Deciphering

Abner picked up the notebook. With the Pure White Eye's powerful analytical ability, he needed to flip through only a few pages before he understood.

"This notebook is written in code," he said with certainty.

"In code?" Miss Fanny repeated, puzzled.

"The symbols used to form words in this notebook are crude. They don't look like a mature script that developed over time. They look more like symbols someone devised on the spot... I counted them just now, and the number of distinct symbols roughly matches the number of letters in Ancient Feysac." Abner pointed to a word on one of the pages as he explained with a smile.

Miss Fanny leaned closer to Abner and looked where he was pointing. Then she said thoughtfully, "So... each symbol represents one or more letters in Ancient Feysac?"

"Exactly!" Abner nodded, but his gaze shifted to Emma. She did not look surprised. Clearly, she had known all along that the notebook was written in code.

Of course. How could a Mystery Pryer miss such a simple trick? Had she kept quiet so Miss Fanny could judge me for herself?

As he thought this, Abner used brute force to decipher the letters represented by some of the symbols.

Then he frowned.

The words formed by the deciphered letters were groups of numbers!

Another layer of encryption? What on earth was recorded in this notebook that needed this much secrecy?

But if they're groups of numbers, I'll probably need the corresponding codebook to translate them... Who knows which book the baron used?

At that thought, Abner sighed and showed the two ladies what he had found.

"Detective Braine, you're amazing!" Fanny said with exaggerated enthusiasm. "You cracked it in so little time!"

Her face was full of admiration.

Miss Emma's feelings were more complicated.