The Case of the Digital Deception

by Ellie O'Ryan

“There are some with vegetables,” Hannah added. “And some with black beans and cheese, too.”

  “Awesome. I want three of each,” Corey said.

  Corey filled his tray, paid for his meal, and walked straight over to Maya’s table. “Hey, Maya,” he said. “It’s Corey. Good to see you. What happened? You’re, like, five hours late.”

  Maya’s shoulders hunched as she crossed her arms in front of her. “Oh yeah, that was today. I forgot.”

  Corey didn’t need to analyze Maya’s body language to tell she was lying, but he wasn’t going to let that get in his way. “No worries. We can talk now. What do you say—your table or mine?”

  Maya sighed and rolled her eyes. “Be right back, Rachel,” she told her friend. “I don’t want to bore you with this.” Then she picked up her tray and followed Corey over to Club CSI’s usual table, where Ben and Hannah were waiting.

  Corey sat down across from Maya, took a huge bite of his lunch, and immediately started to feel better—not only because the empanadas were just as delicious as they smelled, but because as he looked at the scowl on Maya’s face, he knew he’d have to use his best interview skills to find out if Maya really was a suspect.

  And Corey was ready for the challenge.

  “So what’s going on, Maya?” he asked in a friendly voice.

  “You tell me,” Maya said flatly. She had crossed her arms again. “You’re the one who e-mailed me.”

  “Yeah, thanks for talking to us,” Corey said. He paused to see if Maya would apologize for skipping their earlier meeting. When she didn’t, he wondered if Maya’s attitude was actually a sign of her guilt.

  Then Corey remembered something Miss Hodges had said: Just because someone lies during an interview, it doesn’t mean they’re guilty. He guessed the same thing could be said of a bad attitude.

  “So, the three of us—Hannah and Ben and I—have this club,” Corey continued. “It’s called Club CSI, and we investigate crimes that happen at Woodlands.”

  “Or to students,” added Hannah.

  “And this has what to do with me?” Maya asked.

  “Someone you know had one of her online accounts hacked,” Corey explained. “So we’re trying to find out more by interviewing her friends—and, uh, former friends.”

  Ben shot Corey a look across the table. He hadn’t planned to bring up Whitney so early in the interview. But it was too late; Maya knew exactly who Corey meant. She exhaled loudly in frustration.

  “Are you even kidding me?” Maya exclaimed. “Did Whitney tell you I did it? Did she say it was me? I swear, I am so sick of her—”

  “Whoa, no way, not at all,” Corey interrupted her. “We’re just talking to everyone who knows her.”

  Maya sighed and looked at the table. When she looked up again, she seemed calmer. “Sorry. It’s just—Whitney and I haven’t been friends in a long time. But everybody’s still talking about the fight we had. It’s so dumb.”

  “No kidding,” Corey said sympathetically. “You just wish people would forget about it already.”

  “Exactly!” Maya exclaimed. Then she actually gave Corey a small smile.

  “What do you think people don’t know about the fight?” Corey asked. “What do you wish you could tell everybody?”

  Maya’s forehead furrowed as she thought about Corey’s questions. “That the past is the past, and that’s where it should stay—in the past,” she replied. “That I’ve moved on, and everybody else should too.”

  “You don’t miss being friends with Whitney and Alyssa?” Hannah asked.

  “Not really,” Maya told her. “I have new friends now, and I’m really tight with them. The people in drama, for example. That’s why I quit cheerleading. I actually like acting a lot more.”

  “So if Whitney invited you to a party, would you go?” Ben said.

  Maya’s laugh was short. “Oh, is that what this is about?” she asked. “I heard about her big party, and you know what? I seriously don’t even care. I mean, I wouldn’t go if Whitney got down on her knees and begged me. You know why?”

  “Why?” said Corey.

  “Because my new best friend, Rachel, got us tickets to see Jasmine Ayle in concert that night! The concert is sold out!” A huge grin spread across Maya’s face. “You can go ask Rachel if you want. Honestly, I hope Whitney’s party is awesome. Because I’m pretty sure seeing Jasmine Ayle live will be even more awesome!”

