About the time you're discovering the fireplace, you'll get a message from Moira telling you that she's back home again. Go talk to her --
Hint 2
-- and she'll give you a book marked "Mom's Case Notes" in your inventory. The clue to opening this safe is in there, on the loose page just inside the cover.
Hint 3
But being Nancy's mom and a paranoid spy to boot, she's not going to just tell you the combination, oh NO. She's got to put it in the form of a logic problem, groan. Read to the end of this hint for the solution.
Hint 4
If you haven't solved a logic problem before, the way they work is that they give you a set of rules about the solution, but it's never quite enough. You have to apply the rules as you can, and when a solution contradicts the rules, it means it's wrong and you need to try again.
Hint 5
You might find this puzzle easier to solve with something like sticky notes with the letters and numbers written on them that you can move around on a table or something.
Hint 6
For example, in the Amateur puzzle, it says that the vowels are in the middle column in the top two rows. That means the A and the E are in those two top center spots, but you don't yet know which is on top.
Hint 7
Ah, but you do, because another rule says that the top row is BEF; that means the second row is A. Another rule says that E is above H, which is above 6. So the third row is H, and the 6 is somewhere below that, but we don't know where yet. See how this works?
Hint 8
So work your way through the rules and see how far you get. If you're sure of everything but two or three letters or numbers, you can try a little experimentation -- that is, get everything else set, then change those two numbers and see if you stumble across the right answer.
Hint 9
Give up? Okay, here's the solution -- but as usual, this won't work until you've gotten the book from Moira and at least looked at the first page.
The unlocked box holds a fly-shaped listening device (it's a bug, see? Big jokers, these spies), some more notes from Kate, and an old MP3 player that's out of juice.
Buy me a coffee