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The CIpher Letter · The Adventuress

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  Chapter seventeen of The Adventuress by Arthur b Reeve. This LibriVox recording is in
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  the public domain. Read by Anne Fletcher, Chapter seventeen. The Cipher Letter
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  irksome though it was to be compelled to do fruitless watching in a vacant office,
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  there was nothing to do but stick at it. What Paquita might be
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  up to was a mystery, but I knew that until we heard from Riley,
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  we could have only the most slender chance to locate her in the big
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  city. It was perhaps half an hour later when, to my relief,
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  Kennedy returned, bringing with him a strange man. I looked at him,
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  inquiringly, you're just wasting time here, Walter Craig explained, I've got one
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  of these secret service men here in the city to relieve you of your job.
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  But I very much suspect that after what happened last night, whoever had
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  that place across the hall is through and would rather lose the detective phone receiver
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  than risk being caught. Have you had any word from Rileigh? Not a
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  word. I'm getting anxious, he replied, turning to the new man and
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  instructing him what to do. Kennedy was eager to get back in case they
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  might be a hasty call about Paquita. I could see too that he was
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  convinced that we were baffled, at least as far as discovering who had been
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  using the detective phone was concerned. We returned quickly to Hasting's office, which
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  was still deserted, and there, as we waited nervously, Kennedy drew forth
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  the cipher and began to study it again, but this time on an entirely
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  different line, following his own scientific principles, which he had laid down after
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  investigating the work of other expert decipherers. My hopes rose momentarily when we heard
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  footsteps in the hall and the door was burst open. It was, however,
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  merely a messenger boy telegram for mister Kennedy. He shouted, penetrating even
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  the sacred inner office of Hastings. Craig tore open the yellow envelope, read
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  the message and tossed it over to me. It was from Burke at Westport
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  while operators at Seaville's station. It read report strange interference, maybe in reference
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  to tell automaton. We'll keep you advised if anything happens. The possibility of
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  a new twist to events was very fascinating, though I did not understand it.
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  I was just about to question Kennedy about the Tell automaton when the door
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  opened again. This time it was Hastings himself. Has there been any word,
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  he asked eagerly, Nothing so far, replied Craig. You came on
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  the express. I suppose yes, he replied, his face wearing a puzzled
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  expression. I don't quite understand what is going on? What in particular,
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  query Craig, seeing that there was something on Hastings's mind. Why Shelby,
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  Of course, he answered, some change has taken place in him. He
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  is not like the Shelby I used to know. Yesterday he came into town.
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  He was on the train again to day. I wasn't the only one
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  who noticed it. Johnson Walcott was on the train too. He noticed it,
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  called my attention to it. As a matter of fact, I saw
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  some of the younger men too. Shelby as a regular commuter as a joke
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  to them. But it's more than a joke. I'm thinking Shelby never came
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  near Wall Street or Broad Street before, But now they tell me he seems
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  to be taking an active interest in the Maddock's munition stop on the curb.
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  I don't understand it. Could he be trying to put through some deal,
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  I inquired hastily. Perhaps he's trying to get the control his brother would have
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  had. I don't doubt that he has some such scheme, agreed Hastings.
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  But well, what do you say, Kennedy? Doesn't it look suspicious so
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  soon afterward? It may be real ambition. Now he may have changed,
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  but Hastings but meant volumes. Just then the telephone rang and the lawyer answered
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  it, handing the instrument over to Kennedy. We listened eagerly. It was
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  the first long delayed report of Paquita from Riley, and as Kennedy pursued the
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  one sided conversation that we heard, I gathered that far from clearing up things,
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  the actions of Pequita had further muddled them. Hastings glanced at me and
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  shook his head sagely, whispering, that's a clever and a dangerous woman.
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  When she looks most innocent, is the time to be wary. I tried
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  to pay no attention to his banal remarks, but still was unable to follow
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  from what I heard the course of the report from Riley. Finally, it
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  seemed as if Kennedy were cut off in the middle of a remark, or
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  that Riley had hung up. Suddenly, Kennedy jiggled the hook, but was
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  unable to get any one back again, though Central tried for some time.
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  What was it, I asked, keenly interested. I'm afraid she's putting one
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  over on us again, commented Kennedy as he hung up the receiver. Oh
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  how's that, I asked. Why. It's evidently a purposeless visit to the
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  city. As nearly as I can make out, Riley followed her in had
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  no difficulty. In fact, he thinks that she knew she was being followed
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  before they reached the turnpike from Westport. Where did she go after she got
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  here, I asked, hoping that at last there was some clue that might
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  lead to the gang which Burke suspected but which I was almost tempted to believe
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  was mythical. Just stopped at her city apartment, returned Craig. There wasn't
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  any telephone handy, and Riley was afraid to leave her for fear she might
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  come out and get away before he could get back. It was very early.
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  When it came time for the offices to open. She made a call
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  at her theatrical agent's again, and after that she came down town. She
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  wasn't far away from us here. This will interest you, mister Hastings.
