The E-Mail Mystery, Page 2

  for the next few days.”

  “Hello,” Nancy said, smiling at Byron. He nodded

  shyly and continued silently up the hallway to the law

  library.

  “So, what will you be working on, Nancy?” Henry

  turned back to Nancy.

  “Just clearing some old files off the computer, so my

  dad can keep all you guys at work on his new case,”

  Nancy said.

  “All which guys?” came a strong, female voice from

  the hallway. A tall woman walked into the reception

  room. “Are you flirting again, Henry? I thought I gave

  you some research to do.” Nancy wondered if the

  woman was teasing Henry, or if she was serious.

  “Yes, Ms. Warner, I was just on my way,” Henry

  replied quickly. “And, I'd like you to meet—”

  “That's all right, Henry,” Ms. Hanson said, shooing

  him out. “I'll take care of the introductions. Blaine, this

  is Nancy Drew, Carson's daughter. I'm sure you've

  heard about her.”

  “Ah, Sherlock Holmes Junior. Yes, indeed, Ms.

  Drew, I've heard a lot about you. Your father has told

  me about some of your exploits as a junior detective.”

  Nancy noticed that Blaine's tone of voice was

  formal. Her manner wasn't exactly cold, but it certainly

  wasn't warm, Nancy thought as Blaine held out a hand

  to shake Nancy's.

  “And I've heard a lot about you,” Nancy said,

  shaking hands with a firm grip. “My dad has said he

  hopes you'll be a role model for me, so that I'll follow

  in both your footsteps and become a lawyer.”

  Blaine's comment about Nancy's being a junior

  detective bothered Nancy a little, but she decided not

  to let it get to her. Maybe it's Blaine's attempt at

  humor, she thought.

  “I see,” Blaine said. “And to what do we owe the

  honor of your presence in the office today?”

  “I'm just helping with some filing so my dad can

  concentrate on the Harris case,” Nancy replied. “I'll be

  working here for only a few days before I go visit my

  friend George and do some sailing. I'm really looking

  forward to it.”

  “Well, right now you can look forward to this,” her

  father said as he entered from his office with a stack of

  files in his arms. “Oh, good morning, Blaine. I'm glad

  you two have had a chance to meet. And if you

  wouldn't mind, Blaine, I'd like to go over some of these

  files on the Harris case now.”

  “Right away, Mr. Drew,” Blaine replied. Without

  excusing herself, Blaine followed Carson into his

  private office and closed the door behind them.

  Ms. Hanson smiled at Nancy. “You'll need a

  temporary password to get into the computer system,

  Nancy.” She handed Nancy a piece of paper with some

  information written on it. “Here it is.”

  “Thanks, Ms. Hanson. I'd better get started.” Nancy

  carried the stack of files her father had given her into

  the law library.

  Mr. Drew's office law library was lined with oak

  bookshelves, which were filled with heavy volumes of

  law books and old case files.

  Since most legal research was now conducted on-

  line, Mr. Drew had turned his law library into the

  office computer center, too. In the center of the room

  was a long oak table with several stations on either side.

  Each station had a pull-out keyboard tray under a

  monitor, and special file boxes for storing floppy disks.

  Nancy chose a computer station, turned on the

  machine, and waited for it to boot up. She looked

  through the first file of papers her father had given her

  and saw they were the papers for Bob Jamison, the

  man who had called to ask her father to settle his case

  earlier that morning. She noted that he had come in to

  see her father for the first time just the week before.

  I wonder what made him want to settle so soon?

  Nancy asked herself as she began the time-consuming

  process of searching through all the memos and

  documents related to the settled case. Then she copied

  the files off the computer and onto floppy disks for

  storage. Finally she cleared the files off the main

  computer system.

  It was a tedious job that required a lot of cross-

  checking to make sure she hadn't missed any files.

  Often, the documents were not clearly labeled, and

  Nancy found she had to read a number of letters and

  memos to make sure they did relate to the case.

  She learned that Bob Jamison was a building

  contractor injured in a fall from a faulty ladder. He had

  been offered a low settlement by the manufacturer's

  insurance company.

  When she had transferred all the Jamison files to

  storage disks, she read about more people who had

  settled cases.

  Jeannette King was a bank manager. She had sued

  her employer because she'd claimed she had been

  passed over for a promotion that she felt she deserved.

  The new job had been given to a male employee with

  much less experience. She'd dropped the suit and

  accepted a raise in pay as a settlement. James Fox was

  a local councilman, who was well-known as a crime

  fighter. He had agreed to settle a case in which he had

  been injured in a car accident. Harriet Wasser was a

  landlord who'd agreed to sell a building to her tenants

  rather than confront them in court.

