Case 107

Case 107: Test of Courage

Celest St. Claire's Notes

As I mentioned in my note, I’m sure that my conclusions will match Sullivan’s. That being the case, if you’ve already asked him about these clues, you probably won’t learn anything new here.

If you do choose to use this site, you’ll still need to email Sullivan about the case’s Solution once you’ve figured out where the missing kids are.

If you haven’t emailed Sullivan yet, you can visit SleuthKings.com/Case-107 to send him your first email. When you want to tell him where he should look for the kids, just include the word Solution in the body of your email.

If you need help making sense out of the invitation’s message once you’ve solved Clues 1-4, you can send Sullivan a message with the phrase Invitation Symbols in the body of your email.

If you want to see my thoughts on any of the clues in your case file, just click the corresponding button below.

Sullivan’s Clue Analysis said that we need to find an alternative alphabet that was used to write the message on the back of the homework, right? I think I just found it! Take a look at the pencil included with your case file. I’m pretty sure the alphabet on it should help you decode the random letters on the back of the homework.

The pencil’s alphabet is “cowardbefghijklmnpqstuvxyz,” right? That means in the message on the homework, “C” = “A,” “O” = “B,” etc.

When you finish using the pencil’s alphabet to decode the message, it says:

“The word you want is safehouse.”

I know it doesn’t seem like that tells us much, but the star on the homework matches the star on the invitation, right? I think that means we need to write “safehouse” beside the matching symbol on the invitation. When we find the other words, we should be able to fill out the invitation’s table and follow the instructions to decode its hidden message.

Remember, if you need help making sense out of the invitation once you’ve solved Clues 1-4, you can send Sullivan a message with the phrase invitation symbols in the body of your email. If you haven’t sent him your first email yet, you can do so at SleuthKings.com/Case-107.

Whatever this emoji message is, I doubt it’s very long. In fact, I get the impression that each picture only stands for a single letter. We just need to figure out which letter each emoji represents.

I got it! We need to look at the first letter of each word the emojis stand for. Here’s a list of them from the social media page:

Umbrella, sushi, elephant, taco, house, elephant, penguin, umbrella, Z’s, Z’s, lobster, elephant, taco, ice cream, taco, lobster, elephant.

When you only look at the first letter of each word, the message says:

“Use the puzzle title.”

In Pascal’s post, it looks like she’s titled her emoji message the “Red Riddle.” The lightning symbol below the title also matches the lightning symbol on the invitation, right? If we write the letters “red riddle” beside the matching symbol, we should be another step closer to decoding the secret message.

I haven’t figured out what the typos are trying to tell us yet, but I’m sure both the missing and extra letters are important. I’m going to try making a list of all of the incorrect letters. Maybe you should give that a shot, too.

I just finished putting my list together. Here it is:

The first quote is missing the letter “C.”

The second quote has typos involving “ompu.”

The third quote is missing “ter.”

The fourth quote has an extra “cl.”

The fifth quote has typos involving “ubn.”

The sixth (and final) quote is missing “ame.”

When you add all of the typos together, the message says:

“Computer club name.”

I wasn’t sure what to make out of that until I noticed the “Club Spotlight” list on the back of the yearbook page. The computer club is listed there, and it says their name is “Cover Ctrl.” Since the heart on the yearbook page matches the heart on the invitation, I’m pretty sure we need to write “Cover Ctrl” beside the invitation’s matching symbol.

Good news – I think I found the pattern!

When moving from “A” to “D,” the pattern moves forward 3 places in the alphabet. Then, when going from “D” to “B,” it moves backward two places. If we repeat that pattern, it should help us figure out what the third missing letter is. Once we know that, it should point us to the lunch item we’re looking for on the menu.

As I mentioned before, according to the pattern at the top of the calendar, “A” moves ahead 3 places in the alphabet and becomes “D.” Then, “D” moves backward 2 places and becomes “B.” From there, the pattern repeats and “B” moves forward 3 places to become “E.” Following the pattern, “E” then moves back 2 places and becomes “C.”

If we continue following the pattern, “C” should move forward 3 places and become “F.” “F” should then move back 2 places to become “D.” Finally, “D” moves forward 3 places and becomes “G.”

Since the instructions said we’re looking for the 3^rd missing letter, “G” should be it. If we look at the menu, the day that has “G” written in it is the 30^th, and “Pie Dinner” is the scheduled meal that day.

That has to mean that “Pie Dinner” is the phrase we’re looking for. Since the calendar and invitation share matching smiley faces, that means we’ll want to write “Pie Dinner” beside the matching symbol on the invitation.

Of course, once you’ve figured out what the invitation’s hidden message says, you can send Sullivan an email to let him know. When you do, be sure to include the word Solution in the body of your email so he knows what you’re talking about.

Good luck!