Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill Remastered Walkthrough

Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill Remastered is Her Interactive’s 2010 remake of the first game in the series. Nancy goes undercover at Paseo Del Mar High to find out who killed student Jake Rogers, and the school is papered with coded messages he left behind. This walkthrough covers the whole game, both Easter eggs and the awards, on Junior Detective, with the Senior solution to the one puzzle that differs.

How the game plays

• New to the series? Read What Every Detective Should Know on the desk; click the plane ticket to start.
• Dialogue matters more than usual: what Nancy asks and how she answers changes how people treat her, and you can miss an item or a moment, making things harder later.
• The two difficulty levels differ only in the sliding picture on Aunt Eloise’s safe box. Saves live in Documents\Secrets Can Kill Remastered.

Awards

• Faithful: turn down every one of Daryl’s advances.
• Easter Egg: top secret.
• Know-It-All: the closing quiz.
• Prankster: grape, grape, orange, cool on the vending machine.
• Gamer: finish the arcade game.
• Bookworm: read every book.
• Super Sleuth: examine everything.
• Soda Lover: drink plenty of soda.
• Eagle Eye: find every glinting coin.
• Music Lover: play every jukebox song.
• Quality Assurance: follow every lead.
• Prosecutor: a frank talk with every suspect.

The author did not set out to collect every award; they do not affect the story.

Aunt Eloise’s house

Read your aunt’s note on the dresser: the library key is in the safe. The right drawer holds an invitation and Greek letters written on top. The safe is behind the tapestry at the far end and takes a combination of Greek letters. Try a wrong code on purpose: the red light blinks, and after the third wrong code a steel grille drops and you get a second chance. Remember this for the finale.

Now enter the letters from the note; the safe opens. Take the library key from the door. The box inside opens with a sliding-tile picture. Junior, one solution: 6 down, 5 right, 8 up, 7 right, 4 down, 1 down, 2 left, 5 up, 8 up, 7 right, 4 down, 1 down, 2 left, 3 left, 6 up, 5 right, 8 up, 7 right, 4 down, 1 down, 2 left, 5 up, 8 up, 9 left, 6 down, 3 down, 2 right, 1 right, 4 up, 5 left, 8 up, 7 right, 4 down, 5 left, 8 up, 9 left, 6 down, 5 right, 8 up, 9 left. Senior: 3 right, 2 right, 6 up, 5 right, 9 up, 13 up, 14 left, 15 left, 16 left, 12 down, 8 down, 4 down, 3 right, 2 right, 6 up, 5 right, 1 down, 2 left, 6 up, 10 up, 9 right, 13 up, 14 left, 15 left, 16 left, 12 down, 8 down, 7 left, 6 right, 10 up, 11 left, 12 left, 8 down, 7 right, 6 right, 10 up, 11 left, 12 left, 8 down, 4 down, 3 right, 7 up, 8 left, 4 down, 3 right, 2 right, 1 right, 5 up, 9 up, 10 left, 6 down, 7 left, 8 left, 12 up, 16 up, 15 right, 14 right, 10 down, 11 left, 15 up, 16 left, 12 down, 11 right, 10 right, 9 right, 13 up, 14 left, 15 left, 16 left, 12 down, 11 right, 10 right, 9 right, 13 up, 14 left, 15 left, 16 left.

Inside, the school computer login, Eloise Drew, and password, O Wise Elder; note them or photograph them with Nancy’s phone. In the living room, a red book on the right shelf hides the teachers’ lounge key; another active book on the left shelf; the top book of the stack by the standard lamp. The chest right of the bookcase glints: coins, for the jukebox and arcade. You find the rest of the coins by their glint. The card table right of the sofa has a drawer with Aunt Eloise’s notes. At the door, Detective Beech calls: meet him at the diner. Map to Maxine’s.

