The E-Mail Mystery
Page 2
for the next few days.”
“Hello,” Nancy said, smiling at Byron. He nodded
shyly and continued silently up the hallway to the law
library.
“So, what will you be working on, Nancy?” Henry
turned back to Nancy.
“Just clearing some old files off the computer, so my
dad can keep all you guys at work on his new case,”
Nancy said.
“All which guys?” came a strong, female voice from
the hallway. A tall woman walked into the reception
room. “Are you flirting again, Henry? I thought I gave
you some research to do.” Nancy wondered if the
woman was teasing Henry, or if she was serious.
“Yes, Ms. Warner, I was just on my way,” Henry
replied quickly. “And, I'd like you to meet—”
“That's all right, Henry,” Ms. Hanson said, shooing
him out. “I'll take care of the introductions. Blaine, this
is Nancy Drew, Carson's daughter. I'm sure you've
heard about her.”
“Ah, Sherlock Holmes Junior. Yes, indeed, Ms.
Drew, I've heard a lot about you. Your father has told
me about some of your exploits as a junior detective.”
Nancy noticed that Blaine's tone of voice was
formal. Her manner wasn't exactly cold, but it certainly
wasn't warm, Nancy thought as Blaine held out a hand
to shake Nancy's.
“And I've heard a lot about you,” Nancy said,
shaking hands with a firm grip. “My dad has said he
hopes you'll be a role model for me, so that I'll follow
in both your footsteps and become a lawyer.”
Blaine's comment about Nancy's being a junior
detective bothered Nancy a little, but she decided not
to let it get to her. Maybe it's Blaine's attempt at
humor, she thought.
“I see,” Blaine said. “And to what do we owe the
honor of your presence in the office today?”
“I'm just helping with some filing so my dad can
concentrate on the Harris case,” Nancy replied. “I'll be
working here for only a few days before I go visit my
friend George and do some sailing. I'm really looking
forward to it.”
“Well, right now you can look forward to this,” her
father said as he entered from his office with a stack of
files in his arms. “Oh, good morning, Blaine. I'm glad
you two have had a chance to meet. And if you
wouldn't mind, Blaine, I'd like to go over some of these
files on the Harris case now.”
“Right away, Mr. Drew,” Blaine replied. Without
excusing herself, Blaine followed Carson into his
private office and closed the door behind them.
Ms. Hanson smiled at Nancy. “You'll need a
temporary password to get into the computer system,
Nancy.” She handed Nancy a piece of paper with some
information written on it. “Here it is.”
“Thanks, Ms. Hanson. I'd better get started.” Nancy
carried the stack of files her father had given her into
the law library.
Mr. Drew's office law library was lined with oak
bookshelves, which were filled with heavy volumes of
law books and old case files.
Since most legal research was now conducted on-
line, Mr. Drew had turned his law library into the
office computer center, too. In the center of the room
was a long oak table with several stations on either side.
Each station had a pull-out keyboard tray under a
monitor, and special file boxes for storing floppy disks.
Nancy chose a computer station, turned on the
machine, and waited for it to boot up. She looked
through the first file of papers her father had given her
and saw they were the papers for Bob Jamison, the
man who had called to ask her father to settle his case
earlier that morning. She noted that he had come in to
see her father for the first time just the week before.
I wonder what made him want to settle so soon?
Nancy asked herself as she began the time-consuming
process of searching through all the memos and
documents related to the settled case. Then she copied
the files off the computer and onto floppy disks for
storage. Finally she cleared the files off the main
computer system.
It was a tedious job that required a lot of cross-
checking to make sure she hadn't missed any files.
Often, the documents were not clearly labeled, and
Nancy found she had to read a number of letters and
memos to make sure they did relate to the case.
She learned that Bob Jamison was a building
contractor injured in a fall from a faulty ladder. He had
been offered a low settlement by the manufacturer's
insurance company.
When she had transferred all the Jamison files to
storage disks, she read about more people who had
settled cases.
Jeannette King was a bank manager. She had sued
her employer because she'd claimed she had been
passed over for a promotion that she felt she deserved.
The new job had been given to a male employee with
much less experience. She'd dropped the suit and
accepted a raise in pay as a settlement. James Fox was
a local councilman, who was well-known as a crime
fighter. He had agreed to settle a case in which he had
been injured in a car accident. Harriet Wasser was a
landlord who'd agreed to sell a building to her tenants
rather than confront them in court.
