by Bill Doyle
Dad chuckled. “Sounds like you’ve worked it out already. Here’s the short version: I was working on that screenplay with Benny. I couldn’t let go of the idea that Mallory might have been the first to climb to the summit. I started to hunt for his camera. When Benny realized my research could destroy his movie, he warned me to back off, but …” He shrugged with a sheepish smile.
“But you couldn’t let it go,” I finished for him.
Nodding, Dad said, “Benny came to the house, kidnapped me at gunpoint, and forced me to come to Everest with him. Once we left the house, he told me he’d come after you if I didn’t do exactly as he said. Benny wanted me to use my knowledge of Mallory to find the camera. Then he would destroy it, and his movie would be safe.”
The thought of Benny pulling a gun on my dad made my stomach clench. “It’s still hard to believe Uncle Benny would do all this!”
“I know,” said my dad. “He used to be such a good guy. I guess the pressure of possibly losing everything finally got to him.”
“But what about the timing?” A voice said behind me. I turned, and Maura was there.
MAURA FOUND US.
“Maura!” I cried, and got to my feet.
She came over to me and put her arm around my shoulders. “I’m so glad to see you, Nick.”
“Me, too,” I agreed And turned to my dad. “This is Maura.”
“I know.” Dad smiled at her. “We met last time I was at PDA.”
“Where’s Jiban?” I asked Maura.
“After you unclipped, we got separated looking for you,” she replied. “I’m sure he’ll be fine. The worst of the storm has passed, and the skies are already clearing.” She looked at my dad. “You have no idea how hard your son worked to find you, sir.”
Blushing, I said, “Maura’s right, Dad. I mean, about the timing. How did you have time to set up all the clues for me in Los Angeles?”
DAD SMILED AT MAURA.
Dad nodded, as If he had expected this question. “Ever since I told Benny I wanted to find Mallory’s camera, my detective radar had been telling me that things weren’t quite right. I could feel that something sinister was going on. For one thing, someone was tampering with my mail. I was worried. I planted the clues in our office and told Jiban what to do if he didn’t hear from me at the regular time we set.”
“How did you know to tell me to come to Everest?” I wondered. “How could you be sure that you’d be kidnapped and brought here?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t know. At that point, I wasn’t even completely sure Benny was a bad guy—or at least I didn’t want to believe it. The clues were supposed to show you that if I had an ‘accident’ or disappeared, it probably had something to do with Mallory’s camera. I didn’t think you’d follow them all the way to Everest!”
Now I was starting to understand. “So you had the clues all ready when Uncle Benny nabbed you?”
“That’s right,” Dad said. “I’d set them up two weeks ago. Then the day of the kidnapping, I spotted Benny lurking outside our office window. He was activating a cell-phone jammer to block any calls for help I might have made.”
PRIVATE CELL-PHONE JAMMERS LIKE THIS ONE ARE ILLEGAL IN THE UNITED STATES!
SUPER JAMMER!
Tired of sitting on the train listening to people chat on their mobiles while you’re trying to read the newspaper? You need Super Jammer, the battery-powered device that blocks mobile phone calls. It transmits signals that collide with and cancel the mobile’s signals—making the phone useless!
ENGLISH SPY CLUB MAGAZINE - 24
That’s why I hadn’t been able to reach him from the plane after I left PDA, I thought.
Dad continued, “Benny was heading inside the house and I knew I had limited time to act.”
Maura asked, “Why didn’t you just write a note?”
“Benny might have found it and destroyed it. I had to leave a message that only a detective could find. I pricked my own finger and left a drop of blood on the MP3 player, and then quickly set up the clock on the floor. Everything else was already set up in case of just such an emergency.” My dad looked at me. “I knew you would unravel the clues and solve the mystery!”
Dad was smiling, but he shuddered. He was getting too cold. It was time to get him off this mountain. Together, Maura and I helped him to his feet.
As he was brushing the snow off his down parka, I said, “Too bad you couldn’t find the camera.”
