Bree Phone Home puzzle

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Why can't my dad leave normal voicemails like all the other dads...

In Bree Phone Home, Bree calls several of her relatives in hopes of finding out what could have happened to her parents. When she dials great uncle Franklin from San Francisco, her call is picked up by an answering machine for Powell's Dry Cleaners.


Powell's Dry Cleaners Message

Bree said the phone number aloud as she dialed it: 287-0211. Since she mentioned Franklin was in San Francisco, one of the possible area codes was (415). Calling 415-287-0211 allows you to listen to the same message heard by Bree.

Hello and thank you for calling Powell's Dry Cleaners. We are open 7 days a week from 9 am until 5 pm. Our current specials are as follows: Dress shirts 3 for $5 with an 8-9 day turn around time. We also offer rush service at a rate of 3 shirts for $12. Please leave a message after the tone and we'll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you.

Solution

The numbers of shirts and days that it will take to clean them are the real message. The message below has the numbers in bold.

Hello and thank you for calling Powell's Dry Cleaners. We are open 7 days a week from 9 am until 5 pm. Our current specials are as follows: Dress shirts 3 for $5 with an 8-9 day turn around time. We also offer rush service at a rate of 3 shirts for $12. Please leave a message after the tone and we'll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you.

The numbers are 7953589312. This is not a phone number. However, when reversed, it yields (213)-985-3597, which is indeed a phone number. When this number is dialed, a voice message from Bree's father plays.

Bree's father's message

This is the message heard after dialing (213) 985-3597.

Bree, it's your father. If you are listening to this message, you managed to crack my code. Your mother and I are safe but I need to talk to you alone. Confirm that you got this by sending me a secret message back. I'll meet you one week after that at the place where we used to talk about Feynman and Jared Diamond. I know you're confused right now. But all will make sense after we talk. I'll see you soon sweetie.

Solution

Richard Feynman is a famous physicist for whom Bree has great admiration. She quoted him in her blog Daniel Returns, and More Interesting Factoids (Yay!), in which she tells a story from his book Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman.

Bree also quotes Jared Diamond' Guns, Germs and Steel in the The Tolstoy Principle (and Dad "talks" to Daniel).

Since Bree is homeschooled and these readings have been assumed to be part of her coursework, it's possible that her dad is referring to some place where they used to go to work on her studies. He does not seem to specify what kind of secret message he wants her to send back.

The following videos demonstrate how Bree responded to her father's message and where they met up.

Neither phone number is currently in use.

Mystery Movies message

When Bree hears the answering machine's message for Powell's Dry Cleaners, she seems disillusioned and says she's run out of leads. She either has not yet realized there is a puzzle behind the message, or she was acting as if she didn't notice. In her video Mystery Movies, Bree names the movies she watched that day and mentions

  • Citizen Kane
  • Usual Suspects
  • Sneakers
  • Out of Sight
  • Ocean's Eleven
  • Never Say Never Again

The first letter of the titles of these movies spell out "CUSOON", as in "See you soon." Bree must have indeed figured out the puzzle and this is her response to his message. Although even in this video she acts like she can't figure out the puzzle, presumably she's putting on that act because her father wanted it to be a secret message. Bree's frequent mention of movies and how she used to go watch them with her dad might be another clue as to the location of the meeting place.

Since her father had requested that she meet him a week after receiving the message, their meeting was expected to take place on Saturday, December 30th, 2006.

Bree's Gone

On December 26th, Jonas woke up to find that Bree was missing along with one of his cars, a credit card, and a couple hundred dollars in cash. Daniel was as surprised as Jonas that Bree would do something like that, and they posted a video about it titled "Bree's Gone". Since Bree was expected to meet her father on the 30th, it was assumed that she drove off to reach the meeting place on time. She likely did not mention it to Jonas or Daniel because her father wanted the meeting to be kept secret.

Roadtrip

After Bree suddenly ran off, Daniel and Jonas scrambled to find out where she could have gone. Daniel figures out the codes and sets off with Jonas to find the meeting place. Although Daniel seems to have figured out where the meeting place should be, he doesn't say specifically where they are going.

The Unthinkable Happened

On December 30th, 2006 Jonas and Daniel found Bree meeting with her father at an unnamed location, confirming that Bree and her father indeed managed to successfully communicate via these puzzles. Nikki Bower later discovered that the location was The Coral Tree Cafe.

External links