Mystery in the Computer Game (6 page)

Henry agreed. “Good idea, Jessie. I’ll shut down
Ringmaster II
.”

“Wait! Not yet!” Benny cried. “Look at the water fountain again. Doesn’t it look just like the one on Old Post Road?”

The other children stared at the screen.

“You know what? You’re right, Benny,” Jessie said. “It’s a copy of the stone fountain they used to use for horses in the days before cars—the one on the road between Greenfield and Burrville.”

“Can we go see it? Maybe it’s a clue. Please? Please?” Benny begged.

“And what about the ‘three o’clock’ message that came out of Nadje’s mouth?” said Violet. “Maybe that is part of the clue, too!” Jessie agreed. “You could be right, Violet. Let’s be at the fountain at three. We can walk. It’s only about a mile away. We’ll stop by Computer City on the way back.”

Henry shut down the game. “I suppose the fountain
could
be some kind of clue in the game. Or else the designers are copying stuff from around Greenfield, like the Brass Horn or this fountain, just because they like it.”

Benny was ready for an adventure. “Now we can be in the game, too.”

The children set out to find the old drinking fountain on Old Post Road. As they walked along, cars whizzed by in both directions. Gas stations, stores, and office buildings lined the busy road.

“Grandfather said when he was a little boy, farmers and peddlers still drove their horse carts along this road,” Violet said. “I guess the fountain is the only landmark left from those days.”

Along the way, the children passed the Big Dipper, their favorite ice-cream stand.

Benny licked his lips. “Can we stop for ice cream on the way back? I might be hungry by then.”

“Might
be hungry?” Henry asked, laughing.

A few minutes later, the Aldens spotted the fountain up ahead. Clumps of roadside daisies and overgrown grasses nearly covered the old landmark. It hadn’t been used as a watering stop for travelers for many years.

Soo Lee wrinkled her nose when she looked down into the fountain. “The old rainwater is all yucky and green.”

Henry walked around the fountain. “Why would anybody include this old thing in a computer game? It’s all covered over with moss and weeds.”

“I think it’s pretty,” Violet said. “Maybe there’s some other reason it was in the game. Let’s look around.”

“What does that sign say?” Soo Lee asked a few minutes later. She pointed to a nearby sign no one else had spotted.

“‘Comet Interactive Games,’” Jessie answered. “That’s the name of the company C.D. told us about—the one with those two people he doesn’t trust. Let’s follow that side road where the sign is pointing.”

The Comet Interactive Games building was set way back from Old Post Road, up a hill and past some trees.

“You can’t really tell that the building is here,” Henry said. “Uh-oh. There’s a gate. I don’t think we can go inside.”

Sure enough, a security guard came over. “You kids have business here?” he asked in a sharp voice.

“Sort of. We’re curious to find out if this is where Comet Interactive Games are made,” Jessie said truthfully.

This information didn’t make the guard any friendlier. “You and a hundred other kids pestering us all the time,” he said. “You need an appointment to go inside.”

Jessie and Henry motioned for the other children to head back down the hill.

“Sorry,” Henry said. “We didn’t know.”

“Well, now you do,” the guard said.

“He didn’t like us,” Soo Lee said as the children walked away. “Can we go home now?”

As they walked along the side of the driveway the Aldens heard a car coming up fast from behind. Henry and Jessie pulled the younger children behind some bushes.

A white convertible whizzed past. A woman with a ponytail was driving.

“Did you see that? It had a QuestMaster parking sticker on the bumper,” Jessie said after the car went by. “I could have sworn that was Jane Driver at the wheel.”

A minute later, the children saw a green car pull onto the road from a clump of trees. It followed the convertible down the hill. Like the white convertible, this one had a QuestMaster parking sticker on its bumper. Only this time the children were positive who the driver was.

“That’s Ned Porter’s car!” Henry said. “I’m sure of it. He must have been visiting the Comet Interactive offices, too. Only why did he park in the woods?”

Jessie thought about this. “Do you think he and Jane are up to no good? Now we really have to figure out what’s going on, so we can tell C.D.”

From where they were standing, the children could see all the way down to Old Post Road. They noticed that the green car followed the white convertible at a distance until the Aldens couldn’t see either car anymore.

Henry stepped ahead of the other children. “Let’s leave a message for C.D. about this as soon as we get home.”

“Do we still have time for ice cream?” Benny asked when he saw the Big Dipper ice-cream stand up ahead.

Jessie took Benny’s hand. “We always have time for ice cream.”

When the children entered the Big Dipper, there was only one customer inside. As the Aldens got closer, they realized who it was.

“Andy Porter!” Henry whispered. “Of all people.”

Andy held a cone in one hand, but it was dripping all over, as if he’d forgotten he was holding it.

“How many times have you seen that white convertible go by here?” the Aldens overheard Andy ask the girl behind the counter.

“I told you, I don’t know,” the girl answered impatiently. “Why do you keep coming here and asking me all these questions about that car?”

Andy tapped on the metal counter nervously “I just need to know, that’s all. Have you seen that woman around here with a bearded man and a bald man?”

“A few times.” The girl looked over Andy’s head at the Aldens. “Look, I can’t talk right now. Some other customers just came in. May I help you?”

Andy whirled around. When he saw the Aldens, he seemed to want to speak to them. But he stopped himself, nodded quickly as a way of saying good-bye, and left. The Aldens saw him race off on his bike, which had been parked outside.

“May I help you?” the ice-cream girl repeated, this time louder.

“What was that all about?” Henry asked the girl.

“Do you know him?” the girl asked. “He’s been in here a bunch of times. He’s always wanting to know about some people who work at Comet Interactive Games up the road.”

“The woman in the white convertible?” Jessie asked.

The girl nodded.

“What about a tall man who looks like that boy?” Henry asked. “He’s got a green car.”

The girl shook her head. She was tired of all these nosy customers. “Look, I’m just here to serve ice cream, not spy on people or watch what cars go in and out of the parking lot. Now, if you want to order, please tell me what you want.”

The Aldens ordered their cones and went outside to eat them.

“Why did Andy leave so fast when he saw us?” Benny asked. “He didn’t even finish his cone. But I’m going to finish mine.”

Benny and Soo Lee licked up every last drip.

While he was finishing, Benny picked up a piece of paper blowing near his feet.

“What does that say?” Soo Lee wanted to know.

“Boring stuff, like a list or something,” Benny said. “Let’s see. What’s that word, Violet?” he asked when he got stuck.

“‘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.

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.”