Chapter 4
See, only a Leslie Howards and Maggie Lane fan like me would know…the two were both fluent in codes and were very close friends. They went hiking at Woodlawn ridge for the weekend once too, and they haven’t been seen since. But the date on this book, one reading 4/7/1997 was months after the disappearance. And how could missing people possibly publish a book? First off, I skimmed through the pages. There was some pretty interesting stuff in there about Woodlawn, but zilch about the missing people on the hill, which was a bit weird from missing people themselves! I knew they sometimes had codes in their books, and I spotted something very simple but definitely worth noticing in the back of the book, the author’s note. The page number was underlined twice, unlike all of the previous ones. I wondered…
Author’s note
Ding Dong! Ingrid Woodlawn, who the park was named for, is there! Has anyone hiked the ridge lately? We would feel so strangely trapped if we didn’t hike! We hope you enjoyed following us through the tour of Woodlawn Park and will visit! “On top of the world!” I said when we climbed to Woodlawn Ridge! Beep Beep! Oops, we have to go now.
It wasn’t just that the sentences didn’t flow; it was the ringing that really puzzled me. What kind of an author would include that in their book? I tried to think of a code with ringing in it, and I think I figured it out. It’s a code called the Sebald Code, and it starts when a bell is sounded. Then, you count every tenth word until another bell rings and then you have your message. I wanted to try it with the note so I read over it and found the code words…
Author’s note
Ding Dong! Ingrid Woodlawn, who the park was named for, is there! Has anyone hiked the ridge lately? We would feel so strangely trapped if we didn’t hike! We hope you enjoyed following us through the tour of Woodlawn Park and will visit! “On top of the world!” I said when we climbed to Woodlawn Ridge! Beep Beep! Oops, we have to go now.
That says: Ingrid Woodlawn has trapped us on Woodlawn Ridge (for you novice code readers out there.)
This scared me. If this happened to them, than is that what happened to all of the other victims, including Heather? I decided that the next day I would solve the mystery once and for all, after I did a little research that is. The first thing I searched on the computer was Ingrid Woodlawn, no surprise, she kept showing up everywhere. The search showed an actress from the seventies with blond, punk rocker hair and a familiar face. She also owned Woodlawn, and that wasn’t a surprise either. She almost reminded me of the women at Woodlawn with the cheap extensions. After a goodnights sleep, tomorrow would be the day.
