sat down. They ordered cappuccinos and left the rose
conspicuously on the front edge of the table. They eyed
every patron who entered the café, but no one walked
over to them.
“I hope we didn't miss our date with SEEK,” Nancy
said, looking at her watch.
“It's only a little after eight,” Bess said. “Maybe he
had to work late or something.”
Nancy sipped her cappuccino. “I told my dad about
my conversations with his clients yesterday, and he was
upset. I hope this SEEK guy can help us find out
what's going on.”
Bess checked her watch again. “I guess we might as
well go on-line while we're waiting.” Bess tapped on
the keyboard in front of them. She typed: “hi,
everybody. BigB here.”
Someone typed back: “hi BigB.”
“This stuff is so neat!” Nancy exclaimed. “Look at all
these sentences scrolling by. How can you understand
what they're saying?”
“Take a look at my on-line chat guide,” Bess said,
pulling the papers out of her purse and handing them
to her friend.
Nancy looked down at the papers Bess handed her,
and read:
: ) = smile
: D = big grin
: X = my lips are sealed
: P = sticking out tongue
: ( = frown
LOL = laughing out loud
BTW = by the way
brb = be right back
wtg = way to go!
ttfn = ta-ta for now!
Cul8r = see you later
“These are great!” Nancy said, grinning. “It's like
being able to talk on the page.”
“Exactly,” Bess said. “You can do almost anything
on-line that you can do in person—except meet this
SEEK guy on time. I have to get home for my on-line
group. I guess this meeting is a washout.”
“Maybe it was just some kid pretending to know
about computers so he could play a trick on us. I'll pay
for our cappuccinos,” Nancy said. “You go ahead. I
don't want you to be late.”
“Thanks, Nan,” Bess said. She hurried toward the
exit. “I'll see you in the morning,” she called over her
shoulder.
Nancy waved goodbye to her friend, then began to
gather together the papers and disks she had brought
from the office to show to SEEK. Why hadn't he
shown up? she wondered. Was he scared off when he
saw us talking to Byron?
Nancy looked through her papers and realized Bess
had been in such a hurry, she'd left her online chat
guide behind. I hope she doesn't need it for her on-line
meeting tonight, Nancy thought.
Nancy paid the bill and looked for Byron on her way
out. She wanted to say good night to him before she
left and wish him luck with his poetry reading, but he
was nowhere to be seen. Oh, well, she thought, I'll see
him tomorrow.
Nancy left the café, carrying her papers and the rose
she had brought for SEEK. She had gotten only about
half a block along the deserted waterfront street, when
she began to get the feeling that someone was
following her. She glanced back, then hurried along the
dark street.
Without warning, someone charged her from
behind. Nancy screamed as loud as she could. Before
she could scream again, her attacker hit her on the
head, and Nancy sank to the ground!
12. A Shocking Discovery
“Nancy!” Bess ran up the darkened street toward her
fallen friend. Her arrival probably scared off Nancy's
attacker, who took off and disappeared before either
girl could get a good look at whoever it was.
“Bess, thank goodness you were here.” Nancy held
her head. “Why'd you come back?”
“I realized I'd forgotten my on-line chat guide,” Bess
went on, “and I needed it for the meeting tonight. I
was walking back when I saw someone jump you from
behind and hit you on the head! Are you okay?”
“I think so,” Nancy said. Bess helped her friend to
her feet. “I'm not really hurt, just shaken up,” she
admitted.
“I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner. I ran as fast as I
could when I saw you get hit,” Bess said. “Did you see
who it was?”
“No,” Nancy said shakily. “You were coming up the
street, Bess. Could you see who it was?”
“No,” Bess said. “It's too dark. He looked slim, and
taller than you, but I couldn't see his face. Did anyone
else come out of the café with you? Maybe someone
else saw what happened,” Bess persisted.
“No, I was alone,” Nancy replied. “I looked for
Byron on my way out to say good night, but I couldn't
find him. Besides, I was already halfway up the block
when I was attacked.”
“You don't think Byron's the one who jumped you,
do you?” Bess asked, shocked.
“I don't know,” Nancy said, “but I doubt it. Byron
doesn't seem like the violent type.”
“Maybe it was SEEK,” Bess said. “Or maybe this
SEEK guy set us up. He had to know it was you
because you were carrying the rose. This is getting
really scary, Nancy. You could've been hurt.”
“I'm fine,” Nancy insisted. “I bet you're right that
my attacker was the same person who called himself
SEEK on the computer. Whoever it was knew we were
looking for help on the Internet to track E-mail, and
set up this meeting to scare us off.”
