Secrets Can Kill

At the beginning, we are given the choice of difficulty level (Junior, Senior or Master.) We are playing as Senior Detective. After a brief cutscene, including a letter to Dad and a description of a murder that happened yesterday at a local school, we begin the investigation at Aunt Eloise's house. Straight ahead on the hall table is a note from her. We find out we need to open the safe to get the key to the school library. Look in the right-hand drawer and get the phone card.

Go into the living room. At the left end of the sofa, you can see a couple of photos. Little Nancy, maybe? On the coffee table is an inlaid box with sewing supplies. Nothing to do here. There are some books on the table at the left end of the two-cushion sofa. Inside you see some flowers labeled Miniature Iris Tulip Crocus Hyacinth. The highlighted initials spell a name: Mitch. Notice the title of one of the books is "Hidden Clues are Everywhere." It's true! The drawer in the end-table at the right of the three-cushion sofa yields three items: a brief note about the book sale and bulletin boards; the TV remote which you can take, and an invitation to the Sigma Phi Kappa Delta sorority reunion. Notice the Greek lower-case letters at the top. Turn right and examine the books on the right. The hollow book contains a key you can take. The center section has a TV and VCR (it says 12:00, don'tcha love it?) Nothing is playing now, if you try turning it on with the remote, however. Look right and see the chest on the floor. Your key will open it, and you find a quarter you can take. Big deal, a quarter, right? Well, I wish I had that particular quarter. No matter how many times you spend it, it just keeps on working. Not bad, eh? Just remember the Wrigley Building in Chicago was built on the profits from nickel packs of gum.

Okay, back to work, Detective Drew. Into the hallway, and click on the tapestry. In the close-up view, click on it again, and the safe is revealed. Oh no! It's in Greek! Say, didn't we just see some Greek letters? They looked like this:

s f k d

It's a little unusual to see lower-case Greek letters, I would expect them to look like this: SFKD, but it's all in the nature of puzzles, I guess. They do have to be pressed in sequence. The door opens, and you find the library key hanging there, as promised. Look at the wooden box. Eeek! it's a slider puzzle. Stop whining now, and go do some studying at this site: Slider Puzzle Help. Do it. it's worth a little study, because you will find all sliders easier to solve if you know how.

Here's the way the slider puzzle looks when solved. And here's a little secret: if you just hate sliders and don't want to learn how to do them, you can avoid this one by peeking at the note right here.

Isn't that fun? O Wise Elder is an anagram of Eloise Drew. It's almost time to check out the school. Exit the house via the door directly behind you, not the pocket-door that probably goes to the dining room.

At the Diner

Click on the diner, and talk with Daryl Gray. To save some disk-changing, let's poke around the diner a while. Daryl doesn't mind.

If you turn way around to the right, past the pinballs and jukebox, there is a menu on the table. Open it and see the letters D A N G E R highlighted. There are also purple letters highlighted, but they are scrambled. A T O S B A G E spells sabotage. Put a quarter in the jukebox and see the fun titles: Manatee Unchained, or Wake up Little Nancy, for example. You can click on about half of the titles and play them. (werdycan is nancydrew spelled backwards.) You can also stick a quarter in the pinball machine and get some sound effects, but not real play. On the wall behind the counter is the menu board. Look at it and see the red letters that spell out SOUP LADLE on one side and BOLT CUTTER on the other. Go into the kitchen. Slightly to the right is a cutting board with tomatoes. Look closely between the tomatoes and the knife handle. Someone carved a message there: "Watch Out." Look down between the table and the gas range, and see some bolt cutters. Take them. Uh-oh! The gas is leaking and you can't put the cutters back. You need something to prop up the gas line before we all explode. Don't panic - it won't explode unless you try to go out the door. Look in the black dishpan under the "Clean up Spills" sign and take the large soup ladle. It fits nicely under the gas pipe and the danger is averted.

You can read the instruction sheet taped to the refrigerator. Is it a clue? I'm not sure. Read the work schedule by going close-up twice to see the following encrypted message on the bottom:

It's a simple code, substituting numbers for letters. It says: "Jake's fate happened deliberately, gravity was not his worst enemy."

