Rhinestone Eyes

Sometime later, elsewhere

“Thadeus’ body was found by his maiden, who just brought his last novel to the post office. His publisher took it upon himself to publish it as his last will. His last act of defiance.” The woman walked around the table, the glances of all the others on her. Her white hair dangling down her right shoulder, knotted together “That was three weeks ago. His house was turned upside down, the evidence lost. Or so we thought.”
A man in the group grunted. “Shouldn’t have trusted this with some rich lad.  Doesn’t matter if his pap was one of us. He wasn’t up to it. And now all of it is lost.”
The woman pulled out a copy of Thadeus’ book “Rhinestone Eyes” and slammed it on the table. A devilish smile drew on her face. “That ‘lad’ was cleverer and more convinced of our cause than you might think, old friend.”
She looked at the book. A novel filled with romance and drama. But also encoded messages and information, hidden beneath the lines. If you know the right decoder.
“No better hiding spot than plain sight…”, the white-haired woman said.