Searching for Secrets: Author's Preferred Edition by Elaine Orr

Author:Elaine Orr
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781470012496
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2012-02-02T13:00:00+00:00

"I'm beginning to think this is pointless," Kirk said.

Christa nodded. "What do you suppose Albert Einstein would do right about now?"

"Whatever we aren't, he said, laying his pencil on the table and stretching."

Christa picked up the paper and stared at it again. "Whatever we aren't," she said, thoughtfully. "We've assumed letters represent letters and numbers stand for numbers. Maybe it's the reverse."

Kirk moved closer and studied the sheet again. Christa felt her professional resolve eroding. Remember, he's only here because he's concerned about his sister and niece.

"You're saying that maybe each number stands for a letter." Kirk took the paper from her and sat up straighter. "That's a possibility." He quickly wrote the letters A - Z down the left margin of his notepad. Then he placed the number "1" after the letter "A" and continued until he reached "Z" and "26."

Christa watched him for a moment, then began translating. 11 8 4 21 23 15 4 17 became K H D U W O D Q. She stared at the meaningless phrase. Perhaps it was an anagram and she needed to transpose the letters. QUODDHK. Hardly. She looked up and was surprised to find Kirk staring at her intently. How long had he been watching? She felt herself flush.

"Maybe it's not a one-to-one match," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe the number 11 always equals the same letter, but it's not the eleventh letter of the alphabet."

His dubious expression told Christa Kirk didn't have a lot of confidence in his own idea. "Hmmm," she said. "I guess the only thing to do is what we did with the letter substitutions. Let's start with A equaling two, B equaling three."

"All right. You do that. I'll start with A equaling three." Kirk began writing furiously.

Christa finished her first group, which produced only nonsense words. She tried A equaling the number four. "Whoa," she said, softly.

"What? Do you have something?"

"I think so." Christa felt a nervous tingle. The first group of numbers. If A equals four, then the list of numbers that starts with 11 8 4, it spells 'heartland.'"

"Heartland National Bank?" they said together.

Christa moved to the next four numbers. "Yep, it's the abbreviation--NATL. Here--you start at the bottom; I'll keep working from the top."

"But only the numbers to letters, so far, right?" he asked.

Christa didn't look up. "For the moment."

They worked quietly for nearly a minute, then compared notes. "Heartland Natl Bank," Christa said. "Acct. Then we have to figure out what numbers equal those letters. Deposit will be for... Delivery by October whatever, withdraw by November whatever."

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