Maxine’s Diner

Find the menu, on the back of the booth or a table. Letters are coloured: read each colour in order, “His journal is my cash cow”. Note the odd pairing Xe:R3 and write it down. Every coded note carries one of these colon codes; they are the finale, and from here on they are listed without comment. Talk to your “uncle”, who wants Jake’s journal; Jake Rogers is the murdered student. Talk to Daryl behind the counter, who barely knew Jake. Left of the counter, the arcade game Barnacle Blast and the jukebox take coins. Into the kitchen: the note on the fridge has numbers, paragraph then word, decoding to “Daryl brings secrets to diner, to get the cash for a life so finer”, and Hg:L3. The shift schedule on the right: read vertically, first letter top, first letter bottom, and so on, “Check yer eyesight in gym”, and Te:L3; note the torn corner. Under the table, bolt cutters hold the gas pipe; leave them, you can manage without. Behind the black box of clean cutlery, a crumpled note; read it. In the main room, ask Daryl why Connie would not go to the party with him. Map to the school.

The school corridors

In and right. Before the turn, a board on the left: “Personal file and book will show what the future doctor won’t”, Hf:L1. Right to the end; the maintenance door on the left is locked with a keypad, code unknown. Turn and go straight: another board, underlined letters only, “Put elements in order to open puzzle”, Zn:D1. Right through the arch, a board right of the entrance: first letters of each line, “Map drawer 5”, La:U2. Meet Connie Watson on hall duty and talk twice: Daryl Gray is student council president, works at Maxine’s and drives an expensive sports car. Her medallion carries a kanji. She will not let you into the teachers’ lounge; you need to draw her away. Note the soda machine. Out and right into the arched room at the end: the stand right of the arch, “Strong judoka, face masked, took first prize, best fighter, find the most popular place, to close this case you’ll have to go”, As:U4. Under the arch, left wall, a note read backwards: “See my killer in true light on the hidden videotape”, C:R1. Meet Hal Tanaka, the Japanese exchange student, and talk twice. Back in the corridor, four steps forward, the library on the right, later. Boards either side of the library door: on the left, upside down, “Grape grape orange cool also sets off the school alarm”, Zr:R4; on the right, letters by alphabet position, “Cool cool pop spot grape”, the Easter egg drink order, Y:D3. To the end, right, and right again from the grey doors: three sheets on a stand on the left. Upside down, “When there’s nowhere to run and nowhere to hide, library books answer”, K:R1. Mirrored, “Someone wears this kanji proudly, but it shows what they hide from us”. Upside down and mirrored, “He did everything to reach his goal, but nobody worked out his schemes”. Ahead by the bin, an eye chart, the one the diner hinted at: read bottom to top, right to left, “If anything happens to me look in my chemistry book page three zero five”. Skip this and the chemistry book in the library stays inactive. Step forward to the soda machine; left of it, the Crane martial arts school poster. Left, meet Hector “Hulk” Sanchez, the team’s star, who has nothing good to say about Jake; ask about his classmates: Jake’s and Hal’s lockers are side by side, Hal was upset after last seeing Jake, Connie has money troubles, and Daryl found the body. Back the way you came: a board on the right, alternating top and bottom letters, “Culprits on video”, Kr:L2. Before the left turn, a stand with Hal’s photo: “Learn of the crime from the morning edition, the black and white answer will work it all out”, Ir:D2. Left along the corridor: a locker on the right with torn police tape, Jake’s, combination-locked. Further, a board on the left read right to left: “Up, down, left, right, all first letters will help find control”, He:U2. On to the entrance; every corridor searched.

The library

From the hall, right corridor, right at the end, middle corridor, unlock the library (every visit). In, right, forward, the small shelf on the left: the active book among the red ones on the top left shelf says Connie’s kanji means crane; the book under B on the top right red-and-black shelf shows the same dots as the maintenance door’s keypad: Braille, and you need the code word. Opposite, the magazine rack: the steroids article in Sports Today. Right of the card catalogue in the corner, the map drawers: Jake’s note said drawer 5; under the map, a note, red letters then blue, “If anything happens to me look for my code in the catalogue”, Na:L3. Optionally wander the stacks on both floors for active books referencing other Nancy Drew games. Upstairs on the right to the end: a round table under the periodic table, Jake’s. Open the chemistry book, read his notes, note I:U2. His box must be found.

The vending machine

Easter egg one

At the machines by the gym, without a coin, press cool, cool, pop, spot, grape: the egg and 80 coins.

