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<
br />
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 IBC 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 news-
group,” 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
The E-Mail Mystery Page 7
