Currently on Off the Record...

Frannie Rollins has tasked you with investigating the death of her friend and locally renowned journalist Ashley Mendoza. Frannie speculates whether someone killed Ashley to silence her reporting on the town of Copper Cliffs' mayoral election.

Hints

Judith's Email Password

• Judith's email account had a password hint set for it that included three different pieces of information.
• Frannie included password tips to show how someone may set up their passwords.
• The Richards family is mentioned in Harold Richards' campaign brochure. Where else is there information about Judith?
• The remaining password information can be found in the restraining order and Ashley's blog.

Logging On

• Check Frannie's letter for the specific task Frannie assigns you. Frannie asks you to identify the password to Judith's email account. Sending the password to Frannie through the messaging feature on keep-safe-pro.com will advance the story and complete this objective.
• The password for the KeepSafe Pro app is TRAPD00R.

Police Database Password

• Unlocking Judith's email password allows Frannie to send you a screenshot of a relevant email chain.
• Cal sets up a password for Judith to access the police database. This doesn't follow the same pattern as Frannie's password tips.
• The magazine spread lists the candidates' latest campaign events.
• Buttons are used to represent a candidate.

Reveals

Judith's Email Password

• Frannie's password tips suggest methods people often use to create their passwords. Typically, people use combinations of names and significant digits to form the password. Additionally, people use "leet speak/1337 speak" to add difficulty to those passwords.
• The first piece of relevant information for Judith's password is her children's names, Harriet and Jude. The Harold brochure discusses Harold and Judith's family.
• The second piece of information that Judith's password hint asks for is "work yrs". A comment on Ashley's blog mentions that Judith spent 11 years on the police force.
• The third piece of Judith's password is Judith's address, 13 Yellow Hyacinth Avenue. This is written on Ashley's restraining order.
• Using "leet speak/1337 speak", assemble the letters of "Harriet and Jude" with the numbers "11" and "13" according to the directions in Frannie's password tips.
• Judith's email password is H@rr!3t&Jud31113. To complete the episode's first task, send this information to Frannie through the messaging feature on keep-safe-pro-.com.

Police Database Password

• Judith's email screenshot reveals that Cal set up a police database login for Judith.
• Cal gives instructions on how to find the password for the police database. He references last Friday's locations, which are campaign events of each candidate. This event schedule can be found on the magazine spread.
• Use the TFC button and Harold button to represent each candidate. Place them on the town map over the location of their latest campaign event.
• Using the town map, "connect the dots" (buttons) with a straight line. The location that the line will cross is the password to the police database.
• Judith's police database password is BlytheBistro. To complete the episode's final objective, send this information to Frannie through the messaging feature on keep-safe-pro.com.

Transcripts

Ashley's Notebook

Page 1 → Frannie's Handwriting

• Ashley accidentally left this notebook behind the last time we met up in person. I'd been meaning to give it back to her, but she was killed before I got the chance.

 

Page 1 → Ashley's Handwriting

• Ashley Mendoza

 

Page 2 → Ashley's Handwriting

• TO-DO

  • G̵e̵t̵ ̵m̵o̵m̵ ̵a̵n̵d̵ ̵d̵a̵d̵ ̵a̵ ̵c̵o̵p̵y̵ ̵o̵f̵ ̵C̵h̵r̵o̵n̵i̵c̵l̵e̵ ̵a̵r̵t̵i̵c̵l̵e̵
  • S̵o̵u̵r̵c̵e̵ ̵m̵e̵e̵t̵i̵n̵g̵
  • R̵e̵s̵e̵a̵r̵c̵h̵ ̵V̵a̵n̵z̵e̵t̵t̵i̵ ̵s̵t̵o̵r̵y̵
  • P̵o̵s̵t̵ ̵V̵a̵n̵z̵e̵t̵t̵i̵ ̵s̵t̵o̵r̵y̵ ̵t̵o̵ ̵b̵l̵o̵g̵
  • S̵o̵u̵r̵c̵e̵ ̵m̵e̵e̵t̵i̵n̵g̵
  • P̵i̵t̵c̵h̵ ̵C̵a̵n̵a̵d̵a̵ ̵s̵t̵o̵r̵y̵ ̵t̵o̵ ̵C̵h̵r̵o̵n̵i̵c̵l̵e̵ - pitch rejected. Even though the proof is definitive.
  • P̵o̵s̵t̵ ̵C̵a̵n̵a̵d̵a̵ ̵s̵t̵o̵r̵y̵ ̵t̵o̵ ̵b̵l̵o̵g̵

