Criminal Continuum: Teen Criminal Investigation Unit - Ch 5

Codes & Ciphers

  

Wednesday seemed to breeze by for the students. The computers were returned in the morning and most students were able to use them by second period. Robert, Rebecca and their friends enjoyed a sun-filled lunch out on the school lawn and talked about all of the exciting things that had happened in such a short time; the computer thefts, meeting a police cadet, helping to find a missing girl at the shopping mall, and even having time for homework.

Kelly’s school’s English class went to the public library for a field trip. Field trips were always fun. It felt like you were able to skip a day of school without getting into trouble.

While Kelly and her classmates were browsing through the myriad of books, they noticed that someone had painted some graffiti above one of the shelves. They informed the head librarian, Mrs. Hazel Hamilton, and she came to check things out.

“Oh, this is the third time this month,” exclaimed Mrs. Hamilton, “Did any of you notice anything or see anyone do this?”

“No,” replied Kelly, “We’re just here with our school field trip today to look for some books to check out and take home.”

“I sure wish we could catch whoever is doing this,” Mrs. Hamilton said, “It makes our library look so messy.”

“Do you have any surveillance cameras installed?” inquired Kelly.

“No,” the librarian answered, “but I think I better make a recommendation to install a few around in here. Thank you for that great idea young lady.”

“In the meantime,” Kelly added, “you could check areas of the library at specific times throughout the day and keep a log. Then, you could check that log with the names of individuals who checked out books around the same time. Maybe one of those customers observed something suspicious.”

“Thank you, again, young lady.”

After the librarian left, the students continued searching through the wealth of books at their disposal.

“So many books, so little time,” remarked one of Kelly’s classmates.

“We have to make the time,” responded Kelly.

At the twins’ school everything was back to normal again.

“See you tomorrow,” Rebecca shouted to Caroline, departing school after the final, long-awaited dismissal bell rang.

“Yeah, see you later alligator,” Caroline yelled back from down the hall.

“After while crocodile,” came another voice from the other end of the hall. It was Phil joining in the silly fun.

The twins arrived home first and found their mom happily making dinner in the kitchen. They emptied their backpacks and started to settle in when the front door suddenly flew open.

“Becca, Rob,” Kelly cried out, “Look what I found in a book I just checked out when I went to the library with our class today. I was looking for a book for you, Rob, and I found a Viking book, since you are studying about Scandinavia, and this was inside of it.”

Rob and Becca stared at the old stained piece of paper that had some type of strange writing codes on it.

“What is it?” they asked.

“I think it is some type of code or cipher someone wrote. Somehow it was inserted into this book about Viking ships,” said Kell.

“Which library did you go to?” questioned Becca.

“West Branch Library down at University and San Pablo Avenues,” she replied.

Robert added, “That library branch was built in 1923, four years before our neighbor down the street, old Zekenia Brown, was even born. Maybe we can talk to him later about the code. Maybe it is really old and--”

“Sounds great to me,” interrupted Kelly, “but I have some things to do now. And the library was remodeled in 1974, so maybe it is not too super old, but we sure can try to find out.”

None of the kids had much homework and once they finished it they asked their mother if they could visit Zekenia Brown down the street. She agreed and told them to be back by 6 p.m.

The trio was filled excitement as they passed the many unique and beautiful homes in their neighborhood. Zekenia Brown was born in 1927 and the kids often went to talk to him about things. He was so full of information on so many subjects that the kids remained in awe with his knowledge.

As they arrived at his home, they saw Mr. Brown sitting on his front porch sitting in his rocking chair as he so often did in the afternoon.

“Hi, Mr. Brown,” said Rebecca, “How are you?”

“Just fine, young lady, just fine. What brings you three by today? Another perplexing question I hope.”

As the trio entered the yard and found places to sit on the porch alongside Mr. Brown, they noticed that he had a new birdbath in his garden.

“I see you have a new birdbath, Mr. Brown,” commented Kelly.

“You are very observant, young lady,” he replied, “It was a gift from my granddaughter and great-granddaughter. They are coming by soon to take me out for dinner.”

“Oh, we shouldn’t bother you, then,” said Robert.

“It’s no bother when you three come by, only another pleasurable experience for an aging man like me. They won’t be here for a few more minutes; you know how traffic can be sometimes.”