Dad smiled. And there was something about that smile …
I gazed at him. “No!” I cried in disbelief.
“What?” Maura asked, looking at me and then my dad. “What’s going on?”
As if to answer her, my dad took off one glove and reached into the pocket of his jacket very carefully. When he removed his hand again, he was holding something up for us to see.
It was a camera. Mallory’s camera, to be specific.
My dad explained that the camera was actually about 750 feet uphill from where Mallory’s body was discovered. A few years earlier, there were rumors that a Sherpa had found a pen near that spot with the date 1923 and the inscription “To my darling George” on it. Why might a lost pen indicate that a camera was nearby? This Vest Pocket B had a special feature. It allowed someone to write an inscription directly onto the film through a little window in the back of camera. Dad determined that the pen was out because Mallory was writing something either in a notebook … or on the camera itself. Since no notebook was discovered, my dad decided there was a fifty-fifty chance that the camera was near where the pen was discovered.
DAD HAD MALLORY’S CAMERA!
“I always wanted to see if my hunch was correct,” Dad said. “And Benny kidnapping me gave me a chance to find out. When we were on a ridGe above the spot where the pen had been found, I acted like I had a cramp. I faked a collapse and rolled down the slope. By the time Benny got down to me, I had found the camera and tucked it into my coat without him noticing. Then I pretended to help him look for the camera. After a few hours, Benny gave up, and we headed back down the mountain. When the blizzard started, he decided he didn’t need me anymore. He tied me up and left me here. He never knew I’d found the camera.”
Dad had it—the camera that could answer one of the world’s greatest mysteries.
HOW TO DEVELOP REALLY OLD FILM
If you find a roll of film that’s been frozen for more than fifty years, what should you do? Try this!
1. CHILL OUT Keep the film frozen until just before you develop it. Otherwise, it might fall apart when it thaws.
2. TAKE THE TEST Cut off a tiny piece of film from the end of the roll. Use it to test your development method before you risk the entire roll.
3. DON’T RUSH! This isn’t a project for a “One-Hour Photomat.” Take your time.
“Why, Henry Fitzmorgan!” Jiban called out. He had just come around the rock outcropping.
“Jiban, my friend!” Dad cried. He gently handed me the camera and rushed to Jiban. My dad threw his arms around him.
The Sherpa looked embarrassed for a second but then returned the hug wholeheartedly.
DAD HUGGED JIBAN.
“I can’t believe we found You,” Jiban said.
“I can,” Dad said, pulling back from Jiban so he could look him in the eye. “Thank you for everything.”
Jiban appeared embarrassed again and looked down.
I told Jiban and Maura about what had happened with Uncle Benny. When I was finished, Dad turned to me. “Nick,” he said, “what are you thinking of doing with the camera?”
I gazed down at the incredible object in my hands. This camera had been up on this mountain for more than eighty years, and yet it looked as good as new.
I thought about what Jiban had said about leaving things on the mountain. That to take a dead person’s property off the mountain was like robbing his or her grave.
“We have to do what we can to protect George Mallory’s final resting place,” I finally said.
“The camera should stay up here.”
Dad’s face broke out into a new grin. “Bully for you, as Judge would say.” He clapped me on the back. “I agree with you a hundred percent. I guess we’ve solved enough cases to know that some mysteries are best left unsolved. To honor the memory of Mallory, we’ll put the camera bade where I found it.”
“But you’re way too beat up, Dad,” I said. “You can’t make that climb again.”
“I’ll do it,” Jiban volunteered. He was smiling. “I’m happy to return the camera. After that, I’ll continue on to the summit and fulfill my lifelong dream of climbing this mountain goddess.”
Before he left, Jiban helped himself to supplies from the sled that Uncle Benny had left near my dad. When he was loaded up with extra oxygen tanks and water, we all gathered around him.
I handed him Mallory’s camera, which he carefully put into his pack.
JIBAN TOOK MALLORY’S CAMERA.
