Read The Haunted Lighthouse Online
Authors: Penny Warner
The Haunted Lighthouse (15 page)
The Code Busters nodded.
The same waiter who had waited on them earlier—Delmar Morris—appeared and stood at attention, once again holding his hands together in front of him. Cody noticed the ring again and wondered if it was a university class ring, like her dad’s.
“So, you’re back for more lemonade and french fries,” the waiter said, a small smile playing at his lips. “And you’ve brought a guest?”
“This is my dad,” Cody said glumly.
“A pleasure to meet you, sir. What can I get for you all this time? Another round?”
“How about lunch?” Mr. Jones asked the others.
They nodded vigorously; they were all very hungry after having only a few fries and a drink earlier.
“How about five cheeseburgers,” Mr. Jones suggested to the kids. They nodded.
The waiter bowed slightly, then asked, “Did you
find the laundry chute?”
Cody shook her head. “You were right. They’re gone, except for an opening in the wall that’s been sealed up.”
“But we found a message there,” Quinn spoke up.
“Really?” the waiter asked. “A message?”
“Yeah,” Luke said. “There was a drawing and the number four twenty-two—the same number as the haunted hotel room. When we got to the room, we realized that the drawing was of the chandelier in that room. We thought maybe there were diamonds hidden in there …” Luke trailed off.
“Ah, the diamonds,” the waiter mused. “You’re referring to that story I heard as a kid. When my father was the maintenance man back then, there was a fellow who insisted on staying in the haunted room—Room Four twenty-two—and paid quite a lot extra for it, I understand. The next day, my father was sent to the room to replace the chandelier. When he arrived, he found the fixture had
been completely removed from the ceiling and had vanished, along with the mysterious fellow. He had to install a new one—not half as nice as the original. And he didn’t like being in that room. The ghost rumors, you know.”
“Did he see the ghost of the little girl?” M.E. asked.
“No—at least, he never mentioned it.”
“What about the diamonds?” Luke asked.
“He didn’t see any diamonds, but he found a crystal from the old chandelier, buried in the carpet. He had it made into a ring as a memento of the biggest theft ever to occur at the Claremont.” The waiter held up his hand. “He gave it to me before he died. I plan to give it to my son someday.”
Cody blinked when she saw the ring. The crystal in the middle of the bronze setting sparkled in the light. Could it be …?
“Well, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll get those cheeseburgers going.” The waiter hurried off.
Cody looked at the others. “Guys!” she whispered. “Did you see that ring on his pinkie finger?”
“Yeah, what of it?” Quinn asked.
Luke turned to Cody. “You don’t think …”
M.E.’s eyes brightened. “Do you think it could be?”
Cody’s dad held his hands up. “Whoa. Wait a minute. What are you kids talking about?”
“His ring!” Cody said. “What if it’s not a crystal, but a real diamond that was hidden in the old chandelier?”
The waiter returned with their drinks. As he set them in front of each place, the kids couldn’t take their eyes off his ring. After he placed the last drink on the table, Mr. Jones leaned over to read the older man’s name tag, then said, “Excuse me, Mr. Morris, have you ever had that ring appraised?”
The waiter chuckled. “Oh, no. It just has sentimental value, from my dad. I’m sure it has no monetary value.”
Mr. Jones met the waiter’s eyes. “I highly recommend that you do.”
The waiter’s eyes fluttered as he looked down at his ring. He cocked his head, smiled, and left the table.
Cody grinned at her dad. Something good might come out of this after all.
A few days later, Mr. Jones arrived unexpectedly at Cody’s mother’s house. The Code Busters were studying in Cody’s room when he entered. Quinn was on the floor, working on a math paper. Luke sat in the beanbag chair, reading a skateboarding magazine. M.E. was at the computer, and Cody lay on her stomach on her bed, looking over her spelling words.
“Hi, Dad!” Cody said. “What are you doing here?”
“Hey, can’t a dad come see his daughter and her code-busting friends when he wants to?” he asked.
