The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco

What is the answer that I shall give

in your name to this great man,

the thrice-chosen head of a nation of 130 million?

Here is the answer which I will give to President Roosevelt.

Put your confidence in us,

give us your faith and your blessing,

and under providence, all will be well."

Fifteen months ago, that was Churchill's message to the Americans.

Today, their soldiers stand shoulder to shoulder with our own

as the emergent States finally enters the war...

I have the honour...

I have the honour...

to inform Your Excellency...

The same familiar formality is here,

but after that we kept getting stuck. Why?

A shift in the frequency of occurrence.

It's a Pacific communique.

Run this over to B block. They can share it with Uncle Sam.

Why? We keep asking the Yanks to share information with us, but they never do.

They're fighting on two fronts, Claire.

They'll send a thank-you card when they can.

The Americans do everything with our help and what do we get back?

They're arriving here as we speak. Swanning around town,

tossing money, I... Defending our shores.

What if we tell them we'd only share this decryption here

if they give us something in return?

Claire, B block, now!

Damn, bloody Yanks!

They're not so bad, you know. They come bearing chocolate.

Well, I'm holding out for a whole lot more than a Hershey's D bar.

Why not try a taste? There's a dance tonight.

GIs looking to cut a rug.

Word is they're also going around town saying England deliberately

held back cracking JN-25.

Claire, come and meet some Americans.

We're all in this together.

You deliberately sought to withhold information from our allies.

It was nothing but a stupid huff.

I was going to fetch it out of the bin and deliver it as you asked. Trust me.

I'll have a hard time doing that now.

- Please, Ms McBrian, turn a blind eye. - I can't.

You've been transferred to a clerical position in Bristol.

- Bristol! What will I do there? - Learn from this, I hope.

You're a smart girl, Claire, but this is war.

Can I get you anything, ma'am?

A heart. Seems mine is made of coal.

I'll buy the girl a drink tonight. Send her off in style.

Watch out, girls, you're on the devil's arm.

They tell us the boys are on our side, but I know better.

Another fly boy looking for a khaki lass.

Look at you all. Apple pie and Fourth of July.

And, yes, showing up late for war.

Nothing to say for yourself, as I figured.

Another coward.

I don't think so.

What is it? Someone call the police.

Absolutely dreadful.

My God.

She sounds frightful, doesn't she, Ms Harcourt?

Your sister's making progress.

Let's see if the same can be said for you and your grasp of current events.

Chicago Tribune, New York Times.

San Francisco Chronicle.

Father says it's a poor man's vacation reading a foreign paper.

Except he's nose-deep in them himself.

Art of war. Know yourself and your enemy.

Except England vanquishes its enemies.

- So why study history? - To help shape your future, Frederick.

- And shape yours, too, I suppose. - And how do you do that?

When I inherit Father's seat in the House of Lords,

I'll rule over you.

All the more reason to knuckle down today.

Now, regarding the recent Moroccan and Tunisian

declarations of independence,

explain five divergences between British...

I'm interested in reporting on this fellow,

Elvis Presley. Have you heard of him?

He's wrote a song called Heartbreak Hotel.

Frederick, you must take this seriously.

If you do hope to rule over me, then you'd best come...

...prepared.

- Lesson's over. - You can't just leave!

You're my governess.

San Francisco Chronicle? Even we don't carry that one.

The article's about the murder of a woman named Ruby Anderson.

Murdered in a district called the Fillmore, the...

The police claimed no leads,

say it's simply a neighbourhood riddled with crime.

It's a shame when blight strikes a city.

Jean, look at the photo.

It's exactly the same as was done to Claire.

- Even the drawing on her palm. - Good Lord.

The killer writes letters to the paper about angels who ascend to God.

Silent gifts, a box on holy palms.

You should take this to Scotland Yard,

- see if they'll reopen Claire's case. - They will pat my leg

and send me on my merry way. Help me, Jean.

Susan and Alice are busy with their lives. Lucy has her new baby.

But you and I...

What, you're suggesting we travel to San Francisco?

The library will grant you a few weeks' leave,

and I know you've got some money squirrelled away somewhere.

I'm not spending my savings on a steamer halfway around the world.

Then what's it for?

