The Mystery in the Computer Game

  “‘Nadje—three o’clock!’” Violet answered. “Why would Nadje’s name be on this piece of paper?” She grabbed the paper from Benny and ran over to Jessie and Henry with it. “It also says, ‘Check Head Shots.’ Didn’t C.D. say ‘Head Shots’ had something to do with Jane’s computer idea?”

  “Now we’d really better get a move on,” Henry said. “I have a feeling Andy dropped that paper when he raced off. This is getting stranger and stranger all the time.”

  Jessie hurried the younger children along.

  “Don’t forget. We still have to pick up the Fix-It program at the computer store before we go home. Maybe that will help us figure out what’s going on inside our computer.” “I hope we can figure out what’s going on outside our computer, too,” Benny added.

  CHAPTER 9

  Listening In

  The Aldens and Soo Lee didn’t waste any time getting to Computer City. They passed aisles of games without stopping to check the brightly colored boxes. They were in a hurry.

  Henry went straight to the shelves of software designed to fix computer problems.

  “That sign says, ‘Ringmaster II Coming Soon,’ ” Benny said. “It came to our house already.”

  A young man in a red shirt came over.

  “May I help you?”

  “Do you have the Fix-It program?” Henry asked. “We’re having some problems with a computer network we’re on. I heard that Fix-It can help.”

  The man handed a Fix-It box to Henry. “Here you go. Anything else?”

  “No, but thanks,” Henry said. “Well, I do have one question. Are there any games where players somehow use photos to make up their own characters?”

  The man laughed. “Whoever figures out how to make that idea work is going to be a millionaire. I’ve heard rumors that a couple of companies are trying something like that out—using a scanner to put photos of real people or places in a game to make it more realistic and fun. Of course, the photo-faces will move and change expression, too. Right now, I don’t think anybody has figured out exactly how a player can do that at home.”

  The Aldens tried to hide their excitement. They had a feeling someone they knew was getting pretty close to figuring out exactly how to do that.

  “Thanks,” Henry said to the salesman. “Okay, everybody, let’s go pay for this.”

  There was a long line at the checkout counter. While Henry waited, the other children browsed through a display of new games. While they were reading the game boxes, they overheard a familiar voice talking loudly in the next aisle. It sounded like the person was talking on the phone.

  “It doesn’t matter that it won’t work,” a woman’s voice said. “I just have to show up with something. When it doesn’t work, that will give us more time.”

  Jessie put her finger to her lips when she noticed Benny was about to say something. “Shhh,” she whispered. “Let’s go.” Benny took Soo Lee’s hand and they started walking.

  After the Aldens left the store, Benny blurted out to Henry what he had been holding in. “Jane Driver was in the store, but she didn’t see us.”

  Henry was amazed. “Everywhere we go, she goes.”

  “Never mind that,” Jessie said. “Everywhere she goes, Ned Porter goes, too. There’s his green car in the corner of the parking lot.”

  The Aldens waved several times at Ned. First he ignored them. Then he started his car and left the parking lot in a hurry.

  When the children got home, they saw a familiar blue bicycle leaning against the picket fence.

  “Isn’t that Andy’s bike?” Benny asked as they went inside through the kitchen door. “I’m going to give him that piece of paper he dropped.”

  “Shhh,” Jessie said. “Let’s wait to see what he says first. I want to find out why he keeps coming over here.”

  Mrs. McGregor spied the Computer City bag Henry was carrying. “Another computer bag?” she said. “Your friend Andy just went into the den with a bag from that store. I hope you didn’t both buy the same thing.”

  “I sure hope not, Mrs. McGregor,” Henry said.

  When Andy saw the children come into the den, he clicked off the screen he’d been working on. He picked up a Computer City bag and pulled out his own Fix-It software box.

  “Wait!” Henry said, holding up his own bag. “We just bought the same program. I think we can take over now. You must have a lot of other things to do at QuestMaster.”

  Andy seemed very nervous. “Well, this morning C.D. said to come over anyway.”

  Henry looked at Andy for a long time. “Are you sure? He told us he was going to the city to get a special chip Jane was supposed to get.”

