Now, I'm pretty sure I know what you're thinking at this point: who the heck is Mindy, and how do I know her? Well, there's quite a bit to that story, but I'll give you the basics while we head on over to her house.

Mindy Meyer is another friend of mine. She moved to Royal Woods from North Dakota and popped herself into our friend group just when we were wrapping up elementary school. We found her a little overbearing at first, but she won us over before too long. She was really happy about this, since she really grew attached to me. In fact, she said I was the closest friend she ever had since she moved. There's a reason for that, but I don't think she'd like it if I talked about it so openly. Besides, it's not really relevant to the case.

What is relevant is that her father, Marcus, happens to be a radio show host. It's mostly political commentary and stuff, so I'm not entirely sure why Incognito Labs would be relevant to him. Granted, I'm not super into politics myself (though I did help my sister Leni run a political campaign that one time), so maybe I'm completely off-base here. We'll find out the full story soon enough.

We arrived at Mindy's house, and she was right outside waiting for us. She was dressed in her usually blue blouse, and her red hair was tied into two pigtails. Standing right next to her was her little brother, Milo. Not that you could tell at first glance. The moment was walked up to the house, all anyone could see was a little tuft of blond hair peeking behind Mindy's back. That completely tracks. Milo is very shy, and a bunch of journalists and a detective walking up to him is probably not something he's comfortable with.

"Hey there, Mindy," I said with a somber nod.

"Hey," Mindy mumbled back. She then sighed. "Thanks for answering my call. Mom went out to file a Missing Person report, but your Action News Team has uncovered a lot of mysteries. I figured you guys could help, too."

"Well, of course," said Stella. "It's good that you called when you did. This actually might be tied into…"

Mindy then raised her hand and looked up. "Sorry to interrupt, but I wanna get this outta the way," she said, pointing at Ginny. "Who's this?"

…

Oh, right. Almost forgot Ginny was still with us. Luckily, Ginny was more than willing to introduce herself.

"Name's Virginia O'Donnell, private eye and professional nerd," she said. She then looked over Mindy with her magnifying glass. "Y'know, if this is too heavy for whatever reason, you can send your brother to another room or something."

There was a small squeak from behind Mindy and Milo poked his head out. "H-how'd you know I was there?" he whimpered.

Ginny gave Milo a soft smile. "I'm a detective. I pick up on these things. You doing okay, little guy?"

Milo twiddled his fingers. "N-not really. It's very… scary. I don't know what happened to my dad."

Sheesh. I can only imagine how Mindy's taking this if Milo is this shaken up. Mindy has always been a strong-willed girl, but I've seen her break down before, and it's not pretty.

"So, your mom went to file a missing person report and left you and Milo all alone?" Zach asked, raising an eyebrow. "That doesn't seem safe."

Mindy smiled. "I insisted. I wanted to reach out to you guys, and i couldn't really do that if Milo and I were with her at the police station. Besides, I can hold down the fort."

I have to wonder how much of that is just her putting on a brave face for Milo. I don't doubt her capabilities; Mindy is a pretty tough cookie. But considering what we're dealing with, toughness can only get you so far.

"Well, maybe some of us can spend time with Milo while you tell us what happened," I suggested.

"That sounds like a fine idea," said Liam. "Wouldn't wanna spook this little critter anymore."

Mindy thought for a moment and then nodded. "Yeah, I get what you're saying. Come on in; I'll give you the whole story."

Stella, Liam, and Rusty took Milo to his room while the rest of us sat with Mindy in the living room. I kinda get that it may seem a bit childish to be sitting around a coffee table with juice boxes instead of tea or something, but I'm sure this is all Mindy could put together at the last minute. Besides, nothing wrong with juice boxes. I've got plenty at my house.

"Let's start from the beginning," I said. "When exactly did your dad go missing?"

"It just happened a few hours ago," said Mindy. "He got a phone call in the middle of his broadcast. I don't know who it was, but whatever they said, it prompted him to leave the house. When he didn't come back, Mom tried to call his phone."

She then shivered and averted her eyes. "I didn't hear that conversation, either, but I was watching her make the call from the living room. I still remember that terrified look on her face."

"And that's when she went to the police?" Clyde asked, writing in his notepad.

Mindy nodded. "Yep. Like I said, I convinced her to let me hold down the fort with Milo while I called you guys. You know the story after that."

Hmm. That's honestly not a lot to go on. It sounds incredibly sketchy, sure, but on the surface, nothing really ties this to Incognito Labs. Zach, however, was quick to try and find that connection.

"Tell me, what was your dad talking about on that last broadcast?" he asked.

Mindy pouted and furrowed her brow. "Well, he was interested in your piece on Incognito Labs; I know that much. It's not really his usual topic, but I dunno. What you said about journalists trying to get to the truth must've really inspired him."

"That was the idea," Zach said proudly.

Ginny hummed and twirled her magnifying glass in her hand. "Is there any way we can hear this broadcast?"

Mindy thought for a moment. "Well, I'm usually not allowed to go snooping around in his studio, but I think this is a special circumstance. C'mon, let's find out."

She then led us upstairs and over to a small soundproof room off to the side. The first thing I noticed was that his laptop was still open on his desk. It had long since gone to sleep, so I think it's safe to say we can't get into it easily.

"You wouldn't happen to know the password to that laptop, would you?" asked Clyde.

Mindy let out a dry chuckle. "Nope. Never really had a reason to; I'm not into politics like he is. Besides, he'd probably kill me if I started messing with his stuff."

