Margot set the small saucepan onto the stove. “Well, we added two more telegrams to our unbreakable stack—more and more keep coming in that are encrypted in a code we’ve yet to break. I’m sure we could crack it if we had time and examples enough, but we don’t.” She pursed her lips a bit at that last part.

Drake smiled. “Does it bother you to have unbroken codes?”

“It makes me itchy.” She wriggled a bit in demonstration, as if she had an itch there between her shoulders, in the most difficult spot for one to reach on one’s own back.

A chuckle joined his smile. “Why not do it on your own, then? In your own time, I mean?”

Margot was already reaching for the sack of potatoes and selecting a few. “I’m not certain we’ve enough to work with. And besides, DID hasn’t given me permission to take them home. I offered, but he insists that a bit of free time is necessary for one’s mental health and ought not to be filled with the same sort of work that employs one’s days.”

That did indeed sound like something Hall would say. He demanded the best from his people, but he was also always cognizant of their need for time away from the office. “At what point does it become critical enough to demand attention during working hours?”

“Soon, I should think.” Margot carried her potatoes to the sink. “If the codebook isn’t recovered from a U-boat or zeppelin before long, anyway. That’s of course the fastest way to solve the problem, if we can get our lads to the wreckage before the Germans.”

“Is Hall still offering prizes to anyone who recovers something useful?”

She grinned. Directed at the potatoes, but still. “Much to his superiors’ dismay, yes.”

“Then I imagine if there’s a codebook to be found, you’ll have it.” He pushed off the table and joined them in the kitchen. “I can peel those for you.”

Dot sighed. “Drake, just go and sit down. It isn’t big enough in here for all three of us.”

“I’m not going to sit there being useless while there’s something I can do.” In proof, he nudged his sister out of the way—perhaps with a bit of exaggerated force just to earn her frustrated grunt—and reached for the paring knife.

She grumbled a bit but eventually moved off to pull from the icebox the cut of beef she’d bought yesterday.

Margot fetched a second knife and joined him at the potatoes.