The E-Mail Mystery (Nancy Drew Book 144)

by Carolyn Keene

  “Don’t you know you should log off before you turn off the computer?” Nancy asked. “Otherwise you can lose data. Look, I didn’t mean to interrupt you. I just thought—”

  Byron mumbled an excuse, grabbed his papers, popped a floppy disk out of the drive, and rushed out of the library. What’s he hiding? Nancy wondered.

  Nancy shook her head and sat back down at her computer station. She continued making copies of the files on floppy disk, but opened each one as she copied it, reading through the material that was on the computer screen. Nothing indicated what might have been transmitted to Williams & Brown in the strange E-mail on the settled cases.

  Nancy decided to call up the E-mail log file that she had printed out to show Bess, and look it over one more time. Maybe she should look at the office handbook on their E-mail program and see if it gave instructions on how to trace E-mail more precisely.

  Nancy looked through the subdirectory where all the files on that case were still stored, but she couldn’t find the log file anywhere.

  Nancy’s eyes opened wide as she scrolled down the screen. The E-mail list was missing!

  9

  The Vanishing File

  “This is serious,” Nancy whispered. Had someone discovered her snooping and tried to cover his or her tracks? She went through the directories again to make sure she hadn’t missed the file. It was nowhere to be found. Clearly, someone had erased it from the hard drive, hoping to destroy the evidence.

  Oh, no, Nancy thought. Bess had said a computer expert would need the original file to find out who sent it, and whether it was sent from inside the office or accessed from outside.

  Nancy started to shuffle through the box of floppy disks she used to copy the files from the hard drive. Had she made a backup of the log file when she was copying files yesterday?

  Nancy looked at the pile of disks in front of her and groaned. They were only labeled with the case names, not the individual files she had copied. One by one, she began feeding them into the disk drive, calling up the directories, and reading them slowly. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing . . .

  “Yes!” Nancy said aloud. “I’ve got it.” Fortunately, when she printed out the list to show to Bess, she had made a backup copy of it on a floppy. Now she made a second backup to be sure she wouldn’t lose it.

  But who erased the original file from the hard drive? she asked herself. And why? Someone must have figured out that I’m onto them. Now I’m sure it’s someone in the office . . . unless someone could erase a file over the phone lines, too. I’ve got to check with Bess and hope she’s found us an on-line expert!

  • • •

  At the end of the day Nancy explained to her father that she would be staying late. “Bess is going to show me some things about the Internet,” she said. “Not business, just personal stuff. I hope that’s okay.”

  “Of course, that’s fine. It’s after office hours anyway,” her father said, putting on his coat. “We pay a monthly fee for our Internet link, so it doesn’t matter how much we use it.”

  “Is anybody else working late tonight?” Nancy asked.

  “I don’t think so,” her father replied. “Blaine and I both have early court dates tomorrow. You and Bess will have to lock up. And be cautious, Nancy. I’ve read a few articles about the Internet. I don’t want a virus to get into our computer, or have some weirdo track you girls down.”

  “Thanks for your concern, Dad,” Nancy said. “But don’t worry. Bess told me all about how to be careful on-line.” Nancy smiled. “Besides, I wouldn’t give anyone our home address or telephone number, anyway—on-line or off-line.”

  Nancy decided not to tell him about her phone calls to the clients who had settled. He was too tired, and he was concerned about his court appearance the next day.

  Nancy walked her father out to the elevator. The car arrived and the door opened to reveal Bess. Mr. Drew gave Bess a quick hug hello. “Have fun, you two,” he said, entering the car and pressing the button to go down.

  “Hi, Nancy,” Bess said, shrugging off her light jacket. “Let’s go!”

  “First, let’s lock the office door and turn out the lights in the reception area,” Nancy said. “We’re all alone here tonight.” She went to the electronic lock panel located next to the heavy double glass doors that separated the reception area from the elevator lobby, and pressed a code on the computer keypad. Then she flicked the wall switch, and Bess murmured, “It’s kind of spooky in here.”

