The Internet Escapade (4 page)

S
EAN STARED AT THE
message on the monitor’s screen. “What clue?” he asked. “What are you talking about?”

“Now we know it’s someone the Casebusters got in trouble. Or maybe it’s a criminal from one of Dad’s cases.”

“Would this criminal be mad at you and me, too?”

“I don’t know,” Brian said. “Here’s Dad’s disk with reports of cases he’s solved.”

He inserted the disk into the computer and brought up the contents. “Let’s see if this tells us anything,” he said. He used the FIND key and typed in:
COMPUTER
. “We have to remember that whoever put the virus into your school’s computers knows a lot about computers.”

“And knows everything going on at my school,” Sean added.

Brian suddenly gulped and leaned back from the computer.

Sean bent over him, trying to read the screen, but Brian put his hands in front of it.

“This was a bad idea. Let’s forget it,” Brian said.

“No. You found something. Let me see,” Sean insisted.

Brian didn’t move. “I think I should work on this clue by myself,” he said.

“Why?” Sean asked. “I’m the one getting the E-mail. I’m the one being spied on.”

Brian shrugged and moved away from the computer so that Sean could read what was on the screen.

CLIENT: CYBER-DYNAMIC COMPUTER STORE

CASE: SHOPLIFTING

RESULT: ARREST OF PETER KINCAID BY REDOAKS POLICE. CASE CLOSED.

Sean straightened and looked at Brian. “What’s the big deal? Who’s Peter Kincaid?” he asked.

“Valerie’s uncle,” Brian said unhappily.

“Hey! Maybe Valerie’s been sending that creepy E-mail because she’s mad about her uncle being arrested,” Sean said. He felt a little better because Valerie didn’t look mean and scary. Then a thought occurred to him. “How does she know all the things that are going on at my school?”

“Maybe she finds out when she comes with the computer club to help in the media center.”

“She wasn’t there when I got in trouble the first time,” Sean pointed out. “No one from the computer club was at school that day.”

Brian sighed with relief. “You’re right,” he said. “It couldn’t be Valerie.”

“Who’s doing this?” Sean asked. “Whoever it is knows all about everything that happens to me at school. How do they find out?”

Brian looked serious. “Even more important, what is our mystery person planning to do next?”

The next day, before school started, Sean paid a visit to Mrs. Harrison. “Brian said you wanted to see me,” Sean said.

Mrs. Harrison nodded. “I was upset and I overreacted yesterday, Sean. I had no right to accuse you of tampering with the computers. I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t do it,” Sean said, “but my brother Bri and I are going to find out who did.”

Mrs. Harrison sighed. “It may be very difficult.”

Sean nodded. “We’ll do it anyway,” he said. “No case is too tough for the Casebusters. We solve lots of crimes.”

Mrs. Harrison gave a long sigh and looked tired. “You’ll be careful of my media center, won’t you?”

“Sure,” Sean said. He tried to make her look happier by joking, “We hardly ever leave bodies or smashed-up computers lying around.”

But Mrs. Harrison didn’t laugh. “You’d better hurry on to class before the bell rings,” she said.

“Okay,” Sean said. “See you this afternoon when the computer club kids are here.” As he walked to Mrs. Jackson’s room, he wondered why Mrs. Harrison had looked even more unhappy.

During lunch period, Jabez teased Sean. “Hey, Sean, you haven’t been sent to Mr. Burns’s office all morning.”

Matt spoke through a large mouthful of macaroni and cheese. “Yeah. Maybe that’s a record,” he said.

“Some friend
you
are.” Sean elbowed Matt in the ribs. “The only reason you weren’t in the principal’s office with me was because you were at the dentist.”

Larry stepped up to the table and plopped down his tray. “Did you hear the big news?” he asked. “They’re going to put a special chair in the principal’s office with Sean’s name on it.”

“A chair, too? Wow!” Jabez said. “I heard they’re putting out a
WELCOME SEAN
mat in front of the office door.”

Sean tried to be a good sport and pretend that he thought the teasing was funny, but he didn’t. From the corners of his eyes he glanced around the room. The cafeteria was filled with busy people. None of them looked as though they were paying any attention to Sean, but he knew that someone must be secretly watching—the someone who seemed to know everything that Sean was doing.

That evening, wishing that Brian weren’t at basketball practice again, Sean carefully closed the drapes in his dad’s office. When he was positive that no one could look in and see him, he booted up the computer and checked the E-mail.

“Yikes!” he cried. There was another E-mail letter addressed to him. Did he want to read it? Or should he wait until Brian came home?

Sean’s fingers shook as he clicked on the icon, and the letter appeared on the screen.

YOU’RE BEING TEASED, AND YOU DON’T LIKE IT. ALL THE KIDS TEASED ME WHEN I WENT TO REDOAKS ELEMENTARY, TOO. NOW IT’S MY TURN TO HAVE SOME FUN. I’M GOING TO GET EVEN.

“Another clue!” Sean told Brian as soon as Brian had come home and read the message.

“It’s not much of a clue,” Brian answered.

“Sure, it is,” Sean said. “First, we find out how many kids in the computer club went to Redoaks Elementary.”

“I can tell you that,” Brian said. “All of them.”

“Uh-oh,” Sean said, but he soon perked up. “Okay, then. We find out which ones got teased in school.”

“It won’t work,” Brian said.

Sean shook his head. “You’re wrong, Bri.”

“No, I’m not.”

“You are, too,” Sean insisted. “Watch me. I’m going to prove it.

”

T
HE NEXT AFTERNOON
,
WHEN
it came time for the junior high computer club to work with the Redoaks Elementary kids in the media center, Sean planned to station himself in the hallway, just outside the door.