  “Of course,” Corey said, grinning back. He exchanged a look with Ben, and he knew he wasn’t the only one at the table who didn’t have a clue who Jasmine Ayle was. “You’ll have a great time! Thanks for talking to us about the case.”

  “No problem,” Maya replied. “See you around, guys.”

  Hannah, Corey, and Ben watched Maya return to her table and sit next to Rachel. They started chatting and laughing together right away. Even from across the cafeteria, Club CSI could tell that Maya and Rachel were really good friends.

  Corey spoke first. “I’m not feeling it, guys,” he said. “I don’t think she’s the hacker.”

  “Neither do I,” Ben said as Hannah nodded. “At first, I wasn’t sure. She seemed so defensive and almost angry.”

  “The way she was acting did seem kind of suspicious,” Hannah spoke up. “Like she was hiding something—and mad at us for trying to figure out what it was.”

  “Exactly!” Ben said. “But it really seems like she’s tired of talking about the fight. I can’t say I blame her.”

  “Me neither,” Hannah said.

  “So Alyssa . . . Is she still at the bottom of our list?” Corey said.

  “Yeah,” Ben said. “Why? Do you have a feeling or something?”

  “Not really,” Corey said. “It’s just that she’s pretty much the only possible suspect we have.”

  “Do you think another interview would help?” Hannah asked.

  “I guess.” Corey shrugged. “But Whitney already told Alyssa everything. We’re going to need some new info before we can question her.”

  “I agree,” Ben said. “And I’ve been thinking it’s time to take our investigation to the next level.”

  “What do you mean?” Corey said.

  “I think it’s time to go inside the game,” Ben replied.

  Chapter 11

  Hannah and Corey went over to Ben’s house after school. They wanted to continue their investigation right away, but decided to tackle their homework first (after Corey’s snack), especially since Ben had a feeling that the next stage of their investigation might take a little while.

  “Done!” Corey announced when he finished checking over his math homework. “So what’s next?”

  “Here’s what I’m thinking,” Ben began. “We keep talking about how this crime has no witnesses, which makes it harder to find suspects. But we’re wrong. There are witnesses.”

  “Who?” Corey and Hannah asked at the same time.

  “Jojo20, LOL1234, and Dancer99!” Ben announced. “They’re the ones who received the stolen expansion packs, after all. So they have to know something.”

  “And who knows?” Hannah said. “Maybe one of them is the hacker!”

  “Maybe,” Ben said. “Now, I wasn’t able to get any information on them from Zazzam last night. Then, during gym today, I had an idea: If we start playing You Can Draw It!, we can make contact with them through the game itself!”

  “That’s a great idea!” exclaimed Hannah. Then her face fell. “But, um, I don’t want to use my account. If that’s okay.”

  “Me neither,” Corey added.

  “No, of course not,” Ben said. He logged on to the Internet and went to the You Can Draw It! website. “We should definitely open a new account for this.”

  Ben was quiet for a moment as he set up an account without putting in any credit card information (of course). Then he looked up at Hannah and Corey. “How does this username sound to you?”

  “HBCCSI,” Hannah read. “Let me guess: Hannah, Ben, Corey, CSI. Sounds good to
me.”

  “Ben! Dinnertime!” Ben’s mom called from the kitchen.

  “That always happens to me, too! Just when I’m about to get on the computer, it’s time to eat,” Corey said. “Not that I’m complaining or anything. Whatever your mom cooked smells good.”

  “Don’t worry,” Ben said. “I just looked up jojo2020, LOL1234, and Dancer99. They’re not online right now. But remember what we learned at Whitney’s last night?”

  “The thief usually plays in the evening,” Corey replied.

  “And if the thief knows jojo2020, LOL1234, and Dancer99, maybe they’ll be playing in the evening too,” Ben replied. “Come on, let’s go eat—and when we get back to the computer, maybe one of our mystery players will be online.”

  By the time dinner was over, it was almost dark outside. The only light in Ben’s room was a creepy blue glow from the computer monitor, which cast strange shadows around his room. Ben flipped a switch, flooding the room with light—but Hannah still felt a little uneasy.

