Tightrope (Burning Cove #3)(78)

Matthias held out his hand. “Let me see that notebook.”

Luther handed it to him without a word. Amalie leaned over Matthias’s shoulder to get a look.

“It is poetry,” Amalie said.

Matthias paused to read some lines aloud.

    The light of the August night strikes sharp and clear;

My senses are shattered by bolts of fire that crash and sear.

I swim into the deepest shadows, drowning on the midnight tide . . .



“Not exactly uplifting imagery,” Raina said.

“I’m no judge of poetry,” Amalie said, “but those sound like the words of a doomed soul. You were right about Calloway. He was driven by a passion for revenge.”

“I think,” Matthias said, “we had better not leap to the conclusion that Jasper Calloway wrote depressing poetry in his spare time.”

Luther’s brows rose. “Think those poems are written in a code?”

“Given what we know about Calloway’s career, that’s a definite possibility,” Matthias said.

“Maybe we could use the Ares machine to decode it?” Raina suggested.

Matthias turned a few more pages. “I don’t think so. There are dates on each of these poems. One was written last month but the earliest entries go back almost four years. The Ares machine is a prototype that didn’t even exist until quite recently, so most of these poems could not have been encrypted on it.”

Amalie looked at Luther. “Can I assume that notebook will go to your old agency?”

Luther did not respond immediately. Amalie and the others awaited his verdict in silence.

“The notebook stays here, at least for now,” he said. “We have to figure out what Calloway meant by a sequel. At the moment, these poems are our only lead.”

“If it is a codebook, we need to break the encryption, and we need to do it fast,” Matthias said.

“Yes,” Luther said. “And, frankly, I don’t trust the Accounting Department to do it.”

“Why not?” Raina asked.

“For one thing, it’s unlikely that they will have people who can handle the job.” Luther smiled a cold smile. “They fired all the best analysts when they fired my team.”

Raina was amused. “The best code breakers worked for you?”

“It wasn’t as if there were a lot of career opportunities for people who have a knack for that sort of work,” Luther said. “The field of cryptography got a bad reputation after Stimson, Hoover’s secretary of state, found out about the Cipher Bureau and closed it down with the immortal words Gentlemen do not read each other’s mail. So, yes, I had my pick of talented agents.”

“Do you think Henry L. Stimson actually said that line about gentlemen not reading each other’s mail?” Raina asked. “It sounds like movie dialogue.”

“Who knows?” Luther said. “It doesn’t matter now.”

“If a code was used to write those poems, do you think you can break it?” Amalie asked.

“I doubt if I can,” Luther said. “Not my particular talent.”

“I’m good at spotting verbal lies,” Matthias said, “but I’m not an expert on encryption.”

Luther tapped a finger against the notebook. “I know someone who might be able to tell us if the poems are encrypted. He could probably break the code, as well. But he disappeared after we were all let go. I’ve lost track of him.”

“I might be able to locate him for you,” Raina said. “That’s one of my talents.”

Luther smiled. “It is indeed.”

“Hanging on to that notebook could lead to more trouble,” Amalie warned.

“The problem,” Luther said gently, “is that trouble may already be heading our way.”

Amalie took a breath. “What do you mean?”

It was Matthias who answered.

“We know that Jasper Calloway operated out here on the West Coast and that he most likely used Hollywood as his base,” he said. “Odds are good that if he did leave some unfinished plan behind, it was slated to take place out here, not back east.”

“The West Coast is our territory,” Luther said. “We know it. The Accounting Department doesn’t. I should add that there is one other reason why I think it would be a good idea to keep quiet about this notebook, at least for now.”

“What’s that?” Raina asked.

Luther’s eyes darkened with cold fire. “I’ve got the same question about Smith’s career in Hollywood that Amalie has. How was he able to operate undetected for so long?”

Matthias looked at him. “You’re thinking he may have had some assistance from someone buried deep within one of the intelligence agencies. Maybe someone inside the Accounting Department.”

“I think there is a high probability of that, yes,” Luther said.

Amalie looked at the faces of the others. None of them appeared shocked or even mildly stunned.

“I guess I’m the na?ve one here,” she said. She looked at Luther. “Let me get this straight. You’re wondering if the head of the Accounting Department can be trusted?”

“The double agent, if there is one, is more likely to be someone working for him, an individual he believes is trustworthy,” Luther said. “There is also the possibility I’m wrong about all of this. But I don’t think we can afford to take any chances with the notebook. So, for now, it stays in my safe here at the Paradise, and we will agree that none of us will speak about it to anyone who is not in this room.”