Chapter 5: Wednesday - Northern Quarter

The lady was waiting for them behind a large pot of tea and a gravity-defying piece of cake. "Well, what have you got?", she asked. Mike solemnly put the box on the table. "We found it in Alderley Edge", he said. The lady opened the box and looked at the message. "Why it's perfectly simple", she said, "and now I can find out where the silver is!" The affable smile became a lop-sided grin. "Thank you children. I should have employed you instead of those two fools."

"It was you.", said Ellie, "You've been after the treasure all along." "Of course", replied the grinning Barbara, "I couldn't believe it when you clumsy children revealed the first clue. I only went to the museum so that I could get a close look at that replica. I've been trying to find the clue for months. Anyway, I must be going now and I think I'll take this with me. Look out for me on the news..."

"That's not fair.", said Mike, "We found the clue". "Ah, but you couldn't crack it could you", spat the laughing Barbara, "better luck next time."

Mike started to head after her, but Ellie stopped him. "I copied the code down last night and if she can crack it then so can we".

What does the message say? The code word is the 16th word in the message.

Alan Turing Cryptography Competition 2012 is organised by the The Department of Mathematics at The University of Manchester.
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