  All the office doors in the hallway were closed. The two girls entered the library, where Nancy had left the computer on. The room was dark except for the small halogen lamp at the computer station, which cast a brilliant circle of light on the table. “Bess, I didn’t want to say anything in front of my dad, but someone erased that E-mail log file from the hard drive.”

  “What?” Bess exclaimed. “Then how can we find out who transmitted that E-mail? The printout is helpful, but I’m sure a computer expert will need the file itself to be able to do any sophisticated tracking.”

  “Well, the good news is I made a backup of the file on a floppy disk. I hope whatever transmission information we need will be on there.”

  Nancy showed her the disk. “And I made a backup of the backup when I discovered the original was missing!”

  “Smart girl,” Bess said. Bess settled down at the keyboard, and called up the Internet connection program.

  “I found something else today, too,” Nancy said, pulling out her copy of Henry’s handwritten list that she had discovered in the copy machine. “Look at this.”

  “Who’s got a list of all those settled cases?” Bess asked. “This is a real clue!”

  “It might be,” Nancy said. “It’s in Henry Yi’s handwriting. When I confronted him with it, he tried to make it look as though he just wanted something to talk to me about. When I asked my father if he’d spoken to Henry about the settled cases, he said no, and that Henry might keep track of dead cases so he knew what to clear off the computer. But I’m sure it’s more than that.”

  “And Henry’s supposed to be the computer whiz around here, right?” Bess said. “Let’s change the screen name right now so no one will know who we are or where we’re calling from. How about B and N, for Bess and Nancy?” she asked.

  “How about N and B, for Nancy and Bess?” said Nancy, joking. Bess grinned, and entered the screen name: B&N.

  Bess dialed out on the modem. The girls heard the whine of the computer dialing, and the click telling them they were hooked in. Bess could hardly sit still as she waited to be connected.

  “I also called the clients on that list this afternoon,” Nancy went on. “Three of them wouldn’t talk to me, but one of them implied that he had been threatened with information from this office, and forced to settle early.”

  “This is turning into a real mystery. Oh, Nancy—we got an answer,” Bess suddenly cried. “I checked the local computer users’ group after my romance novel chat finished up last night. Someone had already left a reply to the posting we made asking for expert help, when we were at Art-Dot-Café last night!”

  “Why didn’t you tell me right away?” Nancy asked excitedly.

  “I was so shocked when you told me the file was missing, I forgot,” Bess explained. “And I didn’t want to call you late last night or bother you at the office today. I left the response in my mailbox so you could see it. Look!” Bess’s fingers called up her on-line mailbox. Nancy read, “SEEK and Ye Shall FIND. Meet me in the IRC Computer Secrecy Chat Room tomorrow night after 8 P.M. I’ll know you by the rose between your teeth.”

  “Now watch this,” Bess said, her fingers tapping away expertly. The girls watched as the screen welcomed them to the Computer Secrecy Chat Room and posted warnings not to give out their company or school’s computer system, modem phone numbers, or other identifying information that could be used by computer pirates.

  “There must be a lot of experts here, or this information wouldn’t be so dangerous,
” Bess said. “I wouldn’t know how to do anything with information like that.”

  “There must be a lot of crooks here, or this information wouldn’t be so dangerous,” Nancy said. “Are you sure we want to meet this person, even on-line?”

  “We haven’t said anything about your father’s firm or who we are,” Bess said. “So we’re safe. Let’s get some basic information.”

  “How will we know who this guy is, anyway?” Nancy asked.

  “He said he’d know us by the rose between our teeth. Watch this.” Bess popped a floppy disk into the drive, called up a file, then pressed Transmit. Several lines scrolled automatically through the entry box, and appeared on the dialogue screen in an intricate pattern that looked like a flower.

  “Bess, that’s fabulous!” Nancy cried. “You’ll have to show me how you did that sometime,” Nancy said. “But right now we’ve got to find this computer expert.”

  Suddenly a small box appeared in the corner of their screen, reading “INSTANT MESSAGE FROM SEEK.”

  “What’s that?” Nancy asked. “And who’s SEEK?”

