LITMIR.BIZ

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inches would not make much difference. ‘I’m trying to get more of a handle on the victim. Mr Sangsuk.’

      ‘Mr Samak. His name was Samak Sangsuk. In Thailand, the family name comes first; you know, like Mao Tse-Tung. Anyway, I filed all that already. Foreign will have it.’

       Shit. Should have asked Andy to send everything over first.

      ‘I know and that’s all great. It’s just a bit of a steer I’ve been getting from some of the Hassidim here.’

      ‘Oh, yes? That’s great, Will. What’s the steer?’ The tone had changed. The prospect of useful information always improved journalists’ manners.

      ‘I know this sounds odd, but I’ve been told to look closely at the victim’s biography.’

      ‘Just some rich guy. In business.’

      ‘Well, I know. But my informer—’ a notch above “source” and therefore much more tantalizing ‘—suggests if we dig a bit deeper, we might find something useful. And relevant.’

      ‘What, was he a crook? There’s a ton of corruption in this town. That wouldn’t be news.’

      Now Will would have to take his chance. ‘No, what I hear is the opposite. I’m told that if we look hard enough, we’ll find something very unusual about this man – and I don’t mean unusually corrupt.’

      ‘Well, what do you mean? What “very unusual” thing will we find?’

      ‘I don’t know, John. I’m just telling you what the Hassidim told me. Look for it, and it will explain everything. That’s what my guy said. Just wanted to pass the tip on.’

      ‘It’s ten o’clock.’

      ‘I know. But maybe some relatives of the victim, of Mr Samak, are still awake? Perhaps his friends?’

      ‘I’ve got a couple of numbers I can call. I’ll file whatever I get to foreign.’

      They said goodbye and Will let out a lungful of air in relief. Now he was wasting senior foreign correspondents’ time. He would be back at the Bergen Record within a week. If they would have him . . .

      He phoned Andy, instructing him to email any new files from Bishop the second they came in. He had no idea what the Times’s man in Bangkok would find out.

      ‘Well, thanks for breakfast.’

      ‘Shit, sorry. I’ve been on the phone.’ TC was holding a piece of paper. ‘Have you done it?’

      She showed him. It just said fOrtY.

      ‘Yeah?’

      ‘At first I thought it was just a typing error. But this guy is very neat and precise. Everything is deliberate.’

      ‘And?’

      ‘And he’s emphasized two letters: the second and the fifth. I started trying to say it out loud. I thought maybe it was “forty O-Y” but that makes no sense.’

      ‘TC—’

      ‘Anyway, it’s even simpler. It’s forty, second and fifth. Or, put another way, 42nd and 5th.’

      ‘That’s the public library.’

      ‘Exactly, which means—’

      Suddenly TC tensed up. Will looked round. His father had come in, wearing Sunday morning chinos.

      ‘Is there some news?’

      ‘Yeah, we just got another text message. Sending us to the public library.’

      ‘Is this man suggesting he meet you there? Be careful, William, please.’

      ‘No, he hasn’t said anything yet. Just the address. Forty second and fifth. That’s all we’ve got.’

      ‘Well, let me at least give you a ride to the station.’

      There was another buzz. Another message.

      Dare to be a Daniel.

      Will showed it to his father and then to TC.

      ‘Oh, I think I know what that is,’ said his father, a matter of seconds later. ‘What did Daniel do?’

      ‘He entered the lions’ den.’

      ‘And the New York Public Library—’

      ‘—is guarded by two lions. Of course. The statues.’

      ‘Patience and Fortitude. That’s what they’re called. Maybe that’s what he’s saying you need.’

      ‘No, I think it’s simpler than that.’ It was TC. ‘I think he’s just saying go into the library. Dare to be a Daniel, enter the lions’ den. That’s it.’

      The phone buzzed once more.

       1 new message

      Will fumbled to press the right buttons. All three of them were watching and waiting.

      Primers’ domain discovered in the orchard of fruit

      ‘Christ. What the hell’s that? Just when I thought we were getting somewhere.’

      ‘It’s worded like a crossword clue. Or perhaps there’s a room in the library that has a painting of an orchard?’

      ‘TC, what do you reckon?’

      ‘Your father’s right. It’s a cryptic crossword clue. But I can’t quite see—’

      ‘Come,’ said Monroe Sr, calling a halt to proceedings. ‘You can make the next train if you hurry.’

      Once on board, Will watched as TC got to work. She bit her nails, then twitched her leg, before finally stroking her eyebrow with her right index finger, over and over. She borrowed Will’s notebook and made a series of scribbled attempts at codebreaking – trying to write the words backwards, forwards and broken up into pieces. Nothing.

      Occasionally she broke off for more of the conversation that had consumed them since their unscheduled reunion on Friday night. They tried to untie the logical knot which events and the succession of riddles had handed them. They went back and forth, trying to tease out any clues they might have missed, again and again.

      Finally, as they clattered past Flatbush Avenue and Forest Hills, TC had a breakthrough.

      ‘It works like a clue for those crosswords I used to like doing whenever you bought the British papers.’ Will had a fleeting memory of the two of them in his college room, lazing away a Sunday morning. ‘When it says “discovered in”, that’s code for an anagram. Like when they say “messed up” or “hidden in”. So the fruit orchard is somehow “discovered in” primers’ domain.’

      ‘In those two words?’

      ‘Yep. Primers’ domain is an anagram.’

      ‘For what?’

      ‘For Pardes Rimonim. It means “Garden of Pomegranates” in Hebrew; an orchard of fruit.’ She was smiling.

      ‘OK, but what on earth is it?’

      ‘We’re about to find out.’

THIRTY-SEVEN

       Sunday, 2.23pm, Manhattan

      Patience and Fortitude were gazing elsewhere, as always. Apparently uninterested either in the volumes of learning behind them or the hordes of knowledge-seekers marching towards them, they maintained their poses: stone sentries, silent guardians of the house of wisdom.

      Will had always loved this building. As with all young men, the discovery of his own conservatism had come as a shock. But shortly after his arrival in America, Will found he had a great affection

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