Answers to Ciphers

Here: Maple Tree = Old Joseph Tuthill, Jemma’s father

Here: “It is very possible the Pickled Onion is able to 18 5 1 4 / 20 8 5 / 19 20 1 18 19!”

The puzzle can be solved by writing down the alphabet, then assigning a corresponding number to each letter. A=1, B=2, C=3, and so on, all the way to Z=26.

The answer to this cipher is READ THE STARS!

Here: When spoken out loud, “Phil O’Dell for ya” sounds like “Philadelphia.”

Here: Rearrange the letters in lemony notes to form the words stolen money. (The letters also spell stoney melon, but that’s just a funny coincidence, not the reason Nell was in Philadelphia.)

Here: “The Pickled Onion seems to take a Colt along with her now, but not the kind that needs a saddle.” Nell is talking about Aunt Kitty’s Colt revolver.

Here: “Well, we’re down where Mrs. Ippy lives now, if you catch my meaning.” When spoken out loud, “Mrs. Ippy” sounds like “Mississippi.”

Here: “The Pickled Onion even gets to XBMYY ZK XZYLWZYMY!*”

* X=D, Y=S, and Z=I

Solve the puzzle by substituting a D wherever you see an X, an S wherever you see a Y, an I where you see a Z, and testing other letters until you decipher the code. Extra hint: M=E

Answer = DRESS IN DISGUISES!

Here: “maerc deci allinav” = vanilla iced cream, written backward

Here: “He lives at the corner where two streets meet. One street is a number—the age your brother was when he died of scarlet fever. The other is something I used to put in your hair to scare you.”

These are clues from when Jemma and Nell were young girls together. Nell’s brother died at age seventeen. And Jemma used to put grasshoppers, or locusts, in Nell’s hair. So the house where Old Joseph works is at Seventeenth and Locust Streets.

Here: “But I will tell you that I arrived in Washington safe and sound, along with a special traveler. This individual was:

Lanky and a bit rumpled in appearance.

Intelligent.

New to Washington.

Clever.

Over six feet tall.

Likes butterscotch.

Nice to the ladies.”

This spells out: