Nancy Drew: Danger by Design walkthrough

(Please, note that this walkthrough is copyrighted. Hence, any attempt to reproduce anything from this walkthrough will be severely punished to the maximum extent of the law.)

This is Nancy Drew's Case 14. It is actually a very easy game and I would encourage you to try to solve as many puzzles as you can on your own. For this reason, I have tried to write the following walkthrough so that you can find the answer to a question without "accidentally discovering" the answer to another that you might have preferred to find yourself.

Although Nancy Drew games are supposed to be for mystery fans aged 10 and up, they are actually a lot of fun for any age group. Unlike many games these days, however, the Nancy Drew games provide clean fun. What's more, some of the puzzles can be quite challenging. The only complaint that I have with these games is that you cannot skip any cutscene or dialog. This is especially annoying when you are trying out the different options in a conversation to see if you can discover some new information. Thankfully, though, in most of the Nancy Drew games – and certainly in this one – you tend to get all the critical information you need, no matter what option you select. In other words, you will not get stuck because you made the "wrong" choice in a given conversation!

Please note that this is a non-linear game. In other words, you can do the tasks in any order you like. There are some tasks that have to be done before others, of course. For example, you might be able to call someone only after the game indicates the need to do so. But you will not be penalized for taking your time to complete any task. In this connection, please note the day changes in this game. This change has nothing to do with the tasks you complete. Rather, there seems to be a clock running in the background, even though you will not see it until the day is about to change. Please also note that you will be notified of the change only when you try to go from one location to another on the map. Nancy will tell us that it is getting late and will rush back to her apartment. You will then get a screen saying "Day 1," "Day 2," etc. Just click on the screen to begin that day. If you were in the middle of an errand and the day ends, don't worry about it. As I indicated, you will not be penalized for taking your time to finish a task, even if someone has told you to get it done right away. You can always finish the next day.

Well, that is all I can think of in terms of a general guide to the game. Following is a more detailed step-by-step walkthrough. Please, feel free to address any comments or questions about this walkthrough to ZSZUBAIRIE@AOL.com.

This game begins a little differently than the thirteen Nancy Drew games before it. We still don't get to see Nancy, but we do get a glimpse of her room. The opening leaves us facing her desk. Feel free to refer to the "Dossier" (the brown book standing in the upper-left portion of the desk), which lists all the Nancy Drew games before this one. Click on any case you like to see its synopsis. The book on "How to be a Detective" (in the lower-left portion of the desk) tells you all about playing this game. Finally, the "Case File" in the center of the desk gives a synopsis of the present case. In fact, you can refer to this "Case File" even during the game. Just look it up in your inventory after the game begins.

When you are ready to play the game, click on the airplane ticket which is lying on your right. You will be asked if you would like to start the game. Answer "Yes." You will then be asked if you would like to play as a Junior or Senior Detective. Choose as you wish. Note: the following walkthrough is written for the Senior Detectives. But that should not be a problem for those playing as Junior Detectives, of course, because the game provides them with more clues and easier puzzles anyway.

The opening cutscene takes us into what we will call the "office area." It continues with a dialog between Nancy and Heather. Pick up the Metro pass ("Carte Blanche – Paris Metro"), to continue the conversation. After talking to Heather, turn left and go through the brown door (with the glass pane at top) to enter Minette's studio. Go to your left to talk to Minette. You can ask to see if she will answer a few questions, but she won't. We must now make some herbal tea for her.

Turn around and go left of the brown door to what we will call the Tea Center. As you approach it, Nancy will point out the different objects we will need: the herbs at the top shelf; the pot of boiling water on the stove; the teapot on your left; the sink on the right (to throw away the mixture if you make a mistake); and the card of instructions for making the tea in front of you. After she finishes pointing out everything, pick up and read the instructions card. As you flip through the pages, Nancy will ask Minette two questions. Based on the answers Minette gives and on our own observations of her, we will need the following herbs to make the tea.

Since Minette is "right-handed" today, we must add herbs from the Gaviforme family to the pot of boiling water on the stove:

Since she is "not humming," we must add the herbs with a potency of 7 or higher (excluding the ones that we have already added above):

Finally, since she said that her favorite color is "red," we must add the following herbs which grow in marshy areas:

After you have put all the herbs in the pot of boiling water, click on the teapot on your left. Nancy will tell Minette that she is done. Step out of the close up and go out of the brown door on your right. If you have made the tea correctly, Minette will call and a dialog will follow. Click on the bag she gives you and finish the conversation. Then, turn right and look at the "stuff" she mentioned. We must now buy four items from Pont Neuf that have some things in common with the items displayed here in the center of the room.

Step back out in the office area and talk to Heather, on your left. She will tell you about how Minette "has this thing about curves" and how Minette claims that working in a "quasi-round environment" makes her more productive. [These are clues to the objects we must buy for Minette: something round or curved.] Finish the conversation, turn around and approach your own desk.

Close up on the computer first. Look up the "To Do List," in the upper-left portion of the monitor, to see the errands you must run for Minette. Feel free to click on "E-mail" in the top center of the screen and read the six messages there, one by one. Feel free to click on the game, "Jane's Game Portal," in the upper-right portion of the monitor. We need to type in a login and password, but that information is actually readily available if you check out Sunny's notes in the top drawer on your left. But we don't need to play the game yet. So leave it alone for now. But do check out Sunny's notes in the drawer. The printed page (on "Skard 2-DV8") taped to the last page of the notes tells us how to fix the plotter, one of the errands we must do.

Approach the plotter on your right. Click on the red magnifying-glass icon. A dialog will follow. Click on the red magnifying-glass icon again to close up on the plotter. Click on the hand icon and you will see the three adjustable settings (V, H, I) and the Print button. Press the Print button to print a test page. After the cutscene, you will be shown the defective print. Click on the blue hand icon, to return to the settings. Click once on the middle (H) setting, to raise the horizontal pitch, as shown below.

