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Task 3: Luggage Tag Message
Decrypt the message found in the luggage tag (written on the back of the "Parenting Studies" article).
Complete Task
Decrypt the message found inside the luggage tag and enter the fifth word in the decrypted message below.
Hints
Free Hint
The first step is to figure out who wrote the note. Compare the note's handwriting to other sources of handwriting.
Hint #1
The handwriting in the note matches the handwriting in Medina's witness statement. Medina wrote the note.
To figure out what kind of cipher was used to encrypt the note, read the "Puzzles" section of the yearbook.
Hint #2
On the front of the note there's a clue that references the day "we met". Can you figure out when Summer and Medina met?
We figured out in the previous task (Ghost Lock Messages) that Summer's blog post "First Date" describes Summer's first date with Medina. Do any of Summer's other blog posts indicate when she and Medina first met?
Hint #3
Summer's "Best Day Ever" blog post references meeting a woman for the first time. The "First Date" post references the same woman. We know the "First Date" post is about Medina, so we can assume the "Best Day Ever" post is about when Medina and Summer first met.
This post doesn't have a date on it, but it mentions a karaoke event. Look for another piece of evidence that references a karaoke event to figure out the date.
Hint #4
Have a close look at the "Seattle Times" magazine.
Hint #5
There is an ad for O'Malley's 2019 Oktoberfest Karaoke Event on the back of the Seattle Times. Can you figure out when the event was held in 2018?
Hint #6
The ad says the event is held on the last Saturday of September every year. In 2018, the last Saturday in September was on the 29th.
The clue on the note says: "mm/dd-10". Can you use this clue to translate the date Summer and Medina met into two numbers?
Hint #7
Summer and Medina met on 09/29 (mm/dd). Using the clue ("mm/dd-10"), this becomes: 09/19. The two numbers are 9 and 19.
Read the "Puzzles" section of the yearbook to determine what kind of cipher was used to encrypt the note.
Hint #8/Answer
Because the note is comprehensible*, we can assume that this note was encoded using a skip cipher (with a pattern of 9, 19). To decrypt the note, read the 9th word, then the 19th next word, then the 9th next word, then the 19th next word etc.
Decrypted, the note reads: "I can't wait to travel the world with you one day."
*As opposed to a different type of cipher, like a Caesar cipher, which would make the note incomprehensible.
