paper. Red
wound himself into my hair and laid his head on my forehead, ready to read. I giggled,
a snake that read. In a few minutes, I saw the solution. As I had suspected,
the key was the misspelled words. I quickly typed a message to commander
Stauffer:
commander Stauffer, I need to talk to someone
with knowledge of the banking laws. Anna Paulus.
I touched Send and sat back with a smile as Red
slid into my blouse.
"You
look like you’re gloating, and I notice that Red has lost interest."
"Me
gloat?" I pretended to be indignant.
"Solved
the problem, did you?"
"Sort
of. I know the gist of it, but I'm going to need to understand the banking laws
to figure out the specifics. I told Stauffer."
"I'm
proud of you. Not for solving the spook's puzzle, but for the way you handled
it when the puzzle became an all-consuming distraction." She returned to
her reading.
I truly loved
that woman.
As I left my
last class the next day, a tall young lieutenant stood waiting.
"Miss
Paulus?" When I nodded hesitantly, he said, "I'm Lieutenant Nollad. Commander
Stauffer sent me to answer your questions about the banking laws. You can call
me Noll, everyone does."
"Hi,
Noll. I get the impression there are banking laws concerning deposits and
withdrawals."
"Yes,
when it comes to reporting to the government ..." Noll spent the next hour
explaining the laws, the reasons behind them, and answering my questions.
"Thanks.
You can tell commander Stauffer I have the message decoded."
"Can you
tell me? I'm interested."
"I don't
think I should. Commander Stauffer was very specific that I shouldn't talk
about it ... to anyone. I wouldn't want to get you or me in trouble. Mother
says the spooks classify everything as secret, even when it's public
information—" I stopped and was sure my face had turned scarlet.
He laughed. "She's
right, Anna. We are all paranoid. I'll tell the commander." He walked away
grinning.
That evening,
Commander Stauffer showed up at the house and settled down on the couch.
"I'm
sorry to interrupt, Alexa, but your daughter says she has decoded the message I
gave her. I admit to being overly curious and thought you might want to be
present."
"Thanks.
I admit to also being curious."
"All right,
Anna. What do you think the real message says?"
"The
sender, who works at a bank, is notifying the recipient of the message to
deposit money into three accounts from his two in random amounts to circumvent
the reporting laws ..." I went on to explain how to identify the accounts
and how the payments were to be staggered. Stauffer clapped his hands for
several seconds.
"Very
good, Anna. You are one hundred percent correct. I know because it is an old
case, so I know all the details. It took us longer to deduce what was going on,
and even then we didn't have the details you just told me."
Alexa
laughed. "Carl, she took a week off because she felt her studies were
suffering."
"If you
have no objections, Alexa, I would like to offer Anna a part-time job."
"Doing
what?" she asked, frowning. I held my breath.
"First,
I'd like to acquaint her with the type of machines we have to assist us in
breaking codes and the various methodologies we employ. Then I’d ask her to do
some part-time work decoding messages." He watched Alexa as he talked.
"Nothing dangerous, and she can do her work at home. Of course, we will
pay her for her time. I can loan her some basic machines and give her access to
others as necessary. She has a real talent. It took the team back then longer,
and they didn't figure out all of the details until afterward."
Alexa looked at
me, worrying her lip as she often did when she had to make a difficult
decision—a magistrate decision.
"Let us
discuss it, and we’ll get back to you when we’ve decided."
"I
understand. It's a great opportunity, but like all decisions, it has
consequences. Take all the time you need." After a cup of coffee and a bit
of reminiscing, he left.
"The
decision is yours, Anna, but I
wound himself into my hair and laid his head on my forehead, ready to read. I giggled,
a snake that read. In a few minutes, I saw the solution. As I had suspected,
the key was the misspelled words. I quickly typed a message to commander
Stauffer:
commander Stauffer, I need to talk to someone
with knowledge of the banking laws. Anna Paulus.
I touched Send and sat back with a smile as Red
slid into my blouse.
"You
look like you’re gloating, and I notice that Red has lost interest."
"Me
gloat?" I pretended to be indignant.
"Solved
the problem, did you?"
"Sort
of. I know the gist of it, but I'm going to need to understand the banking laws
to figure out the specifics. I told Stauffer."
"I'm
proud of you. Not for solving the spook's puzzle, but for the way you handled
it when the puzzle became an all-consuming distraction." She returned to
her reading.
I truly loved
that woman.
As I left my
last class the next day, a tall young lieutenant stood waiting.
"Miss
Paulus?" When I nodded hesitantly, he said, "I'm Lieutenant Nollad. Commander
Stauffer sent me to answer your questions about the banking laws. You can call
me Noll, everyone does."
"Hi,
Noll. I get the impression there are banking laws concerning deposits and
withdrawals."
"Yes,
when it comes to reporting to the government ..." Noll spent the next hour
explaining the laws, the reasons behind them, and answering my questions.
"Thanks.
You can tell commander Stauffer I have the message decoded."
"Can you
tell me? I'm interested."
"I don't
think I should. Commander Stauffer was very specific that I shouldn't talk
about it ... to anyone. I wouldn't want to get you or me in trouble. Mother
says the spooks classify everything as secret, even when it's public
information—" I stopped and was sure my face had turned scarlet.
He laughed. "She's
right, Anna. We are all paranoid. I'll tell the commander." He walked away
grinning.
That evening,
Commander Stauffer showed up at the house and settled down on the couch.
"I'm
sorry to interrupt, Alexa, but your daughter says she has decoded the message I
gave her. I admit to being overly curious and thought you might want to be
present."
"Thanks.
I admit to also being curious."
"All right,
Anna. What do you think the real message says?"
"The
sender, who works at a bank, is notifying the recipient of the message to
deposit money into three accounts from his two in random amounts to circumvent
the reporting laws ..." I went on to explain how to identify the accounts
and how the payments were to be staggered. Stauffer clapped his hands for
several seconds.
"Very
good, Anna. You are one hundred percent correct. I know because it is an old
case, so I know all the details. It took us longer to deduce what was going on,
and even then we didn't have the details you just told me."
Alexa
laughed. "Carl, she took a week off because she felt her studies were
suffering."
"If you
have no objections, Alexa, I would like to offer Anna a part-time job."
"Doing
what?" she asked, frowning. I held my breath.
"First,
I'd like to acquaint her with the type of machines we have to assist us in
breaking codes and the various methodologies we employ. Then I’d ask her to do
some part-time work decoding messages." He watched Alexa as he talked.
"Nothing dangerous, and she can do her work at home. Of course, we will
pay her for her time. I can loan her some basic machines and give her access to
others as necessary. She has a real talent. It took the team back then longer,
and they didn't figure out all of the details until afterward."
Alexa looked at
me, worrying her lip as she often did when she had to make a difficult
decision—a magistrate decision.
"Let us
discuss it, and we’ll get back to you when we’ve decided."
"I
understand. It's a great opportunity, but like all decisions, it has
consequences. Take all the time you need." After a cup of coffee and a bit
of reminiscing, he left.
"The
decision is yours, Anna, but I
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