Dr. Watson and the Delivery of the Grapes
I ENTERED the meeting of the bakery mafia with no difficulties, using the code word. I had donned a fake mustache and a hat to conceal my identity. To my surprise, not many of the more famous criminals of London were present. Present were the lower criminals, the bag men. They looked dirty and worn-out, but street wise too. Many looked like they came from foreign countries, trying their luck in England.
We lined up, and the person in charge gave each person a large quantity of some baking ingredient and a list of places were they should be delivered. Each time he gave the same instructions: "Deliver the goods to these places, then make haste to the meeting tonight."
When it was my turn I got three buckets of grapes to deliver. The instructions I got were slightly different from the others. "You got lucky, the meeting tonight is in one of the towns you need to deliver to, and it is in the one furthest from London too. So deliver these grapes, then just stay in the last town."
Of course I took the grapes and thought this would be an easy assignment. When I finally looked at my delivery list I knew it would not be so. 'I have never heard of these places!'
I could not ask anyone there where I should go, lest I would blow my cover.
All the other bag men seemed to have no problem with their lists.
I took a deep breath and tried to stay calm. 'I need to figure out how this list works to find the answer to the question: In which city is the meeting tonight?'