Chapter 4
Lena had put another glass of water onto the table where Ed was working on the new code.
She was troubled and worried about his refusing any food. But she respected his wishes.
"Please call me if you need anything or if you think that I can help you in any way or if you find out the tiniest bit of information!"
She was emotionally drained now and Ed was glad that she lied down.
He tried desperately to find a pattern, but to no avail.
Supposedly, each of those five-digit numbers stood for just one letter. If this assumption was right, the code was far too short to show a normal frequency of letters. Still it was noticeable that there were three times the number '74747'. This could very well be a common letter like 'E'. How could you get 'E' out of '74747'?
Was this really mathematics? He read the letter again and again and actually wasn't sure about that anymore.
He had to ask Lena. Reluctantly he woke her up.
"Does your father have another hobby, or something he's especially interested in?"
Lena thought about it, then she sighed and said:
"I can't think of anything special. Perhaps computers, because his own mind works a lot like some sort of machine."
Ed left her and went back to his work.
Computers? Ed tried to recall what he knew about them. He was afraid that it wasn't very much. He was awfully tired - he would really have liked to call the Chief for help! But Ironside would ask too many questions and it would not be possible to keep him out of the picture once he was involved.
What could these strange numbers have to do with computers? As far as he knew, computers didn't even work with numbers other than 0 and 1... hang on!
0 and 1, that was binary ... That could be something like a code!
He had to think hard to remember how to convert binary numbers into the decimal system and vice versa. And with those big numbers, that would be an awful lot of work!
Perhaps he could work with every digit for itself? He would try 74747.
The solution was 111/100/111/100/111. And what now?
After a few fruitless attempts he wrote them in a column – and then he saw the pattern:
111
100
111
100
111
There was his 'E'! You had to look at the "ones" and ignore the "zeros".
The rest was almost easy.
The only number he didn't understand immediately was '57775':
101
111
111
111
101.
But he found all the others and read:
'PEARL ?ECKLACE'.
'57775' had to be an 'N': 'Pearl necklace'. Did Lena have one?
He had to wake Lena up again to ask her.
She rose at once.
"My father presented my mother with a nice pearl necklace when they got married in Italy. I don't even know its value. For us it was always our 'family treasure'. It seemed evident that I should get it when my mother would die. She gave it to me a few months ago, when she got sick."
"You will give it to him, won't you?"
"Actually it's coming out of his family, so in a way it belongs to him. And compared to my son's life it's not important at all."
Lena took the necklace out of her jewelry box to have it ready when Mr. Pozzi would call.
In the meantime, Ed shaved and washed himself as well as he could.
Then there was nothing to do but wait.
At six o'clock a.m. they were glad to hear the telephone ring.
"I want your boyfriend to do this alone. He will have to be quick. I will watch him at certain points, and if he's not alone your son will feel it. I want him to place the claimed item at the foot of the oak down your road. There he will find the instructions about what to do next".
That said Pozzi hung up.
For a second, Lena was shocked.
"This is my problem. I can't expect you to do that. You have already done more than enough for Enrico and me."
Ed felt worn out. He couldn't remember when he'd last had a good night's rest. And this looked like it would develop into some sort of wild goose chase.
"You still don't want to involve my boss, do you?"
"No, I'm so afraid... I don't know what to do anymore..."
She started to cry. Not dramatically. Very quietly, but also very dolefully. "I just love Enrico so much. He's all I have left."
Ed knew that he couldn't let her down. And neither could he let down a little boy who believed in a heavenly father who sent people as angels to help him.
"I'll do what I can," he said, gently touching her arm. "Show me the way to that oak."
Ed found the tree all right – and he also found an envelope. It hung from a branch about four yards above the ground. It was impossible to reach it with his crutches. And he should have been quick...
He picked up a stone – which was difficult enough – and threw it up the tree. He missed the envelope, as he had expected. Ignoring his aching back he tried again. The fifth stone hit its target and the envelope fell down.
He opened it at once. He found the name of a street about three miles away and a brainteaser:
50006
00500
30002
30008
00200
40003
70003
00?00
10003
Ed placed the necklace on the ground beside the oak and headed towards the mentioned street. On his way he tested different patterns of calculations. Before he reached the named street he knew the – probable – answer: 7.
Supposedly, Pozzi had multiplied the first number by the second one and then divided this intermediate result first by the number at the bottom right and then by the one at the bottom left. The final result had to stand in the middle.
He dragged himself to the house with the number 7 and started to search. After so many years on Ironside's team he knew how to look for clues. But there was no envelope, no letter: At least not in front of the house or on its façade. Was his solution wrong? Or was he too late, had somebody found the letter before him and thrown it away? Or children, or a dog...?
There was one place where he hadn't looked yet: In the road in front of the house, there was a sewer. Could the letter be hidden there? But the sewer was covered with a heavy iron grid.
Looking into the sewer it seemed to Ed that there might be some paper down there.
How on earth should he get that grid off the hole? He was in no shape to even carry his own weight without the crutches, and he was not allowed to ask for help.
A bit further down the road he saw smaller houses, one even with a little front garden. Perhaps he could find some instrument there.
On the left side of the house with the garden there was an open garage. There he found some skis and ski poles – modern ones made out of metal. Moreover there was a pile of firewood. Ed took out his pencil and notebook and wrote a note for the owner with a word of excuse and his phone number. Then he took a ski pole and a big piece of wood and went back to house No. 7.
With his pocket knife he cleared the sides of the grid and one of the holes in it. He managed to stick the ski pole into the hole. He laid the piece of wood under the ski pole and used his weight to push down the end of the pole. But the grill was too heavy and his back too weak. Ed saw stars and the grid didn't budge. Discouraged he gave up.
Nevertheless he had to get to that letter – if it was really down there.
He forced himself back to the house with the garden, taking the ski pole back. In the garage, he found a clothesline. He wasn't sure if it was strong enough – but probably still stronger than he was himself, he thought wryly.
House No. 7 had an entrance door with a window behind iron bars. They looked old, but sturdy.
Ed cleaned some more holes in the grid and attached the clothesline through two of them before slipping the end of it under one of the bars at the door, then he went a second time through two holes of the grid and again behind one of the bars at the door in order to build a double purchase pulley. He started to pull with all the force he had left, disregarding the pain in his back. Finally he managed to lift the grid. He could put his foot into the gap and push the grid away. He took a minute to recover, then took a close look into the sewer. There was the envelope, stuck to an iron bar, about two feet under the surface. Lying flat onto his stomach, Ed was able to reach the envelope thanks to his long arm. He had to rip it to get it out. He just hoped that this wouldn't matter.
Leaving the sewer open was a little dangerous for children who might be playing nearby, but he couldn't bring himself to close it. He was near the end of his stamina and he knew it. But was this the end of Pozzi's goose chase, too?
He opened the envelope and read:
"Well done, cripple. At the next corner there's a phone booth. Call me at the following number – and hurry: The first numbers are the same as in that phone booth. The last four are the following:
- of π (pi) the 5th place behind the decimal point
- of Euler's constant the second place behind the decimal point
- The result of {i² + 6}
- of √5 the 3rd place behind the decimal point."
That wasn't difficult. Ed had always liked mathematics...