Page 86 of Untamed Coast

“It was genius.” Bill sounded really full of himself. “I was just thinking Baxter was an old-time radio guy, so he’d know Morse code forward and backward. Then, I started thinking about how all the sentences started with E or T, and I realized E is just a single dot in code, and T is a single dash. Those two letters are the only ones with just one thing. So, maybe the code was somehow Morse-code related, which would make sense.”

Marco sat back onto the padded floor of the engine room walkway. “Okay, that’s an interesting thought.”

Bill continued, “Yeah, so then I started writing out Morse code for the things written in the book, and with one of them, it hit me. I kinda sang the code out to myself Dit Dit Dah Dit…anyway, my timing was bad and…I heard a real word. In code. I mean—okay, he’d just changed the timing really, took the first dash or dot off the first letter and made it separate, then borrowed the first dash or dot off the third letter and stuck it onto the end of the second one. If you write it out in code, the whole message is right there, just plain as day. You just have to move the spaces between letters over by one dit or dah.”

Marco wanted to get back to the oil change. “Bill, you’re confusing me.”

Bill sounded impatient. “Okay, take down these letters: E D M S A G F I B B.”

Marco figured he’d best go along with it. “Hang on, Bill, I’m in the engine room…text them to me. I’m kinda busy right now.”

Bill was making a racket fiddling with his phone on the other end. “Trust me, this is worth it.”

“Okay, hang on.” Marco put Bill on hold. Marco’s phone buzzed with a new text message. He climbed back up to the salon and ripped a slip of paper off his notepad. He wrote down the letters Bill had texted.

E D M S A G F I B B

He took Bill off hold. “Okay, I’m ready. What do I do?”

Bill’s enthusiasm wouldn’t stop. “Write that down in Morse code.”

Marco strained to remember his code. It had been years.

E[ . ] D[ - . . ] M[ - - ] S[ . . . ] A[ . - ] G[ - - . ] F[ . . - . ] I[ . . ] B[ - . . . ] B[ - . . . ]

“Okay, got it. Now what.”

“Now, take the last dash or dot on each letter and move it to the beginning of the next letter, then translate that back into letters.”

“Hmmm. Hang on.” Marco put the phone down again and spent several minutes figuring out the puzzle. Bill was whistling through the phone.

[ . - . ]R [ . - ]A [ - . . ]D [ . . ]I [ - - - ]O […- ]V [ . . ]I [ . - . . ]L [ . - . . ]L [ . ]E

“Oh, wow. Ha! Very interesting.” Marco was impressed.

Bill had obviously been at this for days. “For a radio guy, Joe could probably code and decode this code in his sleep. Anyway, the thing is, you’ve got to go back to Radioville. There is a lot of gold buried there. I mean really a lot. What you found was just a tiny…That guy Baxter was stealing and burying gold there for years, and I think I know where you’ll find it.”

Chapter 67

.-. . .--. .-. .. . ...- .

City Police Station—Sitka, AK

1982—Sam Worlson

Sam took a couple of deep breaths to steady his nerves. He popped in a fresh stick of Wrigley’s Spearmint gum. His tie felt unusually tight. He pulled out his handkerchief to wipe a drip of sweat running down his temple.

He opened the door to the holding cell.

Anya turned toward him as he entered. “In early today, Chief?”

She was wearing her street clothes. “Bringing me another one of your wife’s famous chocolate chip cookies as my last meal?”

Sam left the door open and walked to her. He tried to fake a smile. “I came to cut you loose. Charges are dropped, and you’re free to go.” He didn’t want to look her in the eye. “Thomas spilled the beans on the murder, and unless you’re in cahoots with him, which I find highly unlikely, we’re dropping the charges.”

Anya stood from her chair rubbing her wrist. She began to strip the bedding from the small cot. “Does that mean no free vacation to Juneau? Hey, I’m still here. Were the state police really coming to take me, or was that just a bluff to get me to talk?”

Sam stepped aside, clearing her a path to the door. His tie seemed to be getting tighter. “We’ll take care of the bedding. It’s not a four-star hotel, but we won’t make you clean your own room.” He loosened the tie just a little. “Oh, and I do have another one of those cookies for you.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the cookie he was saving for his lunch.