The Case of the Reformed Songbird-Conclusion

by HA Senidal

In her dorm room, Molly tried to access her web site on her computer. She glared at the message on the screen that read "Access denied."

"What is going on here?" Molly said.

"A little of our own cyber trickery."

Molly saw Shirley and Bo standing in her room.

"You really should lock your door," Bo said.

Molly muttered something about the repair shop being too slow with her retina camera. "What did you do to my site, Holmes?"

"Our friend Sherlock blocked your access to it," Shirley said.

"Sherlock?" Molly asked.

"He's like you, Molly. An expert hacker. He's also made sure you won't be hacking into the Sawchuks' bank account either."

Molly's blood started to boil. "What do you want, Holmes?"

"We want Madelyn's file," Bo said.

"If you please," Shirley said. "Otherwise, Y ceases to exist tonight."

Molly grumbled and reached into her disk holder. She finally pulled out a blue disk and threw it to Shirley, who caught it. "Here. Thanks to Madelyn's confession at the contest, it's worthless to me." She rose to her feet. "You'll never be able to prove what I did, Holmes," she said. "I can't ruin Bo's life, but once I get my site back-"

"Try anything and Sherlock will give you a virus that'll wipe out your entire hard drive," Shirley said.

Molly gave Shirley a contemptible stare. "Very well, Holmes, but I'll find some way to get you for this. Mark my words."

"We'll be ready for you." Shirley noticed a fax on Molly's bed. Before Molly could stop her, she snatched it off the bed.

"Give that back, Holmes!" Molly said.

Shirley read the fax out loud. "'Dear Molly, I'm sorry we were unable to come to your youth talent contest performance. The business dinner was longer than we expected. Let us know how you did. Love, Mom and Dad.'" She looked at Molly. "So that's who you were looking for at the contest."

To Shirley, it seemed that Molly was about to cry. Instead, Molly stiffened. "You have what you came for, Holmes. Get out."

"Not yet, Molly. I'd like to know more about your one-eyed accomplice," Shirley said.

"Who?"

"You know," Bo said. "Big muscular guy with a patch over his right eye and a buzzcut. Never smiles."

"He left this little message of yours at my house," Shirley said, handing Molly the paper with the eleven lines of "YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR INTERFERENCE, HOLMES."

Molly skimmed the paper. "I never sent this message, and I don't know about any one-eyed man."

"What about the trained falcon?" Bo asked.

"A falcon? Have you two lost it?" Molly stared at them. "I've never employed a one-eyed man nor a trained falcon in my life."

Shirley and Bo looked at each other.

Shirley and Bo met Blake outside the Sussex Academy grounds. "So how did it go?" Blake asked them.

Shirley showed Blake the disk.

"Mission accomplished...Sherlock," Bo said with a smile.

Blake shrugged. "The kids at my old school called me that because I liked mystery stories." He looked at Shirley. "Do I have to give Molly back access to her Y site?"

"I'm afraid so, but I think you can handle her if she tries something," Shirley said.

"No sweat," Blake said with a grin. "I take it this case is closed?"

"Not quite," Bo said. "There seems to be one little problem."

"What would that be?" Blake asked.

"Molly wasn't employing the one-eyed man or the falcon," Shirley said.

"What?" Blake was puzzled. "But if Molly didn't send them, then who did?"

Shirley was quiet. She honestly had no idea.

"Do you find my report satisfactory, my leader?" the one-eyed man asked with a trace of a German accent in his voice. He was standing at attention before his superior. On his left shoulder was a large falcon, which he occasionally petted on the head.

Behind his desk, Mr. E smiled evilly, holding up briefly the folder containing all the data the one-eyed man had collected in Redington. "It is more than satisfactory, my friend. It is excellent, just like your other work."

The one-eyed man bowed his head, with the falcon doing the same. "Thank you, my leader. It is an honor and a privilege to serve you and ENIGMA."

"What is our next move, sir?" the ever-present Nigel asked his master.

Mr. E took out a picture of Shirley taken by the one-eyed man from the folder and looked at it. "We simply watch and wait, my dear Nigel." He continued to study the picture and chuckled evilly. "We simply watch...and wait," he said with a malevolent tone.