Click on the Print button to print another test page and learn that the plotter has been fixed.

Step out of the close up to hear the phone ring. Step further out of the close up and pick up the phone on your left. It is a call from a Lynn Manrique about a letter concerning a Noisette Tornade. Proceed as you wish. After the phone conversation, turn around and talk to Heather about Dieter von Schwesterkrank (we will call him Dieter from now on). Feel free to check out the magazine on the table on your right to read the four-page article on Hugo Butterly.

We are now ready to go run our other errands. So approach the blue door on your right. A cutscene and dialog will follow. Pick up the letter from the floor. Open it as Heather tells you to do so. Another cutscene and dialog will follow. Conduct the conversation as you wish. Step out of the blue door. A map will be presented to you. Click on "Rue du Bac" to go to Dieter's studio for your first outside errand.

Step forward and talk to Dieter. Conduct the conversation as you wish. As it turns out, we will have to make the four prints ourselves to complete this errand for Minette. Dieter tells us to refer to the binder on a bookshelf for instructions. There is only one bookshelf in the room, the one with the aquarium on your right. So close up on the aquarium and pick up the binder (which is propped up against the side of the bookshelf on your right). Flip through the pages to read the instructions. A dialog will follow. Turn around and approach the door with the red light at its top. Dieter will warn you not to spill any chemicals while working inside. Enter the Dark Room (which is really a bathroom that has been converted into a dark room). Turn right to face the actual developing area.

This is actually a very tricky puzzle. The instructions dictated that we turn off the lights before doing any real developing work. But you will soon discover that working in the dark is the tricky part. You have to remove the paper from the enlarger and put it in three trays, one by one. The hand icon can be misleading; and if you don't click exactly where you are supposed to, you will spill the chemicals from the trays and it's Game-Over. You can go back to an earlier save or use the "Second Chance" option in the main menu, of course. But that just means you will have to start the puzzle all over again! In short, it can all be quite tricky indeed. Well, one tricky deed deserves another, right? So here is my tricky solution to this tricky puzzle.

The Tricky Solution

Before you turn off the lights, take a sheet of POST-IT sticky paper. Cut out a strip of paper from the top (the actual sticky portion of the paper). Cut this strip into four pieces. Each piece should be small enough to cover the hand icon that appears only over the negatives right now. Stick these pieces directly on your monitor over the switch at the base of the enlarger and in the center of each of the three trays (as shown by the little round yellow circles in the picture below). Now you know exactly where to click your cursor (the hand icon) even in the dark!

Note: Do be sure to use the POST-IT stick notes for this purpose or something very much like it. Using anything else might leave a sticky residue on your monitor, of course, and it can be a pain to clean up afterwards.

1. Pick up a negative from the tray at the bottom and put it in the top-left portion of the enlarger on your left.

3. Turn on the Enlarger Switch in the lower-left portion of your screen. We need to wait 2-9 seconds. Remember the old trick: it takes one second to say "one thousand one." Keep your cursor in the same place as you count the seconds by saying "one thousand one, one thousand two," etc. Give it 5 seconds because you don't want to go under or above the time limit in case you might be counting too fast or too slowly. [Note: Don't be distracted if Dieter makes a comment in the background, possibly at the beginning of your work.]

5. Put the paper in the Red Tray. We need to wait 7-12 seconds for this one. Again, keep the cursor in the same place as you count the seconds as before: "one thousand one, one thousand two," etc. Give it 10 seconds.

6. Pick up the paper and put it in the White Tray. We should wait "no more than 5 seconds" this time. Give it 3 seconds.

7. Pick up the paper and put it in the Blue Tray. We must now wait 8-15 seconds. Give it 12 seconds.

8. Pick up the paper. Nancy should announce that it is done, the lights should come on and Nancy should be holding a picture.

Click on the hand icon on the picture to step out of the close up. You should see the picture now hanging on the line above the trays. The space in the tray from where you had first picked up the negative should still be empty. Pick up a different negative and put it in the enlarger (step 1). [Note that doing so will put the first negative back in its original position in the tray holding all the negatives.] Repeat the above steps 2-8 to develop the second picture. Develop the last two pictures in the same way. As the last picture comes out, Nancy will indicate that we are done and the game will bring you out of the dark room automatically.

Turn left and talk to Dieter now. Proceed as you wish. Then step out of the studio and go to the park at Pont Neuf.

Note that there are only three merchants in the park: two women and a man. Feel free to haggle with them if you like, but be sure to save your game before you start haggling because you get only one chance to make an offer and if you offer too little, the merchant will stick with his or her highest price. As you examine the items offered by the merchants, keep in mind that Minette likes round and curved objects (as Heather had told us and as you yourself might have noticed in Minette's studio). Following is a list of items you need to purchase, the merchants that offer them, and the lowest price at which you can get them.

As you try to step out of the close up after purchasing the canister, the merchant will offer you a chance to make money by painting some pictures for him. Feel free to take him up on that offer. You will get 15 euros for the first painting, that of a woman. After paying you for it, the merchant will ask you if you would like to do another painting. If you decide to continue, you will then get a choice of two paintings: that of the woman (for 15 euros again) or a flower vase (which is more complicated and thus gets you 30 euros). While all this painting work is rather straightforward, the following hints might be helpful.

After you have purchased the above items for Minette and done the painting work, if any, for M. Marchand, leave the park and go to the hotel.