  “We’re being IM’d,” Bess said. “Remember, in my message I said we were seeking help. I bet this guy is using that name so we’ll know it’s him. He must have recognized B and N by the rose between our teeth!” She smiled. “Let’s see what his message says.”

  Bess clicked her computer mouse arrow on the box marked Read, and the following words appeared on the screen: “I knew you’d come, lovely rose. How can I be of help to you?”

  “This must be the guy who posted in my newsgroup,” Bess whispered. “He sounds kind of poetic. What should we tell him?”

  “Nothing specific,” Nancy cautioned. “I can’t let anyone know someone may be stealing information from my dad’s computer.”

  “Let’s see,” Bess said. “How about this?” And she typed in the reply box: “Can you help us track E-mail activity?”

  Nancy and Bess waited a moment, and then SEEK’s reply came through: “Of course I can. Where are you?”

  “Wait,” Nancy said. “You can’t tell him that. He’ll know the problem is in my dad’s office. He can’t tell where we’re transmitting from right now, can he?”

  “No,” Bess said. “That’s impossible. I changed our screen name to B and N before I logged on, remember?”

  “Okay,” Nancy said, “but we can’t type sensitive information on-line, where anyone could read it. Maybe we could arrange to meet somewhere public, like a coffee shop?”

  “Great idea,” Bess said, typing away. “He has to be in the area, since I posted in a local newsgroup. Let’s see if he’s willing to get together in person.”

  She typed in her message: “Highly confidential problem. Cannot discuss on-line. Can we meet FTF IRL?”

  “FTF?” Nancy asked. “IRL? What does all that mean?”

  “On-line shorthand for ‘face-to-face’ and ‘in real life,’ ” Bess explained.

  The screen shifted again, and the girls read the incoming message: “The Cyber Space . . . 8 P.M. . . . tomorrow night . . . bring a rose . . . and your disk.”

  “The Cyber Space?” Nancy asked.

  “Oh, I’ve heard of it.” Bess nodded. “It’s another computer coffeehouse, like Art-Dot-Café, but it’s also a performance and poetry space. You know, where people read their poetry. It’s in an old warehouse building, in kind of a deserted area right down by the docks, just a few blocks from where we were last night.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Nancy said. “Let’s make a date.”

  Bess typed in: “Thank you, SEEK. 8 P.M. at The Cyber Space it is.”

  One final message came back: “ttfn—cul8r.”

  “Huh?” Nancy said. “What’s that mean?”

  “T-t-f-n stands for ‘ta-ta for now,’ ” Bess explained.

  “Oh, I get the rest now. ‘See you later,’ ” Nancy said. “You’re right, Bess. This on-line shorthand stuff is cool.”

  “All right, Nancy,” Bess said. “I hate to type and run, but I’ve got to get home for my nightly chat group.”

  “I know, I know,” Nancy said. “Romance novelists. Do you meet every night?”

  “Yup,” Bess said, logging off, taking out her disk and preparing to shut off the computer. “I wouldn’t miss it for anything.”

  “You’re in danger of becoming a computer geek,” Nancy teased her friend gently.

  “Perhaps,” Bess replied, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “But a romantic computer geek.”

  The two girls powered down the machine and turned off the desk lamp.

  “This was fun,” Nancy said in the darkness, heading for the library door. “You can show me more tomorrow night while we’re waiting to meet SEEK at the Cyber Space.”

  Before Nancy could reach out to touch the handle, the door to the law office library swung open in the darkness!

  10

  A Spy On-line

  “Who’s there?” Nancy called out. She backed away quickly and felt around in the darkness for the desk lamp she’d just turned off.

  The overhead fluorescents came on, and Nancy and Bess blinked in the sudden light.

  “What are you doing here?” Blaine Warner asked angrily, her hand on the wall switch by the door. “You almost gave me a heart attack!”

  “Oh, Blaine, thank goodness it’s you,” Nancy said. “I thought we were alone here tonight. How’d you get in? I locked the outside door.”

  “I was working on the computer in my office,” Blaine replied, “preparing some material for my court date tomorrow morning. And who’s this?” she asked, eyeing Bess.

  “This is my friend Bess Marvin,” Nancy said.

