As soon as Bruce left the hidden passages, his phone beeped. Checking the phone immediately, he saw that there was a message from Alfred, sent five minutes ago. Apparently, the passages served as a dead zone for cell phone reception. Who knew?

Alfred's message was short and to the point.

Here are the requested dossiers. Everyone currently at Castle Wickford has a criminal record.

Bruce sighed. It couldn't be easy, could it? Just once, he'd like a case with an obvious culprit.

Bruce skimmed the list of suspects.

Jacques Brunais. Six years ago, he stunned the world by winning a gold medal at the Olympics, for his superb skiing skills. Two years ago, he returned to the Olympics and humiliated himself by falling flat on his face, at the starting line. After a month of being the punchline for late night comics, he had fled his home country of France and was now here in America.

Jacques' crime? He was in the country illegally, given that his visa had recently expired. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had sent him a letter, to which he had not yet responded.

Lisa Ostrum. Caught using a fake ID on two occasions, the second of which coincided with a breaking and entering charge. She claimed it was all part of her job as a photojournalist, and the charges had been dropped after she had made a private deal with the victim.

Dexter Egan. Fifty years ago, he had been sentenced to twenty years in prison, for stealing from his adoptive father, Ezra Wickford. Requests to be let off early for good behavior were denied. Upon release, Egan moved to Las Vegas, where he worked as a bouncer for decades. That explains the way he treats the castle guests, Bruce thought to himself.

Professor Beatrice Hotchkiss. Scholar of French history. She had physically attacked a colleague, at the Joon Egyptology Conference. The colleague claimed she was insane, while she claimed that she was merely wrestling him for possession of a rare artifact. No charges were filed, as she was given a lifetime ban from Egyptology conferences, which was more than enough punishment.

Lastly, Nancy Drew. Her file was the longest. Apparently, she made quite a name for herself as an amateur detective, solving mysteries in her hometown of River Heights. She had recently branched out to working cases in other states, such as the murder of Jake Rogers in Paseo Del Mar, Florida, and a bomb threat against TV star Rick Arlen, in New York.

Last month, Nancy had been accused of attempted murder in San Francisco. She had dropped an antique chandelier on another person's head, almost killing them. Nancy had defended herself, saying that the victim was actually an accomplished criminal, who was attempting to escape with a fortune in stolen gold. She was only trying to stop them, and besides, she hadn't been thinking clearly, due to a recent head wound. The police had let her off with a warning, accepting her claim that these were extenuating circumstances.

Bruce wasn't so sure. He knew firsthand what it was like, when someone decided to take the law into their own hands. What if Nancy Drew had made the transition from stopping crimes to committing them?

Nancy showed clear signs of kleptomania, as she stole everything she could get her hands on, over the course of her "investigations". What if her work as a detective was merely a cover for something more sinister? Bruce had dealt with dirty cops before. They took hefty bribes, in exchange for looking the other way whenever crimes were committed. And whenever someone couldn't afford to pay? They would soon be arrested. Were the criminals Nancy caught actually her former partners in crime, who she had turned against?

Not to mention, it was unlikely that someone, even a professional detective, would come across so many cases, by pure chance. Perhaps Nancy Drew was committing crimes and framing others for them, in order to boost her own reputation.

Yes, Nancy Drew was clearly the prime suspect, in this case. Bruce would be sure to keep a close eye on her.