  Andy’s face grew pale. “What are you talking about?”

  Henry decided to be mysterious. “Nothing we can talk about. Now maybe you can tell us why you left so fast when we ran into you at the Big Dipper. And why you’re here again.”

  Andy swallowed hard before he answered. “I told you. I’m supposed to help get the network going from your computer.”

  Henry was usually pretty easygoing, but not today. “Well, this is our computer now, and we need to learn how to fix it ourselves. Thanks for offering to help, but don’t bother installing the Fix-It program. We’ll use our own.”

  Benny tugged on Jessie’s hand. He showed her the crumpled paper he’d picked up at the ice-cream stand. Jessie shook her head as if to say no.

  Too late. Andy spotted the paper. He blushed. “Where’d you get that? I was looking for it. I have some notes on there that I need. I guess I dropped it—by mistake, of course.”

  Jessie stepped in front of Benny. “Hold on a second, Andy. Tell us what’s on it first. Maybe it doesn’t belong to you.”

  “It’s an appointment I wrote down that Jane had at three o’clock today,” he said, reaching for the paper.

  Jessie pulled it away. “But that’s not exactly what it says. It must belong to someone else.”

  With five pairs of eyes staring at him, Andy Porter knew the Aldens weren’t handing over that note. He turned and left.

  After she heard the door close, Jessie read the note. “Andy was wrong. He said the name was Jane, but it says Nadje.”

  Henry put down the Fix-It box he was about to open. “Wait a minute. Repeat what you just said.”

  Jessie wrinkled her forehead. “Okay. The name on this paper is Nadje. ... Hmmm. Nadje looks an awful lot like Jane. It has the same letters plus the first letter of her last name—D.”

  “But Nadje is a two-faced witch,” Benny said, “and Jane is just a regular person.”

  “Maybe Jane is two-faced!” Jessie said excitedly. “Maybe she acts one way at QuestMaster but another way ...” Her voice trailed off.

  She turned to Henry. “Didn’t C.D. say he was having a meeting tomorrow?”

  Henry nodded.

  “Okay. Here’s what we do,” Jessie went on. “Let’s bring this computer to the office. We’ll say we were having problems with it and ask Jane, Ned, and Andy to help us out. There’s something about our Ringmaster II program that is different. I have a feeling one of those people knows what it is.”

  CHAPTER 10

  The Aldens Set a Trap

  After breakfast the next day, the children were pleased to learn that Grandfather was also going to the QuestMaster meeting. C.D. had invited his uncle John and Mr. Alden to take a peek at Ringmaster II.

  Grandfather, Violet, and Soo Lee sat waiting in the front seat of the station wagon while Jessie and Henry packed the computer into the back.

  “I can’t quite imagine working at a place like QuestMaster,” Grandfather said. “When I started out in business we all had to wear suits and starched white shirts. There certainly were no dogs at the office.”

  “And I bet you didn’t play basketball with your boss, either,” said Violet.

  “No, I didn’t.” Grandfather laughed. “Though it might have been more fun if I had.” Grandfather turned to the back of the station wagon. “Are
we all set back there?” he asked Jessie and Henry.

  “Almost,” Jessie answered. She shut the back door of the station wagon and she and Henry came around to the side door and slid in next to Benny.

  “Ready,” said Henry.

  Grandfather started the car. “What a shame the new computer is giving you so much trouble,” he said over the sound of the engine.

  “I have a feeling that we’re going to give someone else trouble with our computer,” Henry whispered to Jessie. “Not the other way around.”

  The Aldens arrived early for the QuestMaster meeting. Henry and Jessie set up the computer at an empty workstation next to Jane’s. In no time, they had it up and running. They booted up Ringmaster II. This time they knew for sure they would have no trouble finding Nadje, the old stone fountain, or the Brass Horn sign inside their game.

  One by one, the designers arrived at work.

  When C.D. saw the children, he came over to greet them. He noticed their computer right away. “Still having problems with the network? Andy told me he took care of everything the other day.”

  Just at that moment, Ned arrived and heard his son’s name. “Andy’s coming soon. You looking for him?”