 

Page 3 → Ashley's Handwriting

• F̵i̵n̵d̵ ̵c̵r̵a̵s̵h̵ ̵r̵e̵p̵o̵r̵t̵
• F̵i̵n̵d̵ ̵v̵o̵i̵c̵e̵ ̵r̵e̵c̵o̵r̵d̵i̵n̵g̵s̵ ̵o̵f̵ ̵a̵l̵l̵ ̵p̵e̵r̵s̵o̵n̵s̵ ̵o̵f̵ ̵i̵n̵t̵e̵r̵e̵s̵t̵
• Source meeting
• Take a look around CCCC for records/photos of the event
• Look into Valdivian connection

 

Page 4 → Ashley's Handwriting

• Leads

  • Potential source inside of the TFC Campaign reached out. Convinced them to meet in person, despite some initial reluctance.
  • What's the truth behind CCCC?
  • Meeting with source went well. They discussed strong feelings of disappointment in the TFC administration. Showed me internal communication that suggests but doesn't

 

Page 6 → Ashley's Handwriting

• Leads Cont'd

  • Another lead: something pretty salacious about Harold Richards' personal life. Need to do a lot more digging to verify, but it feels credible.
  • It's credible for sure. Confirmed by my friend in Toronto. This info could potentially bury his chances of being elected, though hiring an ex-con didn't hurt his numbers as much as anticipated.

 

Page 7 → Ashley's Handwriting

• There could be something much bigger than the Canada story out there. Don't know enough yet to know for sure. Want to push for intel, but I should be delicate here.
• Delicacy paid off. Got a name. "A.S."

 

Page 8 → Ashley's Handwriting

• Misc. Notes
  • What's TFC's angle? Why go to the effort of running for mayor twice if you're not going to pursue any policy changes? Worth checking out further, beyond what source can tell me.
  • The vocal patterns are similar, how can I confirm an identity??
  • Going to go blind from sorting through all of this microfiche. The library's gonna be the death of me.

 

Page 10 → Ashley's Handwriting

• The Liar: Thomas Ford Cross

  • Cross family founded this town back in 1891, but they took a heavy blow when the town's copper mines dried up in the 1990s.
  • TFC spent most of his adult life trying to get the Cross family back to the top.
  • Becoming mayor probably isn't the end goal.

 

Page 10 → Frannie's Handwriting

• The golden boy of Copper Cliffs. Could see him becoming president someday, but I don't think he'd want to. Too much accountability.

 

Page 12 → Ashley's Handwriting

• The Pushover: Sebastian Dyer

  • Has been working for TFC as a personal assistant for about 10 years
  • A man of few words
  • Seems to be TFC's ventriloquist dummy

 

Page 12 → Frannie's Handwriting

• I'd say the guy was like TFC's shadow, but a shadow disappears when it gets dark and Sebastian is much more consistent than that.

 

Page 14 → Ashley's Handwriting

• The Boss: Kim Barton

  • Stellar legal bona-fides.
  • Moved to Copper Cliffs for her mother, a patient at the Center for Convalescence.
  • Very diligent worker
  • Intimidating temperament

 

Page 14 → Frannie's Handwriting

• I told Ashley all of this. I think I watched her make this note, in fact. She was drinking a capuccino.

