Map of Death

Las Palmas PD has just arrested a suspect in the slaying of Carl Halsey. A witness saw Brix Villar stabbing Halsey on a dark, isolated parking lot.

'I think our best lead is a map we found in Villar's wallet. Halsey's name was written on it.' Victor Bravo told Lt. Joe Picasso and handed the map over.

Joe P studied the map of Zapote town for a while. He found codes on it:

All W

1d2. 2N2f4. 3B4D6. 4N6B5

'I'm almost sure these codes are chess algebraic notations.' He said. He was a very god player himself but eventually had no time for games anymore. 'Write this down. 'All W' means all white moves. Now divide the map into 8x8 grids... I think I better do this myself.'

Picasso took an index card and started graphing. When he was finished, he said, 'Take a look at this.' Bravo did. '1d2 is the first move that ends on F4 square. The N on 2N2 means knight so the move was like an 'L'. The move stops at D6. The B on 3B4 means a bishop move that's why it moved diagonally. The last move stops at B5 which started from N6-another knight move. Take a look.' He passed the card and map to Bravo and waited.

'Ok. I see it.' Bravo said after a while.

'What's the street... no, I'll bet it's a big lot. On that lot, I'll bet we'll find something worth killing for. Do you see the lot where all the moves ended?'

'It's a big lot all right.'

'Get two men and tell them to bring spades. We have a job of real 'digging' to do now.'

The summer sun at Las Palmas isn't for the weak-hearted-it could fry an egg. Even under a tree with their ties loosened, Joe and Bravo were sweating just watching a cop digging earth. Two cops alternating every 30 minutes. After about 80 minutes, one of the rookies shouted, 'There's something here sir.' Joe and Bravo approached the hole. The something was a sack.

'Bring it up and open it.' Joe ordered.

The rookie did. The sack contained a silver case. And inside the case was a chessboard made of ebony and ivory. Joe, now overwhelmed by his victory and curiosity took over. He opened the chessboard and saw that the chessmen were randomly made of different precious metals and gems-gold, silver, diamonds, emeralds, rubies, etc.

Next day at the Department Of Federal Investigations, the chief was informing JP and company.

'That chessboard belonged to the National Museum of India. It was stolen during the 17^th century. We and the Interpol are now tracing how the national treasure landed here. Of course there has to be an international syndicate involved.'

After six days, Villar agreed to accept the 'Witness Protection Program' and named his contact. The agreement was that if the Interpol convicted another suspect involved, they would give Villar a new identity and move him to a 'safe place.'

After three weeks, The Interpol managed to arrest five members of the syndicate. Nationalities involved yet were Indian, Italian, and American