I have a cousin in San Francisco I'm sure would put us up for a few weeks.

Jean, this could be a chance to find some justice for Claire.

Millie, you're still out there

looking for something. Me... I've already found it.

Thank you for coming in.

As you know, Her Majesty's diplomatic service requires intelligence,

dedication, vigour.

And as my references and testing show,

- I come fully qualified to serve. - In the war, you were clerical.

- Enhanced clerical. - I'm not sure I quite understand...

It means, sir, that I did more than I can say.

The position on offer is certainly nothing I can't handle.

Well, relocating can be an overwhelming proposition.

Imagine yourself posted to Hamburg or Saigon or Bombay,

only to find the adjustment is one you cannot...

I've adjusted to a great many things in my time, Mr West.

You'd be required to resign should you marry.

That will not be a problem.

Ms McBrian, you're a librarian serving a modest collection.

It will be a steep climb to land anywhere else.

Thank you for your consideration.

- Hello. - Lock the door after you.

Jean, this is hardly my first night here, chum.

So, I assume we're celebrating.

To what exotic outpost will Her Majesty be sending you?

They rejected me.

Well, I say we pop it anyway.

I'm told this stuff doesn't keep, but I've never had a bottle

long enough to test that hypothesis.

I think we need something a bit stronger.

I read your newspaper article. The similarities are unnerving.

Well, that's exactly what I was trying to tell you.

And if it's the same killer, we have two problems.

Firstly...

...the man who strangled Claire is especially savage.

He cut out the girl's tongue.

And secondly, if we are to embark on this journey...

- Did you say "we"? - IF we are,

we've no hope of navigating a new city without the aid of locals.

- Well, there's my cousin Edward. - No offence

to the Harcourt line, Millie, but we need better.

This is correspondence from one of our old SIS

counterparts in San Francisco at the Presidio.

Now, he and I exchanged communiques during the war.

I never knew his name. He simply went by Major Sixth.

This was his farewell missive on VE Day.

Wow. Never thought I'd see one of these again.

You know, I often think if...

- ...if I hadn't fired her... - Jean, you had to.

If I hadn't been so slavishly true to the rules - and God knows others weren't...

...she wouldn't have gone out that night.

Yeah, to meet me.

I'm the one who asked her, and before that,

I was the one who grassed her up to you in the first place.

So, here we are. Both seeking redemption.

- What's the plain text? - I never tried to crack it.

Frequency of use appears standard. It looks like a substitution so far.

- Vigenere? - Perhaps. Or Beaufort.

Tabula recta, zero to 26, additional modulo 27.

Well, I have copies of most of the tables here.

- We could try each one. - What's the keyword, though?

My guess... it's the first word on the Teletype.

"Victory."

"Should you ever visit our shores, come find Bunk at the Big Bop."

Jean, you might get a date out of this.

"In this court, men grow wiser every day." What does that mean?

Well, we'll ask him when we find him.

- Hey, baby. - Hey.

Did you have a good day?

You paid the electricity bill?

If you're hungry, I'll fix you something.

Off to City Hall. Isaac Harrisson says the city is expanding.

They're rezoning areas by 60 blocks, right on to our doorstep.

- City Hall gives a hoot what you think? - They might after an all-night sit-in.

You cut that here.

You take a knife, you'll give them a reason to get violent.

It's not gonna go like that.

So you're clairvoyant and a rabble-rouser.

- I need you home by 10:00. - Mom.

- It's an all-night protest. - And you're at school tomorrow.

- They get nasty, you get nice, you hear? - Yes, ma'am.

Seems our son is turning into a regular Martin Luther King.

Or just taking after his mother.

- Hi, Mommy. - Cadence, honey,

you should be in bed by now.

- But I wanted to see you. - Well, I'm glad you did.

I don't like getting home this late.

Why don't you take your book and I'll come tuck you in?

OK.

Joy from across the hall says she saw you helping the Sawyers move.

Their jobs are in Oakland. Can't blame a man for wanting to feed his family.

Keep them safe. I can blame you for helping another family to leave.

Just being a good neighbour, Iris.

Well, he ain't our neighbour any more now, is he?

That's another one gone. Don't you be getting any ideas.

Hell, no, cos this... This is our home.