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  Hastings needed no prompting, he was already interested. Riley found her talking to
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  a clerk in a brokerage house and dext and Co. You know them,
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  and slightly I wonder what that can mean. Perhaps something to do with Shelby,
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  at least Riley thinks. So. It was while she was talking to
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  the clerk that he got his first chance to telephone me. What cut him
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  short was that he could see from the telephone booth that she was starting away.
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  He had to go, but he did get time to say that he'd
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  just seen Shelby Maddocks enter the same building. Though Shelby didn't see Pequita,
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  did she see him? I suppose? So that must have been why she
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  went away so quickly. I suppose she didn't want to be seen. What
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  can that girl be up to now, considered Hastings, you may just rest
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  assured that it's something devilish. Any word from Sanchez I asked, remembering my
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  own experience the time I had tried to trail Pequita, nothing so far,
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  replied Kennedy. Riley was looking for him, but hasn't seen a trace of
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  him except for the visit down town. Peqito seems to be just going about
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  as though giving Riley something to do. He thinks it's mighty strange she doesn't
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  try to throw him off. Really, she seems to want to be shadowed.
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  How can that be? Kennedy shrugged, I don't know. Riley promised
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  to call up the next chance he got. Why not go over to Dexter's
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  suggested hastings. She can't be there, returned Kennedy. If she was,
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  Riley would have had a chance to make a second call. Therefore, I
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  reasoned that she must have gone away after she'd seen the clerk, and when
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  Shelby appeared. I think I'll stay here awhile until I hear again, especially
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  as I've nowhere else to go, he decided, pulling out the cipher from
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  his pocket. Again, we may hear some more about Shelby and his schemes.
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  Kennedy had now fallen into an earnest study of the peculiar cryptogram which we
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  had discovered. I suppose you've noticed that there's no figure above five in it,
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  he remarked to me, looking up for an instant from several sheets of
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  paper which he was covering with a hopeless jam of figures and letters. I
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  had not, I confessed, what of it? Well, I've tried the
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  numbers in all sorts of combinations and permutations. They don't work. Let me
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  see. Suppose we take them in pairs. For several moments, he continued
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  to figure, and his face became continuously brighter. There are six pairs of
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  thirty threes, he remarked, almost to himself. Now it's well known that
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  the letter E is the most commonly used letter. That's the starting point usually
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  in working out of cipher. Wait, there are eight fifteen's that must be
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  e. Yes, the chances are all for it. Now what letter is
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  thirty three? If any? He appeared to be in a dream, as
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  he recalled from his studies of cryptograms. Were the probabilities of the occurrence of
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  the particular letters? Suddenly, he exclaimed, perhaps it's an n. Let's
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  see. Hastily, he wrote down some letters and numbers in the following order.
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  Twenty five e N N E fourteen fifty four. He looked at it
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  for a moment, and then his face registered the dawn of an idea by
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  George. He exclaimed, we don't have to go any further. I have
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  it. It's my own name, Kennedy. Let me see how that works.
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  I believe it's the system we call Kennedy was again interrupted by the entrance
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  of the messenger boy with another telegram. He tore it open, and as
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  I expected, it was a second message from Burke. Seaville station has reported
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  interference to government. Just received orders Washington to take up investigation. Not wireless
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  messages that interfere. Some mystery. When can you come out, Kennedy?
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  He read and re read the message. To neither Hastings nor myself did it
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  convey any idea upon which we could build. But to Kennedy, seemingly it
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  suggested a thousand and one things. It was evident that the appeal from Burke
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  had moved Kennedy very much. Piquita had allured us into town. But I
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  cannot say that it was giving us much to show for our pains. What
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  do you suppose that message can mean? I questioned, What does Burke mean
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  about the tele automaton. I can't say at this distance. There must be
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  more to it than he's put into the telegram, but at least it is
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  possible that the men at the station have stumbled over some attempt to use the
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  wireless in testing out the little model. It's pretty hard to tell, really,
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  I wish I was out there. A clue like this interests me much
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  more than our little adventuress. Kennedy had scarcely laid down the message from Burke
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  when the telephone tinkled again. He sees the receiver expectantly. By his excite,
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  I could see that it was Riley again. Yes, Riley, we
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  heard him answer, where are you now? The conversation was rapid fire.
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  As Kennedy hung up, his face showed considerable interest. That woman is just
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  making sport of Riley, exclaimed Kennedy, hotly, facing us in perplexity.
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  Why what is she doing? Seems to be aimlessly driving about the city.
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  I'll bet she's just laughing at him. I wonder what the game may be.