“Well, it's working!” Bess said. “I'm about as scared
as I've ever been. If it wasn't Byron, who do you think
it was?”
“It could be any of our suspects,” Nancy said, gently
rubbing her head where she had been hit. “It could be
Byron, because he knew we were here. My father told
me that Blaine knew we were online last night, so
maybe she tracked our conversation with SEEK.
Maybe she is SEEK! And Henry told me he had a list
of those cases because he thought someone was
stealing information from my dad's office and using it
to settle these cases early. But he didn't want to say any
more until he had proof, so I don't know if he's for real
or just covering his tracks.”
“Did he mention the Williams and Brown con-
nection?” Bess asked.
“No,” Nancy replied. “And I didn't tell him about
my investigation, either. Henry, Byron, and Blaine are
all under suspicion as far as I'm concerned, and they all
seem to be trying to throw blame on one another. As
soon as we get some real evidence, I'll tell my dad.”
Nancy leaned over to brush off her skirt, and noticed
a computer disk lying in the street near where she had
been attacked. She thumbed through her portfolio
carefully, then picked up the disk and showed it to
Bess.
“Look, Bess,” Nancy whispered. “It's got a Drew law
firm label on it.”
“It looks like one of the disks you brought from
your
dad's office to show this SEEK guy,” Bess said. “You
probably dropped it when you were knocked down.”
“Nope,” Nancy said. “All the disks I brought with me
are right here in my portfolio. This disk must have
been dropped by my attacker.”
“Awesome!” Bess exclaimed. “Then this is a real
clue. We'll take the disk in tomorrow and check it out.”
“This could prove it was an inside job,” Nancy said.
“And who's behind it.”
Bess insisted on walking Nancy to the bus, even
though Nancy assured Bess that she was okay. “I can
still catch the last half-hour of my on-line meeting,”
Bess said. “I want to make sure no one jumps you
again.”
“Remind me I have to give you back your chat guide
when we get to my place,” Nancy said as they boarded
a bus for home. “But I sure am glad you forgot it, or
you might not have showed up in time to save my
neck.”
“Let's not even think about that,” Bess said with a
shudder. The two girls rode in silence for a few
minutes. Finally Bess said, “Forget about my online
meeting, at least for tonight. After that attack, we'd
better get serious about this E-mail mystery. I can
always catch up tomorrow night.”
“Thanks, Bess,” Nancy said, grateful for her friend's
help. She thought for a few minutes. “I'm afraid we
have to admit that you and I don't have enough
expertise to figure out who sent those files or who's
been logging on behind us and tracking our on-line
activities.”
“Well,” Bess said, “we could go to the computer
department at the college and see if someone there
could help us.”
“We don't have the time. The fact is, I'm not sure
how much longer we'll be in my dad's office,” Nancy
said. “Blaine said they're getting in some temporary
employees to help with his new case, and we have to
finish up the file-copying work in the next day or two.
Without a computer expert we can trust, we have to
turn our attention to the suspects at hand.”
“Good idea, Nan,” Bess said. “I'll help you snoop
around when I come in to your dad's office tomorrow.”
“Besides,” Nancy continued, “it's clear now that
even if you could access my father's computer system
from outside, the information from those old criminal
cases wouldn't be in the system.”
“Why not?” Bess asked.
“Because those are dead files. They've all been
cleared off the main computer, backed up on floppies,
and stored in these red legal files in the law library.
And someone's looked at them recently. Someone from
my dad's office has to be involved,” Nancy concluded.
The girls arrived at Nancy's house and were
welcomed by Hannah Gruen. “Bess, how nice to see
you. I didn't know you planned on coming home with
Nancy tonight.”
“Hi, Hannah,” Bess said warmly. “We didn't plan on
it, actually. Here we are.”
Nancy put a hand to her head. “Nancy, dear, what's
the matter?” Hannah asked with concern. “Did you get
hurt?”
“Oh, no, Hannah,” Nancy said, dropping her hand
and shooting Bess a warning look. “I just have a killer
headache. A couple of aspirins, and I'll be fine.”
“I'll get them for you right now,” Hannah replied as
she hurried to the bathroom.
“Are you sure we shouldn't tell Hannah and your
dad about what happened tonight?” Bess whispered to
Nancy, once Hannah was out of earshot.
“Absolutely not,” Nancy whispered back. “Hannah
would worry herself to death. And if I tell Dad, he
might pull us off the case before we find out who's
behind it. I'm afraid he might accuse the wrong person
. . . or worse, keep trusting the wrong person.”
Hannah returned with the aspirins and a glass of
water. “Here you are, dear. You should get some rest,
too,” she added, looking at Bess.