Step forward and talk to Jean Michel Traquenard (we will call him Jean Mi from now on). During the conversation, he will insist that you order some food, i.e., at his expense. Pick up the menu and order anything you like. You can order only one item, of course. If you would like to try out the other items (for example, to see what the French names stand for in English), save your game before you order and then replay this portion of the game trying the items, one by one! Then continue the conversation with Jean Mi. Be sure to ask him about Hugo Butterly and he will give you that man's phone number. You don't have to jot down the number yourself, however, because it will appear automatically at the bottom of the screen (i.e., in your directory) whenever you pick up a phone. When you finish your conversation with Jean Mi, the game will bring you back to the map automatically. Go and check out J.J. Ling, the lady with whom you are supposed to be staying during this trip.

Step forward and talk to J. J. Feel free to tell her that you don't believe her story about her own lost luggage. Be sure to ask her about the envelope at the end of the conversation. Pick up the envelope. After the conversation, check out the "Top Story" in the newspaper lying on the dining table on your left. Go to the phone on the table to the right of J. J. Read the article on "Zu" in the magazine lying next to the phone. Pick up the phone and you will see Butterly's phone number at the bottom of the screen. Call him by clicking the numbers on the phone dial.

After your conversation with Butterly, turn right to leave the apartment. Feel free to check out the blue recycle bin on your right on your way out. Go to Minette's place.

Enter to hear the phone ringing. Step forward and answer the phone on your left. After that conversation, turn around and talk to Heather. Nancy will give her the envelope from J.J. Turn to the work table on your left.

Close up on the work table. Click on the red magnifying glass to close up further and a dialog will follow. Click on the red magnifying glass again to get a close up of the top of the work table. Read the instructions sheet on your left. Then open the black portfolio on your right and flip through the pages for more information.

As you get to your first "order," close up on the card in the top-left portion of your screen to see Ms. Rutherford's own instructions. Click on the drawing on your right to remove the plastic sheet and display the items necessary to complete the first order. You must place these items on the drawing on your right to design the outfit.

If you have correctly finished the order, you will hear Heather's compliment. Complete the other two orders in the same way, i.e., read Ms. Rutherford's instructions in the card in the top-left portion of the screen; then click on the right page to remove the plastic cover and display the items necessary to complete the order; and then place these items on the drawing on your right according to Minette and Ms. Rutherford's instructions. The following picture shows the three successfully completed ensembles.

As you finish the third design, a dialog will follow. Step out of the close ups and approach the door to Minette's studio on your left. Heather will warn you that Minette is too busy playing some online game to talk to you. Go in and try to talk to Minette anyway. As she shushes you away, come out and talk to Heather. She will suggest that you try to beat the highest score for Minette. [Note: I don't know if telling Heather how good or bad you are at playing computer games will affect the difficulty level of the game you must now play. But the game is not too difficult and you just need to score more than 1000 points.]

Return to your desk and close up on the computer. Click on "Jane's Game Portal" on the right of the screen. Feel free to refer to Sunny's doodles in the drawer on your left for clues on what the Login and Password might be. Then type the following on your keyboard, pressing "Enter" after each entry.

As you get into the program, click on "Model Match" to start the game. Note that the High Score is 1000 (the score you need to beat) and that the stop watch begins at 120 seconds (the total time allowed for each round). The object of the game is simple: match three or more identical pictures to score points. In fact, you will be able to use the full 120 seconds even after you have gone over the 1000 threshold. If you have scored less than 1000 by the end of the round, click on "Back" to start over. If you have scored more than 1000, Nancy will exclaim. Click on "Back" or "Quit" to step out of the game. A dialog and cutscene will follow. Go into Minette's studio and talk to her. She will take the four items you had purchased for her and tell you to leave. Step out of the studio. Another dialog and cutscene will follow. We must now go and fetch J.J. from her place.

Step forward and talk to J.J. She will ask you to play a game of Hangman. Feel free to do so. If you don't know how to play the game, just ask J.J. and she will explain the rules to you. Now give her the message from Minette. She will agree to go, but only if you make the cookies for her. As she leaves, step forward into the kitchen and open the tall white cupboard in front of you. Pick up the jar of molasses ("mélasse") from your left. Check out the books on your right. Hmmm…

Common Cooking Substitutions book from Marchand (in the center of the park) for 1 euro.

Return to Place Monge. Go to the back of the kitchen, turn around and step to your right to reach the cooking counter. Nancy will tell us that we must first chop up the mint. So bring out the mint from your inventory and put it on the cutting board on your left. Nancy will chop it up for you. Bring out the jar of molasses and place it just left of the sugar ("sucre"). Pick up the recipe card from the stand just above the mixing bowl and read it. Note that the recipe calls for 1/2 cup of brown sugar. Refer to your book ("Common Cooking Substitutions") to learn that the substitute for 1/2 cup of brown sugar is 1/2 cup of white sugar plus a teaspoon of molasses. We are now ready to make some cookies!

Note: Be sure to refer to the book before you start adding the ingredients to the mixing bowl. There seems to be some kind of a bug here in the game. So if you refer to the book after you have already added some ingredients, the cookies won't come out right (apparently because the ingredients added before reading the book are lost and the game proceeds as if they had never been added).

Feel free to use your French-English dictionary to translate the French terms. Then add the following to the mixing bowl.

1 cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips (packet of "morceaux du chocolat," on your left)

After adding these ingredients to the mixing bowl, click on the baking sheet (left of the mixing bowl) and a cutscene will follow. If you have added everything correctly, this cutscene will show the cookies flatten out and Nancy will note how their edges have turned up. Step out of the close up and you will hear the phone ring. Answer the phone (on your right) to find that it is J.J., asking about the cookies. Nancy will tell her about the edges of the cookies curling up. Bingo! Go to Minette's place now.

Enter to hear the phone ring. Go left and answer it. A man will ask for Minette. Feel free to try or not try to get Minette for him. If you do try, you will find the door is locked and she will not come out. You might even hear her busy with J.J. inside. If you return to the phone quickly enough, Nancy will be able to talk to the guy one more time before he hangs up. Otherwise, he will have already hung up.

