The Haunted Lighthouse (6 page)

“Cool,” Quinn said. “This is sort of like the ABC code or Caesar’s cipher, only with letters instead of numbers. Should be easy.”

Cody looked at the sheet the teacher had just passed out to the students. Quinn was right; this was going to be easy. She looked at the name on top—the first name was two letters. Duh—that was obviously
AL
. She wrote the letter
A
under the
T
, then the letter
L
under the
Q
. From there, she translated all the
T
and
Q
letters to
A
and
L
. Letter by letter she solved the puzzle.

Now, all she had to do was figure out which one of the convicts wasn’t at Alcatraz. She remembered Ms. Stad talking about all of them—except one: Pretty Boy Floyd. He had to be the one missing from the Rock.

Cody glanced at her co–Code Busters. They, too, had solved the puzzle.

She handed her paper to Ms. Stad as she stepped out of the bus, then stared out at the small island and wondered about the prisoners. Alcatraz might be an interesting place to visit, but the idea of staying there permanently made Cody break out into goose bumps.

T
he fishy smell grew stronger as Cody stepped off the bus at Pier 33 in San Francisco. Berkeley had its unique odors, mostly ethnic foods that represented the city’s cultural diversity, but nothing like this. She zipped up her jacket, pulled her hood over her head, and stuck her hands into her pockets.
Brrr
. The wind coming
off the bay chilled her to the bone, and she wished she’d worn a heavier jacket.

Joining her three friends on the dock, Cody got in the ferry line with the rest of her class. The sign read
ALCATRAZ TOURS
, and Cody felt a rush of excitement at the thought that they would soon be at the prison. Glancing around for her dad, she saw him talking with another parent—a blonde woman who looked familiar, but Cody couldn’t place her. At least she was keeping him busy.

“Let’s get a spot at the front of the ferry so we have a good view on the way over,” Quinn said, pulling on his baseball cap. Luke already had his hood up, ready to face the cold and wind, while M.E. had wrapped a multicolored, hand-knitted muffler around her face, head, and neck, leaving only her brown eyes visible. As for Cody, she could almost feel her curly red hair curling even more, thanks to the dampness in the air. Good thing she had put her hair in a ponytail, or those curls would
look like a giant fiery ball of coils.

One of the dockworkers released the chain to the ferry, and the students began the walk up the rickety gangplank. The Code Busters tried to ease ahead past the rest of the crowd and grab the best spots for viewing, but once they arrived at the bow of the ferry, Cody’s face fell.

Matt the Brat was already there.

“I beat ya!” he said. His breath smelled of peanut butter.

“We weren’t racing,” Luke said, pulling up next to him. Cody stood next to Luke, with M.E. and Quinn on the other side. She tried to ignore the class bully, who no doubt would try to get the Code Busters into trouble. She promised herself not to take his bait, and instead she focused on the sight of the island looming ahead, surrounded by rapidly disappearing fog.
What a cold, desolate place
, Cody thought as the wind whipped at her face.

Someone tapped Cody on the back. She turned
to see Matt grinning at her.

Again, Cody wondered if Matt had been the one who’d written the cryptic message. Cody shook her head. Besides the fact that he’d never write a poem, his spelling was atrocious, his typing was full of errors, and he would never be able to create a code like that. There was no way he could have written the secret message that the Code Busters had received.

But who else knew they were going to the Rock? Ms. Stad? Her classmates? The bus driver? They were all unlikely suspects. Anyone else?

And what did the message mean?

The ferry picked up speed, and the wind swept through Cody’s clothes. Her cheeks grew numb from the icy chill. A spray of water suddenly loomed up from the bay, catching Matt directly in the face.

The Code Busters stifled their laughter, knowing it would only make Matt mad. The sight of the
island emerging from the fog distracted Cody from Matt, the spray of water, and the freezing temperature. The place looked depressing, even a little dangerous, sitting in the middle of what seemed like nowhere. As they got closer, she spotted the lighthouse—she had a picture of it in her collection—and wondered if they would be allowed to go up inside. Next she recognized the three-story cell block from the pictures Ms. Stad had shown in class. Before she knew it, the ferry docked.

“Welcome to Alcatraz!” said a small Asian woman wearing an olive-green uniform and a wide Stetson hat, using a bullhorn. “My name is Jodie Huynh and I’m a ranger here on the Rock.” Her name was spelled
HUYNH
on her name tag, but she pronounced it “Win.” “You are about to enter Alcatraz Federal Prison exactly the same way the prisoners did many years ago, via the gangplank. After you arrive on the dock, please meet your teachers and the rest of your class
in the designated areas.”

Cody found Ms. Stadelhofer waving her arms in an area off to the side. She headed over with M.E., while Quinn and Luke met their class and Mr. de Lannoy in another area. Mr. Jones was one of the last to lumber down the gangplank a few moments later; he waved to her. Cody acknowledged him with a small smile.

So far, so good
, she thought.

“Hello, students from Berkeley Cooperative Middle School,” Ranger Huynh said through the bullhorn. Everyone quieted down. “As I mentioned, I’m a park ranger here on Alcatraz, and I’ll also be your tour guide today. Before we begin the tour, I want to tell you a few things about the prison. After the tour, which will take about an hour, you’ll be free to explore the island, except for the restricted areas, so watch for signs. Some of the buildings are very old, and some of the walls could come crumbling down at any time. That’s
part of the reason the prison was finally closed. But we’ll talk more about that on the tour.”

Cody looked at M.E., her eyes wide. “Cool! We get to look around on our own,” she whispered. “Maybe we’ll find out what that note is about.”

M.E. nodded. “I’ll bet this place is full of hidden passageways and secret messages left behind by the prisoners.”

