Previously on Nancy Drew: Midnight in Salem: The Hardy Boys have shown up to hijack our case, and immediately decide to spend the day hunting ghosts instead of like, following up on leads for us. Then we went off to collect everyone’s alibis for the various crimes that have occurred so far.
We’re on day two, and in the midst of a mission to gather everyone’s alibis for both the Hathorne House fire and the Book of Apologies theft. We’ve just interrogated Olivia, so let’s go say hi to Teegan.
We can ask her more about the history of Salem, and she tells us how Samuel Hathorne used the witch trials to seize a bunch of property and build his 17th-century estate house. Nancy flips her hair all like, “Pfft, we already learned this from Olivia’s tour! We’re Salem experts!” Teegan is passive-aggressively shocked that Olivia’s tour includes actual historical facts. She also tells us that Frances Tuttle isn’t — as far as we know — a Hathorne descendant; the estate was in ruins so they put it up for public auction and Frances bought it for cheap.
Alright, let’s get to the alibis. We’ll start with the book theft: Teegan claims to be at the museum, but says that no one else was here — not even Olivia, who should’ve been in her shop — so no one can confirm it. I mean…is this not Teegan’s job? We can’t check her timecard like we did in Greece? Teegan does have a better alibi for the night of the fire: she claims to have been watching movies with her boyfriend, and gives us his phone number so we can check. We ask how long she’s been with “Damian”, and Teegan gets all vague about how it’s been like, a couple of years maybe, and he’s okay — I mean, he’s great actually, and they do stuff together like…he listens to her and…stuff. Oookay. Not really selling me on the veracity of your relationship, Teegan. Nancy asks if they were together all night and Teegan says that they were together for most of it — “I don’t think he’s capable of arson, if that’s what you’re asking,” she says. What? We’re suggesting you set the fire, Teegan. Keep up.
Teegan asks why we’re even helping the Parrys, anyway — it’s not like there’s anything in it for us. Hey, I get rewarded with Deirdre Shannon’s company, and that’s enough for me! Nancy babbles to her about how she likes to solve puzzles and figure out why people do what they do, although the answer doesn’t always make sense: “Humans are inherently irrational.” Teegan tells us that one theory re: the witch trials is that ergot, a type of fungus, infected Salem’s supply of rye and poisoned everyone who ate bread or porridge made from the rye, causing mass hallucinations and seizures. “A rational explanation for irrational behavior.” Well, it’s not any weirder than Nancy steadily inhaling carbon monoxide for like three days straight.
“Anyway, I don’t want to keep you. Thanks for stopping by.” HA! Don’t think you can try to get rid of me, Teegan! I’m just getting started!
We bring up Teegan’s friendship with Olivia and Lauren again and ask what she knows about them. Teegan recaps what we already know about Olivia, and she tells us that she thinks Lauren is just as bad — she’s less dramatic than Olivia, but at the end of the day, they both think they’re “real” witches and Teegan thinks it’s all BS. I mean…fair enough, tbh. Her description of Lauren reminds me of so many people I went to college with, who couldn’t fathom the concept of being raised Catholic (“How could your parents believe in God?!”), but legitimately believed in astrology and spellcasting and the energy properties of crystals. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being superstitious or spiritual, owning religious objects or performing rituals that make you feel better, or leaving a religion/spiritual practice for one that has less patriarchal trappings, but like…they’re all as scientific as each other, you know?
ANYWAY. We show Teegan the coven photo and ask where it was taken, but she says she doesn’t remember. We then ask about Mei’s accident, but Teegan just repeats what Mei told us — she was about nine years old, she was messing around in a shed near the Parrys’ house and it caught fire, and they charged(!) Mei with arson for…some reason, and ever since then she’s been the town scapegoat. The fuck, Judge Danforth? She was a fourth-grader!
Somewhat weirdly, though, Teegan mentions that the reason the town is suspicious of Mei is because she’s “different”, and she sort of implies that that’s the reason everyone thought she was capable of arson at nine years old? But the game also hints that the reason people think Mei is different because of her burn scars, which are a result of the accident she had when she was nine? Like, which came first?
