The 15th Star (A Lisa Grace History - Mystery) (21 page)

Ray continued,
“But now that the letter could be exposed with the star, our mystery person is threatened.”

“
Makes sense,” Julian said.

Now let
’s look at the letter with the clue,” Ray said.

Member’s where I sayd we sat an talk an sew the flag?

Where the flag resting place

How many states by provens

Point from the star to a star

“
Well that’s easy,” said Ray, “they made it at the Flag House right?”

“
No, not exactly,” Keiko said, “They might have done some piece work there, but this flag was huge. It was thirty feet tall and forty two feet long. They actually assembled it in the basement of Claggett’s Brewery.

“
I think Claggett’s is still around today. Do you have a computer? We can look up directions.”

“
No.” Julian and Ray said at the same time.

Julian explained,
“These people will have spyware hooked up to any sites looking for the same information you’re looking for at this time. We can’t risk it.”

“
They would be able to trace us here, through the IP address.”

“
Then how do we get the information we need?” Keiko asked.

Ray took off his reading glasses, looked at Keiko and smiled,
“Why, the old-fashioned way. We walk up to people and ask.”

“
Now before we leave let’s assume it’s Claggett’s Brewery or a long shot, the Flag House.”

“
How many states by provens? How would you interpret that, Keiko?”

“
We have to remember, Grace was functionally illiterate, so when she writes, she writes phonetically as to how she and others would have spoken circa 1812.

‘
Provens’ would be a Province.”

“
Well there were fifteen stars on the flag,” Julian said, “So that means fifteen states, so how do we figure what provens means?” Julian asked.

“
The first clue is the
first
sentence. Where they
talked
about the flag. It has a double meaning. I believe Mrs. Pickersgill told Grace and the cousins a bit of trivia about flags while they were sewing. When the very first fifteen star flag was ordered there were actually only thirteen states at the time.”

Keiko looked at them and smiled,
“Vermont and Kentucky were only Providences that were applying for statehood. Congress hadn’t admitted them yet, though of course, it was a given they would. But in the early 1790’s, fifteen stars and stripes were ordered to be put on the flags, to save from having to order new ones as those states were added.”

“
Tricky,” Julian smiled.

“
So chances are even if they have the clue, they’re probably looking in the wrong place.”

Keiko grew pale and both Ray and Julian noticed.

“What’s wrong?”

“
I’ve been so careful, I stored copies on the main computer and on our third party site. I scanned in copies of the letters. Do you think they already have copies?”

“
Well they only found out who you were, when? Yesterday? Think. Did you leave a name?” Keiko thought.

“
I think I did, I told her I was with the Smithsonian and I’d be in at ten this morning. I do believe I gave her my name.”

“
Well they can’t be sure who you told. It’s a safe bet, they only found out this morning, when you showed up. Now they know where to look in the Smithsonian records, under your name.”

“
We need to find a hacker who can get us in from a remote site, buy a laptop just for that purpose, then ditch it, to find out if they have the letter too. If they do, it’ll only be a matter of time for them to find the star isn’t in the Flag House. Then they’ll examine the historical record. If they show up before us or at the same time at the brewery, we could be in trouble. Do either of you know of anybody who could do that? Who can hack and make sure the records haven’t been erased?”

Keiko looked at Julian,
“Yeah, Jacks could. He’s getting his degree in computer software security engineering. But I don’t want to put him in danger. Can’t we just go to the police?”

“
Sure we can, but if they are as highly connected as you think, they can have you arrested and framed so they have time to find the star at their leisure. Your life will still be in danger as long as you have the letters,” Ray said.

Julian said,
“Without the star, and the rest of the story, there are only a few facts. We have to find the star and the name. We’re toast until we know who is behind the secret of the star.”

“
We need to get to the star before they do. They probably will be searching the Flag House tonight,” Ray added.

“
We need to figure out the rest of the clue and get into Claggett’s Brewery tonight. We have to find that letter, and the star,” Julian said.

Ray interjected,
“ Do you have Jacks’ phone number or know where he’s at? We can have him run a tracer to spy on those spying on you.”

“
No, I never had his number,” Keiko said, “Wait! He hangs out in the evenings at the Palace of Wonders, you know, that bar in the Atlas district? He invites me to stop in all the time. Should we call or show up?” Keiko asked.

“
Let’s call. We’re running short on time,” Julian answered.

“
Okay,” Ray brought back a phone, punched in a call block number, then handed the phone to Keiko. Ray got on line and looked up the number to the Palace of Wonders bar. Keiko read the number off his screen and punched it into the phone.

On the other end,
“Palace,”

Keiko heard the band in the background playing some sort of loud rock, so she spoke loudly into the phone,
“Is Jacks there?”

“
Who?” the bartender asked louder indicating by his volume how loud Keiko would have to speak to be heard. She spoke louder, “Jacks!”

She heard the bartender yell out above the music,
“Jacks, hey Jacks! It’s a girl, get over here! A girl’s on the phone for you.”

Keiko said to Julian and Ray,
“He’s there. He’s coming to the phone.”

“
Hello?” Keiko can tell it’s Jacks.

“
Hi Jacks, it’s Keiko.”

“
Keiko? Hold on, Let me get some place quiet.” Suddenly the background noise drops down in volume, “Okay, I’m just outside the front door so I can hear you. Hi, Keiko, I didn’t think you’d be calling me. What happened to the doctor Indian?”

