“Then what are you doing here now, after school hours?” Friedbinder asked.
Phyllis stepped forward. “There was a message on my answering machine, saying that someone was going to sabotage the computer system this evening. I thought it was probably a crank call, but I couldn’t take the chance that it wasn’t on the level. I collected Dana, and we came right over.”
“Just in time to see the hard disk erase itself,” said Nancy. “Mr. Friedbinder, I think you have some explaining to do.”
“What!” he cried. “I—I—you’re in on this, too!” he sputtered.
“You know that’s a lie,” said Nancy, facing Friedbinder squarely.
Just then, a breathless Harrison Lane rushed into the office. “What on earth is happening here?” he asked.
“Ms. Drew seems to have lost her mind completely,” said Friedbinder. “Either that, or these three have induced her to join their sordid scheme.”
Turning to Nancy, Lane asked, “What is he saying?”
“He’s upset because I’ve accused him of being the phantom grade-changer,” Nancy told him, her eyes still on the headmaster. “Which he is.”
“What!” cried Harrison Lane.
“You can’t prove anything,” Friedbinder said at the same time. “Those records are completely lost. Erased.”
“No, not really,” said Dana. “At the end of each workday, the contents of the computer’s hard disk are automatically copied into a high-capacity tape cartridge. That way, no matter what happens, you can’t lose more than one day’s work. I’m surprised at you, Walter. Obviously you didn’t finish reading the user’s manual I provided.”
“Would those include a record of when and from where the command to erase the hard disk was entered?” Nancy asked.
Dana smiled. “Yes, they would.”
“I bet I can access those files right now,” said Victor, leaving the room.
“I find this hard to believe,” Lane put in. “Why would a man in Walter’s position do such a thing?”
“Greed,” Nancy suggested.
“I’ll sue you!” Friedbinder shouted. “You’d better watch your step, Ms. Drew!”
Victor returned to the office. “I won’t be able to get those records tonight. It’ll take too long.”
“That’s because there’s nothing to get,” said Friedbinder. “You have nothing on me.”
“I wouldn’t call these nothing,” said Nancy, pulling the yellow sheet of paper, the newspaper clipping, and the pad of computer notes from her pocket. “ ‘Sally Lane, one thousand dollars . . .’ ”
All the color drained from Walter Friedbinder’s face as Nancy read the list of students and the amounts he’d gotten from each of them. “Where did you get that?” he sputtered, his face purple. Without waiting for an answer, he lunged toward Nancy.
Nancy was ready for him, but before he reached her, Victor butted his shoulder into the headmaster’s chest. Friedbinder went flying backward and landed on the floor.
Harrison Lane examined Nancy’s evidence. “I don’t think we’ll be needing computer records,” he said. “You’ll be hearing from the board’s lawyer in the morning.”
“This is an outrage!” cried Friedbinder, climbing to his feet.
“No. Fraud, arson, extortion—those are outrages,” replied Lane.
Friedbinder flashed a furious gaze at Nancy. “I was on easy street,” he said, puffing his chest out arrogantly. “I had those kids so scared I knew they’d never tell anyone what was going on. And who would they blab to, anyway? Me, that’s who.” He let out a short, disdainful laugh. “Everything was going great—until you came along.”
His face red, he sneered, “If I’d had my way, you would have died in that fire, Nancy Drew! I planned to set it before you showed up. When I heard you go in early, I figured I might as well get you, and the evidence, out of the way at once. It was easy to pour that gasoline around the door without your hearing—you were so involved.”
“You mean, you were trying to kill Nancy?” Victor gasped. Grabbing the headmaster’s right arm, he twisted it behind his back, as if to ensure he wouldn’t try to make a run for it.
“Don’t worry, Victor,” Nancy told him. “Friedbinder’s not going anywhere for a long, long time.”
Chapter Sixteen
At lunchtime the next day Nancy walked into Phyllis Hathaway’s office. Phyllis, Dana, and Victor had been working there all morning, trying to retrieve the school’s erased files.