Chapter 5: Cracking the Puzzles
As Witherman read off each clue for everyone to hear, they tried to answer it:
My sister: _ _
"Well that's an easy one," Nora said. "It's Winnie."
City where we stole it: _, _ _ _ _ _ _
"The 'it' is probably the llama," Witherman supposed. "I think that was somewhere in France. Get that map out of my drawer over there, Nora. Thank you. Ah, that's right! It was Roscoff, France."
Body of water Jake, Jr. was born on: _ _
"My guess is the English Channel if you mother was evading Murdock from France," Mimosa suggested.
Port where the Seagull picked me up: _ _ _ _ _, _
Witherman pondered it over and said, "Dover, England."
Cook aboard the Seagull: _ _
"Now that was good ole Stanley!" Witherman recalled. "Best grub on the Channel!"
Type of ring I got for my wedding gift: _ _ _ _
Jake looked at the letter from his mother and said, "She says right here that it was an opal ring."
Something dear that Jake gave to me: _ _
"I think she mentioned a telescope in her letter," Jake offered.
"The word telescope has nine letters; there are only eight blanks." Mimosa reminded. "Try spyglass instead. That has eight letters."
Jake's favorite insult for people: _ _ _
Witherman chuckled, "He was always callin' everybody a nincompoop."
My maiden name: _ _
Nora spoke up, "That would be the same one as mah mum's. I'm pretty sure that it's Redfern."
_, _ _ _.
"That last line is for the answer, which means now we've got to unscramble the word. The letters with dark lines under 'em are W, R, E, D, S, O, S, I, R. Let's keep that map handy so we can look fer places that use these letters."
"It looks as if we need two words since there's a comma separating some of the spaces," Mimosa observed. "We know that this is supposed to tell us the location of the golden llama, so maybe it is a city and a country."
"I've never heard of a three-letter country before, Matthew," Becky remarked.
"Then perhaps it's an abbreviation for a country," he retorted.
"If that's the case," Jake considered, "let's see if we can get the country first. Then we could look at the map to help us find out what city it is."
They tried all sorts of countries on the map, but the closest and most logical country whose abbreviation fit the letters was Ireland.
_, IRE.
"We'll try that for now. The letters left over are W, D, S, O, S, R," Witherman read aloud.
Back to the map they went, pouring over all the cities trying to find the right one.
"Ooh, ooh! I think I found it! Swords! Right there near Dublin!" Becky pointed out.
"Yes, of course, Swords!" Witherman slapped his forehead. "How could I forget that! Jake loved visiting there whenever we were in the area. That's definitely the place."
Becky looked over at Jake excitedly. However, he wasn't sharing in their moment of exuberance. "Jake, why aren't you happy? We just figured out your mother's puzzle."
"I just…" he sighed, "I need to know how they died. I want to know where they died. All I have been told is that they were killed by Murdock. What if that was just a cover story to hide their identity?"
"You're very right, my boy." Witherman agreed. "Several good pirates 'ave used an excuse similar to that in order to escape. I believe there is one person who we can talk to who might be able to answer your questions. Come with me."
Mr. Witherman led his guests out of his house and past a few wharfs. He stopped at a fairly small shack and banged on the door.
"Go away!" a gravelly voice hollered from within the shack. "I don't wanna see nobody!"
"C'mon, Strodwire, open up!" Witherman banged on the door again. "I need ta talk with ya! If you don't open soon, I'll burn yer door down!"
"Alright, alright! I'm comin'! What do ya want with me?" The voice belonged to a withered, hunched-over man with an eye patch covering his right eye. He threw open the door and peered about.
"I need ta talk to ya about yer days on Murdock's crew, Strodwire," Witherman informed. "Don't be so rude. Let us 'ave a seat."
"I told ya before: I ain't sayin' nothin' 'bout that! Especially not in front'a strangers 'nd wenches 'nd…babies."
Nora stepped forward and shouted, "Oy, I'm a pirate through 'n' through, ya low-down wharf rat! If you don't let us in right now and answer our questions, I'll personally see to it that you're dragged behind our ship by your intestines!" She puffed a piece of her bangs out of her face.
Severely taken aback, Strodwire silently led the way into his shack. "All of ya can grab a crate to sit on. Jest don't sit on tha lobster trap; my supper's in there. What'd ya want ta know 'bout?"
"I want to know about the demise of the Commandeering Cardinals," Jake boldly demanded.
Strodwire turned his left eye towards Jake. "You're their son, ain't ya? Ya look jest like 'em."
Jake ignored the question and reiterated, "What happened to the Commandeering Cardinals after they took the llama?"
"Well," he started as he sat down and cracked his back, "Cap'n Cranston Murdock chased 'em fer a couple o' months, 'nd one day we found the two o' 'em in separate boats on tha Channel. It was odd, 'cause we'd nevah seen 'em sep'rate like that. We caught up ta one o' them 'nd took it ovah. Only Jake was in there; Charlotte escaped 'nd left 'im behind. We kept 'im a few days, but no mattah what, 'e kept 'is mouth shut. Murdock got sick o' 'im 'nd shot 'im dead. Murdock knew that Charlotte would be back fer 'er husband, so we always kept extra good watch. A little while latah, she got on our ship, 'nd we caught 'er. She clammed up jest like 'er husband, but Murdock kept her around a whole lot longer. Ev'ryone knows she was the real mastermind be'ind it all. We kept 'er at least a month, and then we ran into Dave Senoj on peaceable terms. He 'ad information on a stash o' valuable diamonds. Fer some reason, he was very invested in Charlotte. He was able ta convince Murdock ta trade Charlotte fer the diamond information. We all figured 'e jest wanted a new person ta shove into 'is Cabinet. That's all I know, so you all can leave me alone now."
Blankly, Jake stood up and walked out of Strodwire's shack. Everyone quickly followed him out.
"Thanks for all your help, Mr. Witherman," Nora hugged him. "We should be okay from 'ere."
"Anything for you, my dear. There is, howevah, one more thing I must tell ya before ya go: Cranston Murdock 'ad a son. 'Is name is Ethan; he's at least in 'is mid-thirties now. Ever since Cranston 'ad lost tha llama statue, he filled Ethan with all of 'is hatred and evil motives. And then, once Cranston died, Ethan became the new captain of tha Dark Revenge. He's been looking out for tha golden llama ever since. So, please, if you do go aftah the llama, be very wary of who is followin' ya."
"Thanks for lettin' me know. I'll be sure to keep an eye out and tell this ta Cap'n Cardinal."
"I can't believe it!" Jake finally burst out after they began walking down the wharfs. "All this time my mother has been trapped in Dave Senoj's Cabinet. And I just ran into him not even a year ago!"
"Captain," Scully carefully began, "she has been with him for over twenty years. There is the possibility that she couldn't make it through the Cabinet."
"But I need to explore all possibilities, Scully. If she is still alive, I need to rescue her."
"Why don't we stay somewhere in town?" Becky suggested. "Christopher is so tired and cranky now, and we all could use sleep in a real bed after learning all this new information."
"That's sounds good. Scully, Nora, you can find us a place, right?"
Nora nodded, "The Dankworth Family Inn isn't too far away from 'ere."
Once Scully and Nora arrived at the inn, Nora called behind her as she headed for a specific room, "You go ahead and get the rooms, Scully. I'll be back in a few minutes!"