“We wanted to ask you about a code Kelly found in a Viking book at the library,” Robert said, “We haven’t studied too much about code breaking and thought you may have some ideas on how we can find out what the code says.”

“I can sure try, kids.”

As the trio showed the old piece of paper to Mr. Brown, his eyes light up and he seemed to be genuinely interested in the mysterious paper found in a book about Viking ships.

“A good place to start is to see if certain symbols, numbers, or letters repeat themselves frequently. If, and that is a big if, the code is in the English language you may be able to figure it out if you have the time and patience to work on it for quite a while,” he stated.

“Any other tips, Mr. Brown?” asked Rebecca.

“You can check the publication date of the book you found it in, sometimes that can point to a time when it was created.”

“Ok,” said Kelly.

“Also, you can make a numerical and alphabetical spread sheet that includes these symbols. That will enable you to print it out and keep trying different--” Mr. Brown was interrupted by his great-granddaughter as she ran up onto the porch.

The group was so immersed in the code that they hadn’t noticed the car with Zekenia’s family drive up and park in front of his house.

“Hi, Great grandpa,” said the excited little girl.

“Hi, Belinda,” replied Zekenia. “How are you today?”

“Just fine, thank you,” she said.

“These are my neighbor friends,” Mr. Brown said, introducing the three, “Robert, Rebecca and Kelly Dance. They just live up the street a bit.”

“Hello,” she said as she shyly.

“Hi!”

“Your great-grandpa is helping us to break a secret code,” Robert informed the little girl.

“Wow,” she responded.

When the three stood to leave, Mr. Brown said, “Thanks for stopping by.”

“Thank you,” replied Rebecca.

“Just one thing,” added Mr. Brown.

“What is that, sir,” said Rebecca.

“You may wish to take this code over to George Walkinhawk who owns the rare bookstore up on Telegraph Avenue. He may be able to help with this topic more than I can. I am better at history, seeing that I have been around for a great portion of it.”

“I know him,” replied Kelly. “He is the Native American who is of the Muskogee tribe, often referred to as Creek Indians. They are part of what is known as the Five Civilized Tribes; the Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole and Cherokee.”

“That is correct, young lady,” replied an amazed Mr. Brown.

“I hope I grow up to be as smart as you are when I get big,” said Belinda.

“Keep reading and studying and you can grow up to be as smart as you want,” assured Kelly.

“That’s what I say,” added Zekenia. “Read not speed - study not bloody!”

“I wish more kids would live by that motto,” added Rebecca.

“Yes, I do too, young lady,” responded Mr. Brown.

“Good bye, sir. We will come back to visit again soon.”

“I will be looking forward to that.”

The trio decided they should check in at home before heading over to Mr. Walkinhawk’s rare bookstore.

“I wonder what we are having for dinner tonight?” pondered Robert, his stomach reminding him that it was a long time since he eaten lunch.

“Don’t know,” said Rebecca, “but, I hope it is as good as I am dreaming it will be.”

“Me, too,” added Kelly.

It appeared that the Dance kids were all hungry as they approached their home and eagerly opened the front door hoping to find some sort of snack awaiting them.

“Hi, mom,” the kids called out, “we’re home.”

They heard their mother reply from the kitchen with the news they all were hoping for, “I made some treats for you guys!”

They rush to feast upon the delicacies their gracious mother had prepared for them and asked her if they could go to the rare bookstore on Telegraph Avenue for a while.

“As long as you are back by dinnertime.”

After grabbing some snacks the trio was on their way.

The stores along Telegraph Avenue are quite unique and culturally colorful. Berkeley in itself is a ‘Multicultural Mecca’ of sorts. There are many specialty bookstores in the area; that is especially attractive to the Dance family children. They were often found browsing through the shelves of bookstore after bookstore in their free time. One, in particular, had a special fascination for all three of the inquisitive trio: George Walkinhawk’s Rare and Used Books.

“We’re almost there,” said Kelly.

“It looks busy,” Rebecca commented as she opened the entry door and peered inside.

Looking around they cannot seem to see Mr. Walkinhawk, so they decided to ask one of the store’s workers where he might be.