Turn right to your computer. Pick up and read the pink note hanging down from the shelf left of the computer. It is a note from Heather asking you to pick up a stuffed parrot from Pont Neuf. So go to the park now.

As you enter the park, step forward and close up on the cross in front of you. Nancy will translate the French inscription. Note the dates: 1940-5. Step out of the close ups. You will not be able to go right. You can try Malika on your left, but she does not have the stuffed parrot. Go right of her and you will note that you cannot approach Monique. So go right again towards Marchand in the center of the park, to find that you cannot talk to him either (at least just now). But you will now be able to see Dieter sitting on a bench in the distance. Try to approach him. A cutscene will follow. Pick up the two objects that Dieter has left behind: a miniature clock (with the "3" circled) and an obituary on Noisette Tornade. Read the obituary; and then, return to Marchand and buy the stuffed parrot from him for 1 euro. Now go to Dieter's place.

As you enter, Nancy will note that someone is in the dark room. Go there and knock on the door. A dialog will follow. Turn around and step towards the bookcase. Instead of closing up on it, however, step just to the right of it – towards the panel with the hole in it. Attach the clock you had picked up in the park to this hole, to start a timed puzzle.

The puzzle is timed, but don't worry. You will have more than enough time to solve it. As we noted earlier, the "3" in the clock we found in the park was circled. This is a clue to the fact that we must set each of the nine clocks in the panel at 3-o'clock. This can be tricky, however, because setting the time in one clock changes the settings in other clocks. Thus, we need to be careful in choosing the clocks we set so that we can set all the clocks at 3:00 before we run out of the allotted time. Set the clocks in the following order.

Note that you need to set only the clocks shown in the orange boxes in the above diagram. By the time you finish setting these clocks in the indicated order, the clocks shown in the gray boxes will be automatically set at the correct time as well.

As you finish, a cutscene and a dialog will follow. Step inside the passageway. Close up on the spider on your right. Step out of the close up and proceed forward in the passageway. You will find a wall safe at the end of the passage. Open the cover. Nancy will translate the French inscription. Recall the dates we noted on the cross at Pont Neuf: 1940-5. The "-5" stands for 1945, of course. So click in 1945 and the safe will open.

Pick up and open the red diary inside. Pick up the grid from the left page. Click on both the picture and the code below, one by one, on the right page. Turn the page. Pick up and read the folded letter on your right. Step out of the close up and return to Dieter's studio. He is still in the dark room and will not talk to you any further. Go to Minette's place.

Note: Depending on how long you took (e.g., playing the Model Match game, doing the paintings for Marchand, preparing the cookies, etc.), the Day might change at this point. When that happens, Nancy will return to Place Monge for the evening and the game will pause on a screen saying "Day 2." Just click on that screen and Nancy will come out into J.J.'s living area. Feel free to check out that day's "Top Story" in the newspaper on the dining table in front of you. If you would like to see the Top Stories from the day before, check out the blue recycle bin on your left where all the old newspapers will be deposited as the days go by. Then step out of the apartment and go where you were trying to go before the day changed.

Enter. A cutscene and a dialog will follow. At the end of the conversation, you will find yourself in Minette's studio. Nancy will comment. Pick up the box in front of you.

You must catch nine bugs in all. As soon as you catch one, it will be deposited in one of the empty spaces in the box. I am afraid no walkthrough can help you catch the bugs. It all depends on how quickly you can click your mouse button at the right spot at the right time. So the best that I can do is to give you an idea of where to find the bugs. Don't worry. Sooner or later, you will get all of them!

Generally, you will find the bugs on the floor. As you can see from the more detailed directions below, you will find most of the bugs if you go left along the room from the starting position at the door. Others you will find when you reach the door and then start going right along the room. In other words, you will have to go clockwise and counter-clockwise along the room to catch all the bugs. While the following hints should give you a pretty good idea as to where to find these bugs, please note that the appearance of the bugs seems to be randomly generated by the computer. Thus, you might have to visit some of the areas I have indicated a few times before the bugs in those areas appear there. Keep in mind also that it might be hard to see the bug itself sometimes. If that is the case, just keep your ear out for the buzzing in the background and your eye out for the blue hand icon on the floor. Click on the blue hand icon as soon as you see it to catch the bug!

BUG # 1: Step out of the close up on the box of chocolates and you will see the bug go from left to right. Thus, you do get a few chances to catch it if you keep trying to click on the blue hand icon along the floor. Don't worry if you miss it though. We'll get him next time.

BUG # 2: Click on the straight left arrow (ß) to step towards the display of the red dress and the bug should be hovering around in front of the box to the right of the red dress display. Click on the blue hand-icon and you will get a close up of the floor just behind the display. Pick up the letter on the floor just left of the display. Indeed, you have to pick up that letter before the game will allow you to step out of the close up behind the display. As you pick up the letter, you will get a close up of its contents. Click on the yellow stick-note in the top-right corner of the letter. Nancy will comment. Feel free to read the top portion of the letter. Then click on the down arrow to read the rest. Click on the letter again to deposit it in your inventory.

Step out of the close up. You might get another chance to catch the bug, if you missed the first time. But don't worry if you miss again. We'll try again later. For now, step out from behind the display and close up on the red dress. Click on it to hear Nancy's comment.

BUG # 3: Step out of the close up on the dress and step to your right. Click on the blue hand icon on the computer desk (on your left) to close up on that desk. Pick up the piece of paper lying right of the computer. Again, you have to pick it up to step out of that close up on the desk. Again, picking up the piece of paper will give you a close up of its contents. Nancy will comment. Step out of the close up on the piece of paper and you might get another chance to catch the bug there, if you haven't caught him already.

BUG # 4: Step out of the close up and continue to go to your right. You may not see the bug in this area the first time you visit it. When you do see the bug, it will be moving across the floor from left (from the sewing machine) to your right.