  “Hi, Ned,” C.D. answered. “Yes, see if you and Andy can help me figure out the problems the Aldens are still having.”

  Ned didn’t look too pleased about this. “You said we had an important meeting today to discuss Ringmaster II. Andy came in especially—”

  Hearing his name when he walked by, Andy stopped. “You need me, Dad? I was ... Oh, hi,” he said in a lower voice to the Aldens. His eyes widened when he noticed the Aldens’ computer. “Why did you bring that here?” He looked at C.D. nervously. “I offered to fix it yesterday, but Henry told me not to.”

  C.D. was completely confused now. What was going on? “Did you send Andy away?” he asked the Aldens.

  Before the children could answer, Ned interrupted. “Seems as if we’re wasting a lot of time on one computer for kids who don’t even work here.” He looked at his watch. “Just about everybody’s here. Can’t this wait?”

  “Ned,” C.D. said in a low voice, “I’ll decide when we’ll start the meeting. The Aldens brought their machine in for a reason. Before we try to monkey around with the network problems, I want everybody to take a look at their copy of Ringmaster II.”

  Andy stepped away. “Um ... I have some last-minute stuff I, uh ... have to check for the computers you’re shipping out to the high school, C.D., so I’d better go.”

  “That can wait, Andy,” C.D. said. “The Aldens told me about some interesting things that showed up in their game. You’re such a computer whiz, I think you should stick around.” C.D. looked over Andy’s head and saw Jane come into the studio.

  She started to turn away when she saw everyone staring at her. “I forgot something in my car,” she said. “I’ll be right back.”

  C.D. forced a tense laugh. “I must be wearing my mean boss face today. Everybody’s acting as if they have someplace else they’d rather be. Jane, I want to show you something interesting here. Now.”

  Jane knew she had no choice. C.D. was the boss.

  When Mr. Alden and John Romer saw the group huddled around the Aldens, they wanted to get in on the excitement, too.

  “Okay,” Henry began. “I already booted up Ringmaster II.”

  A new screen came on, and Nadje appeared.

  “Look what happens when we click on to this two-faced woman,” Jessie said. “Her name is Nadje, and she’s only on our copy of Ringmaster II.”

  The Aldens looked around at everyone. They could hardly wait for Henry to click the mouse.

  “Watch the screen, Andy,” Ned said to his son in a sharp voice.

  Andy didn’t respond. He wasn’t watching the screen because he was too busy watching Jane Driver.

  Jane seemed to shrink away. “Why is everyone staring at me?” she asked in a dry, whispery voice. “That two-headed character isn’t me, if that’s what you’re all thinking.”

  Jessie found the wrinkled note in her backpack and handed it to C.D. “Andy dropped this yesterday, and we found it. He wrote down a meeting time, but instead of writing down Jane’s name, he wrote Nadje’s name instead.”

  Everyone turned to Andy.

  Andy turned away from everyone. Then he began to speak. “Jessie’s right. Nadje is a character I designed in the Aldens’ game. I meant for the character to be like Jane—two-faced. The Aldens figured it all out the way I planned, but I didn’t want my dad to find out I was leaving all the clues.”

  C.D. shook his head. “Clues to what, Andy?”

  Andy faced everyone. He swallowed hard. “There are two things we found out about Jane. First, my dad and I found out that Jane stole his idea for Head Shots.”

  “Head Shots?” C.D. asked in an angry voice. “How could that be your idea, Ned? I know you haven’t been happy with some of the things that go on here, but accusing a new employee of theft, then getting your son to trap her? That’s not the way we do things at QuestMaster.”

  Andy stepped forward before Ned could say anything. “No! No! You’ve got it wrong, C.D. My dad never asked me to do anything. He wanted credit for his idea, but Jane showed it to you first. We even had fights about this. I knew it wasn’t fair for Jane to get credit for his idea. I wanted Dad to tell you, but he wouldn’t. And he made me promise not to tell you. We didn’t have proof. That’s why I planted clues in the Aldens’ computer. I wanted them to follow the clues and figure out what Jane was really up to. You said the Alden kids were good detectives. I thought if they found out the truth about Jane, you would believe it.”

