Maurice came to kneel on the floor beside her. “NTH. That could stand for north.”
Amelie underlined the next word. “CLIMB.”
Luis ran his finger beneath the next word. “PASS.”
“VBWWALL?” Amelie shook her head. “I see WALL, but what does VBW mean?”
Maurice pointed to the next word. “That’s FIND.”
“US.” Amelie underlined the two letters and then the next word. “THERE.”
“What I’m hearing are the words north, climb, pass, VBW, wall, find, us, and there,” Swede said.
Amelie stared at the words, checked the recipe, and flipped to the next page, where the words didn’t have the weird capitalization and bolded letters. “That’s it.”
“If that’s the clue, we’re no closer to locating anything,” Maurice said.
“Sounds like instructions once you get somewhere,” Swede said.
“But where?” Luis asked.
“There has to be another clue to get us wherever there is,” Maurice said.
“Let me know if you discover anything else,” Swede said. “In the meantime, I need to get home to my wife.”
“Thanks, Swede,” Maurice said. “You’ve been a big help.”
“Wish I could be even more help. We’re not there yet,” Swede said.
Amelie sighed. “But we’re getting closer.”
After Swede ended the call, Amelie thumbed through the recipe book but didn’t find anything else that jumped out.
When her phone pinged, she looked up. “That’s the surveillance system.” She reached for her phone and brought up the camera views. “Pizza’s here.”
Maurice hurried out and down the stairs to collect the pizza.
They spent the next hour eating pizza, drinking beer and going over the words until they agreed to sleep on it and try again in the morning.
Mentally and physically exhausted, Amelie tossed a pillow and a blanket on the couch for Luis. “I’m going to get my shower and go to bed.”
“I’m pretty tired myself,” Luis said.
“You want to use the bathroom before I tie it up?” she asked.
“Yeah. That beer went right through me.” Luis walked through her bedroom into the bathroom and closed the door.
Maurice pulled her into his arms and kissed her briefly. “I can sleep downstairs in the bakery or on the floor in here.”
“That’s sweet of you,” she said. “But no. You’re sleeping with me. That is, if you still want to.”
“That’s a hell yeah.” He chuckled and kissed her again. “What about Luis?”
Amelie grimaced. “The walls are thin.”
Maurice nodded. “We’ll postpone any mattress gymnastics while he’s here. But I’d like a raincheck.”
“You got it.” She cupped his cheek. “You really are special, you know that?”