  Nancy couldn't find any notes about the previous

  criminal cases her father had said he had handled for

  these clients. She wrote the four names down on a list

  and put it in her portfolio.

  Nancy decided that when she had a break in her

  file-copying work she would look up the old criminal

  case files in the storage area.

  After a couple of hours Nancy interrupted her file

  copying to do something a little different. The stacks of

  material her father had given her included copies of

  the settlement letters prepared by her father and his

  legal assistants. Nancy's father had asked her to

  transmit these letters via E-mail to Williams & Brown,

  the law firm representing the opposition in all the

  recently settled cases. Original copies of the letters and

  other documents would have to be hand-delivered

  later.

  Nancy exited the directory listing the settled cases

  and returned to the main computer directory. She

  entered the “virtual mailroom.” There she addressed

  the copies of the settlement documents to the phone

  number listed for Williams & Brown and dialed them

  on the modem.

  She heard the familiar whirring and whine as the

  computer modem dialed the computer at the other end

  of the line, waiting until a metallic click confirmed that

  she had a connection. Then Nancy pressed the Send

  key to transmit the files.

  Nancy read through the information on the screen

  as it was being sent through the phone lines to the

  other office: law firm name; phone num
ber; address;

  name of her father's client and Williams & Brown's

  client.

  When the transmissions were complete, Nancy

  returned to her file copying. She pressed the key to

  view one of the files.

  Suddenly Nancy was looking at an E-mail log file

  with a list of all E-mail sent regarding the settled cases.

  She saw several transmissions to the same computer

  phone number she had just E-mailed, that of Williams

  & Brown.

  Nancy furrowed her brow. “That's odd,” she

  muttered to herself. What was disturbing her about the

  information in this file? Then her eyes opened wide.

  The dates! She checked to see if her memory was

  correct. Bob Jamison had come in the past week, and

  on that same day someone in her father's office had

  transmitted E-mail to someone at Williams & Brown.

  Nancy checked the dates of the first visits of all the

  clients. In each case, someone had transmitted E-mail

  to Williams & Brown on the first day the case had been

  received.

  Nancy sat back in her chair and thought for a

  second. She had learned a lot about the law over the

  years from her father. She knew that anything that a

  client told a lawyer was called privileged information.

  That meant the information was secret. Was someone

  from her father's office sending privileged information

  to help Williams & Brown?

  3. An Unexpected Encounter

  Don't jump to conclusions, Nancy scolded herself. She

  knew attorneys on both sides of a case must share

  information with each other at some point during a

  trial.

  Nancy looked up at the rustle of papers and saw that

  Byron Thomas, the intern, had sat down at one of the

  other computer stations in the library. He popped a

  floppy disk into his computer, looked up at Nancy,

  then quickly back at his computer screen.

  Nancy stood up to stretch her legs, then walked over

  to Byron. “Excuse me. Do you mind if I ask you a

  question?” she said.

  “Go ahead,” he replied. Nancy noticed that he had

  put some handwritten papers inside one of the heavy

  law books sitting on the desk next to the computer.

  “What is it?” he asked. He did not look up at her as he

  continued to type on the computer keyboard.

  “You're a law student, right?” Nancy asked. “So,

  maybe you know the answer to this one. When does

  one lawyer have to share information about his case

  with the other side?”

  Byron continued tapping away at the keyboard as he

  answered Nancy's question. “It usually doesn't happen

  until well into the trial, when the judge orders it.

  Sometimes you have to send a list of documents, or of

  witnesses who will testify. But that's about it.”

  “Is there material one lawyer's office would need to

  send to the opposing attorney's law firm on the first day

  a client comes into their office?” Nancy persisted.

  “The first day?” Byron asked, lifting his eyes from

  his work for the first time. She noticed he had deep

  brown eyes behind his tortoise-shell-framed glasses.

  “Absolutely nothing. Well—maybe just notification that

  you'll be representing the client. But even that usually

  doesn't go out for a day or two after you've signed an

  agreement with your client. Why do you ask?”

  “Oh, no reason,” Nancy said quickly. “I was just

  curious. I want to learn as much as I can while I'm

  here.”

  Maybe it was just a notification letter, she thought to

  herself. I don't want to blow this out of proportion. She

  changed the subject. “So, when do you graduate from

  law school?” she asked.

  “Next year, I hope,” Byron said, returning to his

  computer screen.

  “It's a lot of work isn't it?” Nancy asked.

  “It sure is. And a lot of money, too,” Byron said

  bitterly. “My parents are helping, but even with loans

  and summer jobs and work-study, I'm barely making it.