BUG # 5: Continue to go right along the room. Again, you may not see the bug in this area the first time you visit it. When you do see the bug, it will be going from right to left, heading under the red sofa set in front of you.

BUG # 6: Step to the right again and you will find this bug going from the tea center to your right. (If you miss this bug going clockwise along the room, you might get another chance to catch it when you reverse direction, at which time you will find it going from the bottom center of your screen to under the tea center).

Note: We just went clockwise around the room. We must now go counter-clockwise to find the rest of the bugs. So go to the door, turn around and you might get another chance to catch the first bug, if you missed it the first time. Now go right along the room.

BUG # 7: As you approach the coffee table, you might get another chance to catch Bug # 5 (now hovering around in front of the large picture frame resting on two stacks of bricks on your right). Pick up the magazine on the coffee table. Feel free to read the article on Minette. Turn the page on your right, to hear Nancy's comment. Step out of the close ups on the article and the coffee table. Step forward. Again, you may not see the bug in this area (Bug # 7) the first time you visit it. When you do see it, it will be going left to right, heading under the red armchair.

BUG # 8: You will find this bug on the floor under the three large stone disks on your right. Close up on the stone disks to hear Nancy's comment. Then step out of the close up and move forward to complete this round of the room.

BUG # 9: When you see this bug, you will find it on the floor in front of you, heading under the red dress display.

Once again, you might have to make a few rounds (clockwise and counter-clockwise) around the room before you catch all the bugs. When you catch the last bug, the close up of the box will show all nine bugs and Nancy will comment.

Go to the door and try to step out. A cutscene and a dialog will follow. Step out of the room to find it empty. Check out the dodo box on the table to the right of the blue door. You must now solve a three-part puzzle to open it.

The object of each part of the puzzle is to move your horse from the starting position to the finishing position before the two predators catch you. Use the controls in the lower-left portion of the puzzle to move your horse. The round button in the center resets the puzzle. Clicking on any of the four "arrowheads" around the round button will move the horse in that arrowhead's direction. Note that if the horse cannot move in a direction, you will not be able to click on that arrowhead. The following picture shows the solution to this puzzle.

NOTE: In the second (middle) puzzle, you will step up and down along the same tile left of the barrier (to bring the predator down to follow you) before you step further left and dash up and in to the finishing position.

After you solve the last puzzle, you will get a close up of the dodo box. Press the egg-shaped button at the bottom of the box cover to open the box. Pick up and read each of the four notes inside. Nancy will comment on one of them.

Go to your desk and pick up the phone. Dial the Zippy Calling Card number. After three rings, you will now get a different "address book" at the bottom of the screen. Dial the phone number for Lynn Manrique and talk to her. After the conversation, leave Minette's place.

Enter the park, open your inventory and click on the box of chocolates to let the cockroaches go free, as Minette had told you to do. Now go and see Jean Mi.

Ask Jean Mi about J.J. A dialog will follow. Proceed as follows to get the most information. Ask Jean Mi if J.J. has done modeling for any other designers in Paris. When Jean Mi refers to J.J.'s having been tricked, pretend to know what he is talking about by clicking on the choice: "Yes. Terrible thing, being tricked like that." After finishing this topic, talk to Jean Mi about the cropped picture you saw in the magazine in Minette's studio. Jean Mi will agree to show you the uncropped picture, but only if you will help him by making parfaits for the owner of the café. You have to agree, of course, but how you express this agreement does make a difference. Even if you know what a parfait is, I suggest that you ask, "What's a parfait?" Jean Mi's response is not important, but the owner of the café will then be more helpful and "introduce" you to the workings of the "parfait station."

After the owner finishes his "introduction," Nancy will point out the ingredients necessary to make the parfaits. (See picture below)

Note: Be sure to refer to what I have called the "Sample" (see the above picture) before you ring the bell "announcing" that the order is ready. That way, you can catch any mistakes you might have made and just throw away the contents into the "Trash." Otherwise, the owner will catch the mistake for you and you will have to prepare an additional order as penalty!

[Note of Possible Interest: Recall that the owner had told Nancy that the number before the order indicated the number of orders we were supposed to make. Thus, "6 AIXOIS" at the beginning of this puzzle meant we have to make six orders including that Aixois. But note that the numbers 5 and 4 repeat twice. Thus, either there is a mistake in the game or the owner tricked our poor Nancy into making two extra orders for him.]

As you finish the last order, Nancy will comment and we will be back with Jean Mi. He will show us the uncropped picture which shows the stone disks (or "dials") before the paint had been splashed on them. Note the little arrows in these "dials" pointing at Roman numbers IX, V, and III. Don't worry about jotting down the numbers or their order because they have been noted for you in Nancy's "Case Journal" (the blue notebook at the bottom of the screen). Step out of the close up. Feel free to order something if you like, but you will have to pay for it yourself this time. Go to Dieter's studio now.

Knock on the Dark Room door. A dialog will follow. We must now take some pictures for Dieter. Step out of the close up and pick up the list (of pictures you need to take) from the top of the desk on your left, to find that the list is in French. Bring out the French-English dictionary from your inventory and look up the words to learn that

Step out of the close ups, turn left and close up on the round table to the right of the Dark Room door. Pick up the camera on your left. Step out of the close up, turn around and go to the hole in the wall right of the bookcase. Use the clock to open the secret passage. (See the Clock Puzzle solution noted earlier.) Enter the passage and close up on the SPIDER (List Item # 2) on your right. Bring out the camera from your inventory. Click on the white, straight button in the top-right portion of the screen to activate the camera. Focus on the spider so that it will appear in the center of the frame. (See the set of six pictures later in this walkthrough.) Click on your left mouse button to take the picture. Go to Minette's place.