Well, this is tricky. I'm sure the information we need is on that laptop, but without the password, we can't get into it. And I'm not seeing any sticky notes or reminders anywhere. Then again, Mindy has a point. I'm sure her dad would not like us poking around his personal files. Maybe there's a less invasive way to…

"Try 'ThisIsABadPassword'," Ginny piped up.

…

Excuse me?

"What makes you think it's that?" Mindy asked.

"Your father strikes me as someone who does not trust authority," Mindy mused. "This setup is obviously minimalistic, because he chose to set it up himself and not rely on a team of technicians and engineers."

I looked around, and yeah, I kinda see what Ginny's getting at. The soundproof material on the wall seems to be homemade. Also, there's no real sound booth or anything you'd expect to find in a professional studio. It looks like Marcus's show really is a one-man operation. Still, there has to be more to it than that.

"I'm still not following you here," said Clyde, scratching his head. "What about Mr. Meyer working by himself makes you think his password is… 'ThisIsABadPassword'?"

"Simple. A man working by himself loves finding creative solutions to problems," explained Ginny. "And one big problem: passwords nowadays are too easy to crack. Randomly generated numbers and letters are child's play for hackers to figure out through brute force. It's actually safer to have your password be something that a hacker isn't looking for. They're expecting random numbers and letters; not a sentence that serves as a clever joke."

…

We were all just… dumbfounded. I'll be the first to say that I honestly don't remember Ginny being like this. Then again, the only time I've interacted with her was when I was kidnapped by her father.

"You seriously got all that from my dad's low production values?!" Mindy asked, her eyes wide with wonder.

"Sure did," said Ginny. She then pointed with her magnifying glass. "Plus, it explains why he hid said password on the underside of his desk."

…

Y'know, you could've led with that, Ginny. Though to be fair, this is in-character for the Ace Savvy antihero Gin Rummy Prime. He does tend to insist on walking people through his train of thought rather than just jumping to the answer.

We all shared a shrug as Zach walked up to the computer and typed in the password. Just as Ginny said, we got in with no problem. He then managed to find an audio file that was recorded two hours ago. Let's see what it says.

"Let's just jump right into today's episode, because frankly, I am appalled! I'm telling you, that Zach Gurdle kid was onto something when he said someone needs to look into Incognito Labs. The official news outlets try to follow up on the story, and what happens? Their star reporter is kidnapped! On the air, no less! That's what I took from the news last night; I don't know about you all!

"Now, I know followers of mine are used to me saying that the free market should decide everything, and that regulation stifles creativity, and all of that. But there has to be some form of accountability here! Who is this Incognito Labs working for? And why is it so secretive that they have to silence hard-working journalists just to keep stuff under wraps? It's an affront to the Freedom of the Press! No matter how uncomfortable the truth is, the public has a right to kn…

"Seriously?! This is a closed set! Ugh, hang on, folks; I have to take this."

And that's where the file ended. It looks like we might have a clearer picture of what happened.

"Wow. I didn't expect your dad to take my call-to-arms so seriously," said Zach.

"Neither did I," Mindy said with a shrug. "But we still don't know about what happened in that phone call."

"I have a working theory," Ginny mused. "Tell me, when your dad left, did he seem agitated at all?"

"Um, yeah. Actually, I think he was absolutely livid," said Mindy. "At least, that's what my mom said."

Ginny nodded. "Just as I thought. Someone from Incognito Labs threatened him. From his tone in the episode, I suspect he's not the type to take threats lightly. He left intending to go straight to this mysterious blackmailer and give them a piece of his mind. Little did he realize he was playing right into their hands."

"Wouldn't that require him knowing who was calling him and where to find them?" Clyde asked.

"I didn't say it was a perfect theory," Ginny admitted. "Without knowing who was on the other end of that phone call, we can't be certain."

"And we've got no way of finding that out," Zach added. "Looks like this is a bit of a dead end."

"For now," said Ginny. "But I think it's important to keep this in mind for later."

"Agreed," I said. I then turned to Mindy. "Don't worry, Mindy. The Action News Team is on the case. We'll find your dad, and Katherine Mulligan, too."

Mindy smiled. "I knew I could count on you, Lincoln."

"One more thing before we go," said Ginny. "Your father seems to have very… strong political views. What are his feelings about Mayor Davis?"

Mindy's smile vanished. "He's… not her biggest fan. Then again, he has a very negative view on government and stuff. Why?"

"Just a hunch," Ginny said with a shrug.

I think I have a guess what that hunch is, and I'm glad Ginny kept that to herself. If Marcus Meyer found out about Thomas Cutler's story on Mayor Davis and Incognito Labs, he'd be all over that story, which is all the more reason Incognito Labs would want him to keep quiet. But I don't think Mindy needs to know about all that at this stage. We have to pick and choose how we share our information.

"Speaking of Mayor Davis, I think that's our next stop," said Zach.

Mindy raised an eyebrow. "You think she's part of all this?"

"Again, it's a hunch," I said. "This is honestly a lot bigger than just your dad going missing. But we intend to get to the bottom of it."

Mindy's brow creased as she folded her arms. "I guess so. I think I might keep my ear to the ground. If there's anything else I can do to help you guys find my dad, just call me."

"We'll keep that in mind," I said with a nod.

We then regrouped with the rest of the team and started our journey over to the mayor's office. This is starting to become something of a pattern. First the official news studio; and now a small-scale radio show. Incognito Labs obviously does not want people talking about them. But like Zach said, they need to be talked about. And yes, I am kinda worried they might go after us eventually. But Mr. Meyer had a good point. Freedom of the Press is important. And we can't have a bully like Incognito Labs silence us and push us around.