  C.D. looked at Jane and then turned back to Ned and Andy. “And just what is Jane really up to, Andy?”

  “She went to Comet Interactive Games in her white car,” Benny interrupted excitedly. “We all saw her.”

  “What?” exclaimed C.D. “Jane went to Comet Interactive?”

  The Aldens nodded. “We followed the clues in Ringmaster II to the stone fountain on Old Post Road, and we saw her drive from their parking lot,” said Jessie.

  “That’s right,” said Andy. “First she stole my father’s idea, then she took it to Comet Interactive. And now we have witnesses besides ourselves.”

  Jessie wondered about something. “There’s something I don’t get, Andy. Why did you run away from us at the ice-cream stand? We could have shared all this right there—the note, the meeting, everything. We weren’t a hundred percent sure who was up to no good, but we were close. That’s why we brought our computer in.”

  “Sorry I ran away,” Andy said. “I was afraid Jane would see us together and figure out we knew something.”

  C.D. was so upset he needed a minute to gather his thoughts. “Jane, did you go to Comet Interactive Games with Head Shots—Ned’s game, as it turns out?”

  Before Jane could answer, Andy interrupted. “Just read this,” Andy said. He sat at the keyboard and clicked on Nadje. The message that came out of Nadje’s mouth appeared on-screen.

  I need to discuss the situation as soon as possible. Let’s meet at 3:00 Tuesday. I just hope no one follows me.

  Andy looked directly at C.D. “This came from an e-mail Jane sent. She accidentally left some e-mail on her old computer, then you gave it to the Aldens. So I stuck it in the game, hoping the Aldens would follow Jane to Comet Interactive Games, then tell you. Jane’s e-mail is QuestMaster property. Just check her mailbox.”

  By this time Jane had slipped away to her own computer. C.D. and the Aldens weren’t far behind.

  “Don’t even think about erasing anything,” C.D. said from behind Jane. “Just open the e-mail Andy’s talking about.”

  Instead of obeying, Jane sank back into her chair. “I don’t have to. You’re going to fire me anyway. I used to work at Comet Interactive Games. The people there never listened to my ideas. They were working on the photo idea, too—that players could create characters in a game from personal pho
tos. But they weren’t making any progress with it. Then I came to QuestMaster and found out Ned was working on the same thing.”

  Jane turned to Ned. “Sorry, Ned. You always left your computer on without a screensaver to cover up your screen. I saw the name ‘Head Shots’ and photos on your desk. I heard you call Andy ‘Dandy Andy’ a few times, so I guessed that was your password. After that, getting into your computer was easy.”

  Ned banged his fist down on Jane’s desk. “Well, good riddance to you and Comet Interactive Games. Head Shots is our project. And I know what it needs to make it work. Now you can all quit snooping around and we can get to work.”

  “But you were snooping, too,” Jessie said to Ned.

  “Okay, I admit it,” Ned said. “I followed Jane everywhere. Meanwhile, without my knowing it, my son here was trying to save his own dad.”

  “Just like in the game!” Soo Lee cried. “The boy, Arthur, tries to save the Magician from Nadje.”

  C.D. was confused by all this information, but he knew one thing for sure. “Jane, you can go back to Comet Interactive Games. You are no longer employed at my company. As for Head Shots, Ned, it’s not going to be as hard as you think. QuestMaster has a million dollars and a couple geniuses in you and Andy.”

  After Jane cleaned out her desk and left, Benny saw Ned’s camera on the computer table. “Hey, Ned, can you take our pictures? You could put us in Ringmaster III.”

  Ned picked up the camera. Watch barked. The Aldens stood together. Benny said, “Cheese.”

  “There,” said Ned as he snapped the picture, and for the first time the Aldens saw him smile.

  “I think we may want to design a whole new game for this Head Shots feature,” C.D. said.

  Everyone watched as the photo zipped out of the camera and slowly developed before their eyes.

  “What will you call your new game?” Benny asked.

  Andy put a hand on Benny’s shoulder. “In honor of the Aldens, how about “Mystery-Masters I?”

  And everyone laughed and cheered.