Talk to Heather. Nancy will give her the stuffed parrot. Ask Heather about the threatening letter. After the conversation, turn around and close up on the left portion of your desk. Take a picture of the STAPLER (List Item # 1). (See the six-picture set later in this walkthrough.)

Pick up the phone. Call Zu. [As you may recall, that is the guy in the magazine article at J.J.'s place. Note that his phone number now appears in the Paris Address Book at the bottom of the screen.] Zu will tell Nancy that he will give her the information she needs, but only if she gets J.J.'s autograph for him.

After this conversation, go into Minette's studio. Approach the tea center on your right. Nancy will refuse to close up on it, however, saying she won't make any more tea. So just focus on the TEA POT (List Item # 6), making sure that it will appear in the center of your camera frame, and take the picture. (See the six-picture set later in this walkthrough.)

Go to Minette. As you approach the red dress display, close up on the dress and click on it. A dialog will follow. Step out of the close up, turn to Minette and talk to her. [Note: Minette will abruptly end the conversation as soon as you ask her about Dieter or tell her about Heather. So – if you are planning to tell her about Heather (and you don't have to) – cover the other topics first, skip the question about Dieter for now, and just tell her about Heather.] Minette will tell you to go away, but at least you will get to see her reaction.

Leave Minette's place. A new destination appears on the map. But, if you did tell Minette about Heather, return to Minette's place (by clicking on ABBESSES on the map). Enter, to take a call from Heather. After that conversation, feel free to go to Heather's desk and check out her "Fashion Portfolio" (lying to the left of her computer). Feel free also to go into Minette's studio and now ask her why she broke up with Dieter. After the dialog, go to the park.

As you enter the park, take a picture of the CROSS (List Item # 5). (See the six-set picture later in this walkthrough). Now go to J.J.'s place.

Talk to J.J. about getting an autograph for Zu, but she will refuse to oblige. Well, there is more than one way to skin a cat (or get an autograph, in this case)! As we know, J.J. writes out every letter that we pick when we play Hangman with her. So ask her to play that game with you and "guess" the following letters, one by one.

As you "guess" the last letter, Nancy will automatically ask for the piece of paper on which J.J. wrote the letters. Put the paper ("autograph") in your inventory and feel free to play a "real" game of Hangman with J.J. Then go to the new place that had appeared on the map.

Step forward. After Nancy's comment, take a picture of the CANDLE and the SKULL (List Items # 3 & 4, respectively). Our photo assignment is now complete! (See picture below.)

Now put J.J.'s "autograph" in the skull. [Note: The piece of paper will actually go into the skull's eye. So I like to take these pictures first, just in case that paper sticking out of the skull's eye might make these pictures "unacceptable" to Dieter.] Go back to J.J.'s place.

Note: You can also buy the book of "Common Codes and Deciphers" for 4 euros at this time, but I would advise against it. There is some kind of a bug later in the game (as explained in the next section in this walkthrough). The problem is easily solved, but you can avoid all the hassle if you just buy this book later. You don't need it yet anyway.

Try to buy the M380 decoder from Marchand, but he will not sell it. He does agree to let you have it, however, if you get him a bottle of Mouton Fouette. Go to the catacombs.

Approach the skull and click on its top to remove it. Click on the red button. An opening will appear on your right. Go through that opening to arrive in a dark chamber. Move forward and step out of this chamber to arrive in what we will call the Central Hall. As you move further, you will hear the police in the background as the words "Police approach" will appear at the bottom of the screen. Turn around and go back into the dark chamber, all the way to the door. Don't step out though! Rather, as you reach the door, just turn around and the police voices should stop immediately. At that point, go back out into the Central Hall, cross the plank in front of you and turn right. Take four steps forward, turn left and enter a chamber with a pool of water in it. Go forward and into the water. Nancy will comment.

Note: Nancy leaves her inventory by the "pool" before she steps into the water. In other words, you will not have access to your inventory until you return to this point. But don't worry. You have everything you will need.

Move forward in the water. You will see the number 2 marked in front of you and the only way forward is down. Note that any time you spend underwater is timed. In other words, you must move fast or Nancy will lose her breath and it will be Game Over. It would therefore be a good idea to at least skim through each underwater section in the walkthrough before you dive, to get an idea of what you need to do below and thus to save yourself some time.

Note: In the following directions, "F1" means take a step forward; "F2" means take 2 steps forward; etc.

Go up the ladder in front of you. Move forward towards the wall safe. Open the cover and close up. Nancy will translate the French words, but the clue actually lies in the French words themselves. Recall that the letter in Noisette's red diary (that you had found in the secret passage in Dieter's place) had mentioned devising a code using the Metro route names and numbers. The code used in this puzzle is just such a code.

Note the four colored French words/phrases written in capital on the safe cover. Does the word "PONT NEUF," at least, ring a bell? Unfortunately, we can't access the map from here. But if you go back to an earlier Save and check out the map, you will find that each of these words/phrases on the safe is the name of a metro stop. Indeed, the color of the words on the safe is the same as the color of the names of those stops in the map. (See picture below.)

The trick to cracking this code is to determine the number in the map for each colored word/phrase on the safe; and then, click in the numbers in the same order as the corresponding word appears on the safe. Thus,

So click in 3724 and the safe will open. Pick up the object inside. Nancy will comment. Click on the object again to deposit it somewhere (since you don't have your inventory with you). Turn around and go to the manhole. Step in to get back on the ladder. Take four steps down the ladder, to reach the last dry point on the ladder before you go underwater again.

Left, F2, Right, F1, Left, F6 to come up to beginning of the waterlogged tunnel.

Go forward and come back up on the landing. Try to pick up your inventory from the floor on your left. A cutscene follows. (And I thought this game was for girls who weren't afraid of rats…) Click on the hand icon and you will be able to pick up the inventory this time.