Exit the diner and click on the school, and change to disk 2. Keep the disks handy, there is a LOT of swapping in this game. Detectives must be patient.

In the School

Enter the school. Straight ahead is a display case with a picture of the football team you can examine. Over your left shoulder is another display case containing trophies, and a directory of various schoolrooms. Directly left and right are two hallways. Let's take the left one. Before you walk down the hall, look at the bulletin board on the right side. (It is a very small hotspot, and easy to miss. There is a map of the school on the board.

At the next node, the cafeteria is straight ahead (you can't get there,) the Library and the Gym are down the hall to the right, and Jake's locker is ahead on the left. You can just see the yellow police tape on it. We'll look through it later, when we learn the combination to the lock. Examine the bulletin board on the right side to see this note close-up:

Go right, towards the library. If you stop at the next node and look over your left shoulder, there is a bulletin board with a pink note that says: "In the face of danger, Against a killer if you dare; A very unlikely couple Could be a helpful pair." Turn back around and go towards the gym. Again, over your left shoulder, is another bulletin board. Find the three notes on the lower right, that are rotated and mirrored. They say: "Nowhere to turn to, Nowhere to hide; Let the books in the library Be your answer guide." "A symbol of Kanji Worn with great pride, Reflects a big secret That someone must hide." "He did what it took To make the grade, Even if it meant cheating To keep up his charade."

Look at the eye chart. It says :
"EKAMLLUOYEVITCETEDSSALCTSRIFENIUNEG
AEKATSIMONEKAMNEHTSIHTDAERNACUOYFI"

"If you can read this
Then make no mistake
A genuine first class
Detective you'll make."

Talk to Hulk Sanchez. Ooooh, a boy with an attitude. As before, you can choose among dialog lines, but can't use them all. After you ask him about Jake, the conversation ends. Turn right, and see the posters to the left of the vending machines. One advertises a Judo school, with a phone number 555-JUDO (5836) - might mean something. Exit into the hallway, and find the left turn to the library. When you get to the spot where the student art exhibit lines the walls, there is a bulletin board with the following note:

The entrance to the library is to the left of this board. Let's explore the library a little later. Continue down that same hallway, into the Study Dome. Turn left to see Hal Tanaka studying. Talk to him about understanding people's faces, being a doctor, and Jake. When you are finished, look farther to the left and examine the bulletin board. You see this note:

Turn a little to the left and you are looking into the hallway we came through. Turn farther left to find a second hallway, the one with a "Senior Prom" banner. Before entering, examine the bulletin board. There is a message with distorted letters that reads: "A Crane contestant in a masked disguise won the prize money despite all the lies." and "The ultimate hang-out in the center of everything is the place you need to go to set up the final sting." That board is to the left of the entrance to the Student Union. Step forward and turn around to see the bulletin board to the other side of the entrance. There is a notice about the yearbooks. If you pick out the underscored letters, they say: "Search below danger sign in kitchen." (We've done that already, and found the bolt cutters.) Go into the Student Union.

Talk with Connie about Hulk, Hal and Daryl to get a few tidbits of information. Look at the big bulletin board and examine the red and white poster. The content of the poster doesn't mean anything to us, but there is a message buried in the border. It says "Side of School." What the heck does that mean? The Teachers Lounge is off the Student Union, but the door is locked and we don't have another key. Just to the left of that door is a board with photos of recent Students of the Month. Wonder if Jake is one of them? Probably not, the way his reputation is shaping up. Maybe they're part of the Nancy Drew Software development team, who knows? To Connie's right is a magazine rack you can look at, and some posters above. The one that seems to matter is about the Men's Judo Tournament sponsored by the Crane School of Self Defense. Let's use the phone before we exit the Union. Close-up once lets us use the phone book. Uh-oh, someone tore out the number for the Pharmacy. Close-up again, then swipe your phone card. Three friends' numbers appear. You have to dial the entire number, even though they are local calls. They don't offer much help, just to go somewhere where there is lots of information. That would probably be the library. Exit the Lounge. Let's look in all directions here. To the left is the Boiler Room door. The code-pad requires knowledge of Braille. Guess we'll find that somewhere.