Then, again without a coin, grape, grape, orange, cool: the alarm sounds and Hulk sends you to Connie as hall monitor. Talk to her twice, mentioning the alarm last. When she goes to reset it, read her notebook on the desk, then unlock the teachers’ lounge.

The teachers’ lounge

Anticlockwise from the door. The card cabinet: the senior class work drawer holds Hal Tanaka’s folder and his etiquette essay. The map left of it, written round the edges: “The best prize is not just a trophy, money matters more than any trophy”, Ag:D1. The shelf left of the desk: the Gray Enterprises article. The stand left of the door: Cl:D2. At the computers, take the mouse, type the login and password on your own keyboard, OK. Click the printer icon, OK, to print the security report. The Passwords icon: the maintenance door code is NOTE. Mail and notes hold nothing more. Take the printed security report from the printer tray and leave.

Your phone rings with threats; the number shows. Call back and they hang up. Talk to Hal: Jake’s locker opens with a phone, and Hulk had a serious injury. At the locker: not a birthday, or the phone would be pointless; his name in phone digits, JAKE, 5253. Inside, a green folder with the essay “Through the Years and the Distance”, by Professor Prudence Rutherford, known from many games: Hal plagiarised it. The cassette player is empty; Jake moved the tape. Judo World has the masked judoka article. Arrow down: the local paper on the bottom shelf reports the pharmacy robbery; note the paper’s name for the quiz. Talk to Hulk about everything, then Hal. Daryl too, but first the library, now that you know the catalogue code.

Right at the stairs, at the computer tables, enter 5253 and Start: where Jake hid the main evidence. At his desk, look under the chair for the puzzle box.

Easter egg two

Press the buttons in the order shown for the second egg.

The diner and the boiler room

Talk to Daryl about everything: your “uncle” lost something in the diner and accused the staff. Do not admit to being a detective; deflect. He hands you an invitation. To the school’s maintenance door: enter NOTE in Braille, into the lift, press the button, down.

The boiler is overheating and the door mechanism’s wires are torn: no way back, and you must act fast. Open the box left of the boiler for gloves. The sign above shows how the pressure gauge needles should sit. A small plaque right of the boilers gives the school’s founding year: enter 1967 on the padlock and the chains fall off the levers (the bolt cutters would have done the same). With the gloves, press the left lever twice, the right lever twice, the left lever once; the middle gauge is already right. Now look round: on a box right of the boiler, a matchbox and a diner cup. Between them and the boiler, a ventilation grille: pick up the videotape, remove the grille and crawl out. Home.

Open the TV cabinet, switch on, put the tape in the VCR: dirt on Jake’s classmates. Back at school, question each of them until nothing is left; all had motive, all deny it. At the diner, Daryl storms off at your questions; tell Beech about the boiler-room trap, Mitch Dillon’s threats, ask whether he found what he lost, and mention Jake’s box; he is sure the journal is in it. To the library.

Jake’s box

Take the box from his desk. You have eighteen steps plus the first: the Mercury symbol on the matchbox. Jake’s notes say the symbols give the order, so sort the codes by the periodic table:

He:U2, C:R1, Na:L3, K:R1, Cl:D2, Zn:D1, Kr:L2, Y:D3, Zr:R4, Ag:D1, I:U2, Te:L3, Xe:R3, Hf:L1, Ir:D2, As:U4, La:U2, Hg:L3.

Drop the elements: U2 R1 L3 R1 D2 D1 L2 D3 R4 D1 U2 L3 R3 L1 D2 U4 U2 L3. U is up, D down, R right, L left; the number is how many buttons to move. Press Mercury, then the symbol two above it, then one to its right, and so on. The box opens on another videotape. Home.

The finale

Play the tape: the name behind it all and why, the chain of betrayal that got Jake killed. As it ends, someone enters. Switch off, take the tape, step away, try to leave: a gun. He wants the journal. Remember the morning’s game with the safe and set a trap: say the journal is behind the tapestry in the living room. He demands the code. Of the three answers, give the first and the second, one of them twice. Caught. Watch the ending, answer the quiz, review your awards.