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Finley’s desk. Since the young officer wasn’t there, Chief Harper must have been playing it. At the moment, it was filling the station with the strains of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.”
    Cora Felton was neither a gentleman nor was she jolly. She glared at Chief Harper, who was drumming his fingers on his desk in a rhythm nowhere near the beat of the music. Behind him on the wall, a wreath of holly framed a wanted poster. On the table beside him sat a miniature Christmas tree, not unlike the one that had delivered the first acrostic.
    Just like the one in Cora’s hand.
    Cora stole a look at Sherry Carter, seated next to her, then turned back to the chief. “I think you should get Harvey Beerbaum. He solved the first puzzle.”
    Chief Harper was having none of it. “No,” he declared. “
Now.
You solve it
now.
I’m not playing games here. I’m upset. I don’t care if you’re as
fast
as Harvey, or as
accurate
as Harvey. I want the damn thing solved. So do it
now.
”
    Cora shot Sherry a pleading glance.
    “Come on, Cora,” Sherry said. “I wanna know too.”
    Cora, utterly betrayed, gawked at her. “What?” she protested.
    Sherry smiled. “Cora’s embarrassed,” she informed Chief Harper. “Acrostics are confusing, and she always gets mixed up transferring the letters from the clues to the grid. Come on, Cora. I’ll fill in the letters for you. You just tell me what they are.”
    “Is that all?” Cora said.
    Sherry was fishing a pen out of her purse. “Let me have the puzzle. And something to write on.” She took a file folder off Chief Harper’s desk, leaned the puzzle on it, scribbled a few strokes with the pen. “Let’s see if this pen works.”
    “Oh, I gotta do it in
ink
?” Cora tried to sound like she was joking, not like it really was the last straw.
    “I have infinite confidence in you.” Sherry scrunched her chair next to Cora’s. “Let’s see.”
    Cora, with more chance of winning the state lottery than getting even one answer right, exhaled in helpless frustration. The music, as if to mock her, had moved on to “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”
    Cora mentally shot herself and looked at the puzzle.
    Her eyes widened.
    Sherry, while testing the pen, had managed to fill in one answer.
N: Elizabeth’s suitor in ‘Pride and Prejudice’
was
Darcy.
    Well, better than nothing, Cora thought, even if it was merely postponing the inevitable.
    “Well,” Cora said, “Right off the bat, the answer to
N:
Elizabeth’s suitor in ‘Pride and Prejudice’
has to be
Darcy.
”
    “Good,” Sherry said. “Okay, let me fill that in.”
    After L: Singer John, Sherry promptly wrote Elton.
    Cora grinned as the realization struck her. Sherry had only written one clue, but that was all she needed. By filling in a new clue every time Cora gave her the answer to the old, she could keep one clue ahead of Cora until the whole puzzle was solved. A simple but brilliantly effective strategy, which Sherry had thought up on the spur of the moment. Cora never ceased to be amazed at Sherry’s linguistic dexterity.
    Cora began filling in words. The elevator music segued into “It Came upon a Midnight Clear.” Cora could almost imagine a halo around her head.
    Within minutes the puzzle had been filled in.
    “Uh-oh,” Sherry said.
    “What is it?” Chief Harper asked.
    “You’re not going to like this, Chief.”
    “I hate it already. What’s it say?”
    Sherry read:
    “Did you get my message?
It appears that you did not.
Or is it conceivable
That you simply forgot?
     
    “Well, here’s a brief reminder
To remember what I said.
I hope it doesn’t come too late
And you’re already dead!
     
    “The author is
Me Again.
The title is
Die, Leading
Lady, Die.
”
    “That does it,” Chief Harper said. “Before, we only suspected the threat was aimed at Becky Baldwin. This confirms it.
Die, Leading Lady, Die.
And she is the star of the show.”
    Sherry refrained from comment.
    “Yes, she is,”