"L is the twelfth letter in the alphabet," Barby offered. "Does that mean anything?"
Rick shook his head. "Not to me. But let's start from there, anyway. Maybe the twelfth group of numbers has a clue."
He counted rapidly across the number groups. "That group is 4399693. Now what?"
Scotty suggested, "Substitute letters for the numbers. That would make it DCIIFIC. That doesn't mean anything."
"Maybe you counted the wrong way," Barby said thoughtfully. "Count down the columns instead of across."
Rick did so. "That's 8337373. Substitute and it comes out ... let's see ... HCCGCGC. Nothing there, either."
Scotty had a pad of paper and a pencil and was making idle doodles. "I'm trying to recall. When did Chahda learn anything about codes?"
Rick thought for a moment. "He never did, that I know of," he said finally.
Barby stood up. "Well, I'm going to shower and change before dinner," she announced. "But I'll keep thinking. I have an idea that talking about it won't help much. If Dad and Rick are right about his using a code we're sure to know, it must be staring us in the face and we're too blind to see it."
"Good idea," Rick agreed. "Let's break this up and each think about it. If we each search our memories, maybe we'll come up with a clue."