Looking down the hallway, there is a scrap of paper on the floor. Hey, that's the number to the Pharmacy: 555-DRUG. Up and to the right is another bulletin board. The page you can read contains this odd message: "Student files under lock and key will show the lies of a doctor-to-be." Hmmm. The only student we have met that might become a doctor is Hal Tanaka. What gives? Lies? That's hard to believe. Let's see what's down this hall. Oh! we're back at the entrance. So it is possible to go full-circle, since the hallways from both sides meet at the Study Dome.

In the Library

Go straight, the way we first went, then right, and right again to the student art exhibit. Turn around to find the library entrance. Use Aunt Eloise's key to get into the library. Straight ahead is the desk, where you find a stack of blue forms. There are words highlighted on them that tell you: "Sabotage should cause concern, but with the gloves you will not burn." Back away from the close-up and look right. Move forward to this view:

There are three hotspots in this view: The encyclopedias right in front of you, the map cases against the wall on the right, and the card-catalog above the bookcase. Let's start with the map case.

There are two drawers you can open. The top one has a map with a puzzle hidden under it. It is a "Hidden Word" puzzle. They appear horizontally, vertically, backwards and forwards, and diagonally. The only diagonal clue seems to be "Paseo Del Mar" which runs from lower left to upper right.

I can see: "DINER MURDER HULK CRANE BAD DANGER HARM MAY POEM MITCH NAME JUDO CONNIE MAXINES TASK BOILER VIDEOTAPE JAKE DARYL HAL."

If you think they go in some kind of order, that's up to you. The lower one has a map with a puzzle hidden under it that gives a message. Read the blue letters first, then the green. It says "The bolt cutter you must take, Or you could be the next Jake." We've done that, so should be okay.

Check the card catalogue. Hmmm. Someone was looking for English Essays. Check the bookcase. The upper left (white and green) books do not contain one you can read. The upper center one has a book on fingerprints. The lower center one (red) has a book on Braille. Check the colored letters. The following letters are color-coded: A C D G H I M N O P R S T U. If you sort them out by color and rearrange them, you can spell "Mitch drops a gun." IMPORTANT >--> The upper left (red and white) shelf has a book on Kanji characters. The lower left (green) books have one on Morse code. Again, there are colored letters: A C D E F I N P R T V. If you sort them you can spell "Find VCR Tape."

Turn left and step towards the stairs. You find yourself on the first landing, looking at this plaque:

Robile Moor Rodo?
That's a funny name. What happens if we twist the letters around, anagram style to make it say "Boiler Room Door?" Then maybe the date 6-6-83 will mean something, too.

Actually, if you check those numbers against your phone buttons, you can make them spell the word "Note." Perhaps that means something. Let's go up the left stairway to the second level. Head into the stacks and find the following books: "The Judo Handbook", which describes the Crane style of fighting; "Boiler Operations",which gives some info on the safe operations of boilers; "Dictionary of Handwriting Analysis", and "A Sign of the Times", depicting the numerals and alphabet used in American Sign Language. See the color-coding here, and you can pick out A E J K 2 3 5. "Jake" and some numbers might provide the answer to something.

Don't you just love some of the other titles, especially on the shelf where the boiler book is? "Programming your VCR in 50 easy steps" right next to "Quantum Physics for Novices" and down the line: "Diners to Die For." Funny stuff.

Okay, make your way around the other side to the table and chairs. Look close-up at the table, and you see a yellow notepad with the following message on it:

Now, any Master Detective I've ever met will know how to solve this little gem. It's a substitution code, and an easy one at that. The clue to solving it is right at the top of the page: "The first shall be the last." The alphabet has just been reversed, so that Z=A, Y=B and so on. Translated, it reads "The one with the temper and the Iron Fist is more than a prime suspect on Jake's blackmail list." What's an Iron Fist? A pistol, maybe? Look at that phone number. It says "C.S.S.D. 555-5836." Isn't that the same number from the Judo poster near the gym? And who are C.W and D. G.? Could be Daryl Gray; wonder whom he's seeing? Does C.W. stand for Connie Watson? Funny they hardly admit to knowing eacn other.