Note: I have played this portion several times and only once did the rat take the code book. So it doesn't happen often apparently. The one time that it did, Nancy noted that she was missing the code book. I couldn't find the book anywhere in the tunnels. I returned to Marchand in the park. I couldn't see the code book on his table, but a hand icon appeared in the empty space where I had first bought that code book from him. I clicked on that icon and was thus able to buy the book once again, but had to pay the full price (15 euros) this time. [The fact that I couldn't see the book on his table though indicates that there is some bug in this portion of the game.]

Step out of this chamber, turn right and take four steps forward. Turn left, cross the plank and go into the dark chamber. Step through the door to return to the outer chamber (the one with the skull). Leave the catacombs and head for Dieter's place.

If you have taken the six pictures shown earlier in this walkthrough, you will find Dieter back at his desk. Approach him and a dialog will follow. Pick either response to have Nancy give him the camera and the dialog will continue.

Note: Dieter will end the conversation after you have exhausted the topic on Noisette. So be sure to cover the other two topics before asking him about her. As you start talking about Noisette, Dieter will show you a card with a lot of eyes on it. [We will therefore call it the Eyes card.] Click on the card to turn it over and continue the conversation.

After the conversation, bring out the Eyes card from your inventory. Click on the card to turn it over to the side with all the eyes on it. With the card still on the screen, bring out the grid (that you had removed from Noisette's red diary when you first found that diary in the secret passage at Dieter's place) from the inventory. Place the grid on the Eyes card.

Recall what Lynn Manrique had told you Noisette was saying over and over before she passed away: "RED LEFT … GREEN." Note the color of the pupils on the eyes in the Eyes card: red, green or gray. Note also the different positions of these pupils: some are to the left, some are in the middle, and some are to the right in their eye sockets. Click on the five eyes that have RED pupils in the LEFT portion of the eyes. Then click on the five eyes that have a GREEN pupil, regardless of their position in the eye sockets. If you click correctly, Nancy will read the following message that has appeared at the bottom of the Eyes card: Sous Lorraine 4154. [Note: "sous" is French for "under."] Step out of the close up and go to the park.

Step forward towards the Lorraine cross. Close up on the top of the cross and then, on the inscription. Note the date: 1940-5. Click only on the numbers that the message on the Eyes card had revealed: 4154. The cover below the date will drop, showing the order in which we must attempt the exhibit puzzles and the results we must achieve in the first two puzzles.

Step out of the close ups on the cross. Turn left and step towards Malika. Instead of closing up on her, however, turn right, take two steps and close up on the Mouths puzzle on your left.

Step out of the close up and, if you have clicked correctly, the mouths will not reset. Otherwise, they will resume their original/closed position and you will hear a sound in the background (like someone sticking out their tongue at you!). If that happens, try the puzzle again. When done, turn around and take three steps to reach what Nancy calls "the Windmill."

Click once on the white handle on your right. Turn around. Nancy will comment and a cutscene will follow. Step towards the windmill again and click on the red magnifying-glass icon left of the exhibit. Nancy will tell us that we need to put something there to scare that squirrel away.

We will have to buy a few things for this purpose. While we are at it, let's also buy some other things that we will need too soon enough. So make your purchases as follows.

Go to Marchand. Nancy will automatically give him the bottle of Mouton Fouette and get the Decoder in return, just as he had promised earlier. Purchase the PIE TIN for 1 euro. [Note: If the rat stole your code book in the catacombs tunnels, be sure to buy that as well from Marchand by clicking on the hand icon in the empty space in the lower-left corner of the table and paying the full 15 euros. As noted earlier, you will not be able to bargain this time.]

Turn around and return to the Windmill exhibit, now on your left. Close up on the exhibit. Bring out the Stake, then the String, and finally the Pie Tin from your inventory and place them, one by one, in the space left of the exhibit where the red magnifying-glass icon appears. The squirrel will not bother us anymore. So

If you have done it correctly, the petal at the top should now be (technically, it is lavender, but some people call it purple), i.e., the same color as that of the top petal shown in the clues we got earlier from the Lorraine cross.

Turn around and go to what I call the Fish Fountain, now on your left. Close up on that exhibit and press the red button on your right. A cutscene will show a grate opening under the fish. Step inside.

Go down the ladder. Turn around, step forward and go down the second ladder. Turn around and go through the passage. Since you have already bought the flashlight, you will not have any problems. Nancy will merely note that it is time to get out the flashlight, but you won't have to bring the flashlight out of the inventory yourself because it will come out automatically. A cutscene will then take you through the passage.

Caution: This is a very poorly structured cutscene, I think, because it is likely to make some, perhaps even most, gamers rather dizzy from the way it goes winding left and right through the underground tunnel. For those of you that find it unsettling, my advice is to just close your eyes and wait for the sound of a click that will indicate that Nancy has put away the flashlight. Open your eyes at that point and proceed as follows.

Approach the chest in front of you. Open it and retrieve the Key. Step out of the close up, turn around and go back into the tunnel. A cutscene will take you back to the beginning of the passage. [Once again, close your eyes if you find the cutscene unsettling. Open your eyes only when you hear that clicking sound that indicates Nancy has put away the flashlight. Then, proceed as follows.]

Step forward and go up the ladder. Step forward again and go up the second ladder. Click on the grate above to open it and then, step outside. Go to Minette's place.

Go to your desk. If you had told Minette about Heather (the fact that Heather had written at least one of those threatening letters), you will find a lavender note to the right of your computer. Read it. Nancy will comment.

Now go to the door to Minette's studio, but DON'T OPEN IT! [Otherwise, it will be game-over and you will have to avail the Second Chance from the main menu.] Instead, close up on the mechanical gadget above the door handle on your right. A dialog will follow. Be sure to SAVE your game here because a timed puzzle is about to follow. Don't worry though: you will have more than enough time to finish the puzzle if you follow the directions below.