“I won't be staying long, Hannah,” Bess assured her
warmly. “Nancy and I just have to go over a few things
so I'll be prepared to help out tomorrow,” she added
honestly.
Bess and Nancy went up to Nancy's room.
“I'm going to do something I haven't done since
third grade,” Nancy said. She took out an old blue
notebook and turned to a clean page. She spoke out
loud as she jotted some notes. Bess read over her
shoulder.
Clues:
Log file showed MHans transmitted E-mail to
Williams & Brown the first day cases received. File
was erased from hard drive, but Nancy had printout
and backup copy.
Nancy overheard conversations between an
insurance rep and Williams about settling cases,
which saved Williams & Brown money. Brown
complimented his son on how he handled insurance
cases.
Someone eavesdropped on Nancy's conference
room phone call to Bess, when Nancy talked about
her suspicions on the settled cases.
“You didn't tell me about that,” Bess said as Nancy
scribbled away.
Someone named SEEK answered Bess's posting
on local computer users' group. Meeting set up at
the Cyber Space, but SEEK didn't show up. Nancy
carried rose, and she was attacked.
Computer disk from Carson Drew's office was
discovered where Nancy was attacked. Who left it—
Henry, Byron, or Blaine?
Suspects:
Henry Yi: Computer whiz who made handwritten
list of clients in the settled cases. Claims someone is
stealing information. Is attentive to Nancy—hangs
around when she's working. May have overheard
Nancy's conversation with her father about the
settled cases in the restaurant, when he was in next
booth with Blaine Warner.
Blaine Warner: Seems to resent Nancy's
presence. Walked into the lobby of Williams &
Brown's building when Nancy was there, and went
to lunch in the same restaurant with Brown and son.
Was at Sacred Cow restaurant when Nancy and Bess
made plans to go on-line and in the office the
following night when they did.
“Maybe she is SEEK,” Bess muttered. “Who says it
has to be a guy?”
“Good point, Bess,” Nancy said as she continued
writing.
Blaine and Henry were at Steak & Ale restaurant
when Nancy and father discussed the settled cases.
Byron Thomas: Clearly comfortable navigating
the Internet. Always hiding papers and computer
disks. Bess and Nancy trailed him to the Cyber
Space. But he confessed only to writing poetry. Is
someone at Williams & Brown paying him money he
needs for law school to E-mail sensitive information
from the old case files?
“Well, there it is,” Nancy said. “The clues, the
suspects . . . and tomorrow we'll find out what's on this<
br />
computer disk.”
“Let's sleep on it,” Bess said. “I'm ready to sign off.”
The next day Bess and Nancy met in the lobby of
Carson Drew's office building early in the morning.
“How are you feeling, Nan?” Bess asked quietly,
concerned for her friend's recovery after the attack the
night before.
“I'm fine, Bess, thanks,” Nancy replied. “I even went
for my run this morning.”
“Better you than me,” Bess said with a grin. “I'd
rather let my fingers do the running.”
Then Ms. Hanson appeared, and the three of them
rode the elevator upstairs together. Nancy explained
Bess's presence in the office. “Nice to see you again,
Bess,” Ms. Hanson said warmly, shaking her hand. “I'm
sure Nancy will be glad to have your help. That file-
management work can be really tedious.”
“Oh, I'm sure Nancy and I will find some way to
make it interesting,” Bess said, her blue eyes twinkling.
“Oh, I'm sure you and Nancy are interesting all by
yourselves.” A friendly male voice came from behind
them. Henry Yi joined them with a flashing grin.
“Good morning,” he continued, sticking out his hand.
“My name's Henry. What's yours?”
“Ah, the primo paralegal,” Bess said, smiling. “My
reputation precedes me,” Henry said. “I'm thrilled.”
“My name's Bess Marvin,” she went on. “I'm
Nancy's friend, and I'll be working with her for the
next few days.”
“If your file management skills equal your poise and
beauty, I'm afraid your work will be done all too soon,”
Henry said.
Bess rolled her eyes. “We'd better get started, Nan,”
she said, turning to her friend, “or I'll get fired before I
even get hired.”
“Your father and Blaine are in court this morning,
Nancy,” Ms. Hanson said. “And Byron's doing some
research down there, so you two should have the
library to yourselves.”
“Great,” Nancy said. “We'll get a lot done.” The two
girls moved off to the law library and set up at two
adjacent computer stations. Nancy gave Bess a list of
the cases, and they started copying files off the
computer system and onto floppy disks for storage.
Once the computers were up and running, Nancy
reached into her portfolio and produced the disk she
had found in the street the night before. Bess popped
it in her disk drive.
The two girls looked carefully at the screen as Bess
The Thirteenth Pearl Page 9