Gray liked to call himself "The Head of Security" at Lossett Labs, even though he knew the title was completely fake. He wasn't the head security guard; he was the only security guard. And to be honest, he was pretty bad at his job. For example, when he discovered that Nancy broke into the off-limits laboratory, he did...nothing.

That's right. He didn't ask her how she broke into the lab, which would have been good to know. He didn't bother to take away her keycard to the lab, which left her free to reenter whenever she wanted. All he did was add her to the list of people he hated. Or, at least, he tried to. Gray was so distracted with thoughts of binary code that he that he accidentally added Nancy to his Christmas Card list instead.

Speaking of Nancy, she had made a lot of progress with the mystery. Thirteen chapters of progress to be exact. She decided that was enough work for her day in Colorado. Nancy yawned and headed for the lounge for a late night snack. She opened up the cupboard and pulled out a bag which was surprisingly empty.

"Hey, who ate all of my chips?" Nancy asked. Frowning slightly, she decided to skip eating and go directly to bed. The next morning, after she woke up, she got a phone call from Deirdre Shannon.

Why is she calling me? Nancy wondered. The last time she checked, Deirdre didn't like her. In fact, the last time the two talked, Deirdre had dumped a bowl of guacamole upside-down on Nancy's head.

"Hey there, Nancy Drew," Deirdre said. "Are you in Colorado, by any chance?"

"You...how did you know?"

Deirdre smirked. Pretty much everyone knew Nancy was in Colorado; after all, Nancy's last tweet had been "Arrived in Colorado. Solving a mystery about deadly devices." But Deirdre didn't need Twitter to follow the unimportant minutia of Nancy's life, because Deirdre was personally connected to the case.

"Victor Losset is a friend of my dad's," Deirdre said. "Last week, he asked me for a reference for you."

"And you gave him a good review?" Nancy asked. She had no idea she owed her current job to Deirdre. "That's...uncharacteristically nice of you."

"It was? Well, whatever. Don't get used to it."

"Wait! Aren't you taking some kind of criminal detective class that gives you total access to police records?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah...so?" Deirdre said.

"So, that's a huge coincidence which is super convenient for me!" Nancy said. "Since the police in Colorado routinely open up their murder investigations to college students in other states, you can get some information for me!"

"Did you forget that I don't like you?" Deirdre sighed.

"No, but...it could help you with your class, and maybe someday I could return the favor!"

"Oh, gee, a vague promise, with the word someday attached to it. Sounds too tempting to ignore. Yet, here I go!"

Deirdre hung up, leaving Nancy to wonder why she bothered calling in the first place.