Close Encounters (Nancy Drew (All New) Girl Detective Book 21) Read Online Free PDF Page A

the far end of the counter.
    While I was watching, Winnie rang up the sale, said good-bye to her guests, and noted something in an accounting book next to the cash register. Winnie seemed like such an open, pleasant person, I found it hard to believe she’d have problems with a business partner. She started keying something into the computer. Then she frowned, jiggled the mouse, and poked some keys a few times. “Not again!” she said, pounding her fist on the counter.
    She turned toward our table. “George. The whole system just crashed—for the third time today!” She sounded on the verge of tossing the whole machine out the café window.
    “Not to worry!” George hurried over to the counter. Bess and I followed.
    As I leaned over the counter to watch George, I knocked a loose-leaf book off the counter. “Sorry!” I bent to pick it up. The rings inside the binder had snapped open, and a few sheets had fallen out. As I reinserted them into the binder, I saw they were recipes: some neatly typed, others handwritten on paper yellowing with age.
    I handed the book back to Winnie. “It’s okay, Nancy,” she said. She put the book on a shelf behind the counter. “I shouldn’t have left it there. Any chance I get, I’m trying to enter my recipes onto the computer.” She shook her head in dismay. “Probably all of the info I put in today—bookkeeping, recipes, whatever—is lost. I hadn’t backed it up yet.”
    “You’re in luck. George can retrieve almost anything,” Bess said.
    “If I can get it up and running.” George was half talking to herself as she tried to get the blank screen to come to life.
    “Is it serious?” I asked, peering over George’s shoulder at the screen.
    George didn’t answer. She continued to press a few keys. Suddenly the screen flickered to life.
    “All right!” George started to smile, then she groaned as the screen filled with rows of gibberish and nonsense characters. A moment later a leering animated cartoon face appeared on the screen and let out a mocking laugh.
    “What’s that?” Winnie asked.
    “I have no idea,” George said. “But one thing’s for sure. Someone’s hacked into your system big-time.”

5
A Tempting Offer
    H acked in?” Winnie pulled up a stool and sat down heavily.
    “Who would do this to you?” Bess asked.
    “And why?” I wondered.
    George tapped on some keys while thinking out loud. “This looks like a pretty sophisticated job,” she said.
    “So you can’t fix it?” Winnie seemed close to tears.
    “I didn’t say that.” George kept her focus on the screen. “It’ll just take some time.” She kept drumming her fingers on the keyboard, thinking. “Here’s a thought. Maybe we’re jumping to conclusions. Maybe the hacking isn’t just aimed at Winnie’s machine.”
    “Maybe it’s some kind of glitch caused by the UFOs—or whatever they are,” Bess said.
    “Or someone playing a prank—knowing half the town would suspect UFOs were behind any tech breakdown,” I suggested.
    “I’ll check it out,” George said, retrieving her backpack from our table. She took out her laptop and switched it on. It booted right up. George tested a couple of programs, went online, then looked up from her screen. “It’s fine. The problem’s limited to your system after all,” she told Winnie.
    “It figures.” Winnie blew out her breath. “The way everything’s been going lately around here, I’m beginning to feel jinxed.”
    “Jinxed?” I repeated. My mind catapulted back to Sarah Conway’s mention of Winnie’s troubles.
    Winnie gave an embarrassed laugh. “There are probably reasonable explanations . . .”
    “For . . . ?” George said, encouraging her.
    “Lots of little problems have been cropping up at the café,” Winnie explained. “I’m not even sure they’re connected. The ovens broke down last week, and somehow the baking powder and flour containers got mislabeled, and we had to throw out a whole evening’s