Continue around past the study carrels and down the stairs. At the bottom, go right toward the Fiction section. You will find books on Palmistry, Optical Illusions, Violence, Protecting the Manatees, The Zodiac, and way in the back, a book on the meaning of dream symbols. Color-coded letters spell "Don't Run Nancy."

Exit the library and talk with Hulk Sanchez. You find out that Jake and Hal had something going on, and their lockers were adjacent. Talk with Hal and you learn that Hulk was injured recently. Also that Daryl's father was a senator, but his company went bankrupt a few years ago. But Previously, Connie told us Daryl drives a Porsche 911. What's going on here? Talk to Connie. You don't get much out of her. Try the phone. The drug company (555-3784) is temporarily closed due to a depletion of supplies. How odd. For some fun, Tony's Pizza will answer, saying "Heyy! Dis is Tony's a-Pizza. Leave-a you message." Cute. Also try the number on Eloise's card (555-1204) and hear her trying to set up the answering machine. Funny! And if you have the number for the Police (555-4855) Yablonski answers and says "Nancy, quit playing with that phone and get back to work. We have a murder to solve. "

Let's go find Jake's locker and see if we can get into it. What was that about Jake's locker combination and the Phone? Let's see . . . j-a-k-e on the phone comes out 5-2-5-3. Maybe our experience playing Safecracker will come in handy after all. Aha! Let's snoop. On the top shelf is a Judo magazine. In it appears an article about the mysterious masked contestant who won first prize. Who was he? Next to the magazine is a book of English Essays. Remember the card catalogue? This is the book referred to on the card. Next to the book is an empty video-tape box. Looking in the lower part of the locker, we find a box-knife on the floor, and a newspaper article about a recent break-in at the Pharmacy, where some Dianabol was stolen. Take the knife with you.

Click on the school building to approach it, and look for the hotspot on the far right side of the building. It's not a very big spot. just to the right of the lower right window. Remember the clue where it said "Side of School?"

The Teachers' Lounge

The window has one pane that looks like a different kind of glass. Plexiglas maybe. Use the box-knife to make a hole you can reach through and release the window. Hop into the lounge. There is one book in the bookcase you can open. In it is a note with a partial message, in sign language. It says " . . . o was innocent . . . " Below it are some colored circles. Put the red colored letters in the red spots and the black colored letters in the black slots. These two words I assume replace the "o". The message now reads, "Connie Watson was innocent," which can be translated into she didn't kill Jake. (Thanks to Trekkie 1006 for helping solve this one.) Look at the map next to the file cabinet. Across the top and bottom you can read "A trophy was not the only prize; but also money of a greater size."Hmmm. Someone won a trophy and a cash prize. For Judo, maybe? And the sides of the map say C W C W . . . Connie Watson maybe? Was she the masked winner? She is a toughie. In the file cabinet is a folder containing Hal's senior essay. Uh-oh. It looks like Hal copied it right out of that book of English Essays.

Next to the computer, you can find a memo by the telephone. It says: "B-4 U C D N-M-E, X-M-N D L-F-8-R." I read this as "Before you see the enemy, examine the elevator." Wake up the computer by clicking on either the keyboard or the mouse. (How considerate for those people who don't like keyboards!) Type in 'eloise drew' (and press enter) and o wise elder (enter again) to get logged on. For help, click on the question mark. In the file cabinet, notice the librarian is aware of the missing book. In the maintenance part, notice the need to fix the lock on the video lab, and to change the password to the boiler room. In the security section, notice the password for the maintenance room: "NOTE." Click on the printer icon to get a document. Go to the printer to see what came out. At 8:05 an exchange student came to get his homework. Hal maybe? At 8:30 two individuals observed in the video lab. Is the redhead Jake? On the bottom of the page is a form number: BR19LL5.K5YP14 - if you substitute letters for the numbers, it reads "Braille Keypad." Above the printer is a Periodic Table of Chemical Elements. Several elements are highlighted. There are three different colors. Read the red ones backwards to spell search, then the blue to spell behind, and the green letters make boiler. This clue helps when you get stuck in the boiler room. (Thanks again, Trekkie.) Can you hear the Morse Code in the background? I can do Morse Code sort of, but it has to be really slow. If there is a clue or message in the code (of course there is) I can't get that one either. Maybe someone can help with these two clues.