That’s the end of the conversation tree, so let’s call Teegan’s boyfriend and confirm her alibi right in front of her. He’s rather cagey — as soon as we mention we’re following up on some statements, he’s like, “MADE BY WHOM?” and we’re like, “Teegan Parry?” and he says “Yes” in a weirdly annoyed tone of voice. We’re like, “Isn’t she your girlfriend?” and he’s quickly says, “Right, right.” Suspicious! He gets all defensive that he works for Alicia and he just wants to make sure he doesn’t say anything that makes him sound guilty, because he knows his rights. Okay, whatever, Damian. Although I guess it’s a good idea to always be on your guard with Nancy “If You Even Think About Committing a Crime I’ll Personally Help Prosecute You” Drew.
Damian confirms that he and Teegan were hanging out, watching a movie, although he can’t remember which movie. He’s like, “I don’t pay attention to the things my girlfriend actually likes and wants to do together!” Nancy’s like, “Relatable, I don’t know what my boyfriend’s into, either.” After we hang up, I clicked on Teegan to see if we could needle her about the movie they supposedly watched, but we can’t.
But look! As we go over to the courthouse to talk to the judge and Alicia, Ned finally texts us. Jesus, Ned, where the fuck have you been? Do you know we’ve been texting Frank Hardy while you were gone? He asks how we are and offers to “come over” like…does he think we’re next door or something?
Well, Ned is a disappointment, but nothing short of the threat of death could force me into the arms of Frank Hardy, so I’ll let it slide. Let’s go talk to Alicia. We ask how Lauren’s case is going, and she’s like, “There’s this thing called client confidentiality, but you’re the daughter of a lawyer, so I’ll tell you all of Lauren’s business anyway.” I feel like if Alicia doesn’t know that “daughter of a lawyer you went on a date with” isn’t included in the client confidentiality circle, she’s not very good at her job. Anyway, Alicia tells us that Lauren has no case at all if they can’t find a will, so Alicia’s just been working to extend the deadline for the house to revert back to the state on the chance that a will turns up. You know, as wills do.
We ask Alicia about the Hathorne House key, and she forks it over, adding that she’s not really supposed to give it to us. Well, she wasn’t really supposed to tell us the details of Lauren’s legal situation, either, but here we are. We take the key, and Alicia asks us to knock before we enter her room. I mean…the door was open, Alicia.
We ask where she was the night of the fire, and she gets all salty: “Are you asking for my alibi? I was a town meeting, and everyone there can confirm it. Are you going to ask them?” Uh, I might? I didn’t know there were other people to ask until you mentioned them? Someone is defensive. We then bring up the break-in at the courthouse, and she emos that she just doesn’t know what’s happening to this town, and what kind of place is this to raise a family? “Oh. You’re trying to start a family?” Nancy asks. She sounds all alarmed, probably because she’s picturing Alicia lusting after Carson. I’m sorry I wrote that sentence.
Alicia asks if we’re seeing anyone, and Nancy tells her about Ned. Alicia starts getting all passive-aggressive about how long distance is hard, and do Nancy and Ned see each other a lot? Have they been dating long? Nancy blusters that they make it work, and Alicia says, “As one working woman to another: Don’t let his plans get in the way of yours.” I mean, it’s not bad advice, but I side-eye it because it feels like more subliminal Frank/Nancy propaganda. I’m watching you, game writers!
When we’re done talking about that, a whole new set of conversation options has spawned. The conversations in this game are really long, which I actually found enjoyable while playing — I like interrogating suspects — but I definitely understand the criticism over the lack of variety, and tbh, they’re kind of a slog to write about, too? I’d love to break this recap up with a puzzle here and there. But let’s soldier on!
Alicia mentioned that a couple of the things holding her back from starting a family are how busy she is and how basic the people in Salem are. Nancy’s like, “Tell me more!” Alicia just vagues that it’s a small town and the people are small-minded, too. Nancy asks if something happened to make Alicia come to that conclusion, but Alicia blows her off. (Spoiler: we never get a definitive answer for this, either.) Alicia’s dream is to make Salem a bit bigger and more hip to the jive.
