The Internet Escapade (5 page)

Sean perked up, glad that he could brag about Bri with the whole class listening. “He got some cool prizes,” Sean said. “Including two free Monstermadness games at the arcade in the mall. We’re going to Monstermadness right after school.”

“Lucky!” Matt said. “I love Monstermadness.”

“Yeah. I wish my brother Frank had won,” Larry said. “We all thought he had a chance at winning, because he really worked on his grades, and he helped with the recycling drive.”

“Well, I think Monstermadness is stupid,” Debbie Jean said. “All you do is wander around in pitch black tunnels, shooting laser lights at weird faces that pop out of the wall. Is that dumb or what?”

The whole class began arguing, until Mrs. Jackson called for order and began their history lesson.

Later, after school, Sean told Brian what had happened. “Mr. Burns still thinks I’m causing all the trouble,” he complained.

He expected Brian to worry, too, but instead Brian grinned. “This is great,” he said. “We just got another important clue. Not everyone would know how to get to the main computer.”

“But how would we find out who—”

“The person in the computer club who knows the most about computers is Neal,” Brian explained. “Let’s investigate him.”

“But Monstermadness …”

“We’ll have time for that, too,” Brian said. “Grab your bike. I know where Neal’s family lives. Let’s go.”

When the door opened at the Yorks’ apartment, Brian and Sean found that Dennis Taylor was visiting Neal. Brian told them what had happened at Redoaks Elementary, and Dennis laughed.

“What a great joke,” he said. “If I’d been there, I would have read the poem ‘The Bells,’ by Edgar Allan Poe.”

Neal rubbed his chin. “Let’s see,” he said. “Someone would have to know that the bells were set by computer and know how to get into the computer.”

“How about you?” Brian asked. “Did you know?”

“I thought Edgar Allan Poe only wrote scary stories,” Sean said.

“What do you mean, did I know?” Neal asked Brian.

“Poe wrote lots of poems, too,” Dennis said.

“Everybody hold it!” Brian said. “Forget Edgar Allan Poe. We’re trying to find out what happened at Sean’s school. The principal’s blaming him.”

“I thought you might be blaming me,” Neal said. “Our family doesn’t even own a computer.”

“Then how did you get to be one of the best in our computer club?” Brian asked.

Neal shrugged. “They let me use the computers at school,” he said.

“I kind of like the idea of bells ringing all day,” Dennis said. “Neal, could you program the computer at our junior high to do that?”

“No way,” Neal said. “I mean I could, but I don’t want to get into trouble and be kicked out of the computer club, like Frank was.”

“Frank’ll be okay,” Dennis said. “He’s been doing everything just right so he won’t get into trouble again.”

“How could Frank get in trouble so fast?” Sean asked. “Isn’t this his first year in junior high?”

“He got into trouble while he was still in Redoaks Elementary,” Brian explained.

“Brian’s the one who discovered what was going on,” Dennis told Sean. “Brian noticed that one of the student computer accounts on the Internet was busy, even though the student had moved away. When he told Mrs. Harrison, she found out that Frank was using the account.”

“What’s the big deal about using somebody else’s account?” Sean asked. “And why would he, when he had an account of his own?”

“Account time is limited,” Brian said. “Kids who use others’ accounts get double time on the Internet. Besides, they’re supposed to be using the accounts for research and study, and sometimes they use the extra account to play games and stuff. You know the rules. They’re not supposed to do that.”

Neal yawned. “Let’s talk about something else,” he said. “Anybody want some leftover pizza?”

“No thanks,” Brian said. “I have a couple more questions I need to ask you, Neal.”

“Later,” Neal said. “This is Friday. I don’t want to think any more about school. Anybody want a soda?”

“Some other time,” Brian said. “Sean and I are going to the mall to play Monstermadness.”

Dennis grinned. “It’s awfully dark and scary in there. Don’t let the monsters get you! You might never be seen again!”

A
SHORT WHILE LATER
, as they waited in line for their turn at Monstermadness, Sean asked Brian, “Neal didn’t want to answer our questions. Do you know why?”

Brian shrugged. “He’s high on our list of suspects. Neal knows so much about computers, he’d know how to arrange for an anonymous mailer. And he’d know how to make the school’s bells ring all day long.”

“But how would Neal know everything that happens to me at school?” Sean asked.

Brian shrugged. “Beats me.”

The ticket taker working at Monstermadness called to Brian and Sean, “Step up, guys. It’s your turn.” He handed Sean something called a
super lightray
and asked, “Have you done this before?”

“Yes,” Brian said.

“No,” Sean said.

“Okay. You go first,” the ticket taker said to Sean. “Here are the rules. Only one person can go into Monstermadness at a time. As you walk through the tunnels, monster faces will pop out at you. You get points for every monster you hit with your lightray.”

“Cool!” Sean said. He could hardly wait to start.

“Just remember, the tunnels twist around and are really dark, and the monsters pop up fast,” Brian reminded Sean.

Clutching his lightray, Sean entered Monstermadness. As the door closed behind him and everything became dark, he felt a little nervous.

A scary monster face suddenly appeared on Sean’s right side. He aimed his lightray at it and pulled the trigger. A sign flashed,
25 POINTS.

Sean began to walk forward, watching for monsters. Another popped up so quickly that Sean jumped and missed it. Quickly came another and another. Sean didn’t know which side to look at first. He shot wildly and missed.

Suddenly a voice behind Sean whispered in his ear. “Back off trying to find me, or I’ll give you more trouble than you can handle.”

“Yikes!” Sean screeched.