Open the cover. Another dialog will follow, as the timed puzzle begins. Don't pay any attention to Minette's periodic interruptions. They are meant to only distract you and thus to make the puzzle a bit harder. Nancy will answer her for you. The good thing though is that you will be able to continue working through the dialog, unlike some other places in the game where you have to wait for Nancy to finish her comment before you can use the controls.

As you open the cover, note the little black-and-white diagram on the inside of the cover, to the left of the fuse panel.

The upshot of these cryptic instructions is that it is OKAY to put together two fuses with the same symbol, even if the color of those two symbols is different. (Thus, for example, it is okay to put a fuse with a red circle in line with a fuse with a yellow circle.) It is also OKAY to put together two fuses with different symbols, so long as they are of the same color. (For example, it is okay to put a fuse with a green circle in line with a fuse with a green triangle.) But it is NOT okay to put together two fuses with two different symbols that are also of two different colors. (For example, putting a fuse with a red circle in line with a fuse with a blue triangle will make an "explosive" combination.)

If this explanation is too confusing, don't worry. Just follow the diagram below and you will have that bomb diffused in no time at all! Please note the symbols that I have superimposed on the screenshot. You see, I realize that the symbols on the fuses are a bit too small to see. I also realize that just knowing you are being timed tends to make some people uncomfortable. So I have used the superimposition in the hope that it will help make it easier to solve the puzzle. But please feel free to let me know if that technique distracts you somehow, and I will see what I can do to send you a "clean" copy of the solution – i.e., just a screenshot of the solution without the superimposition.

A cutscene will follow the successful completion of the above puzzle. Step out of the close up and go into Minette's studio. She is not there. Step forward to the pole in the center of the room. Note the indentation (like that of a windmill) at the base of the pole. Before we get to that, however, we need to crack a code with the help of the M380 decoder we just got from the merchant in the park.

Bring out the Decoder from your inventory. Click on the hand icon that appears on the space bar at the bottom of the screen. The keyboard will flip up, revealing three dials under it. Feel free to refer to Nancy's notebook to find the roman numerals we saw on the three stone disks in the uncropped picture Jean Mi had shown us after we made the parfaits: IX, V, III. So set the decoder's left dial at IX, middle dial at V, and right dial at III. Click on the up arrow to come up directly to the typing area. Nancy will comment. Use our own computer keyboard to type the code under the picture of the M380 decoder in Noisette's red diary. (See picture below.)

Note: Write the whole thing as one single line, i.e., do not leave any blank spaces or press "Enter" when you type the above three lines.

If you look up your French-English dictionary, you will find that the above is French for:

Step out of the close ups on the decoder. Note that the indentation at the base of the pole in Minette's studio looks like that of the object you found in the safe at the catacombs. So bring out that object from your inventory and place it on the indentation, to uncover a panel of five rows of colored bands. Click on the bands to set their colors in the order shown above. [Note: the white band on the pole actually looks grayish.] A cutscene will follow, opening a trap door in the floor on your right. Approach the trap door and go down the stairs.

Go forward in the passage until you come across the metal door. Use the key (that you got from the chest in the park's underground tunnel) to unlock the door. Enter the chamber. Nancy will comment. Step forward. Close up on the top of the stand in front of you; lift its cover and pick up the envelope. Open the envelope and Nancy will translate Noisette's letter for you. Note the roman numerals at the end of the letter: X, IV, III.

Step out of the close up on the letter and close the stand's cover. A cutscene and Nancy's comment will follow. Close up on the metal box in front of you. Open the cover and close up inside to see the words: "Une Derniere Enigme, Cher Ami." [You won't find a translation for the words in your French-English dictionary, but the literal meaning is: "One last puzzle, dear friend." However, it is the French words themselves and not their English meaning that will actually help us figure out the code we need to enter in the metal box.]

If you look up Noisette's diary, you will find that "Cher Ami" is the nickname for the M380 decoder. In fact, the code applied here is the "Shift Cipher" (see pages 6-8 of your Code Book) and 380 is the shift number. The above French sentence is the message we must decode. As the Code Book tells us, such a code can require us to shift the letters either to the left or to the right of the alphabet. In this case, you need to shift to the right, as shown below.

We now have everything that we need to break the code. So bring out the decoder from your inventory, lift the keyboard and set the three dials to X, IV, III (the roman numbers that were noted at the end of Noisette's letter). Click on the UP arrow to come up to the typing area. Then, using your own computer's keyboard again, type the third line (shown in red) at the bottom of the above table. If you have done it correctly, Nancy will comment, as the following line appears on the screen:

Feel free to refer to your French-English dictionary to learn that the above words spell out the numbers 2157. Step out of the close ups on the decoder. Close up on the metal box and click in these numbers. The bars will go up. Leave the chamber and go to the trap door.

As you step on the gray stairs under the trap door, there will be a short cutscene, but no need to worry. Go up to the trap door and you will hear a dialog outside. Nancy will comment. Open the trap door and step outside. Go around the pole to the red dress on display to the right of the studio door. Close up on the dress. Bring out the "Ichido" book from your inventory and skim through the pages. Then click on the red dress. [Note: It might be a good idea to SAVE your game right after your "opponent" stops speaking, in case you have to replay the "battle." Don't worry though because you will have plenty of time to win.]

Listen closely to your opponent's Ichido "cries." Note that your cursor takes the form of a blue box, acting as a shield to block the attack. In the following diagram, I have listed each "cry" according to where you must move your cursor to block the attack that follows that particular cry. Thus, for example, if you hear "Ssssssss," move the cursor just a bit off to the middle-right of your opponent. [Note: Don't go to the extreme left or right of the screen or you will miss the attack altogether. Remember: you are supposed to be blocking your opponent's blows. So stay within reach of those blows.]

As you will soon discover, you can be hit several times and still win! A cutscene will follow your success. So once you have won,

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