Okay, let’s ask about her alibi for the Book of Apologies theft. Alicia asks why we’re interested, and Nancy tells her that we think it’s connected to the arson. Alicia’s all, “Oh yes, I actually know all about that theft, because your father and I talk…about work…mostly.” Nancy’s just like, “Ooookay.” Alicia wanting Carson’s teenage daughter to think that she’s banging him is a really weird flex. Alicia tries to be all cheery like, “You’re just a regular sleuth! Picking up other cases, are you?” and Nancy’s like, “Yes? I’ve solved 32 of them, one of them twice?” Keep up, Alicia. Carson will never date you if you can’t respect Nancy’s track record.
Alicia’s alibi for the book theft is that she was at home, supervising Jason Danforth — Judge Danforth’s sketchy son, you’ll recall — who was doing yard work for her. Weirdly, she only refers to him as “Jason”, and Nancy goes, “You hired Jason Danforth?” even though we had no idea “Jason” was Danforth Jr. at this point. Whatever. Alicia says that Jason’s labor is cheap, because he needs the money. Then she suggests that we come work for her, too — “A lawyer is always in need of a good private investigator.” She adds that, of course, we should only do it if Carson is cool with us working for someone else. That’s a weirdly sexist assumption from the woman who was trying to be all, “Don’t let men hold you back, girl!” Nancy says that she works for herself, although I guess in total fairness, Carson is still paying all of our bills because Nancy never gets paid.
Finally, we can ask about the courthouse break-in. Alicia tells us that only she and Judge Danforth have access to the evidence room. Nancy says, “Interesting,” and Alicia immediately gets all salty like, “Are you liking me for this crime, Nancy?” She adds that we’ve met Judge Danforth and have seen how absent-minded he is — he leaves the evidence room door unlocked all the time. Plus Alicia knows for a fact — somehow — that the break-in was an outside job. Hmmm. Anyway, she doesn’t have the code to get into the room, so we’ll have to get that from the judge.
I gotta say, Alicia is starting to annoy me. She’s one of those suspects who thinks that she’s smarter than Nancy and acts all passive-aggressive and offended when we ask her questions, because obviously she’s not the culprit and if Nancy is that good a detective, she shouldn’t have even considered bothering the suspect with her questions. She’s kind of like Leena in The Shattered Medallion, although at least Alicia’s dialogue mostly makes sense.
When we go over to Judge Danforth’s office, we walk in on him lecturing his son about how he’s busy dealing with these protestors outside of his office, and Jason wouldn’t know responsibility if it punched him in the face. Jason accuses his dad of resenting him, and Judge Danforth’s like, “I don’t resent you, I just think you’re a total fuckup — oh, hi, Nancy.” Don’t let me interrupt your family drama, guys! Judge Danforth dismisses Jason and Jason gets all salty that his dad has time for Nancy but doesn’t want to have lunch with him. Sorry, Jason! Nancy Drew takes precedence over everyone! Jason leaves, but not before hitting on Nancy (“Whenever you’re ready for some real excitement, come look me up.”) Jason, please. You’re no Brady Armstrong.
After Jason leaves, we can start asking the judge our questions. We ask if he can let us into the evidence room; he says he can’t give us the code, but he’ll “take care of it.” And that’s — okay, that’s all we can talk to Judge Danforth about.
Weirdly, though, talking to Judge Danforth does not allow us into the evidence room — when we go to check it out, Nancy will be like, “I still need to get his permission!” I mean…well, when he refuses to give us the code, he kind of mumblegrumbles that he can’t take our word that we’re just investigating, but then he still says he’ll take care of it? Unless he meant he was going to take care of the investigation himself and not let us poke around. I don’t know. Anyway, basically there was no point to talking to Judge Danforth at all, so let us instead do what we should’ve done in the first place, which is take advantage of Carson’s friendship with Judge Danforth. Nepotism!
Carson agrees to talk to Judge Danforth for us, so we’re all set there. Since we’re here, let’s make a few more phone calls.
