The Cipher and the Countess

You are Céleste Marchand, freelance map-dealer and part-time opportunist, slipping into Librairie Aldric on the Rue des Quatre-Vents just as the noon bell fades. Word on the street is that a coded treasure map — tucked inside a dusty atlas — has surfaced in the old bookshop's back stock. Two buyers want it: the formidable Countess Véranne, who arrived first and is browsing the front shelves, and the slippery Monsieur Renard, who is lurking near the door pretending to read a pamphlet. Old Aldric himself is behind the counter, oblivious to the storm gathering in his shop. You need that map — but so does everyone else, and you got here third.