The Female Charm by Amelia Price Read Free Book Online Page B

was
over.
    “Until next time,
Mr Holmes.” She gave him a slight curtsey and noticed it brought a
slight twinkle to his eyes to see it. Not wanting to spoil the last
moment, she hastily left the café and went back out into the rain.
Immediately Daniels was there with an umbrella.
    “He's told me to
go the train station,” she explained, but it seemed Daniels already
knew. He nodded, escorted her to the back of the car, keeping her
dry every step of the way, and got in himself. She marvelled at how
efficient Myron's chauffeur was before letting herself become lost
in her thoughts.
    Dumfries was the
nearest train station, and the car only pulled up outside with just
enough time for Amelia to dash inside. She glanced back to see if
Daniels was still there, but he'd already got into the car and was
pulling away. A taxi had come up behind, and a tall man wearing a
dark fur hat got out. Their eyes met for just a moment and then he
was focusing on his own direction.
    As Amelia went
through the ticket barriers she wondered if Myron had encouraged
someone to follow her, but then pushed it from her mind. If he had,
she would see the man again.
    The train arrived
at the platform just as she did, and she wondered if Myron had
timed her leaving so she would get there just as the train arrived.
Sebastian had a similar ability of knowing exactly when the trains
would be where they were meant to be, and it would probably run in
the family. She made a mental note to ask one of them how they did
it at some point.
    It wouldn't be
long until Myron had his meeting with the reporter, if they weren't
already talking, so she knew better than to ask right away. He
wouldn't want the interruption and had already stated that her
lessons were over for the day.
    She also made a
mental note to thank Sebastian for his interference. Most women
wouldn't find getting up before dawn to spend almost six hours
travelling for less than three hours with the person they liked a
good Valentine's Day, but she'd enjoyed every minute with Myron and
couldn't think of a better way to have spent the time. She had even
realised the rose must actually be from him.
    Four times since
she'd woken up the number seventeen had crept up where it
shouldn't, and one of those was the man giving her the rose. He'd
said he had seventeen of them going unwanted. It was typical to
give twelve roses, not seventeen. It could only mean that it was
part of her current lesson and related to the clue she'd found in
the geocache the day before.
    The other three
had all been unexpected accounts of the number, the first at the
train station. One sign had shown the departure time of her train
wrong. Then Daniels had said something about seventeen when he
wouldn't normally have been so specific and Myron wouldn't have
asked for the information, and finally the receipt at the café.
Although she had no idea how he'd managed two of those, she was
convinced it was a message from him. At the very least, she was
sure it was meant for her to notice.
    Once she was
settled in her seat, she reached into her handbag and pulled out
the little notebook she'd been using to write down his lessons. It
contained all the translations of the coded messages he'd given
her, as well as her thoughts after any conversations they'd had. As
she opened it up to the first empty page, a small letter with the
usual red seal fell out. She stifled a small laugh as she realised
Myron had slipped another message into it at some point during the
day.
    A grin flashed
across her face as she opened up the small envelope and pulled out
the piece of paper inside.
     
    C: 111=>13
159=>105 132=>26 341=>18 872=>37 117=>?
     
    Amelia exhaled at
the numbers before her. No immediate pattern jumped out at her and
she instinctively knew this wasn't going to be a quick puzzle to
solve.
    The most important
thing she noticed right away was the first letter. The clue she'd
received the day before began with A and this began with C. That
meant