Nancy Drew ~ Stay Tuned for Danger

"My Sweetheart, "Here is a symbol of my love for you. You are an angel sent from heaven to guide me and to give me hope. I love you and send you hugs and kisses."

Underneath that table is a newspaper suggesting that the ratings will drop if Rick leaves the show. The Producer didn't sound too thrilled about that, either. Check out the vanity to see what color lipstick Mattie likes. It looks a little mashed. Look on the top of the mini-fridge and open the letter to see the hidden-word puzzle:

Some of the clues read in reverse, and some are vertical. You can look at the other dressing-table and cosmetic chest, but there is nothing to do there. Go to the other side of the room, where the large chest of drawers is, and see the can letter on top, and the medallion in the jewelry box that is inscribed around the edge:

Then look in the other box to find a torn note. It is not a slider, more of a jigsaw. Rotate the pieces by placing the cursor at the upper right corner of a piece, so they are all right-side-up, then re-order them to re-assemble the note. When you get it right, it snaps together. Maybe it's from Mattie or maybe it's to Mattie - we can't tell yet.

Talk to Rick about everything. He's got a bit of an ego, but hey - he is an actor after all.

Taking those numbers from the packing slip yields this message:

ESCAPE
HARM
SOUND
ALARM

Back at the entrance, you can see that the On Air sign is turned off, there is a vacuum door-seal override, and a fire alarm. Don't get cute and pull that fire alarm unless you want a security guard to appear. If you don't have a good reason to sound the alarm, it's Game Over, toots. Okay, go back and talk to Mattie. She is upset. Talk to Rick about the chocolates, truth, and the letters. He leaves, and you can poke around his room. Look on the green sofa. There is a box or Sorpresa Chocolates, and behind it a "loath-note" based on a famous poem by Janes Joyce. Someone has changed the wording. On top of the stereo is a broken watch and a note made from cut-out letters. "Your Time is Running Out" sort of like the message on the teleprompter. Check out the vanity to see he really has an ego; then look on the top of the nini-fridge. There are three thing there; two more cut-out notes signed this time by B. T. Kaisuur, and most important, a photo with a very jealous note. Is it written in lipstick? Look in the drawer. In the front is a photo to look at, and in the rear is a pair of 3-D glasses. Take them. To the right is the sink; with another cut-out note. Turn around and go to the dresser. On top is another note from the same typewriter, and a box of roses that apparently just arrived. Open the box. Eeeeww! They're dead! To the left, find another note on top and one in the drawer. Looks like she's really able to keep tabs on Rick. All around the room are framed magazine covers attesting to Rick's (Rory's) popularity. That's all here.

Go around the far corridor and knock on the Prop Room. The lady inside is Millie Strathorn. She says you aren't permitted in the prop room unless you are permitted in the prop room. Huh? I think she should send out for some oxygen. Go see the director, Lillian Weiss. Miss Congeniality she isn't! She takes away your pass. Can't get far without a pass. Go home and see if Mattie has any suggestions. She comes up with an idea - get hired by her agent, Dwayne Powers, and regain access to the set as an extra. Hollywood, here we come!

Look just to the right of the harp to find a map. Around the edge it says

"When gates are locked
And paths are blocked,
Then look for other ways.
The answer lies beneath your feet
To this perplexing maze."

Be sure you find the wire-cutters under the right side of the map.

Now click on the chest below the harp. A "Towers of Hanoi" puzzle is revealed. For instructions, look close-up at the brass plaque. Solve the puzzle and receive the hour-hand that belongs to the clock on-stage. (If you enjoy the Towers of Hanoi, you can replay the puzzle for fun. Look left and take a doorknob from the box. You just never know when a doorknob will come in handy. (In fact, it will let you back into the Prop Room at night, when Millie takes the master doorknob home with her.) Further left are three shelves you can look at. See the gargoyle, a birdhouse, a diving helmet, and in-between the clock and a box, this crossword puzzle. You can't actually solve it on screen, but the words are pretty obvious.
 

ACROSS 1.FOUND 5.THREATS 6.TRAP 7.WRATH 10.CLOCK 11.LOCK 13.BROKEN DOWN 2.DEATH 3.LOST 4.BEWARE 7.WATCH 8.BOMB 9.CLUE 12.KEY

You can blow on the bagpipe, just for fun. Further left is a locked cage. To its right are some shelves to examine. Open the mailbox and read the letter to Millie. Straight ahead is a fireman's helmet from the STFD. Cute. On the left of the cage, one shelf contains an oil can you can take, and a diary. If you looked closely at the map, you saw it was a chart of the round-the-world of M. Strathorn in the 1790's. Here you will find a page from his diary. Neat Stuff. Look at the other shelves, then go to the desk.
 

