Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill Walkthrough

Warning: This
walkthrough will take you step by step through the entire game … leading you
from the very beginning all the way to a happy ending!

Aunt Eloise’s
House

Entry hall: Begin the game by reading the letter on the table
at Aunt Eloise’s house. Open the bottom right drawer of this table and take the
phone calling card. Enter the living room.

Living room: Open the books
that are stacked on the small table and notice that the first letter for each
of the plants is highlighted, spelling out a name (M-I-T-C-H). Open the box on
the coffee table. Open the drawer to the right of the sofa. Read the notepad,
and read the card. There are letters on the top of the card. Make a note of those
letters/symbols. You will need those shortly. Get the TV/VCR remote control from
the drawer and then close the drawer. Open the book to the right of the TV. Get
the key from inside. Use this key on the chest that sits on the floor to the right
of the TV. Get the quarter. Exit the living room and return to the entry hall.

Entry
hall: Click on the painting behind the table with the note from Aunt Eloise. Open
the safe by clicking on the letters/symbols you saw on the card from the living
room.

Take
the key hanging on the door of the safe. Open the box inside the safe (you must
solve the flower puzzle). Read the message inside the box.

SCHOOL COMPUTER

LOGIN NAME: ELOISE DREW
PASSWORD: O WISE ELDER

Turn around after
closing the safe and click on the front doors (you will see a "turn around"
arrow but you will exit the house). Use the silver key from the safe on the front
doors of Paseo Del Mar High School, and enter the building.

Paseo Del
Mar High School

Inside the main doors, make a note of the layout of
the building. Become familiar with the directions to move from one area of contact
to the next. There is a map on the wall on the bulletin board. Move down the hall
and read the sign on the second bulletin board (sure are a lot of bulletin boards
at this school!).

Fin dthem ornin gedit ion
Anddi scove ranot here
rime,
Thean sweri sin blac kandwhi
Tow how illdot heti me.

Back
off this bulletin board, turn right and go down the hall. Turn slowly and click
on the pink message on the bulletin board in this hall.

In the face
of danger
against a killer if you dare
a very unlikely couple
could
be a helpful pair.

Move toward the gym. Notice the eye chart. Talk to Hulk
Sanchez, the football player. Ask him everything (Jake Rogers). Turn from Hulk
Sanchez and zoom in on the three bottom notes on the bulletin board by the gym.
Translate (reflections, backwards, upside-down) the messages.

Library: Use
the silver key on the library door. Move to and zoom in on the library desk as
you enter the door. Note the highlighted words on the SAT sheet. Move to the right
and zoom in on the file drawers against the wall (thin drawers). Note the two
different word puzzles. On the puzzle with the blue and green letters, solve the
blue letters first (piece together the words), and then solve the green letters,
creating a sentence. Move around the library, carefully noting the encyclopedias
(Braille, etc.) and as many books as you can read. Knowledge is retained in what
you read! Some of the book titles found throughout the library are: Faces of Violence,
Optical Illusions, The Zodiac and You, Protecting Manatees, Palmistry for All,
Judo handbook, Boiler Operations (will come in handy towards the end of the game!),
A Sign of the Times, Mysteries Dreams (coded/highlighted letters spelling out:
DON’T RUN NANCY) etc. In one of the books, the Sign Language book, you will note
the sign language numbers that are highlighted are: 2, 3, and 5. The letters in
sign language that are highlighted are: A, E, J, K, spelling out JAKE. These clues
are helpful to enter Jake’s locker later on.

Exit the Library and make your
way back to Hulk Sanchez. Talk to him again. Then move around the building and
enter the Student Union. Talk to Hal Tanaka. Again, as with Hulk, ask him everything
you can. Enter the next room and talk to Connie (by the magazine rack). After
speaking with Connie, note the phones on the wall. Open the telephone book and
notice that the pharmacy phone number has been torn out. Use your calling card
and call all three of your friends for advice. The advice you are given at this
point boils down to three objectives: getting inside the teacher’s lounge and
on the main school computer, getting into the maintenance room, which leads to
the basement, and finding a way to get inside Jake’s locker.

Back in the
library, you should find a book about Kanji and the symbol that Connie wears around
her neck. The symbol stands for crane. Again, return and speak with Hulk Sanchez.
You will find out that Hal Tanaka’s locker is next to Jake’s locker. Talk to Hal
and he tells you that Jake once mentioned the fact that he wished he’d had a phone.
This tells you that JAKE is spelled out on the phone. Return to the room with
the phones, and zoom in on the one you used before. Note the numbers for the word
JAKE and then move all the way down the hallway to the sign that says: CAFETERIA.
Just to the left is a locker with yellow police tape across it. That is Jake’s
locker (code: 5253).

Open Jake’s locker, look at the empty VCR box, read
the English book and the Judo magazine. Click on the jacket and see the bottom
of the locker. Get the knife/box cutters. After examining Jake’s locker, return
to Hal, Connie, and Hulk and ask each one everything. Exit the school and enter
the diner.

