Jenny even before she made this statement of support.
“You’re right, dear,” Tom said. “Look, Charles, we’re glad to do anything we can do to help you two.”
“You have already done more than we could expect. There’s no reason to think there will be any further involvement on your part—other than I’m sure you’ll receive several phone calls from Mrs. Breckenridge,” Charles said, laughing.
“Don’t worry. We can handle Mrs. Breckenridge. I’ll just tell her we decided on the other condo. Buying the competitor’s product is the quickest way to quiet a salesperson,” Tom said.
“Should the police contact you, simply tell the truth. You and your wife went to see the condos. You knew the Barrington name but weren’t aware that Todd had been murdered until the police told Mrs. Breckenridge.”
It was obvious that Tom and Jenny felt they had finished their adventure for the day, and there really was nothing more they could do for Charles and Carrie. They said good-bye, with a promise that they were available should they be needed forother adventures. The Picketts had no sooner left than their faithful waiter appeared.
“Here’s your check.” He was doing the final total.
“Hold on, young man,” Charles said. “We’re not finished.”
“You want something else?” he asked in astonishment. Most people were unable to eat anything additional after a Harrells burger.
“Yes, we’ll take two apple pies with cheddar cheese, two coffees, and then the check.” Charles smiled and handed him five twenties.
“Your bill is only sixty-four dollars, sir.”
“I’m aware of that. But this will cover the pie and coffee, and the rest is for you, with one catch: you bring us the pie and coffee, and you don’t appear at our table again. My wife and I want to be alone. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir. I understand. Thank you, sir.” He smiled and went off to get their order.
After the pie and coffee arrived, Carrie moved to the other side of the booth to sit next to Charles. She carefully unfolded the paper she’d removed from Todd’s program manual.
“OK, let’s see what we have,” Charles said. “We’ve fourteen sets of numbers and letters. We’ve three columns of letters broken by numbers. What do you think?”
“It could be a registration number, a policy number, or even a license number. It could be almost anything.”
“OK, let’s do the reverse. Let’s figure out what the numbers can’t be.” Charles took out his notebook.
“Sounds like a good idea. It isn’t a phone number.”
“Agreed, and it doesn’t appear to be an address unless it’s also in code.”
“It’s not a series of dates. It’s doesn’t appear to be a code for the alphabet, so it’s not a…” Carrie stopped midsentence.
“What’s the matter?”
“It might be a name. The three letters could represent someone’s initials.”
“Very clever. These could easily be initials.”
“With Todd working for his family’s business, we should think financial. What would be financial? Could it be something to do with dollars and cents, money, the green stuff?”
Charles grabbed her arm, then gave her a big kiss. “I think you have it, my little mystery sleuth.”
“What do I have? Although whatever it is, I’ll have another kiss.” Charles readily obliged.
“The letters do represent someone’s initials. The numbers after the first letter could be an account number. See how the numbers are similar, even though they’re all different?”
“It would be easy enough to find out if this matched the account number sequence from the company. Charles, do you think it’s possible that this last set of numbers represents dollars?” She was adding using her fingers. “If you assume the numbers are in thousands, we’re talking about quite a lot of money. It would have been quite a sum for young Mr. Todd to handle.”
“Well, at least that sum would help to explain Todd’s city condo. However,
“You’re right, dear,” Tom said. “Look, Charles, we’re glad to do anything we can do to help you two.”
“You have already done more than we could expect. There’s no reason to think there will be any further involvement on your part—other than I’m sure you’ll receive several phone calls from Mrs. Breckenridge,” Charles said, laughing.
“Don’t worry. We can handle Mrs. Breckenridge. I’ll just tell her we decided on the other condo. Buying the competitor’s product is the quickest way to quiet a salesperson,” Tom said.
“Should the police contact you, simply tell the truth. You and your wife went to see the condos. You knew the Barrington name but weren’t aware that Todd had been murdered until the police told Mrs. Breckenridge.”
It was obvious that Tom and Jenny felt they had finished their adventure for the day, and there really was nothing more they could do for Charles and Carrie. They said good-bye, with a promise that they were available should they be needed forother adventures. The Picketts had no sooner left than their faithful waiter appeared.
“Here’s your check.” He was doing the final total.
“Hold on, young man,” Charles said. “We’re not finished.”
“You want something else?” he asked in astonishment. Most people were unable to eat anything additional after a Harrells burger.
“Yes, we’ll take two apple pies with cheddar cheese, two coffees, and then the check.” Charles smiled and handed him five twenties.
“Your bill is only sixty-four dollars, sir.”
“I’m aware of that. But this will cover the pie and coffee, and the rest is for you, with one catch: you bring us the pie and coffee, and you don’t appear at our table again. My wife and I want to be alone. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir. I understand. Thank you, sir.” He smiled and went off to get their order.
After the pie and coffee arrived, Carrie moved to the other side of the booth to sit next to Charles. She carefully unfolded the paper she’d removed from Todd’s program manual.
“OK, let’s see what we have,” Charles said. “We’ve fourteen sets of numbers and letters. We’ve three columns of letters broken by numbers. What do you think?”
“It could be a registration number, a policy number, or even a license number. It could be almost anything.”
“OK, let’s do the reverse. Let’s figure out what the numbers can’t be.” Charles took out his notebook.
“Sounds like a good idea. It isn’t a phone number.”
“Agreed, and it doesn’t appear to be an address unless it’s also in code.”
“It’s not a series of dates. It’s doesn’t appear to be a code for the alphabet, so it’s not a…” Carrie stopped midsentence.
“What’s the matter?”
“It might be a name. The three letters could represent someone’s initials.”
“Very clever. These could easily be initials.”
“With Todd working for his family’s business, we should think financial. What would be financial? Could it be something to do with dollars and cents, money, the green stuff?”
Charles grabbed her arm, then gave her a big kiss. “I think you have it, my little mystery sleuth.”
“What do I have? Although whatever it is, I’ll have another kiss.” Charles readily obliged.
“The letters do represent someone’s initials. The numbers after the first letter could be an account number. See how the numbers are similar, even though they’re all different?”
“It would be easy enough to find out if this matched the account number sequence from the company. Charles, do you think it’s possible that this last set of numbers represents dollars?” She was adding using her fingers. “If you assume the numbers are in thousands, we’re talking about quite a lot of money. It would have been quite a sum for young Mr. Todd to handle.”
“Well, at least that sum would help to explain Todd’s city condo. However,
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