A Murder Shall Commence.

Chapter 3

It was exactly 2 a.m, according to the clock on the wall in Fisher's office.

Isabel had dropped off first, sprawled out in the armchair in the corner, snoring softly. I didn't blame her. She really couldn't help much in this code-cracking situation, and it must have only been about ten p.m. when she threw in the tall.

Newham had been next. He had spent the last eight hours-from when Isabel and I had returned from Covent Garden-scurrying from a pile of code books to a blackboard, and back again. He only seemed to have sat down for a few minutes, but was now leant up against the wall, his head lolling loosely on his shoulder, fast asleep.

I hadn't a clue when Fisher had fallen asleep, but he was in his office chair, with his feet up on the desk, a cipher book and notepad on his lap. He hadn't moved since eight p.m, but I reckoned he would have stayed awake until at least eleven.

And that left me, I sighed, as the minute hand ticked around again. 2:01. I couldn't sleep. Not until I'd solved this wretched puzzle.

I looked at it again, in the dim light of the lamp I had left on.

rienwssindae /\ ethhte /\ hPteiawr \ nlay / m \ Cehhut \ rfco \ h / yftirned / pao/ Brlp \ ueeh / Bt \ usli \ l / \ eh

We had tried everything, I thought. But still there was nothing. Just nonsensical nonsense.

I stood up, determined not to drop off, and squinted at the board in front of me. The lines had to mean something. But what? There were two types of lines, I noticed. One set lying one way, the other another.

I wrote out the message again on the blackboard, twice, but this time only adhering to one or other of the lines.

rienwssindae / ethhte / hPteiawrnlay / mCehhutrfcoh / yftirned / pao/ Brlpueeh / Btuslil / eh

rienwssindae \ ethhte \ hPteiawr \ nlaym \ Cehhut \ rfco \ hyftirnedpaoBrlp \ ueehBt \ usli \ l \ eh

I frowned. There were two part of the message that was the same both times, but one of them stood out as more odd than the other. 'Ethhte'. Lamp in one hand and chalk in the other, I stood for a second, before drawing two alternate lines of three arcs, one over and one under the 'ethhte', the bottom curves linking the first, third and fifth letters, and the top curve linking the second, fourth, and sixth. I smiled. I had created two 'the's, if I read the odd numbers backwards and the even numbers forwards.

Quickly, I did the rest of the original message in the same style-building out from the part I knew was right. When it was done, I took a deep breath, started from the second letter in, and began to write what I read.

As I wrote, and a message began to unfold before my eyes, I began to get more and more excited, until I was literally hopping from one foot to the other.

I was so glad all my friends were asleep.

In the end, with a very shaky hand, this was what I ended up with.

Inside the Pearly Church, find a Blue Bull. He is the property of the man with the answer.

I looked despondently at the obvious riddle in front of me. I then looked at the clock. It was half past two.

I decided on sleep.

After a long time, I blearily opened my eyes. I had been moved from my (very comfortable) spot on the floor and was now draped sideways across Fisher's office armchair, the one Isabel had fallen asleep in the previous night. After a minute or two of squinting and rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I looked around and saw Newham, sitting in the corner with what I assumed was a cup of hot coffee in his hands.