Nancy couldn't find any notes about the previous
criminal cases her father had said he had handled for
these clients. She wrote the four names down on a list
and put it in her portfolio.
Nancy decided that when she had a break in her
file-copying work she would look up the old criminal
case files in the storage area.
After a couple of hours Nancy interrupted her file
copying to do something a little different. The stacks of
material her father had given her included copies of
the settlement letters prepared by her father and his
legal assistants. Nancy's father had asked her to
transmit these letters via E-mail to Williams & Brown,
the law firm representing the opposition in all the
recently settled cases. Original copies of the letters and
other documents would have to be hand-delivered
later.
Nancy exited the directory listing the settled cases
and returned to the main computer directory. She
entered the “virtual mailroom.” There she addressed
the copies of the settlement documents to the phone
number listed for Williams & Brown and dialed them
on the modem.
She heard the familiar whirring and whine as the
computer modem dialed the computer at the other end
of the line, waiting until a metallic click confirmed that
she had a connection. Then Nancy pressed the Send
key to transmit the files.
Nancy read through the information on the screen
as it was being sent through the phone lines to the
other office: law firm name; phone num
ber; address;
name of her father's client and Williams & Brown's
client.
When the transmissions were complete, Nancy
returned to her file copying. She pressed the key to
view one of the files.
Suddenly Nancy was looking at an E-mail log file
with a list of all E-mail sent regarding the settled cases.
She saw several transmissions to the same computer
phone number she had just E-mailed, that of Williams
& Brown.
Nancy furrowed her brow. “That's odd,” she
muttered to herself. What was disturbing her about the
information in this file? Then her eyes opened wide.
The dates! She checked to see if her memory was
correct. Bob Jamison had come in the past week, and
on that same day someone in her father's office had
transmitted E-mail to someone at Williams & Brown.
Nancy checked the dates of the first visits of all the
clients. In each case, someone had transmitted E-mail
to Williams & Brown on the first day the case had been
received.
Nancy sat back in her chair and thought for a
second. She had learned a lot about the law over the
years from her father. She knew that anything that a
client told a lawyer was called privileged information.
That meant the information was secret. Was someone
from her father's office sending privileged information
to help Williams & Brown?
3. An Unexpected Encounter
Don't jump to conclusions, Nancy scolded herself. She
knew attorneys on both sides of a case must share
information with each other at some point during a
trial.
Nancy looked up at the rustle of papers and saw that
Byron Thomas, the intern, had sat down at one of the
other computer stations in the library. He popped a
floppy disk into his computer, looked up at Nancy,
then quickly back at his computer screen.
Nancy stood up to stretch her legs, then walked over
to Byron. “Excuse me. Do you mind if I ask you a
question?” she said.
“Go ahead,” he replied. Nancy noticed that he had
put some handwritten papers inside one of the heavy
law books sitting on the desk next to the computer.
“What is it?” he asked. He did not look up at her as he
continued to type on the computer keyboard.
“You're a law student, right?” Nancy asked. “So,
maybe you know the answer to this one. When does
one lawyer have to share information about his case
with the other side?”
Byron continued tapping away at the keyboard as he
answered Nancy's question. “It usually doesn't happen
until well into the trial, when the judge orders it.
Sometimes you have to send a list of documents, or of
witnesses who will testify. But that's about it.”
“Is there material one lawyer's office would need to
send to the opposing attorney's law firm on the first day
a client comes into their office?” Nancy persisted.
“The first day?” Byron asked, lifting his eyes from
his work for the first time. She noticed he had deep
brown eyes behind his tortoise-shell-framed glasses.
“Absolutely nothing. Well—maybe just notification that
you'll be representing the client. But even that usually
doesn't go out for a day or two after you've signed an
agreement with your client. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, no reason,” Nancy said quickly. “I was just
curious. I want to learn as much as I can while I'm
here.”
Maybe it was just a notification letter, she thought to
herself. I don't want to blow this out of proportion. She
changed the subject. “So, when do you graduate from
law school?” she asked.
“Next year, I hope,” Byron said, returning to his
computer screen.
“It's a lot of work isn't it?” Nancy asked.
“It sure is. And a lot of money, too,” Byron said
bitterly. “My parents are helping, but even with loans
and summer jobs and work-study, I'm barely making it.