  I had to take last year off to earn money to pay this

  year's tuition. It's going to take me more than five years

  to get this law degree.”

  “You must really love the law to go through all of

  this,” Nancy said.

  “It's my parents' idea, really.” Byron closed his eyes

  for a moment and ran his fingers through his hair.

  “They just want what's best for me, I guess,” he said.

  Nancy thought he didn't sound convinced.

  Just then the door to the law library opened, and

  Nancy's father walked in. “I see you've met Byron.”

  “Yes,” Nancy said. “We were just discussing how

  hard it is to get through law school.”

  “I hope you didn't make it sound too difficult,”

  Nancy's father said with a twinkle in his eye. “And I'm

  afraid Byron's going to be jealous of your next

  assignment, Nancy. I'm sending you out for some fresh

  air. You'll be seeing enough of each other in this stuffy

  library for the next few days, anyway.”

  Carson handed Nancy a manila envelope, stuffed

  with papers. “Here are some of the signed and

  notarized settlement documents on those cases.

  There'll be more to come in the next few days, all for

  Williams and Brown.”

  “I already E-mailed them the files you noted in the

  folders,” Nancy said. “In fact, there's something I

  wanted to ask you about—”

  “I'm afraid it'll have to wait until later,” Mr. Drew

  said. “I need you to hand-deliver these documents to

  their offices as soon as possible. They're waiting for

  them. Not everything can be done by E-mail,” he

  added with a smile.

  “Williams and Brown's offices are located in that

  new high-rise at the corner of Maple and Grove,

  right?” Nancy asked her father.

  “Right,” he replied.

  Nancy took the package, said good-bye to Byron,

  and waved to Ms. Hanson on her way out of the office.

  She didn't bother to put on her suit jacket, figuring that

  the day had become even warmer while she was in the

  office.

  Nancy walked through the streets of the old

  downtown area. She squinted against the reflections of

  the strong sunlight on the mirrored surface of the new

  steel-and-glass building in which the Williams &

  Brown offices were located. Pretty fancy, she thought,

  as she entered the cool marble lobby, blinking in the

  sudden darkness.

  The central hall of the new building was designed as

  an atrium, allowing pedestrians to look up and see

  plants and interior offices high overhead. Nancy

  walked up to the uniformed lobby guards at the

  security desk.

  “What floor is Williams and Brown?” she asked. “I

  have to deliver these papers.”

  “Fifteen, miss. You'll need a pass for the elevator

  bank.” The security guard handed her a sticker with

  the date on it and “W&B” at the top. She put the />
  sticker on her blouse and headed for the elevator bank

  marked 11-20. There she stood with a crowd of office

  workers waiting to go upstairs.

  Next to her, two men in business suits were in

  conversation. “You guys are the best,” one of the men

  said. “I'm impressed with how you manage to settle

  these cases so early and so advantageously. I'll be sure

  to recommend you to my colleagues.” He patted the

  other man on the back.

  The two men entered the elevator with Nancy, and

  all three rode up to Williams & Brown. The second

  man replied, “We're a family firm, you know. My

  partner's son, John Junior, joined us just last year after

  he graduated from Walker Law. We all work together

  for the benefit of our clients. I'm glad you're satisfied.”

  The elevator doors opened directly into the plush

  reception area of Williams & Brown. As the two men

  walked through, the receptionist called, “Hello, Mr.

  Williams.” Nancy realized she had been in the elevator

  with one of the partners of the firm. Nancy guessed

  from their conversation that the other man was from an

  insurance company.

  Nancy walked over to the receptionist and gave her

  the manila envelope with an explanation of what it was.

  The receptionist thanked Nancy and assured her that

  the files would reach the proper people.

  Nancy looked around the Williams & Brown office

  reception area, noting the leather-and-steel couches,

  the deep carpeting, the elegantly carved mahogany

  bookcases, and the oil paintings hanging on the walls.

  Pretty impressive, Nancy thought to herself.

  On her way out, Nancy was joined in the elevator

  waiting area by a handsome young man about Byron

  Thomas's age, dressed in a carefully tailored suit. His

  brown hair curled around his collar. He was with an

  older man, who had just exited from the other partner's

  private office.

  “Well, son,” the older man said, “Bill tells me you're

  doing a great job handling these insurance cases. I'm

  sure it will benefit the firm as a whole, and it's a big

  improvement over your performance at Walker Law.

  I'm proud of you.”

  “Thanks, Dad,” the young man replied smugly. “It's

  nice to be appreciated.”

  Nancy kept her mouth shut, but she realized this

  must be the other partner, John Brown, and his son.

  Nancy knew that a trial could be expensive for an

  insurance company. Williams & Brown could save their