Treasure Hunters: Book of Secrets

Chapter Six: Playing With Ciphers

"Bacon." Riley typed the potential keyword into the cipher decoder program. Nothing. "Naw, that's stupid."

"You never know." Alex crossed out the word. The list seemed never ending.

"Keep trying," urged Ben.

"You want to take over?" sighed Riley.

In the next room over, Patrick sat in his bathrobe watching footage of Doctor Nichols announcing the discovery of the page online, the doctor thoroughly thanking the Wilkinson family for unveiling this new conspirator.

"Dad would you stop watching that, it's not helping," Alex said. She and Ben came to check on their father. She closed the laptop.

"It's on the internet," Patrick sighed. "No stopping it now."

"We know the truth," said Ben. "That's all that matters. You heard the story from Grandpa Charles."

"But that's a story. This guy's got evidence, he has everything. We have a story, we have nothing." He sighed heavily. "For a brief moment the Gates family could look up and hold our heads high. Now were just a bunch of crazies again."

"But we're not liars," Ben said firmly. "Look, Wilkinson's saying that Thomas Gates is a mastermind in one of the darkest hours of U.S. history, and he burned the diary page to try and cover that up." He spoke mockingly. "But we know that he burned that page to keep Booth's men from finding the treasure. And there's only one way to prove it."

"You've got to find the treasure."

"We've got to find the treasure! And you're going to help. So come on, let's here the story again."

Patrick sighed but obeyed. "Grandpa heard his father say 'treasure map'," he began, recalling the story. "Then there was a commotion-"

"Yeah we got all that. Was there anything else? Anything after that? Something he said, something he did, anything at all?"

Patrick thought for a moment. Then his face brightened with realization. "Wait a minute."

"What?"

Patrick leaned in closer, his son and daughter doing the same. "He took his son's hand, looked him in the eye, and with his dying breath said, 'the debt that all men pay'."

"The debt that all men pay," repeated Ben.

"The debt everyone pays," Alex interpreted further.

"The debt Thomas paid," Patrick finalized. "His death."

"Well that's a five letter word." Ben jumped up and hurried back into the dining room where Riley was still trying to figure out the key word.

"Ri, try death!" Alex called, she and her father following.

"What?"

"Death, try death, it's the debt all pay." Now Ben, Alex, and Patrick all crowded around Riley and his computer. He tried the word, a series of jumbled letters appearing. Now they were getting somewhere.

"Laba - lab, labola - it's gibberish," Riley concluded.

"Laboulaye!" cried Ben.

"Laboulaye!" his father and sister chorused.

"Laboulaye!" Riley joined in. "What is it?"

"It's a who, Édouard Laboulaye," Ben explained while beginning to rush around. "Where's the phone?"

"I don't know Son, I can't find anything in this mess," said Patrick, nodding to the clutter that was his dining room.

"It's temporary until I find a new place."

"Find the old one, I like her."

Finally, Ben located the phone and called Abigail. "We cracked the cipher!" he announced, all giddy and excited, as soon as she answered. "It's Laboulaye!" He listened to her response. "Or, maybe, there was a treasure map like Thomas said there was and Laboulaye had it. We've only got a partial on the next word, L, A, D." He began pacing as he usually did when thinking about history.

"Aladdin! Aladdin?" tried Riley.

"Lady!" cried Alex.

"Thank you Little Sis!" cheered Ben. "Laboulaye Lady. Do you know what Laboulaye was planning around the time of the assassination?" he asked into the phone. "There's a map, or a clue to a map, on the Statue-" There was a click and the line went dead. He scoffed and shook his head in disbelief. "She hung up on me."

"She took your call, that was good," said Patrick.

"What statue?" asked Riley.

"Of Liberty," answered Alex.

He absorbed this. "Okay, wait. You're saying that there's a map on the Statue of Liberty? That's almost even more crazy than the Declaration of Independence!"

"Laboulaye was a Mason, they built clues into everything," explained Patrick.

"Hey, did you learn that from my book?"

There was an awkward pause. "So, the only question now is which Statue," Patrick said, breaking the silence.

"Exactly! Wait, is there more than one?"

Patrick looked discouraged and Alex couldn't help but giggle. Her father was no doubt a little unsure of the man she was dating's lack of history knowledge. "Yes Riley. There are three, actually. There's the one in New York, one in the Luxembourg Garden-"

"But he only referred to one as his lady," said Alex, an excited glint in her eyes.

"Okay, and where's that one?"

Brother and sister exchanged an excited glance. "We're going to Paris," said Alex.

Ben nodded. "We're going to Paris."

(Yay, Paris here we come! ;) Haha thanks so much for reading, hope you enjoyed!)