But Mrs. Jackson kept the class a few minutes too long, and Sean was late. Most of his class and the kids from Redoaks Junior High were in the center, but Neal York arrived a few minutes late. Sean stepped in front of him.

“Hi, Neal,” Sean said. “I’m taking a poll. Were you teased when you went to school here at Redoaks Elementary?”

“Sure, I was,” Neal said. “I always got good grades, so some kids teased me about being a nerd.”

“Did the teasing make you mad?”

“I guess it bothered me when I was younger,” Neal said. “But not anymore.”

Valerie and Brian were so busy talking as they came to the media center, they didn’t see Sean.

“Wait, Valerie,” Sean said. He jumped out in front of them. “I have a question for you.” He didn’t care that he was interrupting. This was detective work, wasn’t it? He didn’t give Valerie or Brian time to object. “Were you teased when you went here to school?”

Valerie looked surprised, then she giggled. “Some of the kids used to tease me about my name. They called me ‘Valerie-celery,’ and I hated it.”

“You hated it, hmmm?” Sean said. He decided that no matter how much Brian liked Valerie, she was still on the list of suspects.

“You go on, Valerie,” Brian said. “I’ll catch up with you.” As soon as Valerie was out of hearing range, Brian said to Sean, “I told you, you won’t get any information this way. Everybody gets teased in elementary school.”

Not giving Sean a chance to interrupt, Brian went on. “Dennis was always losing things, and he got teased so much he decided to say funny things before anyone else could. That’s why he makes jokes all the time. Frank and Neal were teased about being nerds because they studied a lot, and for a while the kids called Sam ‘Sammy-Hammy’ when they wanted to make him mad.”

“What did the kids tease you about, Bri?” Sean asked.

Brian looked at his watch and said, “I’m late. I have to go help in the computer lab.” He hurried inside without answering the question.

Sean managed to ask most of the kids in the computer club about being teased, but all it added up to was the same old stuff. They were teased about being overweight or underweight, running slowly or striking out, having freckles, big ears, or girlfriends. None of them were reasons for getting mad at the Quinns or playing tricks with the school’s computers.

Sean was discouraged as he and Brian rode their bikes home from school.

As soon as they were in the house, Brian said, “Let’s check the computer for more E-mail.”

But Sean threw his backpack on a chair. “Who cares?” he said. “I don’t want anything else to do with the mystery mailer who’s spying on me.”

“Aw, c’mon, Sean,” Brian coaxed. “He’s been sloppy with his clues. This time he may give himself away.”

Just as Brian had suspected, there was an E-mail letter for Sean. Brian brought it up, and both he and Sean leaned close to the monitor to read what it had to say:

YOU CAN’T FOOL ME. I KNOW YOU’RE ASKING QUESTIONS AND TRYING TO FIND ME. BACK OFF, OR YOU’LL REALLY BE IN TROUBLE.

Sean sat down with a thump. “Another threat,” he said.

“Hey, don’t look so worried,” Brian said. “I’m going to check some other disks Dad uses. We ought to be able to come up with names of kids—not grownups—who might have been in trouble.”

It didn’t take long to discover that there weren’t any names of kids on the disks. “It’s probably because all juvenile records are sealed. Sorry,” Brian said.

He put a hand on Sean’s shoulder and smiled. “Tell you what, tomorrow’s Friday. After school I’ll take you to the mall and we’ll go through Monstermadness. Forget the computer nut who’s been bugging us. We’re going to have fun.”

“Great!” Sean said and grinned at Brian. He quickly turned off the computer. But it wasn’t as easy to turn off all the questions he had in mind. Someone had got him in trouble. Someone had scared him. And now someone was after him.

Who? Sean thought. Who are you?

E
VERYTHING WAS IN CONFUSION
Friday morning, as Sean arrived at school. People were hurrying up and down the stairs and through the halls. The bells rang. There was a short pause, and they rang again.

“What’s going on?” Sean yelled at Debbie Jean.

She opened her mouth and said something, but at the same time the bells rang two shorts and a long, making it hard to hear.

“What?”

It was suddenly silent. Debbie Jean said again, “The bells are going crazy. Well, not the bells, exactly. The computer that times and rings the bells is crazy.”

The bells rang again—a long bell that went on and on. Sean scrunched up his face and clapped his hands over his ears.

In the sudden silence that followed, a stern voice came over the intercom: “Will Sean Quinn please report immediately to the principal’s office?”

Sean groaned. “Oh, not again.”

As soon as he entered the principal’s office, Sean protested, “I didn’t have anything to do with the bells!”

“The bells are timed on the school’s main computer system,” Mr. Burns said.

Sean wondered if Mr. Burns had grown six inches since he last saw him. “But I didn’t change the computer,” Sean said. “I don’t even know how it’s done.”

“We’ll discuss this later. Right now, I want you to turn those bells off.”

Sean looked way, way up and said, “I told you, Mr. Burns, I don’t know how to.”

Mr. Burns frowned as he thought—and as he grew another inch or two. “Hmmm,” he said. “Our custodian can probably disconnect the electrical system until whoever knows how to reset the system can get here. I’ll call the main office.”

Mr. Burns didn’t actually excuse Sean to go to class, but he became so busy making phone calls that Sean left the office. He was sure that Mr. Burns didn’t believe him, and he felt bad about it. On Sean’s way to his class the bells rang just once, then stopped.

Sean was the last of his class to arrive in the room.

“Good morning, Sean,” Mrs. Jackson said.

“Good morning, Mrs. Jackson,” Sean said. “I didn’t do it.”

“Cheer up,” she said. “I believe you.” She smiled and added, “I heard that Brian made Top Student of the Month. Congratulate him for me.”