sluggish and off her game. This morning, the house was deserted, and Julie didn’t know if Gwen and Marianne were still sleeping or if they were doing other things. Gwen had little respect for time in general, and could be found sleeping or awake when least expected, so Julie had learned not to assume anything.
An unopened box of chocolate-covered doughnuts beckoned her, and she thought about helping herself to one or two. She was starving, and wondered if a night of passionate lovemaking was to blame for her terrific appetite. Her manners wouldn’t allow her to open the doughnuts, so she rummaged through the cupboards until she found an already opened box of Lucky Charms.
She had loved that cereal since she was a little girl, though she only ever ate the marshmallows. Reaching for the box, a memory flashed through her mind.
Her mother was leaning over, a golden locket dangling from her neck to Julie’s young face. “It’s my good luck charm,” she said.
“Why is it good luck?”
“When I was fourteen, I fell in love with your father. He was eighteen, and my mother wouldn’t let me see him because he was so much older.”
“He enlisted in the Navy, and he asked my parents if he could send me letters. He didn’t want my mother to know what he was saying, so he wrote in code. Your father always loved codes,” she laughed, fingering the locket.
“He used numbers to stand for letters in the alphabet, then he made pictures around the outside of the paper with dots. The number of dots in each line stood for that letter of the alphabet.”
“That’s so cool.”
“Yes. My mother thought he was quite an artist, all those decorative lines around the page. Only I knew the truth. He hid his love for me in the designs on the page.”
Julie fingered the locket, for the first time noticing the dimpled dots that comprised its decoration. “Is this a code?” she asked, mesmerized.
“It is.”
“What does it say?”
“It says, ‘Beautiful’.” Her mother smiled and Julie thought she was indeed the most beautiful woman in the world.
Frantic now, Julie put down the box of cereal and searched the room for a piece of paper. She saw a magnetic notepad on the refrigerator and hastily reached for it.
Down the left-hand side she wrote out the letters of the alphabet; next to them she numbered one through twenty-six. Across the bottom she wrote BEAUTIFUL, then she wrote the corresponding number below each letter. Some of them were two digits. In the end, she was staring at thirteen individual numbers.
“Oh, my God, Oh, my God, Oh, my God,” she whispered to herself, staring at what she knew was the key to deciphering the code from the safe deposit box. She needed to tell Hank. She turned to head for the bedroom when a cell phone on the counter in front of her began to vibrate. She glanced at the screen.
ADMIRAL BARSTOW
Time stood still. Julie was paralyzed, betrayal surrounding her like a thick smoke. The phone continued to vibrate as panic rose up like bile. Barstow was calling Hank, and there could only be one reason for that.
He really was an errand boy for the devil.
Chapter 8
The women stopped at a Walmart for supplies and cash, taking out as much money as the ATM would allow and gathering the materials Julie needed to create the cipher wheel. Then they headed south in Hank’s SUV.
Julie was sitting in the passenger seat, which was now parked an hour and a half away from Marianne’s at the Albany airport. In her lap were twelve slices of a paper towel roll, each neatly marked into twenty-seven equal sections. The thirteenth was in her hand, along with the ruler and a pen. It was careful work, but she was nearly done.
A light green minivan pulled into the next parking spot over, and Gwen hopped out of its driver’s side door. Julie finished the last of her measuring and climbed out to join her.
“I thought a minivan was more practical, in case we needed somewhere to
An unopened box of chocolate-covered doughnuts beckoned her, and she thought about helping herself to one or two. She was starving, and wondered if a night of passionate lovemaking was to blame for her terrific appetite. Her manners wouldn’t allow her to open the doughnuts, so she rummaged through the cupboards until she found an already opened box of Lucky Charms.
She had loved that cereal since she was a little girl, though she only ever ate the marshmallows. Reaching for the box, a memory flashed through her mind.
Her mother was leaning over, a golden locket dangling from her neck to Julie’s young face. “It’s my good luck charm,” she said.
“Why is it good luck?”
“When I was fourteen, I fell in love with your father. He was eighteen, and my mother wouldn’t let me see him because he was so much older.”
“He enlisted in the Navy, and he asked my parents if he could send me letters. He didn’t want my mother to know what he was saying, so he wrote in code. Your father always loved codes,” she laughed, fingering the locket.
“He used numbers to stand for letters in the alphabet, then he made pictures around the outside of the paper with dots. The number of dots in each line stood for that letter of the alphabet.”
“That’s so cool.”
“Yes. My mother thought he was quite an artist, all those decorative lines around the page. Only I knew the truth. He hid his love for me in the designs on the page.”
Julie fingered the locket, for the first time noticing the dimpled dots that comprised its decoration. “Is this a code?” she asked, mesmerized.
“It is.”
“What does it say?”
“It says, ‘Beautiful’.” Her mother smiled and Julie thought she was indeed the most beautiful woman in the world.
Frantic now, Julie put down the box of cereal and searched the room for a piece of paper. She saw a magnetic notepad on the refrigerator and hastily reached for it.
Down the left-hand side she wrote out the letters of the alphabet; next to them she numbered one through twenty-six. Across the bottom she wrote BEAUTIFUL, then she wrote the corresponding number below each letter. Some of them were two digits. In the end, she was staring at thirteen individual numbers.
“Oh, my God, Oh, my God, Oh, my God,” she whispered to herself, staring at what she knew was the key to deciphering the code from the safe deposit box. She needed to tell Hank. She turned to head for the bedroom when a cell phone on the counter in front of her began to vibrate. She glanced at the screen.
ADMIRAL BARSTOW
Time stood still. Julie was paralyzed, betrayal surrounding her like a thick smoke. The phone continued to vibrate as panic rose up like bile. Barstow was calling Hank, and there could only be one reason for that.
He really was an errand boy for the devil.
Chapter 8
The women stopped at a Walmart for supplies and cash, taking out as much money as the ATM would allow and gathering the materials Julie needed to create the cipher wheel. Then they headed south in Hank’s SUV.
Julie was sitting in the passenger seat, which was now parked an hour and a half away from Marianne’s at the Albany airport. In her lap were twelve slices of a paper towel roll, each neatly marked into twenty-seven equal sections. The thirteenth was in her hand, along with the ruler and a pen. It was careful work, but she was nearly done.
A light green minivan pulled into the next parking spot over, and Gwen hopped out of its driver’s side door. Julie finished the last of her measuring and climbed out to join her.
“I thought a minivan was more practical, in case we needed somewhere to
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