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“About halfway. I need some fresh air though, and a coffee or ten.” We head to the service station. I grab us two large coffees whilst Callie goes to the loo. There are plenty of tables free, so I pick one furthest away from anyone else. The caffeine feels amazing. It’s the boost I needed. Fatigue is rolling through my body, but I won’t sleep until I crack the code.
“Here.” I push Callie’s coffee toward her as she sits. She looks just as tired as me.
“Thanks. What’s that?” Callie points to the coded pages. I explain what they are and tell her my thoughts on their importance.
“I bet they’re her accounts.” Callie says it so casually, like of course that’s what the letters are hiding and I smile because I think she’s right. If we can give the authorities access to her illegal accounts, she would be done for. A list of names is one thing, but alongside accounts of illegal money is quite another.
I breathe deeply. It’s so important I break this code. Pressure builds in my chest. It’s on me. I need to be able to do this for Callie. For a split second, I waver. Old insecurities are hard to let go of sometimes. Dad told me I would never amount to anything and that I’d be of no use. I can’t let that be true, not when it means so much, not when it means I could help bring Callie home.
Callie scans the pages. Her brows are scrunched together in concentration, and she is beautiful. I don’t give a shit if she looks tired. She’s radiant. “Don’t think too much. I doubt the key is complex,” she signs. I take the pages back from her and think. Callie is probably right. Betty has put some effort in to conceal her accounts but that doesn’t mean she did a good job. Maybe I’ve been overthinking it. What if she simply replaced letters with numbers? So A=1, B=2, etc. That would work up to number nine but then what. I can’t see how it would work with double digits. Maybe she just repeated the pattern. If I=9 then J would start over at 1.
Before I set about testing my theory, something jumps out from the page. The letter Z. There is a definite pattern. There are eight letters, then a Z, another two letters and another Z, two letters and a Z. That’s when I spot the second pattern. After the last Z, there is an X. The pattern, starts all over again. I’m convinced more than ever that the letters are account numbers. If I’m right, the Z represents a dash. That means that the first eight letters are probably the account numbers, then the next six are sort codes. Sort codes are broken up by dashes. The X represents a stop.
I take my pad and jot down the first eight letters on the page.JUBTEFTHZHHZYHZSDX. Then I factor in my theory:JUBTEFTH-HH-YH-SD. SoJ-His the account number and then the rest is a sort code. It’s a start. I can at least break up all the letters on the page. If I had my laptop, I would have run all the info through software that would have cracked the code in a few seconds. Alas, that’s not the case, so I’m going to have to do this old school.
“We need to get going. Can you carry on doing that in the car?” Shit, I almost forgot Callie was sitting there. It’s a terrible habit I have once I’m into something. The world kind of disappears on me. She doesn’t look pissed though, in fact she’s looking at me with an affectionate smile. I bet she thinks I’m a dork!
“Let’s go.” I offer to drive again and to my surprise Callie agrees. The code can wait a few more hours. Hopefully, Callie will get some rest.
Two and a half hours later and we arrive in Skye. Callie has been passed out the entire time. I wish I didn’t have to wake her, but she is the one that planned the boat journey and I have no clue where we need to be. Waking Callie is harder than I thought. She is completely out of it. I have to stifle a giggle when she cracks open her eyes and pulls a face, letting me know she’s not impressed that I’ve disturbed her.
“Hey, just tell me where we need to go and I’ll drive. You can go back to sleep.”
“No, it’s fine, I’m awake. Let’s swap.” We jump out of the car and trade places. I’m instantly cold. Jeez, how I wish we were back in Spain.
We drive for another half an hour. The landscape is getting more and more wild. There are no villages to speak of. My nerves are on edge. Finally, we pull over to a farmhouse next to a loch. There have been no signs for miles so I’m completely lost.
“A guy I met years ago has agreed to take us to the island on his fishing boat.” Callie is already getting out of the car. I scramble out after her. I knew the boat she chartered wasn’t going to be fancy, but a fishing boat. I am definitely going to vomit. The rolling sea plus the smell of fish! I can already feel my stomach churning.
The door to the farmhouse opens and a young man steps out. Not what I was expecting. Honestly, I was picturing an old man with a long beard and an eye patch. I may have watched too many films. The young man steps close to Callie and shakes her hand. He smiles at me and ushers us inside. The interior isn’t what I imagined either. Whoever this guy is has fabulous interior design skills.
“Daisy, this is Ewan.”
“Nice to meet you, Ewan.” He nods back at me.
“We’re going to stay the night here and then head out in the morning. The weather should be okay. Ewan will stick around and bring us back tomorrow evening.” Oh, thank fuck for that. From the way Callie has described her previous abode on the island, I was not looking forward to staying there.
I wonder how Callie knows Ewan. I’m sure he doesn’t know her real name. They are talking, but it’s polite, nothing too personal. Ewan makes us tea and offers us shortbread, which I inhale. Damn, I love shortbread. After an hour of very polite conversation, Ewan shows us to our room. Once again, it’s very nicely decorated. He leaves us alone after he’s shown us where everything is. I crash on to the bed.
“How do you know him?”
“I used to see him when he travelled over to the island. He had a thing going on with the farmer who owns the shack I was living in.”
“So he’s gay?”
“As a rainbow. We would talk but he never knew the reason for me being on the island. Hell, Hamish didn’t either. That’s the farmer. He didn’t ask any questions, not after I paid him.”
“And that’s where the last bit of the book is? In the shack!?”
“Not quite, but it’s close.” I do not like the look on Callie’s face.
“Where is it?” After the whole Tivoli Gardens thing I could do with this extraction being easy.
“I buried it. We just need to do a bit of digging, nothing to worry about.”
“How much digging?” I’m not against manual labour, but I’m not keen on doing it in the freezing cold.
“I’ll do the digging, don’t worry.”