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  Where is she now? Up town again? I suppose that we could
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  jump up there and probably catch Riley somewhere. By keeping in touch with this
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  office if both of us kept calling up here, But what good it would
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  do. I can't see. I'm disappointed. This thing has degenerated into a
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  wild goose chase. His eye fell on the telegram from Burke, and I
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  knew that the two things had placed Kennedy in a dilemma. If he might
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  have been in two places at once, he would have been satisfied. Should
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  he drop everything and go to Burke or should he wait for Riley. We'll
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  let the cipher decide, concluded Kennedy, turning to the scribbled papers before him.
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  What is the cipher system, I asked? Mechanically, My head rather
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  in a whirl at the fast crowding events. Don't you understand, he cried,
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  almost gleefully, working at the solution of the secret, writing I've got
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  it. How stupid of me before not to think of it. Why it's
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  the old checkerboard cipher. Again Quickly, he drew on paper a series of
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  five squares horizontally and five vertically, and filled them in with the letters of
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  the alphabet, placing I and J in the same square, thus using twenty
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  five squares. Over the top, he wrote the numbers to five and down
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  the side he did the same as follows reader's footnote. There follows a diagram
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  showing the cipher end of footnote. Do you see, he cried eagerly.
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  The letter E is in the first row, the fifth letter fifteen. The
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  letter N is the third letter in the third row thirty three. Why it's
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  simple. It might have been simple to him now, but to Hastings and
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  myself, as Kennedy figured the thing out, it was little short of marvelous.
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  For all we could have done it, I suppose a blank scrap of
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  paper would still have been a hidden book. We were crowded about Kennedy eagerly
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  watching what his deciphering might yield. When the office boy announced, mister Shelby,
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  Maddock's to see you, mister Hastings. Kennedy quickly covered the papers on
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  which he was writing with some others on the desk, just as Shelby entered.
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  Is Kennedy here, cried Shelby. Oh, I thought maybe you might
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  be. They told me that you had gone early to the city. Our
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  greeting was none too cordial, but Shelby either did not notice it or affected
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  not to do so. I wanted to ask you about that kidnapping. He
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  explained, You see, I wasn't about when they found Mito that. It
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  wasn't until later that I heard of it and the attempt on Winifred. What
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  do you suppose, mister Kennedy was the reason who could have wanted to carry
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  her off? Kennedy shrugged. So far I haven't been able to give a
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  final explanation, he remarked keenly. Then the kidnappers got away clean, asked
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  Shelby. It was very clever temporize Kennedy, But I would hardly say that
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  there is no clue. Shelby eyed Craig keenly, as though he would have
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  liked to read his mind. But Kennedy's face did not betray whether it was
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  much or little that he knew. Well, added Shelby, all I've got
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  to say is that some one's going to get into trouble if anything happens to
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  that girl. I was listening attentively. Was this a bluff or not?
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  From the expression on Hastings's face, one would have said that he was convinced
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  it must have been Shelby himself who kidnapped her. I wondered whether it was
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  wholly interesting Winifred that prompted Shelby's visit and inquiry at any rate, He went
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  on, you'll all be watching now against a repetition of such a thing,
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  won't you. I don't need to remind you, Kennedy, of your promise
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  when I talked to you before. Craig nodded, I'll give you a square
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  deal, mister Maddox returned Craig. Of course, I can't work for two
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  people at once, but I shall do nothing for any client that I am
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  not convinced is perfectly right. You need not fear for miss Walcott as long
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  as I can protect her. Maddocks seemed to be relieved, although he'd found
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  nothing that pointed to the origin of the attack. Or was it because of
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  that? He glanced at his watch uneasily. You'll pardon me, he said,
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  rising I had a few minutes and I thought i'd drop in and see
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  you. I must keep an appointment. Thank you for what you've said about
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  Winnifred. As he withdrew, I shot a hasty glance at Craig. Should
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  I follow him? Kennedy negative. Apparently not even the intrusion of Shelby had
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  got out of his mind either. The dilemma we were in or the hidden
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  message that he seemed on the point of reading an engagement, commented Hastings incredulously,
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  Since when has Shelby had important engagements? More than likely it's something to
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  do with this pequitter woman. There was no mistaking the opinion that Hastings had
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  of the younger scion of the House of Maddocks, nor was it unjustified.
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  Shelby's escapade had been notorious, though I had always noticed that in the aftermath
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  of the stories, Shelby was quite as much, if not more sinned against
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  than sinning young men of his stamper, subject to many more temptations than some
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  of the rest of us. If Shelby were coming through all right, I
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  reflected so much the greater credit for him. Kennedy either shared my own feeling
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  towards Shelby, or had decided that he was not at present worth considering to
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  the delay of something more important. I looked over his shoulder, fascinated as
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  he fell to work again immediately on the cipher with the same zest which he
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  had displayed before Shelby's interruption. Rapidly Kennedy translated the figures into letters, and
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  as each word was set down on paper, became more and more excited.
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  Finally he leapt up and seized his hat. Confound her. He exclaimed,
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  that explains it all. Look Hastings, and I read what he had written.
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  Kennedy must be kept in New York until we finish here. End of
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  Chapter seventeen.