“Codes?” He opened the book. “Weird. Your Fiona wrote in code?”

“Maybe. I can’t figure it out. Neither could MacDuff.” She looked at him suspiciously. “Why are you grinning?”

He was laughing out loud now as his gaze went through the pages in front of him. “Because I was thinking how much I’m going to enjoy explaining these ‘codes’ to our brilliant Earl of MacDuff’s Run.”

*  *  *

Dining Room
MacDuff’s Run
8:40 P.M.

MacDuff was frowning as he glanced up from the latest Fiona journal they’d found that afternoon. “Railway tracks? Not like any tracks I’ve seen. It looks more like dots and dashes.”

“Because they’re a bit primitive,” Rodland replied. “Probably constructed back in Fiona’s day. And for some reason I don’t believe Fiona wanted anyone to know what she was drawing in those books.” His shoulders lifted in a half shrug. “But I’ve seen even more primitive rail track construction when I was in the mountains between Kashmir and India. When I was a prisoner of the Taliban, the commander made a deal with the Kashmir government for them to use Taliban prisoners to do the labor on that stretch of rail from the jungles of the southern villages to the mountains.” He made a face. “Using the cheapest materials, and half the time we had to clear the poisonous vipers out from between the spikes. Not a fun project. I was glad to see Seth Caleb when MI6 sent him with a team to raid the encampment and get us out of there.” He turned to Jane. “Caleb didn’t tell you about that?”

She shook her head. “Caleb seldom talks about anything he does for MI6 or any other organization. I suppose he believes it’s safer for me.” She changed the subject. “But why would you think that Fiona wouldn’t want anyone to know about those railroad tracks?”

“Just a guess. All the other details in what she’s drawn in her diaries and journals appear to be clean and legible. It just seems unlikely that she’d do those tracks clumsily.”

“And you could be wrong,” MacDuff said.

Rodland grinned. “But that would make you right and I don’t think I could bear the disappointment. Look at them closely and I’m sure you’ll see what I saw.”

“I suppose they could be tracks,” Jane said reluctantly. “I’ll go through her other books and compare them.” She shook her head. “For Pete’s sake, I’m an artist. It’s humiliating that I couldn’t identify those dashes as railroad tracks.”

“That she didn’t want you or anyone else to identify,” Rodland said. “Don’t feel bad. I’ve got a hunch Fiona was probably very clever. Maybe your friend MacDuff is right about the two of you having a close bond of some sort.”

“Rodland,” Jane said warningly.