Someone brushed against him, but he couldn’t see anything in the dark. Monster faces flashed and disappeared, but Sean’s knees wobbled and his hands shook. He was much too scared to move.

“Bri!” he managed to squeak, but he knew Brian couldn’t hear him and wouldn’t come.

“I’ve got to get out of here!” Sean cried out. He ran forward and bounced into a wall. He turned and hit another wall. Close to panic he struggled into the last tunnel.

When he finally saw a thin line of light under the exit doorway, he let out a yelp and ran for it. Slamming through the swinging exit door, Sean ran out into the mall.

“Bri?” he called. But Brian was nowhere in sight.

Sean yelled to the ticket taker, “Where’s my brother?”

“I sent him into the maze when you were halfway through,” the ticket taker said. He reached for Sean’s super lightray and laughed. “What happened to you? You only got a score of twenty-five. Did you freak out?”

“Someone was in there with me,” Sean grumbled.

“Sure. I told you. Your brother.” The ticket taker pointed to an electronic scoreboard. “There’s his score up there. You can see he’s started out pretty well.”

Inside Monstermadness, Brian racked up lots of points, because he carefully watched for monsters. Alert, he caught a slight motion off to one side and called out, “Sean? Are you still in here?”

No one answered, so Brian swung his lightray to the right and caught a glimpse of a figure dressed in black.

The figure ducked his head, dove out of the beam of the lightray, and disappeared.

For a few moments Brian tried to find the mysterious person, but whoever had been there had left.

Disgusted at all the points he’d missed, Brian exited the tunnel.

Sean ran up to him. “Someone was in the tunnel with me, Bri!” he said.

The ticket taker glanced at the scoreboard and smiled at Brian. “You started out well,” he said. “What happened? Did you get scared, too?”

“Somebody was in there,” Brian complained.

“Look, like I told your brother, I don’t let anyone in except the people playing the game. Okay? If you don’t like your scores and want to play again, then you have to pay.”

“Let’s go, Bri,” Sean said. “I’ve got something important to tell you.”

As they climbed on their bikes Sean told Brian what the person in black had said.

“Who knew we were coming here?” Brian asked. “I only told Neal and Dennis. Oh, yeah, Sam, too.”

“Uh-oh,” Sean said. “Mrs. Jackson was bragging about your being Top Student of the Month, and I told my whole class that we were going to Monstermadness after school.”

“The kids in your class wouldn’t know enough about computers to write an anonymous mailer or make the school’s bells ring.”

“But they could have told someone else,” Sean insisted. His bike wobbled as he drove along the edge of a pothole, but he balanced it and caught up to Brian. “Why do you think the mystery person has to be a member of the computer club?”

“Detectives deal in facts, so let’s look at the facts,” Brian answered. “There are three things we know about the person who sends the mysterious messages. They’re good with computers, they know what’s going on at your school, and they blame the Quinns for getting them into trouble.”

As they arrived home, Brian and Sean dropped their bikes and helmets on the grass. Sean pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket. “Sam Miyako’s out as a suspect. He’s never been in trouble,” Sean said. “Dennis Taylor and Neal York we don’t know about. So that leaves Valerie Kincaid, whose uncle got in trouble on account of Dad’s investigation.”

A loud shout made Sean jump. He turned to see Charlie leap off his front porch and run toward him.

“Sean!” Charlie yelled. “The magic computer gave me the first wish! Now the second is coming true! Mom and Dad decided to get me a bigger bike!”

“Cool,” Sean said.

“What’s your third wish?” Brian asked Charlie.

“I can’t tell my wishes until after they come true,” Charlie answered. “You can’t talk about secrets.”

Charlie ran home, and Brian asked Sean, “Does Charlie’s magic computer and all that three wishes stuff have anything to do with you and Matt and your computer tricks?”

“Bri,” Sean said slowly. “I think Charlie just gave us the answer. There’s a suspect we haven’t talked about, and I think we can catch him if we set a trap.”

I
MPATIENTLY, SEAN WAITED UNTIL
Sunday. Then he telephoned Larry—supposedly to check on a homework assignment. “My dad’s coming home today,” Sean said. “That means I won’t have the chance to use the computer for a while. I’ll have to check my account at school to see if I get any E-mail.”

After Sean and Larry ended their conversation, Sean asked Brian, “Will it work?”

“I hope so,” Brian said.

Sean sighed. “If it doesn’t, I’ll be in a lot more trouble at school than I am now.”

Like one of Charlie’s secrets, Sean tried not to think about the plan he and Brian had worked out. So it wasn’t until Monday, after school, that Sean checked for E-mail under his school account in the Redoaks Elementary media center.

Exactly as he had expected, there was an anonymous mailer, taunting him for not being able to use his computer at home. Mr. Burns and Mrs. Harrison, who had been told about the plan, stood behind Sean and Brian, reading the message on the screen.

“You were right, Sean,” Brian said. “The person causing the computer problems is Frank. He got the information about you from his brother Larry.”

“I’m sorry for doubting you, Sean,” Mrs. Harrison said, “but after the tricks you and Matt played … well, you can see why I was suspicious, can’t you?”

Mr. Burns said, “I’ll make a phone call to Frank Grier’s parents. We’ll soon have this problem taken care of.” He cleared his throat and added, “Thank you, Sean and Brian, for solving the case.”

“The Casebusters did it again,” Brian said, “with nothing to work on but bare facts.”

“Bare facts?” Sean said. “Hmmm. That gives me another idea.”

That evening Sean and Matt struggled to put the finishing touches on a gruesome thing made out of a stuffed shirt and pants. At the end of its arms were pinned the bear paw slippers, and its pillowcase head was covered with a weird Halloween mask and wig.