--- Chapter Seven ---
Meanwhile, back at the band room—
The police and Mr. Neller were making their last rounds, trying to scrape up any last bit of evidence they could find. "I suppose that's about it," Neller said after their sixty-fourth time around the area.
"Yeah. We'll be back again tomorrow to do a more thorough investigation," one of the police officers said. (Neller vaguely wondered exactly how much more thorough they could get.) As they walked out the door, the police officer added, "Oh, yeah… and tell your kids to pick up their socks. The dogs were passing out."
"See you tomorrow," Neller said as he watched them leave. Sighing, he turned around and headed back toward the lounge. This whole thing was giving him a killer migraine — he'd have to go get an ice cream pretty soon…
But, just as he was about to pack up and leave, Neller saw a strange light coming from his office. Frowning, he walked toward it. Probably, one of the police officers turned something on and left it like that. Neller opened the door…
And there, completely oblivious to all around it, the computer was on! Its screensaver was flashing various colors merrily, like a Christmas tree turned up to the highest power possible. Neller grumbled a bit, knowing that the techies were going to get on his and Veterson's cases for not enabling the sleep mode. He shook the mouse a bit to wake it up…
Suddenly, Neller's eyes widened and his brows knit together. "What in the world…?" he murmured, staring at the open program.
Numbers. Lines and lines of numbers, and they definitely did not look like marching drill. (Either that, or it was the weirdest drill Neller had ever seen in his thirty years of teaching.) No, it almost looked like they were in some sort of pattern… But what kind of pattern, Neller didn't know. He was a band instructor, not a math professor, after all.
Neller frowned. What kind of code was this? He quickly saved the document and, after thinking for a moment, reached for his cell phone…
Meanwhile, back at the hospital—
Mr. Donson yelped as his cell phone suddenly went off. The Mrs. glared at him, while Veterson rolled his eyes and hoped against hope that this was all a dream and that they'd be gone in the next three seconds.
"Yee'ello," Mr. Donson said into the cell phone.
"Hey, Donson? It's Neller. You've read 'The Da Vinci Code,' haven't you?"