Diner

Notice the menu board up above the counter.
Letters spell: The bolt cutter you must take, or you could be the next Jake. Read
the menu on the table to the right: Danger, and Sabotage. Talk to Daryl behind
the counter (smooth talker, isn’t he?). Back off Daryl after asking him everything
and listening to him. Turn to the left and zoom in on the doors leading back to
the kitchen area. Enter this area. Turn left and take the ladle from the black
pan. Read the instructions for the fryer and the work schedule. Zoom in on the
cutting board with the tomatoes. See a message there? Zoom out from the tomato/cutting
board and click on the lower left side of the stove. There are bolt cutters there
(remember the message to take the bolt cutters?). This is a good time to save
your game. Remove the bolt cutters and immediately place the ladle in its place
or you will be blown up! Once you’ve removed the bolt cutters and replaced them
with the ladle, you may safely leave the diner. If you wish, you can play some
pinball (use your quarter), or play some music on the jukebox. Your choice. Exit
the diner and return to the school.

Paseo Del Mar High School

Maintenance
room: On the door (at the end of the hallway, to the right of the sign that points
to the Student Union and Study Dome) is a Braille keypad. You should know the
letters represented by Braille based on the Braille book in the library. You should
also know the code for the door, as you discovered this information in the Teacher’s
Lounge on the mainframe computer. Enter the appropriate code in Braille. Enter
the maintenance room and go down the elevator. Inside the toolbox are a pair of
gloves. Pick those up. Next, note the directions for the boiler on the wall. Notice
that you cannot move the three levers on top of the boiler (you will later …
and in a real hurry!), but you can also click on the grate over to the
right of the boiler itself, and down lower towards the floor. There is no interaction
at this point in the boiler room, so after getting the gloves, you might as well
not hang around here. Exit the maintenance room and return to the diner. Talk
to Daryl again. Leave the diner and return to the school. Again, talk to Connie
(who becomes agitated!), Hal (who also becomes a little upset), and Hulk Sanchez
(boy, is he agitated! I think he’s been blocked one time too many in football!).

Outside
the school: From the outside view of the school, move your mouse cursor to the
far right side of the building and click on the windows. Use the box cutters on
the third window pane of the left-most window. Enter the teacher’s lounge.

Teacher’s
lounge: Inside the lounge, be sure to log onto the computer and click on the key
on the right side. Note the codes for various rooms, but pay particular attention
to the maintenance room. Also click on other options and explore the school
mainframe computer! Afterwards, be sure you look in the file cabinets. There’s
no way to enter the refrigerator to get anything to munch on during your "break,"
so don’t bother trying! Exit the teacher’s lounge via the window again and return
to the main school building. Talk to Hal Tanaka about what you discovered in the
file cabinet. Talk to Connie and Hulk while you’re in the building. Return to
each again to exhaust all possible leads. You might wish to contact your friends
again on the telephone! Now it’s time to head for the maintenance room door.

Diner

At
the diner, Daryl will tell you that someone left a note for you. When you back
off the conversational window, the note will be there. Read the note and head
for the maintenance room again.

Maintenance Room–Boiler

Enter
the maintenance room (save your game!). Go down the elevator and enter the boiler
room. There will be a chain on the levers. Time is of essence at this point, so
if you don’t want to blow yourself up, use the bolt cutters on the chain (between
the left and middle levers) and remove the chain.

Without
delay, click once on the left lever, then once on the right lever,
then again on the left, then the right and finally the left lever
again. The boiler will fizzle out. Turn from the boiler and note the box of matches
on the crate. Open the matches and make a note of the phone number. Turn to the
right and notice the elevator control switch has been tampered with (more like
destroyed!). Turn back around and click on the crate to the right of the boiler.
You might wish to use your gloves at this point. Crawl through the air vent and
pick up the video tape. Once you’re outside, head for good ol’ Aunt Eloise’s house.

Aunt
Eloise’s House

Turn the TV on with the remote. Place the video in the
VCR and watch! Go to the diner and talk to Daryl. He admits to running drugs for
Mitch. Return to the school and talk to Hal, Connie and Hulk … You are trying
to get them to help you, but none agree to assist you.

Diner

Return
to the diner and note that Daryl is gone and the diner is closed. Now it’s time
to meet him at the pharmacy. Save your game. Suspense and ending coming
up!

Pharmacy

It’s dark now, and when you arrive at the Pharmacy
you will witness Daryl and Mitch talking. Pay close attention to your inventory
at this point. Connie will jump in to rescue Daryl from the right side of your
viewing screen. When she moves in the screen, note the gun that appears in your
inventory. Click on the gun. When Mitch notices you standing there, he will turn
and move toward you. Immediately take your gun from your inventory and
point it at him. He will surrender to you.

Watch the ending sequence.

Game
over! Nancy solves yet another crime!

The original of
this walkthrough is located here.