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Extract from the Story
Chief Brown studied the four words: Nom Utes Sweden Hurts. He shook his head and passed the notebook to Mrs. Brown again. “Can you figure it out?”
“Nom is a shortening of nominative, a grammatical term,” stated Mrs. Brown, who had taught English and other subjects in high school. “Utes are an American Indian tribe. Sweden is a country in northern Europe. Hurts is hurts.”
She lifted her gaze to Encyclopedia and shook her head.
“I can’t figure it out,” she confessed.
“Davenport disappeared right after the hold-up,” Encyclopedia reminded her. “As Dad said, Davenport and Nolan must have hidden the stolen jewellery. Probably not a week or so ago, Nolan changed the hiding place.”
“Nom is a shortening of nominative, a grammatical term,” stated Mrs. Brown, who had taught English and other subjects in high school. “Utes are an American Indian tribe. Sweden is a country in northern Europe. Hurts is hurts.”
She lifted her gaze to Encyclopedia and shook her head.
“I can’t figure it out,” she confessed.
“Davenport disappeared right after the hold-up,” Encyclopedia reminded her. “As Dad said, Davenport and Nolan must have hidden the stolen jewellery. Probably not a week or so ago, Nolan changed the hiding place.”
confessed
— admitted
Summary in Bullet Points
- The physical source of the note matters. A calendar suggests weekdays.
- Each strange word comes from a weekday.
- The letters D, A and Y are removed. The remaining letters are rearranged: MON → NOM; TUES → UTES; WEDNES → SWEDEN; THURS → HURTS.
- The pattern gives Monday through Thursday. A fifth weekday should logically follow.
Questions from this Section
How does the calendar sheet act as the key to the code?
2 Marks
How to answer:
Give the direct reason and one supporting detail.
View Answer
Answer: It tells Leroy to think of days of the week. Once he tests weekday names, he sees that Monday through Thursday can be changed into the four written words by removing D-A-Y and rearranging the remaining letters.
Explain why the code would make sense to Davenport but not to most other people.
3 Marks
How to answer:
Explain the reasoning and why it matters to the mystery.
View Answer
Answer: Davenport already knows he is looking for the jewellery’s hiding place, and the note is addressed to him. That context would encourage him to decode the weekday pattern and use the missing fifth word as a location clue.
