Page 107 of A Secret to Die For

And curse, it turned out. Because when we loaded up the drive, we got our miracle as it whirred slowly into life. The disc held only one folder, called “Claire,” just in case there was any doubt over who had put it there, and when Aaron clicked on it, a box popped up, asking for a password.

Blue huffed. “Well, shit.”

Seven heads swivelled to look at me.

“Any ideas?” Aaron asked.

“Absolutely none.”

“We could try the usual suspects? Password123?”

Oh, please. “My mom was smart, and she went to all the trouble of hiding a hard drive under the floor. She wouldn’t have used a dumb password like that.”

“So come up with a better idea.”

“How? I don’t even recall her owning this hard drive, and I barely used the computer. I was nine years old, remember? Mom and Dad thought it was better for me to dance and read and spend time outdoors.”

“Let’s just try it,” Aaron said, typing.

Incorrect password. Two attempts remaining.

Luca smacked him on the shoulder. “You asshole.”

“Maybe we should call Parker,” I joked.

Blue shook her head. “We don’t need to. Don’t you see—your mom gave you the password. Third floor window. Pipes. Fires. Dust. Eight sixteen. We’ve already used the first four words.”

“So the password is ‘fires dust eight sixteen’?”

“Probably.”

“Probably? We only have two tries left.”

“Is ‘eight sixteen’ numbers or letters?” Aaron asked.

“I’d assume numbers,” Blue said. “August sixteenth is Sara’s mom and dad’s anniversary.”

It was? When you were a kid, you never thought of those things, only birthdays and Christmas, basically the occasions when you got gifts. And Thanksgiving, because who didn’t love food?

“So, ‘firesdust816’? Any capital letters?”

“Maybe one at the beginning? Isn’t that what normal people do when they get one of those stupid password prompts that says you have to include a capital letter? And if you need a special character as well, it’s just an exclamation point at the end.”

“I’m pretty sure these files were created before passwords began demanding a hieroglyph, a gang sign, and the soul of your firstborn,” Luca pointed out.

“So are we trying lower case?” Aaron asked.

Blue made a decision. “Yes.”

Password incorrect. One attempt remaining.

Dammit.

Once again, everyone turned in my direction. Why were they looking at me? Didn’t they realise how little I knew about anything?

“Why couldn’t she have picked a normal password?” Brooke asked. “Regular people use the name of their pet and their birthday, don’t they?” A pause. “Or is that just me?”

Luca snorted. “Better change your passwords, sweetheart.”

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