system’s been around for centuries. It was invented by an Austrian historian named Eytzinger and later popularised by de Sosa and Stradonitz. Basically, it’s a construct that allows us to show someone’s ancestry in text form, either as a numbered list or even as a binary table.”
Tayte put his finger on the chart entry for Julian Davenport. “Using the system, everyone on this chart has a unique reference number in relation to the subject.” He turned to Fable. “Your murder victim in this case.”
“How does it work?” the woman in the dogtooth suit asked.
Tayte smiled. “The beauty really lies in its simplicity. The subject is always number one. The father is double that and the mother is double plus one.” Tayte started writing numbers against the names. “So Davenport’s father is number two on the chart. His mother is number three.” He wrote the numbers in. “His paternal grandmother will be number five - that’s twice the father plus one. And his paternal great-grandmother will be twice that plus one again, which makes her number eleven. It’s easy once you get the hang of it.”
The man with the nasal voice was over his shoulder. “So this three-digit number. Who does it point to?”
“Well, the numbers haven’t been written in and it would take a while to do that,” Tayte said. “But fortunately the system provides us with an easy way to get there. I mentioned a binary table a moment ago.”
Heads nodded.
“If we convert this three-digit number to binary we can use that number to point directly to someone on the chart.” Tayte looked around. “Anyone know the binary conversion for five hundred ninety-four?”
The only man in the room who hadn’t spoken yet - a big man with a military style buzz-cut - picked up the phone at the end of the table and hit a couple of buttons.
“I need a numeric conversion,” he said in a baritone voice. “Decimal to binary. Five hundred and ninety-four.” He nodded then looked at Tayte. “Get your pencil ready.”
Tayte wrote the numbers down as the man called them out.
“One-zero-zero-one-zero-one-zero-zero-one-zero. Okay, got it. Thanks.”
Tayte showed everyone what the number looked like written in binary: 1001010010. “The first time I saw this,” he said. “I thought it was a magic trick. As I’ve said, the leading digit is always number one and represents the subject. Then a zero translates to ‘F’ for father and a one is ‘M’ for mother. Another way to look at it is like this.” He scratched the first digit and wrote, ‘ FFMFMFFMF ’.
He went back to the chart. “So our number five hundred ninety-four is Julian Davenport’s mother’s, mother’s, father’s, mother’s, father’s, mother’s, mother’s, father’s, mother.” He traced a finger across the generations as he spoke, arriving at an entry beside which he wrote the number, ‘594’. “That’s nine generations from the subject. A direct line of descent to a Reverend Charles Naismith. Born 1668. Died 1708. When Marcus wrote that number down it’s like he drew a big red circle around Naismith’s name.”
Jean scoffed. “It would have been easier if he had.”
“I guess he didn’t want to draw too much attention to it,” Tayte said. “It must be important though and I wouldn’t mind betting our man Naismith also appears on the other chart.”
He checked. The name was there and easy to find now he had the dates. Naismith had twin sons according to the charts. Julian Davenport was descended from one, Douglas Jones from the other.
“If you want to know what Marcus Brown was working on,” Tayte continued, “then the Reverend Naismith is your way in.” He sat back in his chair. “Now is anyone going to tell me why MI5 are so interested in his murder?”
The woman in the dogtooth suit answered. “We
Tayte put his finger on the chart entry for Julian Davenport. “Using the system, everyone on this chart has a unique reference number in relation to the subject.” He turned to Fable. “Your murder victim in this case.”
“How does it work?” the woman in the dogtooth suit asked.
Tayte smiled. “The beauty really lies in its simplicity. The subject is always number one. The father is double that and the mother is double plus one.” Tayte started writing numbers against the names. “So Davenport’s father is number two on the chart. His mother is number three.” He wrote the numbers in. “His paternal grandmother will be number five - that’s twice the father plus one. And his paternal great-grandmother will be twice that plus one again, which makes her number eleven. It’s easy once you get the hang of it.”
The man with the nasal voice was over his shoulder. “So this three-digit number. Who does it point to?”
“Well, the numbers haven’t been written in and it would take a while to do that,” Tayte said. “But fortunately the system provides us with an easy way to get there. I mentioned a binary table a moment ago.”
Heads nodded.
“If we convert this three-digit number to binary we can use that number to point directly to someone on the chart.” Tayte looked around. “Anyone know the binary conversion for five hundred ninety-four?”
The only man in the room who hadn’t spoken yet - a big man with a military style buzz-cut - picked up the phone at the end of the table and hit a couple of buttons.
“I need a numeric conversion,” he said in a baritone voice. “Decimal to binary. Five hundred and ninety-four.” He nodded then looked at Tayte. “Get your pencil ready.”
Tayte wrote the numbers down as the man called them out.
“One-zero-zero-one-zero-one-zero-zero-one-zero. Okay, got it. Thanks.”
Tayte showed everyone what the number looked like written in binary: 1001010010. “The first time I saw this,” he said. “I thought it was a magic trick. As I’ve said, the leading digit is always number one and represents the subject. Then a zero translates to ‘F’ for father and a one is ‘M’ for mother. Another way to look at it is like this.” He scratched the first digit and wrote, ‘ FFMFMFFMF ’.
He went back to the chart. “So our number five hundred ninety-four is Julian Davenport’s mother’s, mother’s, father’s, mother’s, father’s, mother’s, mother’s, father’s, mother.” He traced a finger across the generations as he spoke, arriving at an entry beside which he wrote the number, ‘594’. “That’s nine generations from the subject. A direct line of descent to a Reverend Charles Naismith. Born 1668. Died 1708. When Marcus wrote that number down it’s like he drew a big red circle around Naismith’s name.”
Jean scoffed. “It would have been easier if he had.”
“I guess he didn’t want to draw too much attention to it,” Tayte said. “It must be important though and I wouldn’t mind betting our man Naismith also appears on the other chart.”
He checked. The name was there and easy to find now he had the dates. Naismith had twin sons according to the charts. Julian Davenport was descended from one, Douglas Jones from the other.
“If you want to know what Marcus Brown was working on,” Tayte continued, “then the Reverend Naismith is your way in.” He sat back in his chair. “Now is anyone going to tell me why MI5 are so interested in his murder?”
The woman in the dogtooth suit answered. “We
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