While you are at the typewriter. look at the keyboard. Some letters are a different color, as if they've been used a lot, maybe. E, R, T, I, A, H, K, C. They can be rearranged to spell "HATE RICK."
 

Open the log book on the left side of the desk. Inside the front cover is a page in code. Use the decoder chart above to figure out what it says.   "Many pages come before this In the Log Book with a clue, But nothing comes after this, Unless it's written in the glue."

Huh? I think Millie's been sniffing the glue. Now look at the page on the other side. You can look at both the top and bottom of the page. It seems some interesting props were signed out for today, Friday the thirteenth. Hacksaw, mask, police tape to name a few. Check the paper sticking out to see a list of missing items. Even more interesting: fake beard, spirit gum (that's for sticking on fake beards) 3D glasses (we know where those are) and a tape recorder. Somebody's up to something alright.
 

Now look at the top right corner of the log book to get a close-up view, and pick up the corner. Someone has written something there - possibly a password? It says "Millie WWB1958."

Exit the prop room. My goodness. We were in the Prop Room so long it is after hours and everyone has left. Talk to Mattie before you leave. Exit by way of the Talent Exit, around the far corridor past Rick's room and go home.

Look at the bookshelf. Didn't the list of missing props include a pair of maracas? Hmmm. Over to the desk. The Rolodex is open to a card belonging to Ms Teri Gaime. Could be pronounced "Mystery Game." Cute. Look at the fax. See the words in italics? Read them vertically. It says "A bitter hoax tainted with hate is a secret revenge from a previous date." Look in the top left drawer and see the bottle of rubber cement. Just the thing I would use to create a ransom-style note of cut-out letters. While you are right there, look in the wastebasket. Uh-ohhhh! Do you think Lillian wrote that hate-poem? Look up at the bookshelf and open the book on Anger Management. Take the computer disk. Go toward the printer and close-up on the date-book. he rescheduled yesterday's appointment. Was she too busy doing other things? Who is Moira Cunningham? How could Lillian have time to go to lunch at Chez Pierre on a day they shoot an episode? Did she know the studio would get closed early?

That numerical message on the lower left page says "Life is Like a Box of Chocolates." Look closely at the notepad next to the in/out box. Take the pencil and rub it, revealing a phone number for the chocolate company. Make a note: 555-5469. You can look in the container of floppy disks and see what they're about. Lillian was pretty organized, that's all. Back away and look at the bulletin board above the computer. Lillian had proposed some changes to the layout of the set. Look in the lower left drawer and find the Castor Oil. Pretty horrid tasting stuff, if I recall. Wouldn't do at all to soak someone's chocolates in that, would it? Okay, let's have a look at the computer. Before you actually log in, notice the post-it note on the right. It says, "Thorns and petals of demise are a bitter reflection of one's envy and despise." That wouldn't have anything to do with dead roses, would it? Let's log in. We aren't long on passwords here, so try the one you found in the prop room: Millie/wwb1958. Bravo - you're in! Well, there's not a whole lot here. The filing cabinet wants an employee I.D. number which we don't have, the Maintenance folder doesn't tell us very much, but it does have some names. More later, maybe. The help is just that - help. The key - oh, here's something useful. Entry codes to various areas. The control room's code is actor, but the keypad was in funny symbols. Read all the e-mail. The floppy drive isn't available. Wait a minute - we have a disk let's log out, put that disk in the drive and log back on. The plot thickens - here is a letter to Rick exposing Lillian's feelings. (Like she has feelings!) Before you check out of the computer, print out the document. Go read it. It is a list of incidents involving Rick Arlen.

