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  Harrison Lane examined Nancy’s evidence. “I don’t think we’ll be needing computer records,” he said. “You’ll be hearing from the board’s lawyer in the morning.”

  “This is an outrage!” cried Friedbinder, climbing to his feet.

  “No. Fraud, arson, extortion—those are outrages,” replied Lane.

  Friedbinder flashed a furious gaze at Nancy. “I was on easy street,” he said, puffing his chest out arrogantly. “I had those kids so scared I knew they’d never tell anyone what was going on. And who would they blab to, anyway? Me, that’s who.” He let out a short, disdainful laugh. “Everything was going great—until you came along.”

  His face red, he sneered, “If I’d had my way, you would have died in that fire, Nancy Drew! I planned to set it before you showed up. When I heard you go in early, I figured I might as well get you, and the evidence, out of the way at once. It was easy to pour that gasoline around the door without your hearing—you were so involved.”

  “You mean, you were trying to kill Nancy?” Victor gasped. Grabbing the headmaster’s right arm, he twisted it behind his back, as if to ensure he wouldn’t try to make a run for it.

  “Don’t worry, Victor,” Nancy told him. “Friedbinder’s not going anywhere for a long, long time.”

  Chapter

  Sixteen

  AT LUNCHTIME the next day Nancy walked into Phyllis Hathaway’s office. Phyllis, Dana, and Victor had been working there all morning, trying to retrieve the school’s erased files.

  “Here she is now, our heroine!” cried Phyllis. Nancy had dropped her tutorial look and was wearing jeans and a large, soft cowl-neck sweater of deep blue.

  Nancy laughed. “I’m just here to wrap up a couple of loose ends—and to say goodbye.”

  “You should be proud of us, Teach,” said Victor. “We managed to save all the computer files.”

  “While we were at it, we did some investigating of our own. Guess what we’ve discovered,” Dana added. “Walter was transmitting messages from his terminal, routing them to a midpoint terminal, sometimes two midpoint terminals, and then sending them to their final destination.”

  “So I was right. That’s why the messages seemed to be coming from the newspaper room,” said Nancy.

  “Well, guess what I found out this morning,” Nancy told them, leaning against Phyllis’s desk. “I called all three colleges mentioned in his résumé. Not one of them has ever heard of Walter Friedbinder! He’s a complete fraud; never even graduated from college. Then I called the last school where he was headmaster. I told the new headmaster what had been going on, and he began going through their files. Guess why he had such a great reputation for bringing up the school’s academic performance?”

  “He electronically doctored students’ records?” Phyllis guessed.

  “Yep,” Nancy replied. “Apparently, the one thing he didn’t make up was his ability with computers, though we may never know how he got to be such a whiz.”

  “Harrison Lane told me that he’s organizing a class-action suit against Friedbinder to get all the students reimbursed,” said Phyllis. “The board of trustees is suing him for fraud. Plus, he’ll probably be indicted for arson and attempted murder. I’d say he’s in for a whole lot of trouble.”

  Dana chuckled softly. “Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.” She patted her computer, adding, “All the students’ grades are back to what they were, thanks to PointTech’s brilliant back-up system.”

  “Speaking of PointTech,” Nancy said to Phyllis, “are you still joining the company? You know, Brewster will probably ask you to be their head now.”

  “They’ll have to ask someone else,” Phyllis told her. “It was a big step for me, but now that I’ve made it, I can’t go back. I’m leaving Brewster at the end of the month.”

  Nancy got up. “Well, good luck. I have to go now. I just wanted to say goodbye.”

  Victor’s eyes locked with hers. “I’ll walk you to your car,” he said, getting to his feet and grabbing his jacket.

  They walked out the front door of the school. It was a warm day. The thermometer had climbed into the low sixties, and a warm breeze rustled the vividly colored leaves on Brewster’s campus. “Did you tell Phyllis what you told me last night about changing your friend’s grade?” Nancy asked him as they walked.

  “I did, this morning,” Victor replied, grimacing slightly. “She said it wasn’t fair to punish Phil for something he knew nothing about. Then she gave me a long lecture about ethics and technology, which I deserved, I guess. My punishment is to stay after school and work on getting those files back together until it’s done.”

  Nancy gave him a sympathetic smile. “That’s tedious work, isn’t it?”

  “Major tedious,” he agreed.

  They walked on in silence for a little while longer, until they reached Nancy’s car. Opening the driver’s door, Nancy threw her bag onto the passenger seat and climbed in behind the wheel.

  Victor leaned down, resting his elbows on the open car window. “I hope you didn’t come to say goodbye to me, too, Nancy,” he said seriously. “I really want to see you again.”

  Nancy took in his handsome face, broad shoulders, and beautiful eyes. Then she sighed. “Victor, I told you about Ned. I like you, but—”

  Victor stopped her words with a warm, tender kiss on the lips. “Victor, I can’t,” she said. “If it wasn’t for Ned—”

  Suddenly Victor looked under her car, then checked the back seat. He walked to the front of the car and checked under the hood. “What are you doing?” Nancy asked with an exasperated laugh.

  “Looking for Ned,” he answered, flashing her his disarming grin.

  Nancy couldn’t help playing along. “Ned isn’t here,” she told him.

  Victor’s grin grew even wider. “That’s right,” he said. “So I’m going to keep trying for you, Nancy Drew.”

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Simon Pulse

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  Copyright © 1991 Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

  ISBN: 978-0-6717-3066-6 (pbk)

  ISBN: 978-1-4814-2851-4 (eBook)

  NANCY DREW and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  THE NANCY DREW FILES is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.