Keiko decided to ignore the question,
“Jacks, I need a favor. Can you get online and see who’s been snooping into my computer files? Can you run some kind of trace to check that?”

“
What? Hold on…you want a trace put on your computer and your files?”

“
Yes, I need your help. Someone maybe going in and deleting some important files. Can you find out who it is? The thing is, I know this sounds paranoid, but I need you to trust that I’m not. Please buy a laptop that can’t be traced back to you, use that. I’ll pay you back in the next few days. I promise. Use it in a public place then throw it out. Take the battery out and ditch it in a different location from the laptop.”

“
Keiko, you know you’re sounding crazy, right? You know you work at a museum not exactly a cloak and dagger type environment.”

“
I know Jacks. I know this sounds crazy, but can you do it? Can you run a trace and use an untraceable computer, please?”

“
Sure, sure no problem. I’ll find out who’s giving you a hard time, but you owe me a drink and dinner out, Okay?”

“
Sure Jacks, thanks.”

“
How can I reach you when I know whom it is?”

Keiko asked Julian,
“How do we get the tracer information from Jacks?”

“
Can he print it out and leave it back at the bar?”

Keiko asked,
“Could you please leave it up at the bar in an envelope with just my first initial on it?”

“
Sure, no problem. The bartender’s a friend of mine. I’ll see you at work tomorrow, right?”

“
I might be taking a few days off until I get to the bottom of this.”

“
Okay, well, I’ll see you then. Don’t forget you owe me a dinner out.”

Keiko smiled,
“I won’t forget. Thanks Jacks.”

“
Sure Keiko, anytime.”

They both hung up.

“I think I’ll be going on that dinner too,” Julian added.

Keiko laughed,
“Of course.”

Ray said,
“Okay, thirteen by two, in the basement. Now what is the reference, “Point from the star to a star?”

“
I’m hoping this part will throw them off, thinking it’s another measurement. Maybe they’ll even think it’s a distance amount away from the Flag House.”

“
Well isn’t it?” Julian asked.

“
No,” Keiko smiled, “the clue is something Grace would have
seen
.”

“
Please explain,” Ray said.

Keiko got up from excitement and started pacing back and forth, clearly in her element.
“We have to remember Grace was illiterate, she wasn’t going to be leaving measurement clues. Most math would have been way over her head. Grace would use landmarks. Things she would see everyday. Things nobody could miss.”

“
Well I’m missing it. I would think it would have been a measurement, for instance she would have to know math and angles to cut a perfect star.”

“
No. She didn’t need to know any of those things. Ray, do you have a piece of paper and a scissors? Watch.”

Keiko took the piece of paper and cut it in half from the top, then she folded the rectangle in half each way to make crease lines. After this, she took it back to the first fold and took the bottom corner so it was offset half-way. Then she folded just that flap back over in the opposite direction so it made a triangle. Keiko took the bottom piece, folded it over the other, and then, keeping that fold over itself, again. Keiko was now holding a funny dunce cap shaped piece of paper with the unmatched corners hanging out the bottom. Keiko took the scissors and from the bottom right, cut off most the paper with one diagonal cut, leaving a thin triangle shaped paper. When Keiko unfolded it, she had a perfect five pointed star.

“This is how Grace, Mary, and all the other women cut perfect stars every time, without any measuring or math skills. A trade secret,” Keiko said as she sat down.

“
Okay now that you proved that it’s probably not a measurement clue, then what is it?” Julian asked.

“
It’s a direction!” Keiko said.

“
A direction? You can’t be talking about her navigating by the stars. If Grace wasn’t sophisticated enough to do simple math, there is no way she was doing any navigation by the stars,” Julian said.

“
You’re right,” Keiko smiled.

“
There was a star in Grace’s life a reminder of her past, and unless you are a war buff, it would probably escape your notice,” Keiko smiled.

Well tell us, don
’t keep us in the dark,” Ray said.

Keiko savored her knowledge for a few more short seconds,
“Fort McHenry.”

She sat back and looked from Ray to Julian with a look of triumph on her face.
“You don’t get it?” Ray and Julian looked at each other, shook their heads no, then they looked at her, waiting for the explanation.

“
Fort McHenry is shaped like a star! Only someone who has driven up to it would realize that. Both Grace and Louisa would have noticed on a long wagon ride in. No one pays attention to old forts except historians who study that bit of history. But Louisa and Grace may have discussed it. The fort wasn’t even fully finished when they were there. It was still under construction. Most people assume forts are square. But Fort McHenry is shaped like a star. And more importantly, I bet one of those points,” Keiko gets up and pulls a piece of paper off the copier and takes a pen out of the coffee mug holder and draws a star with a line to a square, “points right to one of the walls down in Claggett’s Brewery basement.”

Keiko looks triumphantly from Ray to Julian,
“I know that flag is down in that basement buried behind a stone, thirteen spaces from the wall and two up.”

“
I just know Grace hid it behind that wall. We have to go there tonight and dig it out before the bad guys figure out it’s not at the Flag House.”

Ray looked at Julian,
“She’s right. Whoever these guys are, they’re going to figure out by the end of the evening it’s not there. And when they do, they’ll call in their own historians who will research it and figure out it has got to be at Claggett’s Brewery. None of the information we have is rocket science. It just takes someone with some knowledge of the time period and the area to figure it out.”