That was true.
She slid off the bed and pulled out her valise from under the bed. “What do you need?”
“Paper and a pen. I don’t suppose you have the code key?” He’d not been serious, but she gave him such a look of shock, he decided to let her believe he’d meant it.
“We aren’t supposed to ever take those from Mr. Qwill’s classroom.”
Finally, a chance to play the scoundrel. “And you actually followed the rules?”
She stared at him. “You didn’t?”
“I may have broken a rule or two here and there. Rules are made to be broken.” He winced after saying it. It was the sort of thing he used to say all the time. But now he couldn’t help but think how trite he sounded.
“But why would you take a key to the codes? You’re already the best cryptographer we have.”
“I haven’t taken the key,” he said. The truth was, he was a rule follower in most things. He’d certainly paid for the times he was not. “Here. Let me have that.” He held out his hand for the paper and pen then leaned over the letter and began to work out the cipher. The Royal Saboteurs had twelve different codes, each named for a city, and his first task was to determine which of the twelve it might be.
Lucy leaned over his shoulder, the light of the candle and her sweet fragrance washing over him. Definitely cinnamon. “It’s not Glasgow,” she said.
“I see that now,” he muttered and started on Barcelona.
“Why don’t you try Damascus?”
“It’s not Damascus. See here?” He showed her the phrase that invalidated Damascus.
“Oh, you’re right.”
He worked for a few moments in silence, glad for the distraction of the code, though Lucy’s warmth and scent were pulling at his attention. Which was probably why he didn’t think of Cologne earlier. As soon as he thought of it, the pieces snapped into place, and he began decoding.
“Ah, Cologne,” she said. “I always forget that one.”
“You probably wanted to try Alexandria. You always try Alexandria.”
“I don’t know why everyone doesn’t use it.”
“Too simple,” he said, biting his lip as he worked.
“Simplicity is not always a bad thing. It can be beautiful.”
“And easy for one of our foes to break.”
She came around and sat beside him, still holding the candle so he had light to work. He was halfway through now.
“What foes do we have here? I’ve seen nothing that would even cause me to raise a mild alarm.”
“That snake this afternoon raised some alarms.”
“I don’t know what you’re going on about,” she said, her voice sounding strained. Duncan looked up at her.
“You were scared,” he said. “Of a harmless garden snake.”
“I wasn’t scared. I was surprised.”
“Duncan! Do something,” he said, imitating her voice.
“I will strike you,” she said.
“Do it and I may have to retaliate.”