  “Do you think . . . maybe this isn’t a good idea?” she asked the boys. “I mean, we don’t have any idea who these mystery players are. It just seems a little . . . I don’t know . . . ”

  “Weird?” Corey volunteered.

  “Yeah,” Hannah said. “Or scary. I mean, maybe they’re just kids who go to our school. Or maybe they’re part of some giant international computer-hacking crime ring!”

  “With names like L0L and Dancer?” Corey asked, cracking a smile.

  “Actually, Corey, Hannah’s right,” Ben said thoughtfully. “That’s the thing about connecting with strangers online—you really don’t know who’s on the other end, even if they have a username that sounds like something your friend would have. It could be . . . anybody, really. Anybody in the world.”

  He clicked over to HBCCSI’s profile. “Hannah, check this out,” Ben continued. “I set our profile to private and made sure that the e-mail address we signed up with is hidden. And our real names and ages aren’t connected to the account at all. There’s no way for other users to contact us—or even learn anything about us.”

  “Okay,” Hannah said. “That makes me feel better, I guess.”

  “Should I ask jojo2020, LOL1234, and Dancer99 to be friends with us?” he asked, sliding into a chair.

  “Yeah, go ahead,” Ben said.

  Corey sent the game’s automated friend message to each name. Suddenly, each player’s name appeared in a list at the side of the screen.

  Ping!

  Ping!

  Ping!

  All three players approved HBCCSI instantly!

  “Now we’re in business!” Corey exclaimed. “Should I challenge them to a draw-off?”

  “That might take a while,” Hannah said. “Let’s just jump right in and send them a message.”

  She leaned across Corey and double-clicked jojo2020’s username.

  “What are you going to say?” asked Ben.

  Hannah started typing in the message box. “How does this look?” she asked.

  can you tell me how to get free upgrade packs? don’t want to pay.

  “I like it,” Ben replied. “It’s straight, direct . . .”

  “And definitely to the point,” Corey added. “Let’s send the same message to LOL1234 and Dancer99, too.”

  Hannah copied the text and pasted it into two more chat windows. “Done . . . and done,” she said. “Corey, you want to send them?”

  It only took three clicks of the mouse. Then the instant messages were winging their way through cyberspace. Club CSI didn’t speak as they stared at the three instant-message windows. There was a green light blinking next to each mystery player’s username.

  “So now we wait for a response,” Ben said, breaking the silence.

  They didn’t have to wait long.

  Almost immediately, the green lights went out: first LOL1234, then jojo2020, then Dancer99. A message popped up in each chat window: USER IS NO LONGER ONLINE.

  Hannah raised her eyebrows. “I guess they’re not interested in chatting,” she noted.

  Corey clicked over to HBCCSI’s friends list. All three names had disappeared there, too. “No friends? I’ve never felt so unpopular in my whole life!” he joked.

  “Try a search for their usernames,” Ben suggested.

  Corey typed ‘jojo2020’ into the Find Players box. A message from the game flashed on to the screen.

  There is no user by this name.

  “That’s not right,” Corey said. “Hello, we just messaged jojo2020.”

  “Maybe jojo2020 deleted their account!” Hannah exclaimed. “Quick, try LOL1234.”

  Corey tried another search—and got the same message.

  “Now try Dancer99,” Ben said.

  Once again, a window from the game popped up. But this time the message was different.

  This user’s profile is private.

  “So jojo2020 and LOL1234 deleted their accounts,” Ben said. “But Dancer99 didn’t. Try sending another message.”

  Corey double-clicked Dancer99’s username—and got a big surprise.

  This user has blocked incoming messages from you.

  Hannah, Ben, and Corey looked at one another. Their eyes were wide.

  “I think we have a suspect,” Ben said.

  “Which one?” Hannah asked.

  “All of them!” Corey replied. “What if jojo2020, LOL1234, and Dancer99 are all the same person? Maybe this person just got our message three times.”

  “That would make sense,” Hannah said slowly. “Dancer99—let’s say that’s the hacker’s main account—breaks into Whitney’s account and buys ten upgrades. But she doesn’t just gift them to herself—that’s too obvious, right? So she creates a couple of fake accounts that can then gift the upgrades back to the main account—Dancer99.”

