While Justice Sleeps(63)
“Chessdynamo.com. In the square.” Avery rushed around the desk to take her seat. Quickly, she found the online game. A three-dimensional pawn floated in midair, and a box requested the user’s name. “It couldn’t be this easy.”
Jared and Noah circled around to watch as she typed WHTW5730 into the username box. When asked for the password, she tried Jared and his birthdate again. The screen refused her entry. She refreshed the screen, staring as though the computer would reveal its secrets. Or Wynn’s. He wanted her to find something, so he wouldn’t make the clues impossible. She chewed on her lip and sifted through what he’d already revealed. Mentally crossing her fingers, she typed, AniIsintheRiver.
The log-in pane disappeared, offering her admittance.
“You’re in!” announced Noah. “But what are you looking for?”
“He once mentioned this game to me for a reason. Perhaps if I look at the matches they played, it will tell me something. Makes as much sense as anything else he’s done.” An avatar asked if she wanted to return to a game already in progress. Unsure of her next move, she selected yes. A game screen opened, offering her a seat at a table.
“Play,” Jared urged quietly.
“Okay.” A countdown clock showed that the game had been stalled for several weeks, awaiting the next move. “I don’t think his opponent is coming back.”
Jared leaned closer, studying the screen. “I never cared much for the game, even though the judge tried to teach me. Can you tell which position he was playing?”
She tried to move a black pawn, but nothing happened. “He’s White. His move.” She moved a white pawn, and the screen darkened. INVALID MOVE. Avery frowned at the screen. “That move was legal.” With the mouse, she tried to advance the pawn a second time, and again the screen denied her. “I don’t understand. I’m trying to move my pawn to f4, but it won’t allow it.”
Noah asked, “F4?”
“The position on the board. Chess players keep track of moves that way. Algebraic notation—denotes the row and the space.”
“Never realized chess players were so anal.”
“Anal, but slow. Two days, and I’m no closer to knowing what he wanted and how I’m supposed to find it.” She shut her eyes and sighed. “Justice Wynn leads me to a chess game that I can’t play with clues that mean nothing. But he remembered that I liked chemistry and have an eidetic memory.”
“You’re getting punch-drunk, Avery,” Jared warned. “Why don’t we call it a night? Come at this again in the morning. We can talk about chemistry and your memory then.”
A thought teased at her. She turned her chair back toward the screen, musing aloud. “He remembered that I studied chemistry. That’s why I knew how to burn the flash paper.”
Jared frowned. “Flash paper? What are you talking about?”
“Earlier today, before the thieves clocked me. He’d put a sheet of flammable paper in his safe and a lighter. The paper had a series of numbers and letters and punctuation, but it made no sense. It looked familiar, but not quite.”
“Do you remember it?” Jared asked.
“Sure.” She turned back to the computer and opened a word processing program. Typing quickly, she’d soon re-created the entire sequence:
e4c5Gf3d6Ob5+Od7Oxd7+Vxd7c4Gc6Gc3Gf600g6d4cxd4Gxd4Og7Gde2Ve6!?Gd5Vxe4Gc7+Rd7Gxa8Vxc4Gb6+axb6Gc3Ha8a4Ge4Gxe4Vxe4Vb3f5Og5Vb4Vf7Oe5h3Hxa4Hxa4Vxa4Vxh7Oxb2Vxg6Ve4Vf7Od4Vb3f4Vf7Oe5h4b5h5Vc4Vf5+Ve6Vxe6+Rxe6g3fxg3fxg3b4Of4Od4+Rh1!b3g4Rd5g5e6h6Ge7Hd1e5Oe3Rc4Oxd4exd4Rg2b2Rf3Rc3h7Gg6Re4Rc2Hh1Rf5b1=VHxb1Rxb1Rxg6d2h8=Vd1=VVh7b5?!Rf6+Rb2Vh2+Ra1Vf4b4?Vxb4Vf3+Rg7d5Vd4+Rb1g6Ve4Vg1+Rb2Vf2+Rc1Rf6d4g71–0
Spinning back around, she pointed to the screen. “This is what was on the paper.”
“You remembered all this? Never mind.” Jared leaned in close and read the information. “This looks like it could be computer code, but not in any language I know.”
Looking at it again, Avery rubbed at her forehead. “I know what you mean. When I first saw it, I thought it reminded me of chess notations, but some of the letters are wrong.”
Noah laughed. “That’s chess?”
“Almost.” Avery smiled. “If it were really algebraic notations, this sequence records a whole game.” She pointed to the first part of the message. “See, here? E4c5? It’s an opening chess move, where the pawns from either side advance two squares forward. But players don’t use a P for pawn, and the two moves would be separated by a space.” Demonstrating, she inserted the space and then hit enter after the c5. “Each pair of moves would be numbered. This is the opening sequence.”
He pointed to the second line. “Then what’s the G?”
Avery shook her head. “I don’t know. There is no G in chess notations. The pieces are K, Q, R, B, and N. King, queen, rook, bishop, and knight. The pawns don’t get letters.”
“Why is the knight an N?”
“Because the king is most important, and he gets the K. Some players use Kt for knight, but that’s uncommon.”
“Let me check something,” Jared said, reaching around Avery for the keyboard. She slid her chair sideways, but he was already busy typing. He opened a page and scrolled down. “Avery, what do you think?”