Cassiopeia

Caesar Shift

Monday 10th November 1958

It felt strange to meet Mix at the police station, the dark gloomy building with its tainted black windows and wide entrance door looked out of place next to Mix's presence. Earth almost wanted to ask him to turn back but Mix was adamant about helping with the case and really it wouldn't hurt to have a doctor with them on board. "Are you ready?" Earth asked, Mix was calm next to him, but he could also tell by how much he was sticking next to his side, that Mix was nervous about this too but still nodded in answer. Earth's office was located on the third floor, as was Off's, while Louis belonged to the research and information department.

Walking through the corridors Earth immediately noticed the looks directed their way, the looks of confusion as Mix made his way past Earth- he was the first person Earth brought to the station since that day three months ago. To his credit Mix didn't appear uncomfortable instead he met each person that looked at him with a smile and acknowledgement some turning their heads quickly at being caught staring. There was something about wanting to keep Mix away from all the looks that made Earth frustrated with himself, increasing his pace to get to their floor faster, Mix following suit.

Through the last set of doors leading to Earth's department, both Louis and Off were already present, both of them hunched over what looked like a document on the desk. Both of them were too occupied to notice that Earth and Mix were near them before Earth took it upon himself to tap on Off's shoulders. He knew that Off was very hyper-alert to touch so he expected the quick turn of Off's arm making sure to step back from getting hit, "Earth you know that I automatically do that, will you ever stop? Off whined now turning back to face him. "I will stop when you actually successfully hit me" Earth teased back, now that they had gotten their attention, he couldn't help but bring Mix closer to him, the feeling of the coat he wore enough to ground him as it brushed against Earth's side. "Mix has agreed to help us with the case, he has worked closely as a psychiatrist with troubled clients, and he will help us in tracking our killer's motive", Earth felt like he had said all that in one breathe gauging for Off's and Louis's reaction, but they said nothing. "I will try my best to help you from my experience" Mix interjected taking the lead and putting his hand out for the others to shake. They could count it as a step in the right direction when finally, both of them did, and would you look at that Off gave Mix a smile too in answer to his.

"So, about the notes, Louis did you figure it out what they said?" Earth said, it was still a bit awkward in the office and the sooner they could get to work the sooner it would be gone. Louis nodded but not before looking again at Mix "Can we trust him with this? it's crucial information". Earth would give it to him, Mix was excellent in these situations remaining calm and smiling instead, if it were him he knew that he would be less patient "What's with all these questions? If I trust him as your superior then automatically you must trust him too" Earth scoffed, his tone sounded annoyed, but he couldn't care, it was his judgement that was being questioned right now. At this Louis finally looked shy directing his gaze to the floor before muttering an apology to Mix, this time bringing the notes from the victims in front of him to explain immediately. "So, the first note was actually easy to figure out but since the note was just a word I couldn't be for certain that I did it right but now with the other two notes together there is no other answer as to what the killer used: Caesar Shift"

"Now it's actually one of the simplest cyphers out there, used before in roman times- All you have to do is substitute the letter you have three positions down so that A would be written as D and B will be written as E and so on", Louis made space for the others to join near the desk, the notes from the victims next to each other. "So, if we take the first note found "ORRN" going back three positions up the alphabet it would be translated as "LOOK", while the second and third notes "DW WKH" and "BRX" would be decoded to show "At the" and "you" respectively.