Currently on Off the Record...

Frannie was able to eliminate Sebastian Dyer as a suspect and has begun to stir up some town controversy with her blog posts. In searching through Ashley's things, a secret note was discovered form someone who saw Ashley the night she was killed.

Now Frannie must learn who this mystery person is in order to narrow in on the killer.

Hints

Ashley's Password

• Frannie has taken a screenshot of Ashley's phone notes. There is an encoded message within the notes. How might one decode it to reveal the hidden message?
• In Episode 1, Ashley's notebook mentioned several ciphers and how to decode them. How might this information be useful in deciphering the encoded message in Ashley's phone notes?
• Reggie's letter mentions items found on Ashley's desk. Are there any that might be useful in learning the password to Ashley's OffLine app?
• Ashley has used the slogan written around the base of the Harold bobblehead she owns as the key to a cipher. How might this item be used with another in the episode to decipher a hidden message?
• The phrase written around the base of the Harold bobblehead, when lined up with the phrase written around the circular bookmark, will provide the letters that correspond to the alphabet Ashley used to encode her message.

Ashley's Source Identity

• The text message logs include conversations between the suspects and unknown participants that seem to end abruptly. How might this information be useful when trying to access Ashley's OffLine messages?
• Ashley's OffLine messages include messages between her and her sources. Do we know any of Ashley's sources? Does either encoded contact name match this name?
• Using the same code for her password, Ashley has encoded the names of her sources in her OffLine messages.

Logging On

• Check Frannie's letter for the specific task Frannie assigns you. Frannie asks you to identify Ashley's source within the campaign. Sending the person's full name to Frannie through the messaging feature on keep-safe-pro.com will advance the story and complete this objective.
• The password for the KeepSafe Pro app is M3GABYTE.

Prison Letter Pages

• Someone has handwritten this encoded document. How might one manipulate the paper to reveal the hidden message?

Reveals

Ashley's Password

• Aligning the Harold bobblehead with the bookmark gives the matching phrases:

  • STRONG NEW LEADERSHIP, UNWAVERING VALUES
  • QENSZO ZKJ AKWXKNQGPB, DZJWRKNPZO RWADKQ

• Ashley is using a substitution cipher and the following alphabet to encode her message.

• Using the substitution cipher and the alphabet formed by aligning the Harold bobblehead with the bookmark will show how to decipher Ashley's encoded message.
• Applying the letters learned will translate "Egk bwqqjsnx pq qwodwns" into "The password is saguaro".
• Ashley's phone password is saguaro.

• To access more content for the episode, type the password "saguaro" into Ashley's OffLine message login.

Ashley's Source Identity

• Using the same code for her password, Ashley has encoded the names of her sources in her OffLine messages. Following the alphabet learned from aligning the Harold bobblehead with the bookmark will show that "YNWZZPK" translates to "FRANNIE" and "AKJPQ" translates to "LEWIS".
• Ashley's other source was Lewis Vanzetti.
• To complete the episode, type the name "Lewis Vanzetti" in a message to Frannie through the messaging feature on keep-safe-pro.com.

Frannie's Letter

• You might have noticed that Frannie has encoded information in a note at the end of her letter. You can't solve it yet, so hold on to Frannie's letter for now. The time to solve this puzzle will come in a later episode.

Prison Letter Pages

• Following the instructions on the first prison letter page to fold the second prison letter page will reveal a secret message handwritten by Lewis.
• Lewis's hidden message reads: "REMEMBER WHAT YOU BOTH OWE ME FOR THE CAR CRASH OR ILL TELL EVERYONE."

Transcripts

Frannie's Letter

Page 1 → Above Paragraph 1

• Start here again - F

Page 1 → Beneath Paragraph 1

• Is it weird I feel bad about not giving the campaign my best work?

Page 1 → Below Paragraph 2

• This may not seem like a big deal, but trust me, it is

Page 1 → To the Left of Paragraph 3

• About time, Reggie's been asking for it every week

Page 1 → To the Right of Paragraph 3

• Encrypted messaging app. Their backend security is PRETTY good.

