready to roll. I’m heading to Adeline Brynne Park. How does that sound, Minerva?”
She lifted her paw and licked it, as if we had all the time in the world.
“Guess you’re one step closer to the dunce cap Norris mentioned,” Bixby said, trying to get a look through the seats.
“Minerva, work with me, please. Norris suggested this is urgent. Have I got the correct location?”
Lowering her paw, she stared at me with her big green eyes.
“That felt like a yes.” But then she went back to licking her paw. It was hardly a ringing endorsement. “Do I need to figure out the entire plan before we go?” The cat began washing her face. “Okay, I need my spell book.” She offered one eye. I was on the right track. “There’s more. I need more.”
