Page 88 of Kiss Her Goodbye

“Hand-me-down math puzzles?”The concept alone hurts my head.

“Two halves of one whole,” Aliah repeats.

“Do you know what that means?”

“Not at all.”

I take a seat.Study the assorted pages.“Was the grandmother a math professor?”

“Maryam was a fashion designer.”

“That tracks,” I mutter, given that nothing about this case makes sense.“But Sabera knows math, yes?She worked as an assistant for Isaad at the university?”

“Yes.”

“Meaning, she’d understand these grids were wrong, er, trivial, as you say; they aren’t constructed properly.”

“I would assume she’d realize such a thing.”

I frown.“You said the repeating digits shouldn’t be there.What happens when you cull them out?”

“You are asking if the repeated numbers are significant on their own?”

“Sure.”

Aliah shrugs.“I’ve analyzed them many times.As the saying goes, I got nothing.”

I study the grids.All look Greek to me.For lack of anything smarter to do, I pull out my phone and Google magic squares.I learn that they date back to ancient China, have gained occult status, and can appear as symbols in works of art.As a matterof principle, they are constructed with non-repeated positive integers.There are, however, examples of famous “trivial” squares, including the four-by-four Sagrada Familia magic square whose rows and columns add up to the number thirty-three, the age of Jesus at the time of the Passion, but get there by repeating the numbers fourteen and ten.So famously trivial.

Basically, the more I read, the less I understand.

I’m also still struggling with the concept of the grids being a hand-me-down from Zahra’s grandmother.Because Sabera’s encryption skills weren’t challenging enough?Except, of course, her mother was also an MI6 agent.Meaning maybe Sabera learned encoding from her?

Seriously, what were family dinnertime conversations like in that house?

I return to two halves of one whole.A key of some kind?Maybe we should halve the numbers inside the magic squares, except that results in messy fractions.Next, I try dividing out the total.If the magic sum is currently sixty, what happens if I make it thirty, and reconstruct the grids accordingly?

What I get from my awkward computations is that it’s very difficult to create a magic square.Certainly, the only way I can get each row, column, and diagonal to total thirty is to repeat numbers again.I’d like to think it’s because that’s the only way it can be done, but it could also mean I’m not clever enough.

One thing I’ve learned in my years as an investigator: play to your strengths.The odds of me cracking this code and/or using it to locate Sabera are not high.Then again, the crime scene specialist from Sabera’s townhouse hideaway, Jay Chen… He clearly enjoyed puzzles.

I give Detective Marc a call.

“What?”he growls.

I fill him in on Zahra’s carefully replicated math puzzles.I do not mention our own attempt at a coded message inviting Sabera to a meeting; I’m not totally stupid.

“Fuck,” he states.

“We’re thinking the grids are magic squares.Which may or may not have something to do with two halves of one whole.”

“Fuck.”

“I was wondering if your crime scene expert, Jay Chen, might give them a look?”

Silence.Then: “Fine, send me a photo.”

“Has he had any luck discovering more messages from the wall art?”