Page 1 → Below Paragraph 3

• This is where you come in
• keep-safe-pro.com

Page 1 → Beside Paragraph 6

• According to that note you found in the pill organizer

Page 1 → Below Paragraph 6

• A source who's not me, I mean

Page 1 → Below Paragraph 7

• I don't know what I meant by this. Not much sleep has been happening.
• THEY PROBABLY ARE

Page 2 → Beneath Final Paragraph

• The new KeepSafe password is M3GABYTE

Page 2 → Beneath "Frannie"

• [star symbol]
• STGUJ OBE ISPUVG GP SHTFJFH MPSFGX

Photograph

Back → Handwriting A

• proof

Prison Letter

Page 1 → Lewis's Handwriting

Harry,

Thanks for writing back so soon. Everyone else has stopped writing. Even Ma only writes me every couple of months. When I came in here, I thought I'd be able to bear it easily enough. I didn't know anything.

When I can't sleep, I try to imagine myself before I was in here. I think about that day on the quad, when I was doing my homework and the sky was clear and I felt like I belonged, and everything was going to be good. I don't know anymore if that day actually happened. I wonder if I just made it up, and I've really just been stuck in here my whole life. I̵t̵ ̵m̵a̵k̵e̵s̵ ̵m̵e̵ Everything feels like a dream in here, like life outside never happened. But I know it did, and I tell myself when I get out you'll still have my back, at least, like you promised.

The only thing I have to pass the time is origami. My bunkmate trades me candy for folded cranes and fish and fortune tellers. I don't ask where he gets the candy from. I tell myself it could be worse but I can't keep lying forever, something good has to give eventually. It's got to.

Please write back soon.

Your friend,

Lewis

Page 2 → Lewis's Handwriting

Harold,

Clearly it's asking too much to ask my "best friend" to write even ONE letter. Do you even care anymore? I've only served half of my sentence. Five years of my life spent rotting in this hellhole, with five more to go. All because of the crash. All because of a decision made by a young, stupid, cocky kid.

I feel like I'm dying with my eyes open. I've had enough. You should both be thanking me. Y̵o̵u̵ ̵o̵w̵e̵ ̵m̵e̵ ̵e̵v̵e̵r̵y̵t̵h̵i̵n̵g̵.̵ But if you won't, I've got other plans.

Reggie's Letter

Page 1

Hi again, Detective.

I hope you're weathering this investigation OK. Frannie's barely remembering to shower, she's so laser-focused on the case. I don't think she's sleeping very well, either. The other day I saw her start to pour milk into a bowl of potato chips.

I'm not in a good place, myself. Reading Ashley's notes on her phone crushed me. I could picture her writing those words so clearly. Every time I remember she's gone, it feels like losing her all over again. I lie awake at night just picturing Ashley alone in her coffin. I'm making mistakes at work, and yesterday I think I made a big one.

You see, Harold Richards came into the bank this week. I thought he was acting cagey, but he only wanted to access his high-security deposit box. I saw in our records he hadn't accessed his box for almost ten years. All I could think was how unfair it is that, ten years ago, he walked away from the crash that killed those two women, and now he's going about his business while Ashley is dead in the dirt. Then it occurred to me that whatever Harold had stashed in his deposit box might have something to do with Ashley. Once I started thinking about it, I couldn't stop.

I'm one of the few employees who can reset the high-security lockboxes, so yesterday at the end of my shift, I cracked Harold's open and grabbed everything inside. I tried to cover my tracks, but it's not something you can hide easily. I'm sending you everything I found: a photograph, a bowtie, a woven mask, and a few notes. I should've just taken a photo, I don't know what I was thinking. I hope it's helpful, because I'm going to lose my job over this, or worse. I'm ashamed of myself, but if it helps us find the murderer, I won't regret it.

If I know what happened, maybe I won't think of Ashley lying in her grave anymore. Thank you for helping me try to know.

Reggie