“Uh … sure, I guess. So what’s up?”
Mr. Jones sat on the edge of her bed.
“I got a call,” he said.
Uh-oh
, Cody thought. More fallout from their misadventure over the weekend. She tensed up, waiting for the bad news, certain her mother would ground her until she turned eighteen. “Yeah? From who?” she asked. “The hotel said they weren’t going to press charges against us, and they were actually glad that their security guards and maids had helped to capture Geoff.”
“No, not from the hotel, exactly. From the waiter, Mr. Morris.”
Cody sat up. “What did he want?”
“He had the ring appraised yesterday.”
Cody shivered with excitement. “Really?”
“You were right. The crystal turned out to be a diamond. And it’s apparently worth quite a lot of money.”
“You’re kidding!” Cody squealed. The other Code Busters high-fived at the news.
“And he wants to do something for the Code Busters, to thank you all.”
“For real?” Quinn said.
“Yes. He’s invited you all to a day of swimming at the Claremont and lunch at the Bayview Café. All the burgers and fries you can eat. And this will make you smile—he’s throwing in some tech equipment for the club.”
“Awesome!” Luke said.
“Sweet!” M.E. nearly shouted.
“How did he know where to find us?” Cody asked. “He must be a pretty good detective.”
“He remembered my name from my credit card, called me, and told me the news.”
Cody felt extremely satisfied with the results of their treasure hunt. “See, Dad? Being a Code Buster pays off.”
Mr. Jones patted her leg and stood up.
“Yeah, well, remember: snooping around in other people’s business can also get you into trouble. So
enjoy your code busting, but don’t get carried away, hear?”
“Sure, Dad,” Cody said.
“Oh, and this must’ve fallen out of your backpack for you.” He handed her a large manila envelope. “Your mom said to bring it up to you. See you guys later.” He left the kids to their studies, closing the door behind him.
Cody studied the envelope addressed to “The Code Busters.” There was no return address. She opened it and found a sheet of paper inside. There appeared to be nothing written on either side. At the bottom of the envelope, Cody spotted a pen.
She held it up.
“What is it?” M.E. asked.
“I’m not sure,” Cody answered. She uncapped the pen, then began swiping it across one side of the paper. Letters were revealed.
“It’s an invisible ink decoder!” Quinn said. “Cool! It looks like someone wrote a message on
the paper in invisible ink, and included the decoder pen! What does it say?”
Cody continued to color the paper with the pen, until all the letters were revealed. She held it up for the others to see.
“It makes no sense,” Luke said, looking at the ten-by-ten-square grid filled with random letters.
He was right, Cody thought. It didn’t make sense—yet. But four of the words jumped out at her immediately—the ones along the edges of the puzzle. She recognized it as a hidden-word puzzle. Inside the grid were strings of letters—going vertically, horizontally, and diagonally—that formed familiar words. Together the kids went to work on the puzzle, circling the words as they found them.
Soon they had a list of random words.
CARMEL
PIRATES
MISSION
TREASURE
WHERE
WANTS
THE
TO
VISIT
SEARCHED
FOR
WHO
Cody noticed the leftover letters were in alphabetical order.
“This is like an anagram of words,” M.E. said.
Cody began rearranging the words on a sheet of paper. It didn’t take her long to put the words together so they made sense.
Code Buster’s Solution found on
this page
.
“It sounds like we’re going on another field trip soon,” she exclaimed! “I’ll bet it’s from Ms. Stad.”
“Cool!” Luke said. “I love pirates. This should be fun.”
Cody looked at Luke. “Do you really think there’s a hidden treasure?”
Luke shrugged. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough!”
CODE BUSTER’S
Key Book
&
Solutions
To speak pig Latin, take the first consonant of the word, add
ay
to it, and move it to the end of the word. For example, to say “Cody” in pig Latin, you would say “ody” first, then “Cay,” to form “ody-cay.” If the word is only one syllable, like “Quinn,” use the first letter (or two) to form the end of the word, such as “inn-quay.”