  “Hi,” Bess said, covering her earlier fright and reaching out to shake hands with Blaine. “Nice to meet you. I was just showing Nancy some computer stuff. You’ve got a great setup here,” she added.

  “Indeed.” Blaine continued to stare at Bess. “Have we met? You look familiar.”

  “We saw you last night, when we were coming out of Art-Dot-Café,” Bess said cheerily. “Nancy, I’ve got to run. I don’t want to miss my on-line chat group.”

  “Press the button to the right of the doors in the reception area to open the lock,” Nancy said to her friend.

  “Okay. See you, Nan.” Bess took off for the reception area, and Nancy could hear the click of the automatic locks as her friend exited the office. She started for the door of the library, but Blaine blocked her path.

  “Do you always invite friends up to the office?” Blaine asked Nancy, hands on her hips.

  “I told my father Bess would be here tonight,” Nancy said, a little annoyed at having to explain herself to Blaine. “In fact, I plan to ask him if she can come during the day to work on this file copying with me,” she added, thinking fast. “There’s a lot of it to do, and as you said earlier, computer work can be very time-consuming, especially if you’re careful and thorough. Bess is very skilled, and I could really use the help.”

  Not only with the computer work, Nancy added to herself, but keeping an eye on you and Henry and Byron.

  Nancy reached for the wall switch to turn off the overhead fluorescent lights once more, but Blaine stopped her. “I’ve got work to do, Nancy. I’ll lock up when I go. Careful getting home.”

  Nancy looked at Blaine, who was already turning on the computer she and Bess had just used. “Isn’t the computer in your office networked into the main system?” she asked Blaine, careful to keep any suspicion out of her voice.

  Blaine eyed Nancy steadily and replied, “Yes, of course it is. All the computers in the office are networked. But I’ll be needing to refer to some of these law books as well, so I thought it would be easier to work in here—if it’s any of your business.”

  Nancy tensed. Had Blaine monitored their conversation with SEEK from her own computer earlier? Could Blaine be SEEK? Was Blaine able to track B&N’s movements on-line? There was no way Nancy could answer these questions. “Okay, Blaine,” she s
aid. “Good night.”

  “See you later,” Blaine said, echoing SEEK’s final message to the girls.

  • • •

  The next morning Carson Drew was not at breakfast. “He went in early,” Hannah Gruen told Nancy, offering her a bowl of fresh fruit. “I think he has a court appearance. I missed you last night,” she added.

  “I got together with Bess again,” Nancy said, helping herself to a banana. “She was teaching me about the Internet. In fact, I’m going to ask Dad if she can help with my work at the office.”

  “I’d be surprised if you got a chance to see him,” Hannah said. “I know that new Harris case is taking all his time.”

  “I don’t see much of him,” Nancy said, looking at the clock. “I’ve got to get going myself. I’ve got a lot of work to do, too.” Nancy said good-bye to Hannah and headed for the front door.

  When she arrived at the office Nancy greeted Ms. Hanson, then went straight to work in the library. After about an hour she heard her father come in. Nancy stood up and stretched. Then she left the library and went to knock at her father’s office door.

  “Come in,” he called. Nancy entered and smiled at her dad. His desk was piled high with folders and papers. “Just got back from court,” he said wearily, “and this is what greeted me. I thought the computer was going to usher in the age of the paperless office,” he went on. “But by the looks of my desk, you’d never know it.”

  “Dad, I need to talk to you,” Nancy said.

  “You’re not going to leave me, I hope,” her father said seriously.

  “Oh, no, Dad, not till the work is finished. What I wanted to ask is if Bess could come in and help me. The work is taking longer than I thought it would, and I don’t want to miss my sailing trip with George. If Bess helped, we could finish twice as fast,” she concluded. “Bess is really careful, and she’s become a computer whiz. You should have seen her last night.”

  “That’s fine, Nancy. I’m sure Bess will be a big help. Blaine told me you two were in here late last night,” Mr. Drew said. “She also said that you were on the Internet. She seemed concerned that you might have been careless and allowed a computer virus into our system or an outsider access to our files.”