the morning.”
“All right, I’m coming up there!” the guard shouted.
He didn’t sound happy. It was time to get out of the lighthouse.
C ody was more than ready to leave the top of the icy-cold tower. With the wind whipping through the open slats, she was chilled to the bone and her teeth were chattering. She carefully followed Luke down, holding on to the twisting railing, tailed by M.E. and Quinn.
“You kids are going to get me fired,” Geoff theguard said as they touched down on the cement floor. Cody and her friends stepped through the door and out of the lighthouse, followed by the guard, who shut the door behind him.
“So did you kids find anything up there?” he asked, twisting the key. “Any diamonds?”
“Nope,” Quinn said, shooting Cody a look. “Just a lot of graffiti.”
It was Code Buster policy to keep stuff like that to themselves.
“There’s a lot of that from when the American Indian Movement was here,” Geoff said. “But no sign of a message to Diamond Dave, eh?”
The kids forced a laugh. Cody felt herself blush. “Not that we saw,” Cody said.
“Okay, well, you kids run along now,” Geoff said. “And by the way, it wouldn’t be a good idea to mention this. Could get us all in trouble.”
The kids nodded and started down the hill. But Cody turned back and caught a last glimpse of theguard standing by the lighthouse, watching them. When he spotted her looking at him, he ducked inside the door and closed it behind him. Cody thought she saw a note flapping on the outside of the door and quickly ran back to check, wondering if they had missed a clue.
When she reached the door, she saw the message written on the note. It was written in ABC code. The letters of the message were broken into groups, and each set of letters began with a sequential alphabet letter.
“Ado bes cth dis ecl fue gri hng iab jel kl?”
Code Buster’s Solution found on this page
.
The door jerked open.
Geoff stepped out. “I thought you kids were gone.”
“I … I just saw this note on the door—” Cody started to say.
Geoff snatched the note off the back of the door.“Oh, that’s nothing. Bunch of jibberish left by some kid. Go on, now.”
Cody nodded and followed the others down the hill to the gift shop, puzzled over the message she’d found. It had to be a message meant for the Code Busters, but the guard had snatched it out of her hands before she could read the rest.
She entered the store, hoping to find some souvenirs for her family. She especially wanted to buy one of the commemorative diamonds.
M.E. came up behind Cody as she looked at some key chains that featured pictures of the Rock.
“So do you think those coordinates actually point to the Campanile tower?” she whispered.
“Yeah,” Quinn said, pulling up next to Cody. He wore a striped prison cap. Apparently, he’d overheard M.E. in spite of her whispering. “That plus the ABC code message have to be the clues. The Morse code was the only set of marks that wasn’t made by a permanent marker. I doubt the prisonershad markers back in those days. If anyone wanted to leave a permanent message, he’d have to carve it. Besides, those numbers and marks didn’t fit with the other graffiti.”
“But why would someone randomly carve out Morse code and the coordinates for the UC tower?” Luke asked, standing behind them holding an ESCAPED FROM ALCATRAZ PSYCH WARD T-shirt.
“That’s just it,” Quinn answered. “It wasn’t random. I think it was one of Diamond Dave’s gang members. He probably came to visit Dave in prison, but he couldn’t just tell him where the diamonds were hidden in case someone overheard him. So he talked about the lighthouse or brought him a picture of it—and that was a clue. Remember how Dave kept drawing lighthouses? He seemed obsessed with them. He probably knew there was a message waiting for him there when he finally got out of prison.”
“We’ll just have to go to the
“All right, I’m coming up there!” the guard shouted.
He didn’t sound happy. It was time to get out of the lighthouse.
C ody was more than ready to leave the top of the icy-cold tower. With the wind whipping through the open slats, she was chilled to the bone and her teeth were chattering. She carefully followed Luke down, holding on to the twisting railing, tailed by M.E. and Quinn.
“You kids are going to get me fired,” Geoff theguard said as they touched down on the cement floor. Cody and her friends stepped through the door and out of the lighthouse, followed by the guard, who shut the door behind him.
“So did you kids find anything up there?” he asked, twisting the key. “Any diamonds?”
“Nope,” Quinn said, shooting Cody a look. “Just a lot of graffiti.”
It was Code Buster policy to keep stuff like that to themselves.
“There’s a lot of that from when the American Indian Movement was here,” Geoff said. “But no sign of a message to Diamond Dave, eh?”
The kids forced a laugh. Cody felt herself blush. “Not that we saw,” Cody said.
“Okay, well, you kids run along now,” Geoff said. “And by the way, it wouldn’t be a good idea to mention this. Could get us all in trouble.”
The kids nodded and started down the hill. But Cody turned back and caught a last glimpse of theguard standing by the lighthouse, watching them. When he spotted her looking at him, he ducked inside the door and closed it behind him. Cody thought she saw a note flapping on the outside of the door and quickly ran back to check, wondering if they had missed a clue.
When she reached the door, she saw the message written on the note. It was written in ABC code. The letters of the message were broken into groups, and each set of letters began with a sequential alphabet letter.
“Ado bes cth dis ecl fue gri hng iab jel kl?”
Code Buster’s Solution found on this page
.
The door jerked open.
Geoff stepped out. “I thought you kids were gone.”
“I … I just saw this note on the door—” Cody started to say.
Geoff snatched the note off the back of the door.“Oh, that’s nothing. Bunch of jibberish left by some kid. Go on, now.”
Cody nodded and followed the others down the hill to the gift shop, puzzled over the message she’d found. It had to be a message meant for the Code Busters, but the guard had snatched it out of her hands before she could read the rest.
She entered the store, hoping to find some souvenirs for her family. She especially wanted to buy one of the commemorative diamonds.
M.E. came up behind Cody as she looked at some key chains that featured pictures of the Rock.
“So do you think those coordinates actually point to the Campanile tower?” she whispered.
“Yeah,” Quinn said, pulling up next to Cody. He wore a striped prison cap. Apparently, he’d overheard M.E. in spite of her whispering. “That plus the ABC code message have to be the clues. The Morse code was the only set of marks that wasn’t made by a permanent marker. I doubt the prisonershad markers back in those days. If anyone wanted to leave a permanent message, he’d have to carve it. Besides, those numbers and marks didn’t fit with the other graffiti.”
“But why would someone randomly carve out Morse code and the coordinates for the UC tower?” Luke asked, standing behind them holding an ESCAPED FROM ALCATRAZ PSYCH WARD T-shirt.
“That’s just it,” Quinn answered. “It wasn’t random. I think it was one of Diamond Dave’s gang members. He probably came to visit Dave in prison, but he couldn’t just tell him where the diamonds were hidden in case someone overheard him. So he talked about the lighthouse or brought him a picture of it—and that was a clue. Remember how Dave kept drawing lighthouses? He seemed obsessed with them. He probably knew there was a message waiting for him there when he finally got out of prison.”
“We’ll just have to go to the
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