“Excuse me,” said Robert to a clerk at the counter, “Is Mr. Walkinhawk in today?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, he just stepped out for a moment, but he is coming right back,” replied the clerk. “Feel free to look around while you wait.”

“We will,” answered Robert.

“Is there anything in particular I can help you with?” the clerk inquired.

“No, not right now,” replied Robert, thinking that the less people that know about the secret code, the better.

The musty odor of old books mixed with the fresh smell of new books made this store a very memorable place to its customers. The rows of books stacked neatly on tables in the center of the store and the bookcases along the outer walls and center isles presented a picturesque setting for the seekers of literature with unique and unusual topics. The sales counter area was brightly lit, but other areas throughout the store appeared slightly darkened and dim. Native American pictures and artifacts lined the upper areas of the high walls like paintings in a museum. Customers spent hours browsing and absorbing the special atmosphere, especially during the very hot and very cold months of the year.

The trio looked around for any books that might help them to decipher the code Kelly found. They found a few books on war codes, but they were hoping to find an all-in-one type book if possible.

Robert noticed that Mr. Walkinhawk had returned and informed his siblings. They made their way through the crowded store to the front.

“Hi, Mr. Walkinhawk,” said Robert.

“Call me ‘George’,” he replied, “I am very glad to see the Dance’s here again shopping. Can I help you with anything special?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, you can,” answered Rebecca. We would like to find a book to help us decipher codes. Sort of a general how-to manual, if you know what I mean?”

“I think I have just the book for you. It’s over here.”

As he lead them over to a special section of the store, Kelly and the twins decided to show him the code to make sure that the book would be of a help to them.

“I found this in a book from the library,” said Kelly, “We think it is some sort of code.”

As George Walkinhawk looks over the paper, he turns it around, upside-down, sideways and even looks at it through the backside so everything looks backwards.

“Yes, this certainly is a code,” he said, “and it looks like a straight substitution code. This book should be very helpful for you three.”

“A substitution code?” questioned Rebecca.

“Yes,” replied George, “That is a code where letters, numbers and other things like symbols are substituted for other letters, numbers and symbols.”

“Are they hard to figure out?” asked Kelly.

“Not really, once you have they key, but finding the key can, at times, be the most difficult part of the project.”

The kids seemed completely focused on what Mr. Walkinhawk was telling them.

“If you notice here,” he said as he pointed out sections of the code, “this letter repeats itself fairly frequently, standing alone. Letters like this are usually vowels like ‘A’ or ‘I ‘”

George continued, “And the most common consonant repeated is the letter ‘L’.”

“Like in words ‘usually’ and ‘will’ and ‘shall’ you mean?” 

“Exactly!”

“Ok, thanks,” said Robert, “You have been a lot of help.”

“If you need more help by all means come back again soon,” said George, “It is just a bit busy now as you can see.”

“We understand,” answered Robert, “We have to get home for dinner anyway.”

At the front counter Mr. Walkinhawk said, “The book is on me, kids. Enjoy your venture.”

“Thank you so much,” responded Kelly.

“Yeah, thanks,” added the twins.

“No problem for you guys, come back soon.”

“Don’t worry,” replied Rebecca, “we always do!”

“We better go,” said Robert, “it’s getting late.”

The trio exited the store and discussed some strategies to deal with the code breaking.

“Maybe I can find some code deciphering basics on the Internet tonight after dinner,” suggested Rebecca.

“That sounds like a good plan,” replied Robert.

“We can meet in the basement and go over the code again together,” added Kelly.

It was a beautiful afternoon. The sun was shining, birds were singing and the temperature was just right.

“See those eucalyptus trees over there,” Kelly pointed, “In December of 1972 a long cold spell hit the San Francisco Bay Area and killed thousands of them, so everyone thought. The trees were not really dead and many of the stumps of those that were cut down began to sprout new growth many years later. Our teacher said those are some that were never were cut down, but sprang back years later like the ones in the hills around Tilden Park.”

Once home, Robert said, “We should make copies of the code so each of us can work on decoding it separately when we are unable to work on it together.”

“That’s a great idea,” replied Rebecca.

“We can also put the original in a safe place,” added Kelly.

The opening of the front door brought the welcome aroma of a cooked dinner.

“Yummy!”

Next Chapter

Chapter Six: Dinner Guest & Dinner Guesses