Go to the back of the control room and open the electric box with the key you just obtained. Turn on the power. Look right to find the audio equalizer. Use the cassette tape that came from Rick's bomb (they made you a copy, remember?) and adjust the controls to hear it better. Try turning the voice (Ch. 1) volume down and the other two up, one at a time. The background noises suggest that the tape was made nearby. The quality never gets perfect, but you can understand the words. "Hello, Rick. Don't try to leave the room. The doors are locked. Didn't you get my first warning? Somewhere in this room is an explosive device that will blow your body to smithereens . . . (unintelligible)" Use the Power button to exit the machine. Swing back around to the shelves, and pick up the video from Security. Look at the Whiteboard. A faint message says "Light reveals what is hidden in the darkness; but you must first unlock the power of the light." [Optional - you can play with the sound-effects board at the far end of the room. It's comparable with the jukebox in Secrets Can Kill - fun, but not much help.]

Find that corrugated cabinet on the wall by the catwalk control. Unlock it with the same key, and turn on the generator. Move the levers thus: top once, middle once, top once, bottom all the way to the right. You should hear the generator start. Push the button on the motor to engage the machinery. Go to the stage and find the trap door at the end of the sofa. Now it is open, and ready for use. (All major stages have elevators in the floor, usually big enough for a 9-foot grand piano.) Go down, find the other end, and go up. You are in the Prop Room Cage. Go forward and look at the shirt pocket. Two big things here: the name Owen Spayder (we saw that in the temp's list in the computer) and the I.D. number - also wanted by the computer.) And the shirt-sleeve is torn. Must Be Important. Go to the refreshment area and look at the wheel that operates the catwalk ladder. It is stuck; would it help to oil it? Yes! Go up the ladder and explore. You will find a piece of material torn from someone's shirt near one of the lights. Looks like Spayder had something to do with the lights. Well, he is a stage hand, after all.

Let's go back to the computer. By the way, see if "Owen W. Spayder" is an anagram. Twist the letters around to spell another name.

Log in and click on the filing cabinet. Put in Spayder's Employee I.D. Don't use any spaces or hyphens, so it looks like 318672001. Hey! it looks like every time something happened to Rick, Spayder was on the set. The times correspond to those on the sheet you found in the printer. Exit, and go to the Powers Agency. Look at the right side of the doorbells, and ring Hess Grumbly. He lets you in because He was expecting a pizza.

Look in the desk. Start in the middle, that's always where the best stuff is. Hmmm - a container of Spirit Gum. I remember that; good for sticking on beards, mustaches and eyebrows. Oh - an airline ticket to Rio (good only in conjunction with pax . . . who? ($35.00 - must be a frequent flyer.) He keeps a doorknob in the lower right drawer. If you didn't notice, Millie takes the prop-room doorknob home with her at night. The lower right drawer has a bunch of stuff. Look at the authors on the cover of the book: "Amanda Watch, Ima Delusion, ND Kant-Hyde" Cute. Pronounce them A man to watch; I'm a delusion; ND Can't Hide. Look at the clipboard. Phone numbers (you won't need them), a diagram for making a bomb, and a cryptic message. Use your handy decoder above to translate it

"One will come and one will go
Never the two of their faces show,
Follow one to find another,
Catch the first, you've caught the other!

Look in the filing cabinet. Be sure to check all the papers in each file. Also look at the things on the table with the fax machine. Leave here, go home and switch to daytime. Head over to the studio and check things out.

Talk to Lillian. Ask her about Owen Spayder, then accuse her of sending the chocolates. She "fires" you.

Go home. A package is waiting for you on the chair. It is ticking. Uh-oh. Nancy Drew, undaunted and invincible, bravely opens the box. Inside is an alarm clock and a nasty note. It's not a bomb after all, just an alarm clock. Whew! Go into the living room and watch the video tape from the security cameras. It is the tape with the red label. Who is that guy, and why does he walk so funny? Is that a real beard? [Optional: Call Dwayne 555-2900 and talk with him about everything.]
 

Go to the sound-stage and meet with Lillian. She shows you a threatening letter she received. You might want to save your game while reading the letter. It's the last chance you will have to save. It would allow you to try the different choices that are coming up. You get the opportunity to select from a list of suspects. No matter which you choose, you will end up in the final scene. Talk with Dwayne. When he starts to come downstairs, turn right and pull the fire alarm. The security guard wants to come in, but the vacuum door seal prevents his entering. Open the over-ride panel and solve the puzzle therein. It's a memory-sequence puzzle. Find the first button that creates a white triangle, then the second, etc. The more buttons you know, the easier it gets to find the next one, obviously. Also, when you don't succeed, and use the "Second Chance" option, the sequence is different, but probably simpler.
 

Congratulations Detective Drew, on solving another difficult case. See you in the next one.