032 High Marks for Malice by Carolyn Keene

Author:Carolyn Keene [Keene, Carolyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mobilism
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter

Ten

SILENCE BLANKETED THE ROOM. Nancy, on her stomach, arms protecting her head, looked up. Smoke spiraled from what was left of Line’s computer, and sparks sprayed from the outlets of the power strip. “Ned! Cass! Are you all right?”

“I think so.” Ned’s head popped above the back of the love seat. “The computer’s still burning,” he said tensely. Scrambling around the sofa, he dove under the work surface and yanked the cord from the wall outlet.

The whole room glistened with slivers from what had been the screen of Line’s monitor. The draperies and rug were full of embedded shards of glass. The housing for the computer’s disk drives was in pieces. Only the detached keyboard had survived intact.

Cass sat up, dazed. Blood trickled from her cheek. “Something hit me.”

Nancy examined the wound and pronounced it a clean cut. “Antiseptic should take care of it,” she said. “You probably won’t even have a scar.”

“I’ll take a scar over being dead any day,” Cass said, heading for the bathroom. “I’d be a mess if you hadn’t pushed me onto the floor, Ned. Thanks.”

Ned’s expression was murderous as he surveyed the damage. “If I ever get my hands on the person who did this . . .”

Nancy said, “We’re lucky to be alive. I’ll bet it was supposed to have blown up the instant it was plugged in. Those few moments when the cord sizzled saved us.”

“For which I’ll be eternally grateful.” Ned started to clean up. “Well, I guess we can rule out Pickering. According to Cass, he doesn’t know enough about computers to work the job. Whoever rigged this knows electronics.”

“True. But I heard two people in the carillon, remember? So we can’t forget about Pickering entirely.”

Looking around, Nancy sighed. “I’m going to start charging Line for maid service,” she said with a wry smile. “Does he have a vacuum cleaner?”

Returning from the bathroom, a tiny bandage on her cheek, Cass said, “In the closet,” and went to get it. “So what do we do now? After we finish here, I mean?” she asked, plugging in the vacuum.

They batted ideas around while they cleaned for an hour. When they were done, they were no closer to solving the mystery.

“We need a suspect who has easy access to the computer lab,” Nancy said.

“That means the whole student body,” Cass moaned, stretching out on one of the love seats.

“Not really. Practically everyone’s gone for the holidays. It has to be someone who’s still on campus or close by, and who knows computers inside and out.”

“And, most important, someone who knows programming,” Ned added.

Nancy nodded agreement. “Ned, do you think Maria Arnold fits the description?”

He frowned in thought. “Yes, but I can’t believe she’d do that to a computer.”

Suddenly Cass sat upright with a jerk. “Marty Chan!”

“Who’s Marty Chan?” Nancy asked.

“He’s a Basson graduate who teaches in the comp sei department. He worked very closely with Doc.”

“He’s here? Now?”

“It’s possible. I can give him a call.” Slumping back against the cushions, Cass shook her head.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.