Let’s call Deirdre, because she’s my bro and I miss her. Deirdre picks up, whimpering, “Help me.” Nancy immediately panics and asks what’s happening, and Deirdre starts cackling that she totally fooled us. “Deidre one, Nancy zero! Now I know how much you care!” Nancy: “Of course I care, Deirdre. Despite your best efforts.” Aw! Nancy and Deirdre 4ever!
Deirdre catches us up on her research: she found out Lauren Holt was legally adopted by Frances in 2006, making her Frances’s legal heir by all accounts, but Frances never filed a will with the town clerk. Deirdre says that Frances had a stroke a few years before she died, so maybe she was confused when she told Lauren that she had written her into her will. Deirdre explains that Lauren has a motive for setting the fire: the Hathorne House is a ruin now instead of an intact structure, and without a will, ruins must be preserved “as-is”, meaning Lauren could stay there. That seems a little dumb. Nancy and Deirdre confirm that Lauren would have to live in (or near, if she’s in the carriage house) a “charred-out” building, so it seems like no one is allowed to buy it and fix it up? If Lauren decides to rebuild the house in like 20 years, does that mean she suddenly forfeits the right to stay there? Does Salem just like, let abandoned, crumbling buildings hang around, endangering public safety and dragging down property values, because no one is allowed to touch them? I DON’T UNDERSTAND.
Let’s call Elisabeth next, just because she’s in our contacts and we haven’t talked to her since the Book of Apologies theft. We ask for a little bit of background about hauntings and witch trials, and Elisabeth brags a bit about how Moosham Castle — the castle we were at in Austria — is one of the most haunted places in the world. Uh, Elisabeth, we left Austria like three days ago. We don’t care about the castle anymore. Actually, I read that the reason for our bizarro Austrian detour at the beginning of the game is because the studio that made (most of?) the game, Mipumi, is based in Vienna, so that explains that weirdness. Anyway, the conversation with Elisabeth is totally unimportant; she just reiterates that people’s imaginations often run wild when they’re afraid, and the human mind is very suggestible. Nancy says “Ah!” like this is a revelation — again, which is weird, because we have had this same discussion in games like Shadow at the Water’s Edge (“ghosts are living people projecting their guilt”), Ghost of Thornton Hall (ditto), and Curse of Blackmoor Manor (“people can develop psychosomatic symptoms if you mess with them enough”).
For what it’s worth, I don’t really envision Nancy as a hardboiled skeptic. This is just my own interpretation of her character, before anyone @s me — she’s mostly focused on finding evidence and facts, but she follows hunches, too; I don’t see her as someone who strongly adheres to rationalism as a worldview. I do, however, see her as someone who simply has too much experience to be afraid of no ghosts. The way the game keeps trying to act like these ghosts are the scariest ones Nancy has ever seen, that Nancy is entertaining the idea that they’re real because the ghosts are so special and different — it all comes off like Her wants the stakes to seem higher than they really are.
ANYWAY. After we hang up with Elisabeth, Carson calls and says that we’re good to go. He adds that he’s proud of us, which feels like a weird thing to say at this moment. You’re…proud that we used your personal friendship with a judge for our own gains? Maybe Carson is about to expose the corruption in Salem and we helped him set up Judge Danforth. JK, I know Carson has never done a real day of work in his life.
We check back in with Judge Danforth, who wants to know what a “bitcoin” is. Wow, you can really tell that this game has been in development since 2016. We’re like, “Just google it, old man.” Then we ask for the code for the evidence room, using the exact same dialogue that we used earlier. Judge Danforth tells us that he wrote the code down on a Post-it, but does he know where the Post-it is now? Of course not.
The Post-it is pretty easy to find; it’s on the desk behind Nancy. We can see that the access code is 0815, and you have to click on it for the game to register that you saw it. Before we go open the evidence room, though, we can now ask Judge Danforth a few more questions. We ask if there’s a list of items that were stolen from the evidence room, and he says we can look it up on the computer. He also confirms that only he and Alicia have access to the evidence room.
Alrighty, and in we go!
We see the window that the thief presumably broke to get in, but when we look at it more closely, Nancy notes that there’s no glass on the floor, meaning the window was broken from the inside — ergo, the break-in was staged. It was an inside job! What now, Alicia!
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