TWENTY-FOUR

1 P.M.

Stacey fought the urge to take the last pastry once the boss and Bryant had left.

A quick glance at Frost indicated she was considering the same thing.

They both laughed.

‘Split it?’ Stacey offered.

Frost smiled and produced a penknife from her pocket.

‘You know, as a police officer, I should warn you that carrying?—’

‘And as a single woman who spends a great deal of time alone, I’ll take my chances of getting caught.’

Stacey considered reminding her that she just had been caught, in a police station. But, on balance, what exactly was she going to do about it – arrest her?

Stacey gratefully accepted her half of the raisin-and-chocolate pastry and despatched it in two bites.

With the indecision now behind her, it was time to try and nail this clue.

Cubed chieftain slithers around Bonzo.

She repeated the words over and over in her mind while she made notes.

Cubed ice, cream, square, box, chieftain, nobility, count, peerage, Anglo-Saxons, earl, Scandinavians.

Slithers, move in sideways motion, usually silently, from the original untrustworthy individual.

Bonzo, a nickname for Ronald Reagan, Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, Bedtime for Bonzo, dog actor.

Stacey sat back and looked at her notes. Great, she’d got a square chieftain from the Garden of Eden who liked watching Bedtime for Bonzo.

Stacey checked the clock. They’d had this clue for almost two hours, and she couldn’t make head nor tail of it, which scared her.

Everything about this game so far had been precise. Each clue must have been given with enough time to find the next, at least as far as the Jester was concerned.

Stacey could only wonder what would happen if she didn’t work it out in time.