  “‘She’?” Ben repeated.

  Hannah shrugged. “Just a guess. The username ‘dancer’ could be a guy, but it’s more likely a girl, right?”

  “Good point,” Ben replied. “But if this was some kind of misdirection strategy, it seems like a lot of work just to score a few upgrades for a computer game, though.”

  “And how could we ever prove it?” Corey added.

  “Let’s tackle one question at a time,” Hannah proposed. “Maybe if we can answer Ben’s question, we’ll figure out how to find the answer to Corey’s.”

  “Hey, Corey, can I have a turn?” Ben asked. “I’ve never played You Can Draw It! before.”

  “Sure, go ahead,” Corey replied as he slid out of the chair. Then he showed Ben how to start a new game with another anonymous player.

  “You can type in a player’s username,” Corey explained. “Or you can click ‘Random Challenge,’ and the game will pick a player for you.”

  Just then Ben noticed a small box in the top right corner of the screen. A long number in it changed with every passing second. “There are 709,112 people playing? Right now?” he asked.

  “I know,” Corey said. “This game is really popular. Especially now, in the evening—probably because kids have just finished their homework and they’re logging on to play for a while before going to bed.”

  “What’s that?” Ben asked, pointing at a sparkling gold star in the corner of the screen. When he moved the cursor over the star, the words “WIN BIG!” flashed in rainbow colors.

  “Click it,” Hannah suggested.

  A new page loaded immediately.

  YOU CAN DRAW IT!

  FIRST ANNUAL DRAWATHON

  DRAW TILL YOU DROP!

  Do you have what it takes to be the next great artist? Here at the You Can Draw It! headquarters, we’ve been looking at your

  artwork . . . and we like what we see. In fact, we like it so much that we’re willing to pay BIG MONEY to the best picture submitted by May 1.

  Twenty-five finalists will be selected for a featured page in the Gallery, where other You Can Draw It! users will vote on their favorite picture.

&nbs
p; The artist whose picture gets the most votes wins eternal fame, glory, and . . . $2,500!

  “Twenty-five hundred dollars!” Hannah exclaimed. “That’s a ton of money! What a great prize.”

  “No kidding,” Ben said. “It’s also a great motive. Didn’t you say the upgrade packs help players make better pictures?”

  “Definitely,” Corey said.

  “So someone who really, really wanted to win this contest might think she wouldn’t stand a chance without a bunch of upgrades,” said Hannah.

  “And if she couldn’t afford them . . . ,” Ben said.

  He didn’t need to finish his sentence.

  Club CSI knew exactly what he meant.

  “What’s this Gallery thing?” Ben asked as he clicked the link, which led him to a slow-loading page.

  “Oh, when you finish a picture, you can upload it to the Gallery,” Hannah replied as one by one, hundreds of thumbnail images began to load. “Other players can look at pictures here for inspiration, and you can vote on the ones you like the best. You can even search for pictures from specific users.”

  Ben immediately typed “Dancer99” into the search field. Seven pictures appeared on the screen, including a meadow filled with purple flowers and a princess wearing a fancy gown with ribbon trim.

  Corey whistled. “Her pictures are awesome. It must have taken hours to do that princess one,” he said.

  “Look at all the textures in the dress,” Hannah said. “She definitely used an upgrade to draw that.”

  “So here’s our theory,” Ben began. “Dancer99 wants to win the grand prize, but needs expansion packs to do it. So she hacks Whitney’s account, buys ten upgrades on Mrs. Martino’s credit card, and gives them to fake accounts as a decoy. Then the fake accounts transfer the upgrades back to Dancer99, who uses them to make pictures like that princess one.”

  “It’s a good theory,” Corey said. “Now all we have to do is prove it . . . . But how?”

  Club CSI sat quietly for a few minutes, everyone lost in thought.

  “You know what I think?” Hannah finally said. “I think it’s time to talk to Miss Hodges.”

  Chapter 12

  Much to the dismay of Corey’s growling stomach, instead of rushing right to the cafeteria after forensic science the next day, Club CSI hung around to talk to Miss Hodges.