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M |
| T | H | E | R | O | C | K | A | L | I | B | Q | F |
| N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
| Z | G | J | M | P | N | D | V | S | Y | U | X | W |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
| A = 4 |
| B = 8 |
| C = ( |
| D = |) |
| E = 3 |
| F = |= |
| G = 6 |
| H = # |
| I = ! |
| J = _| |
| K = |> |
| L = |_ |
| M = /\/\ |
| N = /\/ |
| O = () |
| P = |* |
| Q = (,) |
| R = |2 |
| S = $ |
| T = + |
| U = (_) |
| V = \/ |
| W = \/\/ |
| X = * |
| Y = \|/ |
| Z = 2 |
| A .- |
| B -… |
| C -.- . |
| D -. . |
| E . |
| F ..- . |
| G -- . |
| H .… |
| I . . |
| J .--- |
| K -.- |
| L .-. . |
| M -- |
| N - . |
| O --- |
| P .– . |
| Q ---.- |
| R .- . |
| S … |
| T - |
| U ..- |
| V …- |
| W .-- |
| X -̣. - |
| Y -.-- |
| Z --. . |
| A = Alpha |
| B = Bravo |
| C = Charlie |
| D = Delta |
| E = Echo |
| F = Foxtrot |
| G = Golf |
| H = Hotel |
| I = India |
| J = Juliet |
| K = Kilo |
| L = Lima |
| M = Mike |
| N = November |
| O = Oscar |
| P = Papa |
| Q = Quebec |
| R = Romeo |
| S = Sierra |
| T = Tango |
| U = Uniform |
| V = Victor |
| W = Whisker |
| X = X-ray |
| Y = Yankee |
| Z = Zulu |
| ABCD | EFGH | I J K L | MNOP | QRST | UVWXYZ |
| ZALV | DPMJ | XFNW | ORBK | SCIU | QEHTGY |
| A = .2 | B = 2 | C = 2. | D = .3 | E = 3 |
| F = 3. | G = .4 | H = 4 | I = 4. | J = .5 |
| K = 5 | L = 5. | M = .6 | N = 6 | O = 6. |
| P = .7 | Q/R = 7 | S = 7. | T = .8 | U = 8 |
| V = 8. | W = .9 | X/Y = 9 | Z = 9. | |
Sudoku:
Anagrams:
house, school, monkey, danger (or garden), finger (or fringe), forgot, spelling, scream
Pig Latin:
My parents do, too!
Cody’s e-mail message:
I dare you to visit the haunted lighthouse on Alcatraz
Finger spelling:
Mom says it’s time to go home
.
Wacky Word:
Locked up in jail
Finger spelling:
Have fun at school
.
Cryptogram:
1. Al Capone 2. Machine Gun Kelly 3. Creepy Carpis 4. Birdman 5. Doc Barker 6. Pretty Boy Floyd
Pretty Boy Floyd was never at Alcatraz
Alphanumeric code (1):
1. FIVE feet by NINE feet
.
2. SINK, COT, and TOILET
.
3. 336, and 6 SOLITARY
.
4. YES, ONE PER MONTH
.
5. TOO EXPENSIVE and RUN DOWN
.
6. PRISONERS COULDN’T TALK, so they used a TAPPING CODE
.
7. 36 TRIED, but NONE WERE SUCCESSFUL
.
8. YES. They were BUILT BY SOLDIERS
.
| W | A | T | E | R |
| C | O | O | L | |
LEET code:
CANDLE ON THE WATER
Morse code:
What do we do now?
Morse code:
S O S = Save Our Ship = Help!
Riddle:
It’s a lighthouse!
Finger spelling:
LIGHTHOUSE
Phonetic alphabet:
Ship in distress
.
Morse code:
Campanile bell tower 110 degrees
.
ABC code:
Does this clue ring a bell?
