Inside, she made a cup of chamomile tea and turned on the television, trying to avoid the loneliness that always accompanied the departure of the grandchildren. Reluctantly, she began sorting through the pile of junk mail—solicitations for credit cards and mounds of coupons—which she tossed in the trash. Then she settled into her living room chair with the stack of newspapers. With her legs propped on a cushioned ottoman, she put on her readers and flipped through the oldest edition, searching for the article that Clover had mentioned. After several pages, she noticed an unusual headline and stopped.

REMAINS OF WWII HOMING PIGEON FOUND
IN ROCHFORD CHIMNEY

He endured a treacherous flight over the Channel, flying many miles from Nazi-occupied Europe. The weary war pigeon, carrying a secret message inside a capsule attached to his leg, must have fluttered to a chimney in Rochford, perhaps to rest or to warm himself from a fire. Likely overwhelmed by fumes, the pigeon plummeted from his resting place and perished. His skeletal remains have gone unnoticed for over fifty years, until Niles Googins purchased the property and began renovations.

Susan sat up straight and adjusted her reading glasses.

“I was cleaning out the fireplace; the damper was clogged with rubbish,” he said on Monday. “I was pulling out debris and noticed small bones. At first, I thought it was the remains of a crow, until I noticed a red capsule attached to his leg.”

Mr. Googins, a retired mathematics professor, opened the capsule and discovered a coded message on a bit of paper. The message has been dispatched to curators at Bletchley Park, where efforts to break the Nazi Enigma code turned the tide of the war. The Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Cheltenham is also diligently working to decode the message.

“Poor soul,” she whispered to herself. Briefly, she wondered if it could have been Duchess or one of her other pigeons, either from Bertie’s farm or Northampton. But considering the military had used over 250,000 homing pigeons during the war, the chances were unlikely. She tossed the newspaper to the floor and quickly scanned the more recent editions, hoping to find an update on the story. She found what she was looking for in yesterday’s paper.

BLETCHLEY PARK AND GCHQ DUMBFOUNDED
BY SECRET MESSAGE!

Experts at Bletchley Park and GCHQ are baffled by the coded message of a World War II spy pigeon found earlier this week in a Rochford chimney. They believe the red capsule Mr. Googins, a retired professor, found while renovating his house, is a type used during early intelligence operations. But to date, the code is undecipherable.

Susan exhaled. Her heartbeat accelerated.