“Well, I guess this is good-bye,” I said sadly. “Thank you for everything, Jiban.”
The Sherpa looked offended. “What is this good-bye, Henry? Doesn’t your son know that friends don’t say good-bye, they say see you soon?”
Jiban laughed. He grabbed me in a quick hug and then gave one to Maura and finally, to my dad. Without another word, he turned and strode off up toward the peak.
“Good luck!” Maura called after him.
Now it was just the three of us. It was time to get back to Camp 2.
“As tempting as it is,” my dad said, “there’s one thing I guess we shouldn’t leave up here. …”
“What?” I asked.
“Your godfather.”
It was a bad joke, but I had to smile. I even caught Maura wearing a little grin.
We dragged the supply sled around the rock where Uncle Benny was still unconscious but breathing fine. We strapped him to the sled. Even if it tipped upside down, he wouldn’t fall off. That should keep him safe until we reached Camp 2, where Judge would have help waiting for us.
As we headed down the mountain, I paused to look up toward the peak once more. I could just barely make out Jiban. He was a dark silhouette as he strode confidently toward the top.
JIBAN WAVED TO US AND KEPT CLIMBING.
As if he could sense our eyes on him, he turned and waved. Then, he began climbing again and soon disappeared into the clouds.
We had cracked a big case here today, but the mountain looked just as mysterious as ever.
Dad had paused next to me, following my gaze. “We’ll come back someday and make it all the way to the top, okay?”
I put an arm around his shoulder. “I think I’ve gone far enough for a while,” I said.
He smiled, and the four of us headed down the mountain together.
WARNING: This message gives away parts of the story!
A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
One of the fun things about being a writer is that I can send my characters to places I’ve always dreamed of going. At least until I have the chance to make my dreams come true in person, that is.
Just about everyone I know has imagined climbing Mount Everest at one time or another. So when I was thinking up places to take detective Nick Fitzmorgan, it seemed like the perfect spot. Not only because it’s the world’s tallest mountain but also because it’s home to one of history’s greatest mysteries: Was George Mallory the first climber to reach the summit?
To make this fascinating mystery even more exciting, I took a few liberties. For instance, Mallory was lost while climbing up the north side of Everest. I wanted Nick to cross the dangerous Khumbu Icefall so I sent him and his friends up the south side.
And, as far as I know, Mallory’s camera has never been discovered. Its location is a mystery just waiting to be solved! Will you be the one to crack the case?
Yours in time,
Bill Doyle
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bill Doyle was born in Lansing, Michigan, and wrote his$$$ first mystery when he was eight. He loved seeing the shock on people’s faces when they discovered the identify of the story’s villain—and knew then that he was hooked on writing. Bill has written for Sesame Workshop, LeapFrog, Scholastic, ROLLING STONE, TIME FOR KIDS, and the Museum of Natural History. He lives in New York City with a mysterious dachshund named Esme.
Check out these other gripping Crime Through Time™ books!TM books!
Now in stores!
Now in stores!
Now in stores!
Now in stores!
Coming in November 2006!
EXTRA! EXTRA!
Don’t forget to read the newspaper in the back of each book!
THE INSPECTOR
15c We Have an “EYE” for News
MYSTERY
ON TOP OF THE WORLD
KATHMANDU, NEPAL: Two weeks ago, six climbers went up Mount Everest, determined to put to rest an 83-year-old mystery. “We searched for evidence that could tell us if George Mallory was first to reach the top of Everest,” says Troy Howard, the leader of the climbers. “Unfortunately, we didn’t find what we were looking for.”
In 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first to officially summit Everest. However, some people believe that Englishman George Mallory was the first climber to make it to the top of the world’s tallest mountain. In 1924, Mallory was making his third attempt to climb Everest. While it is certain that Mallory died on the mountain, no one knows exactly when. Did he die before or after he had reached the summit? If Mallory died after he reached the top, he would have beaten Hillary by almost 30 years.
