Page 36 of The Duke's Wicked Widow
Merida tapped the paper. “So we’ll say that’s medium. Hey, did you know medium is also a word for a person who can speak to dead people?”
The change of topics didn’t surprise Ellie too much. It was Merida. “I did, yes, although I do not believe in their powers.”
“If it was a person who was really tiny, he would be a short medium.”
Ellie tweaked her stepdaughter’s nose. “And if he had escaped from jail, he would be a short mediumat large.”
It took a moment for Merida to get the joke, but when she did her head jerked with laughter so swiftly that Ellie had to yank her chin to one side to avoid being hit.
As Merida calmed down, Ellie reached around her to organize the papers, but the girl stopped her. “I love youwas a medium one. So what’s a hard code?”
Ellie slumped back, allowing the little girl to sit upright. “I do not know. Some substitution ciphers translate the original message into numbers, then do math equations with those numbers to create new numbers, then use those numbers to substitute into new letters.”
Gaping at her, Merida shook her head. “But mathsishard.”
“Right.” Ellie blew out a breath. “I was hopeful this one was not so involved, because I am ninety-five percent certain this cipherchanged. I can find some similarities from message to message, but they are not all the same. Which means the sender is using a different key every time.”
“That’s silly. His brother won’t be able to decode it,” Merida snorted.
For a moment, Ellie blinked at the little girl.
Merida bent back over the paper, unaware her simple statement had changed the way Ellie thought of the puzzles.
Because Merida wasright.
If Father was changing ciphers, Uncle William would not have the key to decipher it. Unless the key was something they both knew.
But how would Uncle William knowwhichkey to use on which message? Perhaps he used all of them until he found one that worked?
That seemed silly, as Merida would say, when it came to communicating with someone in hiding overseas. Uncle William—Blackrose—would eventually receive the newspaper, according to the other agent Demon worked with. But it might be months later. How could he be certain that—
“This is boring, I’m done!” announced Merida, abruptly hopping from Ellie’s lap.
Ellie gave a start, then shook her head. “Well then, you are welcome to run upstairs—”
“No,you’rebored too. And your bottom is numb. I know, becausemybottom gets numb when I have to sit at my desk for a long time.”
Ellie blinked, her smile slowly growing. Instinctively, she brought her fingertips to her lips to hide what her father had always called theunsightly blemishof her gapped teeth. But she couldn’t deny the girl was correct.
“Well then, Miss Merida,” she declared, standing with an exaggerated groan, rubbing her rear end in a most unladylike manner. “How shall we spend our afternoon?”
The little girl, practically vibrating with excitement, grabbed Ellie’s hand. “Let’s go for a walk in the park! We can pretend to be spies!”
“I do not think—”
“Stop dallying! Spies don’t dally, they run!” Merida was tugging her toward the foyer. “Please.”
The weather was lovely for December, and Ellie could admit that the prospect of being outside this afternoon had appeal.
It was difficult to hide her smile. “Well, since you saidplease.”
Chapter 6
Fawkes pretendedto stare at the date at the top of the newspaper. December tenth. Only a few weeks until the new year and the weather reflected it. Around him, the trees were bare and this morning’s snow flurries still sat glistening on the piles of leaves around the trunks.
He sat on a bench in the square in front of Cumnock House, pretending to be engrossed with the words of today’sDaily Movement.
Ye should likely turn the page.