The ranger continued. “For nearly thirty years, from 1934 to 1963, Alcatraz Island was the most notorious federal prison in the United States. We had many famous prisoners here—Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, and the Birdman, Robert Stroud. The prisoners are gone, but we get about a million visitors a year—and lots of birds. This is both a park and a bird sanctuary. The island may look small, but there are more than twenty-five acres here, home to salamanders, cormorants, deer mice, pigeons, gulls, harbor seals, and herons. It may also appear far away from the city, but it’s only
one and a half miles from Fisherman’s Wharf.”

I’m a good swimmer
, Cody thought.
I wonder if I could swim that far?

Ranger Huynh seemed to read her mind. “But don’t be tempted to dive in and swim for shore. You’d probably die of hypothermia within minutes.”

Cody shivered.

“In a few moments we’ll walk up the hill to Cell Block B, the main cell house. It’s a steep climb, so be prepared. The fog is lifting, so be sure to check out the views of San Francisco, Marin, Berkeley, and Oakland. Everyone ready? All right then, follow me. And watch your step. Remember what I said about the birds.”

Matt chanted, “Bird poop! Bird poop! Cody stepped in bird poop!”

“I did not!” Cody said. Just then Matt accidentally stepped in a big pile of bird droppings.

“Yuck! Gross!” he yelled, lifting his untied sneaker to examine the damage. One of the
chaperones came over and helped him clean the bottom of the shoe by wiping it on the path.

Matt glared at Cody, as if it had been her fault. She ignored him as best she could, and tried to listen to Ranger Huynh spout off information and facts about the island as they walked up the hill. Cody caught bits and pieces that snagged her interest, mostly stuff about all the movies, TV shows, books, and games that had featured Alcatraz over the years. As they neared the cell house, she began to get a real sense of the loneliness the prisoners must have felt, locked up and isolated from society.

“Students,” Ms. Stad called out after her class had assembled in front of Cell Block B. She began passing out papers with a map on one side and a list of questions on the other. “While you’re here on the island, see if you can answer all the questions about Alcatraz listed on the back of your maps.”

Some of the students groaned, not expecting to have to do any real work while on the trip.

Ms. Stad continued. “I’ll collect your papers at the end of the trip, and if you get all the questions correct, you’ll win a prize—a coupon you can use at the gift shop.”

Groans turned to cheers as the students rallied to the challenge. Ms. Stad sometimes made learning fun when she turned it into a game—with prizes. Cody looked over the map and located the major landmarks—the main cell house, the lighthouse, the warden’s home, the water tower, and the guards’ cottages. She wondered what it would have been like to grow up living on the island, say, if her dad had been a prison guard back then.
Scary
, she thought. Ms. Stad had told the class that some of the prisoners had escaped—although none permanently. They’d either died trying or were recaught and returned to Alcatraz.

She flipped the paper over and scanned the questions on the back. They sounded pretty easy, especially since Ms. Stad had given the answers
using alphanumeric code. She was very familiar with the code, where each number of the alphabet was replaced with its corresponding number—1 was A, 2 was B, and so on.

How big was the average prison cell?

Answer: 6-9-22-5 feet by 14-9-14-5 feet
.

What did the cells contain?

Answer: 19-9-14-11, 3-15-20, and 20-15-9-12-5-20
.

How many cells were there?

Answer: C-C-F and F 19-15-12-9-20-1-18-25
.

Were prisoners allowed visitors?

Answer: 25-5-19, 15-14-5   16-5-18   13-15-14-20-8
.

Why was the prison finally closed?

Answer: 20-15-15   5-24-16-5-14-19-9-22-5 and 18-21-14 4-15-23-14
.

What was the “Rule of Silence”?

Answer: 16-18-9-19-15-14-5-18-19
  
3-15-21-12-4-14′20   20-1-12-11, so they used a 20-1-16-16-9-14-7   3-15-4-5
.

How many prisoners escaped from Alcatraz?

Answer: C-F 20-18-9-5-4, but 14-15-14-5   23-5-18-5   19-21-3-3-5-19-19-6-21-12
.

Are there secret passageways or escape tunnels on Alcatraz?

Answer: 25-5-19. They were 2-21-9-12-20   2-25   19-15-12-4-9-5-18-19
.

Code Buster’s Key and Solution found on
this page
,
this page
.

Cody got out her pencil and began translating the coded answers. She wondered what she’d use her coupon for in the gift shop.

“All right, everyone!” Ranger Huynh said as the students gathered around her at the entrance to the cell house. “Are you ready to go to prison?”

A few kids laughed, a few made faces, and a few yelled, “Yeah!” Cody shook her head at the students trying to sound brave—mostly boys.
Make them spend a few minutes in solitary confinement
, she thought,
and they wouldn’t be so quick to act tough
.

The ranger led the way inside as the students,
teachers, and chaperones followed. If Cody thought she was cold earlier, she now felt a different kind of chill as she hurried through the steel doors. It felt as if a ghost had passed through her.

“This is the main hallway,” the ranger said, “known as Broadway.” Cody gazed at the cell block—two stories high, with long rows of cells on either side of both levels. She noticed how small the cells were, with only a sink, a cot, and a toilet. How could anyone live this way for years and years?

Ranger Huynh continued her patter, often surprising Cody with tidbits of information—the size of the cells (at five feet by nine feet each, they were smaller than her bathroom), how many cells there were (336), and the average length of stay (eight years!). She jotted down notes and answered questions on the paper as she listened, but when one of the students asked if the prisoners ever received visitors (yes, once a month) or letters (yes, but they were screened), her attention drifted back to the
message she and the Code Busters had received that morning.

She pulled out her notebook and reread what she had copied earlier on the bus ride over: “On the Rock B ware, When you get 2 cell block B, Look B tween 2 seats.”