Dean questioned the rare break between characters and the near absence of punctuation. Cynthia surmised that when they did appear, they were oversights on the part of the writer who unconsciously placed them as if she were writing in a normal, un-coded fashion. It was Donnie who found the combination "8M2" and guessed it was most likely a replacement for "THE." These were the first three characters used on the first page of the notebook and the combination appeared with regularity throughout the book. Still, there were more false leads than successes before the hall clocked tolled eleven and Cynthia announced it was beyond everyone's bedtime. Even Donnie surprisingly agreed as he pantomimed skiing.
"Are you going skiing tomorrow with Mr. Ryland?" Cynthia asked the boy. Donnie nodded yes, his eyes bright with excitement. "Well, it should be quite a party!" she said with a smile as Fred left for his room.
Dean went to close up while Cynthia readied the sofa for Donnie's bed. After filling the coffee pot and setting the timer, he began turning out the lights. When he passed the parlor, he was surprised to find Donald Ryland seated in a darkened corner. When he saw Dean, he smiled and waved him over.
"Women," he said. "Who can ever understand 'em?"
Dean was uncertain how to respond. When Ryland said nothing further, Dean broke the silence. "I guess there's another skier for tomorrow's outing. It should be fun, with your son along and all."
Ryland was startled by the comment. "You know who I am?"
"Edith got a little maudlin last night," Dean answered.
The young man ran his fingers through his beard. "I haven't seen my boy in over a year and I hardly got a chance to say more than 'hi' before she scooted him downstairs. But I talked her into giving me the whole day with him at Telluride tomorrow." He turned to Dean. "How much did she tell you?"
Dean thought before answering, wondering how much to admit to Donald Ryland, regressing back to his old detective days. But, he decided, he had no reason to distrust the man. "She told us she's left her husband and you're Donnie's father. And, I guess this guy Shipton is abusive, and doesn't take rejection very well."
"It's a real mess, I gotta tell you. Shipton is a devil. He won't let me near Donnie. Edith's managed to slip out and meet me a half dozen times over the years, but that's it. The whole family thinks I'm dog-shit-always has. I know I messed up, getting her pregnant and all, but I wanted to do right by her, and especially the boy. God, we were a couple of kids when it happened. But ol' Jerome, he'd rather pretend I was the one that never happened. He treats Edith like a piece of the furniture-bangs her around too, I guess. But she's such a mouse, she stays with him, taking it on the chin, so to speak."