I had to take last year off to earn money to pay this
year's tuition. It's going to take me more than five years
to get this law degree.”
“You must really love the law to go through all of
this,” Nancy said.
“It's my parents' idea, really.” Byron closed his eyes
for a moment and ran his fingers through his hair.
“They just want what's best for me, I guess,” he said.
Nancy thought he didn't sound convinced.
Just then the door to the law library opened, and
Nancy's father walked in. “I see you've met Byron.”
“Yes,” Nancy said. “We were just discussing how
hard it is to get through law school.”
“I hope you didn't make it sound too difficult,”
Nancy's father said with a twinkle in his eye. “And I'm
afraid Byron's going to be jealous of your next
assignment, Nancy. I'm sending you out for some fresh
air. You'll be seeing enough of each other in this stuffy
library for the next few days, anyway.”
Carson handed Nancy a manila envelope, stuffed
with papers. “Here are some of the signed and
notarized settlement documents on those cases.
There'll be more to come in the next few days, all for
Williams and Brown.”
“I already E-mailed them the files you noted in the
folders,” Nancy said. “In fact, there's something I
wanted to ask you about—”
“I'm afraid it'll have to wait until later,” Mr. Drew
said. “I need you to hand-deliver these documents to
their offices as soon as possible. They're waiting for
them. Not everything can be done by E-mail,” he
added with a smile.
“Williams and Brown's offices are located in that
new high-rise at the corner of Maple and Grove,
right?” Nancy asked her father.
“Right,” he replied.
Nancy took the package, said good-bye to Byron,
and waved to Ms. Hanson on her way out of the office.
She didn't bother to put on her suit jacket, figuring that
the day had become even warmer while she was in the
office.
Nancy walked through the streets of the old
downtown area. She squinted against the reflections of
the strong sunlight on the mirrored surface of the new
steel-and-glass building in which the Williams &
Brown offices were located. Pretty fancy, she thought,
as she entered the cool marble lobby, blinking in the
sudden darkness.
The central hall of the new building was designed as
an atrium, allowing pedestrians to look up and see
plants and interior offices high overhead. Nancy
walked up to the uniformed lobby guards at the
security desk.
“What floor is Williams and Brown?” she asked. “I
have to deliver these papers.”
“Fifteen, miss. You'll need a pass for the elevator
bank.” The security guard handed her a sticker with
the date on it and “W&B” at the top. She put the
sticker on her blouse and headed for the elevator bank
marked 11-20. There she stood with a crowd of office
workers waiting to go upstairs.
Next to her, two men in business suits were in
conversation. “You guys are the best,” one of the men
said. “I'm impressed with how you manage to settle
these cases so early and so advantageously. I'll be sure
to recommend you to my colleagues.” He patted the
other man on the back.
The two men entered the elevator with Nancy, and
all three rode up to Williams & Brown. The second
man replied, “We're a family firm, you know. My
partner's son, John Junior, joined us just last year after
he graduated from Walker Law. We all work together
for the benefit of our clients. I'm glad you're satisfied.”
The elevator doors opened directly into the plush
reception area of Williams & Brown. As the two men
walked through, the receptionist called, “Hello, Mr.
Williams.” Nancy realized she had been in the elevator
with one of the partners of the firm. Nancy guessed
from their conversation that the other man was from an
insurance company.
Nancy walked over to the receptionist and gave her
the manila envelope with an explanation of what it was.
The receptionist thanked Nancy and assured her that
the files would reach the proper people.
Nancy looked around the Williams & Brown office
reception area, noting the leather-and-steel couches,
the deep carpeting, the elegantly carved mahogany
bookcases, and the oil paintings hanging on the walls.
Pretty impressive, Nancy thought to herself.
On her way out, Nancy was joined in the elevator
waiting area by a handsome young man about Byron
Thomas's age, dressed in a carefully tailored suit. His
brown hair curled around his collar. He was with an
older man, who had just exited from the other partner's
private office.
“Well, son,” the older man said, “Bill tells me you're
doing a great job handling these insurance cases. I'm
sure it will benefit the firm as a whole, and it's a big
improvement over your performance at Walker Law.
I'm proud of you.”
“Thanks, Dad,” the young man replied smugly. “It's
nice to be appreciated.”
Nancy kept her mouth shut, but she realized this
must be the other partner, John Brown, and his son.
Nancy knew that a trial could be expensive for an
insurance company. Williams & Brown could save their