 

Page 16 → Ashley's Handwriting

• The Fake: Harold Richards

  • Millionaire socialite
  • Doesn't speak much about his relation to the crash
  • Now running for mayor
  • Son of a wealthy, well-respected doctor

 

Page 18 → Ashley's Handwriting

• The Aggressor: Judith Alison Richards

  • Harold's wife and head of campaign security
  • Former police officer
  • Collected plenty of accolades during her time on the force
  • Retired early to raise family

 

Page 18 → Frannie's Handwriting

• All I can say is that I'm glad I never got on her bad side.

 

Page 20 → Ashley's Handwriting

• The Ex-Con: Lewis Vanzetti

  • Responsible for the crash that killed Wilkes and King.
  • (maybe reach out for comment?)
  • Vanzetti and Richards go way back, but doesn't seem too close with Judith
  • Sometimes speaks with Dyer and Barton as a part of his official role

 

Page 20 → Frannie's Handwriting

• "Speaks" is putting it nicely. I've seen Kim and Sebastian get

 

Page 21 → Frannie's Handwriting

• into near screaming matches with him over who gets to stand stage left during debates. Apparently TFC and Harold both have the same "good side".

 

Third-to-Last Page → Ashley's Handwriting

• Codes (for Clandestine Communication)
• For next story, sources will need anonymity. Encrypted apps like OffLine might not be enough. Might have to start using codes.
• Shift Cipher
  • "Shift" the entire alphabet either forwards or backwards by a uniform number of spaces. EX:, if I shifted the letter A forward by one space, it would become a B.

 

Second-to-Last Page → Ashley's Handwriting

• Substitution Cipher

  • Substitute each letter in the alphabet with another letter. Would either need a key, or would need to have memorized the system.
  • EX: If the key to the coded phrase "ABCDEFA" translated to "EXAMPLE", then I'd be able to figure out that, in this particular code, A=E, B=X, C=A, and so on.

• Misspelling Cipher

  • EX: "The twuth is I have no igly friemds" = "RUN".

 

Final Page → Frannie's Handwriting

• Huh. Wonder what kinds of information Ashley was trying to hide.

Evidence Note

Reggie's Handwriting

Ash,

Leaving for the country club to make sure the water station gets set up and make sure Erica drops off the signs on time... There's a pork patty breakfast sandwich in the fridge with your name on it. (Literally. I wrote it in ketchup.)

See you there! Once you're done with the investigative reporting, swing by the front of the building to protest with us! Or at least, to "cover" it. There's always something that happens that makes a good ClikClak video.

You're on dinner duty tonight, btw.

 

Love u!

Reg

Frannie's Letter

Page 1 → Top

• Read this first, and read it carefully! It'll explain everything. -F

 

Page 1 → Above Paragraph 1

• my dear friend

 

Page 1 → Beneath Paragraph 1

• The little town I live in

 

Page 1 → Beside Paragraph 1

• strong speaker, total liar

 

Page 1 → Beneath Paragraph 3

• FACT, btw

 

Page 1 → Above Paragraph 5

• Or hasn't

 

Page 1 → Beside Paragraph 5

• Or even Harold
• NOPE!

 

Page 1 → Beneath Paragraph 8

• Harold's wife

 

Page 2 → Beneath Paragraph 2

• hopefully

 

Page 2 → Beside Final Paragraph

• Brochures, buttons, election polls

 

Page 2 → Beneath Final Paragraph

• I think very relevant to our case. You'll see what I mean

 

Page 2 → Beneath "Frannie Rollins"

• KeepSafePro App - this'll be our shared space for this case. You can reach it at keep-safe-pro.com
• PW: TRAPD00R

Frannie's Password Tips

Next to the First Tip

• To you and are always on your mind

 

Next to the Second Tip

• Rather than using a single word

 

Next to the Fourth Tip

• Longer passwords are more difficult to guess