It's optional, but a good idea to go into the boiler room at this time. (Into the front entrance of the school and go right and right again. ) You know the entry code now. Press the buttons in this order:

I know it's a pain, but change to disk 1. Down the elevator, and explore. On the wall is a diagram of the correct Power, Pressure and Temperature settings. Make a note, or a diagram. You will need this information later. Take the gloves out of the tool-box on the floor. Also look around the left of the boiler. There is a ladder (you can't go down, and a plaque on the wall with the number 1967. Is it a date, or a clue? Go back upstairs.

Okay, let's go face Hal about that essay. Ask him about the other students first. Then about cheating. The truth comes out. He was desperate for time, and copied the essay. When Jake found out, he blackmailed Hal into doing all Jake's homework. Be sure you ask him about Hulk's injury. You can ask all three students about the video camera in Jake's locker, but it's not essential.

Talk to Hulk. Ask him about the other students first, then about break-in at the Drug Depot. He's getting cranky, too.

Talk to Connie. Ask her about the other students. Ask her last about the Crane Medallion.

When you talk to Daryl at the Diner, ask him about the break-in at the Pharmacy. Then ask the question that begins "Hal, Hulk and Connie were all involved with Jake." When Daryl tells you about a note some guy left for you, DO NOT choose the first option that says "Pressure the suspects?" If you do that, the note will not be available and you will be stuck in Paseo Del Mar for all eternity. Any other response works correctly.

If the above question does not appear, you are trapped and will either need to replay, or download a saved game. Click Here to download a saved game file called "Nansck2.sav" Put it in the \Program Files\Nancy Drew\Secrets Can Kill folder. It will appear as the third book down on the Load/Save menu, and will be called "Note." The note should appear if you have asked all three students the underlined questions above.

You must get the note, because it is the trigger for the sabotage in the boiler room. Return to the school, go into the boiler room, and discover that someone has adjusted the controls to a dangerous level, and chained them in place. The boiler is overheating and could explode. Use the bolt cutters to remove the chain and reset the power, pressure and temperature to the correct values. The center one is good, leave it alone. Pull the left lever twice, the right one twice, and the left one once more. The boiler cools down.

If by some chance you don't have the bolt cutters, don't worry. You can use the gloves on the padlock to go close-up, and open the lock with the combination you discovered before (1967).

Turn around and find the matchbook with a phone number inside. You recognize it as the pharmacy's number. Whoever sabotaged the boiler was probably connected with all the skullduggery. Exit the boiler room through the grate to the right of the boiler, since the button to the lift has been smashed. Take the video cassette and exit. We need to watch that tape. Where was that VCR? Oh yeah, Eloise's house. Let's go there.

My, Jake was a busy one. He has hard evidence on everybody. Hulk stealing drugs, Connie posing as a boy, Hal copying his prize essay, and what's this? Our little Daryl selling stuff to some sleaze trying to get lung cancer? That must be the mysterious Mitch. I think we better talk with Daryl some more. (If there is a sign on the door, he's not at the diner just now.) Let's try our friends at the school. Talk with Connie and Hulk about being blackmailed. Go back to the diner and talk with Daryl. He realizes he is in trouble and agrees to help you later in the evening. Back to the school and try to get the other kids to help. No-one wants to get involved. Be sure and tell Connie that Daryl is in danger.

Exit, and it is nighttime. Check the Diner and it is closed. Go to the Pharmacy. You see Daryl and Mitch arguing. Mitch pulls his gun, and Connie jumps in to save the day. The gun is knocked from Mitch's grip and you can pick it up. (It sshows up in your inventory.) Hold it in your hand, and be ready to aim it at Mitch (don't forget to click; it doesn't fire the gun, but makes Mitch aware of it.) You have a very short time. If you are late, it's Bye-Bye Nancy. If you get his attention in time, he surrenders, and all's well that ends well. Way to go, Detective. On to the next adventure.

Nancy Drew ~ Secrets Can Kill

Aunt Eloise's House

s f k d

At the Diner

In the School

In the Library

The Teachers' Lounge