Many experts believe that the answer to the mystery lies inside a camera that Mallory was carrying when he died. If he took a picture of himself at the top, the film inside the camera would show that photo. It would be the proof Howard is looking for to show that Mallory made it to the summit first. But, to this day, no one has been able to find Mallory’s camera.
“Still,” Howard says, “I’m not going to give up. This mystery is just too important to be left unsolved.”
A camera like Mallory’s
Giving a Face to the Dead
IRON CITY, MI: Three campers recently discovered a human skull in the woods near Iron City. Scientists determined that the skull was from a male adult and that it had been in the woods for 25 to 35 years. But in that 10-year time, there were reports of 134 missing men in Michigan. So to whom did the skull belong?
To answer that question, local officials called in Keith Colwin, a forensics expert with degrees in art history and computer science. He uses these areas of his education to reconstruct the faces of unidentified skulls. If a face looks enough like the person did when alive, someone may be able to make an ID.
Colwin warns that the skull found in the Michigan woods might never be identified. “Facial reconstruction isn’t as easy as they make it look on TV,” he says. “It isn’t an exact science.”
Colwin points out that a skull doesn’t give many clues as to what soft-tissue features, like a nose and a mouth, might have looked like. And it won’t give any information about hair color, facial hair, scars, or tattoos, or whether a person might have worn glasses. “The person doing the reconstruction must be experienced enough to make well-educated guesses,” Colwin says.
While some facial reconstruction experts use computer programs to rebuild faces, Colwin prefers to work with his own two hands. He uses clay to slowly build the layers of a face on the skull. “I’m not convinced the software is up to the task yet,” says Colwin. “That might change in the next year or two, thanks to new technology.”
Colwin is nearly finished rebuilding the face on the Michigan skull. When he’s done, the police will run a photo of it in newspapers. “If I’ve done my job well,” Colwin says, “someone may recognize the face as a missing family member or friend.”
Entertainment
Stay in Control
REDMOND, WA: Nintendo has a way to make sure that you don’t starve while gaming. Their one-handed co
ntroller means you’ll have one hand free to munch on popcorn and other game-time snacks. The device has motion and position sensors. If you’re playing a tennis game, you can just swing or flick the controller, and the racquet on the screen will mirror every movement you make!
Transportation
DREAM TAKES WING
SEATTLE, WA: The Wright brothers would be floored! The new 787 Dreamliner is probably unlike anything they ever imagined. This airplane carries up to 296 passengers but uses 20 percent less fuel and produces 20 percent fewer emissions than similarly sized aircraft. Inside, the passengers say they’re more comfortable than they are on other airplanes. Wireless Internet connections provide entertainment, and added humidity in the cabin air reduces the number of headaches and cases of airsickness as well. Plus—the views! Windows on the Dreamliner are as much as 70 percent bigger than those on other planes.
Technology
READY TO BE A CYBORG?
More than 2,000 people around the world have had computer microchips implanted in their body. The chips contain information that could save their lives. Equipped with a radio transmitter about the size of a grain of rice, the chip holds a 16-digit personal ID number. In an emergency, doctors can scan the chip, get the ID number, and find out information about the patient from a computer database. This works especially well if the patient is too sick to talk and cannot tell doctors about his or her medical history. But it’s not all for medical reasons. The same technology is being used to help owners find lost pets that have the implanted chips.
“IS THERE AN ANTEATER ON MY HEAD?”
ARMONK, NY: Thanks to IBM’s brand-new Multiligual Automatic Speech-to-Speech Translator (MASTOR), questions like these won’t be a problem—even if you’re in a country where you don’t speak the language. Imagine you’re in Peru and want to know where to find a zoo to drop off your anteater. All you have to do is speak into the device in English and press a button. MASTOR will translate what you say and repeat it in Spanish, Quechua, or Aymara to whoever is within earshot. And when someone responds by speaking into the device—MASTOR will change his or her words from Spanish to English automatically.
