On one of the long afternoons, Mieke asked Mumford how it all began – The Absent Answer, and everything that lay behind it.
Mumford thought for a moment. She said, ‘I haven’t always investigated murders. I was drawn into it.’
She said it was hard to say when her first case really started. Maybe it was when she found a message, disguised with the simplest of ciphers.
Dear Mumford,
I have something important to tell you. I wrote it down but my letters have slipped one place. (You find out which direction.)
G P V M E F F E T X J M M S J T F *
Then Mumford said, “Actually no, that’s not right. It really began before that.”
She promised to think about it and write something down.
She said it would take a long time.
The Absent Answer 