38. Pencils
In which everyone guesses…
Griffin, Gimbal and Graphic came in at their usual time and Gasket immediately poured the tea and told them to sit down and eat, before anyone could object.
@inkymoose was quietly working the crossword at the end of the bar with a pencil. She looked up as they came in, put the newspaper down, tucked her pencil away and waited till the gerbils finished eating.
“I found the Mark of the Margrave,” said Gimbal.
“WHERE?” asked Gantry.
“In the stamp box. It was the seventh stamp out of the last chain. It’s heavier than the others. The number painted on the top of it is 106, so it went into 106, because that’s where 106 goes.”
“Was 106 empty?” asked Girdle.
“It was.”
“That means the box was wrong.”
“The box has been wrong all week,” said Gimbal, “that’s why I’m sorting it.”
@AngleofRepose sat with her pencil poised above her notebook, “Describe the die for me,” she said.
“A circle,” said Gimbal, “with three lines struck through it.”
“That’s the stamp,” said @Hedgehogforshort. “Durham. Ripon. Norwich. Glasgow. Cumbrae. Truro. Twenty-one times over at Liverpool. York. Every one of those was made by a metal stamp that is in a box in that workshop. Gimbal has had it in her paw.”
“I put it down again,” said Gimbal. “It is in compartment 106 now.”
Angle wrote 106. Margrave’s mark. In the box, and underlined the last three words, which she did not often do.
Graphic reached into her pinafore, took out the folded sheet of notepaper and laid it flat on the table. “This has indentations,” she said. “I thought they might be important.”
Griffin interjected, “Halcyon wrote a courier’s phone number down on the sheet above this one,” she said. “It’s pressed into the paper. She had to look in the locked tab. It’s to send the crate somewhere.”
Inkymoose became interested, “Which crate?” she asked.
“The one that came back from Portland,” said Griffin.
“Then I think it probably is important,” said Inkymoose.
“How can you know what the indentations say?” asked Graft.
“I copy it. I put a light in low from the side and I draw what I can see.” Graphic tipped the sheet a little towards the lamp, so they could see the indentations. “It’s easier to see when it’s pressed into lead. It’s meant to be seen. Paper is more difficult.”
“That’s like a brass rubbing,” said Graphite, from two seats down. “Put the side of the pencil on it.”
Angle took a soft pencil out of the tin before anyone asked. Graphic held the sheet flat with one paw and worked it on its side, evenly, in one direction and then the other, and the number came up out of the grey, white and unbroken.
“07700 900412,” said Graphic.
Angle wrote it into her notebook.
“The courier comes tomorrow,” said Griffin.
“Did you see any more of the password letters when Halcyon went into the locked tab?” asked Angle.
“Yes. I’ve seen seven of the letters and I’m sure of all of them.” She counted them off. “A capital F. Then one I missed. Then two 5s together, then a b. Then one I missed. Then a c. Then one I missed. Then a British pound sign £, and then a t on the end.”
“Say it as gaps,” said Inkymoose. She pulled out her pencil ready to write on the newspaper.
“F - 5 5 b - c - £ t,” Griffin said it as gaps.
Inkymoose spotted the pattern immediately, “Those aren’t fives.”
“They were fives,” said Griffin. “I watched her hit them.”
“They’re on the screen as fives because she typed fives. But they’re both s. People have been writing 5 for s for a very long time.” Inkymoose looked at the letters she had written in the newspaper margin. “F gap s s b. That’s the start of a word. I can run the vowels in order, starting with a, Fass.”
“Fast,” said Girdle.
“It isn’t fast, there’s no t in the middle,” said Gantry.
“Fassbender,” said Grip.
There was a pause of some length.
“Is Michael Fassbender involved?” asked Garnet.
“No,” said Hedgehog.
“Fess,” said Inkymoose.
“CONFESS!” said Gantry, “Because they are doing BAD THINGS.”
Inkymoose looked at Gantry, “I don’t think so. What about Fiss?”
“Fizz!” said Garnet. “Like champagne.”
“That is indeed possible,” said Inkymoose. “Let’s not rule it out yet.”
“Naturally carbonated water occurs because of all the yeast in the river,” said Grisaille, from something written down.
“Thank you, Grisaille,” said Inkymoose. “Foss.”
“There’s a river called the Foss,” said Ganges. It’s in Yorkshire. It turned green a few years ago.”
Geode suggested the Fosse Way in Leicestershire then immediately corrected herself. “But no, the Fosse Way is not in Leicestershire, it goes through Leicestershire, and it comes out at Lincoln one end and Exeter the other.”
“It is in Leicester,” said Gaol. “It’s a prison.”
“Fuss,” said Inkymoose.
“Fussbucket!” said Griffin. “Halcyon said it under her breath at Fenella, who was cross that the stamps weren’t sorted out and that Halcyon hadn’t ordered the courier. She didn’t know I heard her. F, u, double s, b, u, c, k, e, t. There’s an e where I saw a pound sign.”
“There is,” said Inkymoose. “A pound sign is what people put when they want a capital E and want it to look like something. It’s the same shape twice over. Try it and see what your own hand does.”
Several gerbils tried it, and all of them agreed.
Griffin had gone back through it on her paws. “F, s, s, b, c, £, t. Those are the seven, and I got them because they’re on the left which was all I could see.” She looked up. “The three I missed are u, u and k. They’re all on the right of the keyboard.”
Angle wrote Fu55buck£t on a clean page and turned the notebook round so the table could read it.
“I want to try it,” said Griffin.
Hedgehog took her time over that, which everyone noticed. “You can try it,” she said at last. “Once, and only when Halcyon is out of the room and Fenella is at her bench with her back to you. If it’s wrong, you close the tab and do not try a second time.”
“Once,” said Griffin.
“Once,” said Hedgehog, and it was settled.
“There’s more,” said Gimbal.
“How can there be more?” asked Inkymoose. “You found the Margrave’s mark, the password and the courier’s phone number. What else happened?”
Gimbal took a breath, “Gemma Glasswing’s glass window was delivered, and it’s the same as the one Fenella is working on.”
https://myrtlelion.substack.com/p/38-pencils