Diamond Dave mystery as far as it went.
On the ride home, Ms. Stad made sure Cody and M.E. were seated separately from Quinn and Luke—no doubt as punishment for their sneaking off together in the cell block during the ranger’s talk.
No biggie
, Cody thought. The Code Busters had ways of communicating, even from a distance.
Sure enough, a few minutes later a folded note arrived in Cody’s hands. She glanced behind her to see Quinn give a brief wave, letting her know the note was from him. She’d already guessed it was, because the paper was intricately folded—origami was something Quinn liked to do with his secret messages. This one looked like a square,but when Cody pulled out the tucked corners, the paper unfolded into a large sheet of paper. Inside, Quinn had written a code.
Cody recognized it immediately as the zigzag code, because at the very end was the letter
V
, which stood for “zigzag.” At first glance she saw a string of random letters.
Since this was a zigzag code, she knew to divide the letters in half and write the second half underneath the first, after moving it one space to the right.
Once she’d done that, she added the zigzag lines to connect the top and bottom letters, beginning with the letter
M
.
Code Buster’s Solution found on this page
.
Cody shared the note with M.E. Tomorrow would be Saturday—her day to be with her dad—but she’d think of some reason she needed to meet with her friends. They’d have plenty of time to explore the Campanile tower on the Berkeley campus and see if they could find more clues to the hidden diamonds—or the diamonds themselves. The girls finger-spelled
OK
to Quinn and Luke.
Out of the corner of her eye, Cody saw a hand trying to imitate her message.
Matt. He’d caught her signal.
Uh-oh. Now that he knew the Code Busters were up to something, he’d be all up in their faces, asking questions and trying to trick them into spilling their plans.
He might even follow them to the campus …
Cody knew they’d better be on the lookout tomorrow, or Matt the Brat might be the one to find the lost diamonds.
Y ou’re late,” Quinn said, checking his military watch. Cody had just arrived at the Campanile tower on the University of California, Berkeley, campus at two minutes past ten. She’d asked her dad if he’d drive her to the campus to meet up with the Code Busters for a special project they’d been working on. She knew he’d let her go if herplans had anything to do with schoolwork. She’d just failed to mention that this was extracurricular.
M.E. and Luke grinned at Cody. They all knew Quinn was a fanatic about time. They usually just ignored his comments.
“Sorry. My dad has been acting strangely lately. He keeps asking me weird questions, and hovering. He even asked if I wanted him to come along today,” Cody said, rolling her eyes. She was dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved white T-shirt, as well as her usual red hoodie, ready for the morning chill that was rapidly burning off. She looked at M.E. in her shorts-over-tights outfit and extra-long T-shirt that featured a picture of Tigger. Nothing matched, especially not with the Alcatraz socks she’d pulled on over the tights. But Cody knew M.E. didn’t care. Her friend enjoyed being different from everyone else. In Berkeley, nearly everyone seemed to have their own style.
Quinn wore khaki slacks and a button-downmadras shirt, while Luke was dressed in his usual sweats with the New Orleans Saints logo. New Orleans was Luke’s hometown, but he’d moved to Berkeley to live with his
grand-mère
after the big flood. He never talked about his parents, who had died in the flood, and none of the Code Busters asked him about it.
Cody noticed a note in Quinn’s hand.
“What’s that?” she asked, nodding toward it.
“I was going to leave you a coded message, in case you were late,” Quinn said.
“What does it say?” Cody asked.
Quinn offered her a brochure about the
On the ride home, Ms. Stad made sure Cody and M.E. were seated separately from Quinn and Luke—no doubt as punishment for their sneaking off together in the cell block during the ranger’s talk.
No biggie
, Cody thought. The Code Busters had ways of communicating, even from a distance.
Sure enough, a few minutes later a folded note arrived in Cody’s hands. She glanced behind her to see Quinn give a brief wave, letting her know the note was from him. She’d already guessed it was, because the paper was intricately folded—origami was something Quinn liked to do with his secret messages. This one looked like a square,but when Cody pulled out the tucked corners, the paper unfolded into a large sheet of paper. Inside, Quinn had written a code.
Cody recognized it immediately as the zigzag code, because at the very end was the letter
V
, which stood for “zigzag.” At first glance she saw a string of random letters.
Since this was a zigzag code, she knew to divide the letters in half and write the second half underneath the first, after moving it one space to the right.
Once she’d done that, she added the zigzag lines to connect the top and bottom letters, beginning with the letter
M
.
Code Buster’s Solution found on this page
.
Cody shared the note with M.E. Tomorrow would be Saturday—her day to be with her dad—but she’d think of some reason she needed to meet with her friends. They’d have plenty of time to explore the Campanile tower on the Berkeley campus and see if they could find more clues to the hidden diamonds—or the diamonds themselves. The girls finger-spelled
OK
to Quinn and Luke.
Out of the corner of her eye, Cody saw a hand trying to imitate her message.
Matt. He’d caught her signal.
Uh-oh. Now that he knew the Code Busters were up to something, he’d be all up in their faces, asking questions and trying to trick them into spilling their plans.
He might even follow them to the campus …
Cody knew they’d better be on the lookout tomorrow, or Matt the Brat might be the one to find the lost diamonds.
Y ou’re late,” Quinn said, checking his military watch. Cody had just arrived at the Campanile tower on the University of California, Berkeley, campus at two minutes past ten. She’d asked her dad if he’d drive her to the campus to meet up with the Code Busters for a special project they’d been working on. She knew he’d let her go if herplans had anything to do with schoolwork. She’d just failed to mention that this was extracurricular.
M.E. and Luke grinned at Cody. They all knew Quinn was a fanatic about time. They usually just ignored his comments.
“Sorry. My dad has been acting strangely lately. He keeps asking me weird questions, and hovering. He even asked if I wanted him to come along today,” Cody said, rolling her eyes. She was dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved white T-shirt, as well as her usual red hoodie, ready for the morning chill that was rapidly burning off. She looked at M.E. in her shorts-over-tights outfit and extra-long T-shirt that featured a picture of Tigger. Nothing matched, especially not with the Alcatraz socks she’d pulled on over the tights. But Cody knew M.E. didn’t care. Her friend enjoyed being different from everyone else. In Berkeley, nearly everyone seemed to have their own style.
Quinn wore khaki slacks and a button-downmadras shirt, while Luke was dressed in his usual sweats with the New Orleans Saints logo. New Orleans was Luke’s hometown, but he’d moved to Berkeley to live with his
grand-mère
after the big flood. He never talked about his parents, who had died in the flood, and none of the Code Busters asked him about it.
Cody noticed a note in Quinn’s hand.
“What’s that?” she asked, nodding toward it.
“I was going to leave you a coded message, in case you were late,” Quinn said.
“What does it say?” Cody asked.
Quinn offered her a brochure about the
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