Fugitive Challenge Part 1
Tuesday, September 17, 2002

Eugene slipped a cell-phone out of his computer bag and swiftly dialed a number. "Hello," said the woman on the other end of the line. "Katrina, it's me!" Eugene said into the phone. I had some time to myself this morning, so before we're off again, I wanted to see how you were doing."

"I've really missed you, Eugene," Katrina said into the phone. "How many more days until this whole thing is over?" In the background, the doorbell rang. "Hold on a second. Someone's at the door," Katrina told Eugene. "Katrina, wait! Find out who it is before you open the door."

"I know that," Katrina said, "but it's only the guy renting the house across the street. Besides, I'm getting tired of being so reclusive. Hold on a second," she said, putting down the receiver. While he waited for Katrina to return to the phone, Eugene scanned his emails on his smuggled-in laptop. There was an email from his contact inside Novacom. "I found out a little more about the effort to find you, Eugene. Be careful. Those in the know seem satisfied that they're onto you and can get the information out of you shortly. What's going on over there? Why are these guys still after you? I know you say you're safe, but there are reports being filed nearly daily with your name on the header. I haven't been able to sneak a good look at them to see what they're about, but I'm warning you now that you may not be as hidden as you think. Stay--" Then he heard a crash over the telephone, followed shortly thereafter by Katrina crying out. He looked up from his email, startled. "Katrina! Katrina… what's going on?"

A minute later, Katrina picked up the phone. "I'm fine," she told Eugene when he asked her what had occurred. "I went to the cupboard to get some chocolates to offer to the neighbor and I tripped over the leg of the corner table. I just can't get used to that thing sticking so far out. I --"

Eugene cut her off. "But Katrina, why do you have chocolates in the house? You're allergic to chocolate!" Katrina's only reply was a simple "Yes."

"Katrina, what's going on over there?" he demanded. "I really have to hang up now," Katrina replied. "Someone's been on call waiting for five minutes."

"Oh, all right," Eugene replied, annoyed and confused. "I'll talk to you in a day or two then," he said quietly. As he hung up the phone in its cradle, he wondered why she mentioned chocolates. They never kept chocolate in the house. It just didn't make sense.

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Connie's finger ran over the map of Belgium that had been spread out by Brian Dern. "Heist-op-den-Berg, Grobbendonk, Koksijde…" she attempted. "What kind of names are these?" A few chuckled. "Don't even bother figuring out pronunciation," chucked Jason Whittaker, walking up to the group. The contestants sat on benches and at picnic tables in a small clearing adjoining the immense Belgian bed-and-breakfast where they had spent the night. They had flown into the country the previous night and were all pleased to find comfortable beds in which to sleep that night. Connie turned to Mitch, who sat beside her. "You know, I've been meaning to ask you about my roommate, Monica. You never told me exactly why you wanted to find her." Mitch sighed.

"She was working for Novacom. I was sent to track her down." Connie frowned and said, "But there were hundreds of Novacom workers. Why her?" Mitch sighed again. "Some other time, Connie." Connie tried to interject a few more comments, but Mitch cut her off, repeating, almost mumbling, "some other time."

Monica Stone stepped out of the bed-and-breakfast door and walked to where the rest were gathered. "It looks like I'm the last one up," she said. "Did I miss anything?"

No one had anything of note to offer. "Hey, where's Richard? He was here just a minute or two ago," Mitch asked suddenly. "I need to talk to him." The others stared, wondering about Mitch's sudden interest in Richard Maxwell, who had been generally ignored by the group outside of the challenges, in which he excelled. "Oh well, it was nothing important," Mitch trailed off.

"I think he took a walk," offered Jack Allen. "I'll see if I can find him." Mitch interjected, "It's really not necessary." Jack smiled. "I need to stretch my legs anyway." He walked out of the clearing and onto the small trail winding throughout the neighboring woods. He tried to jog for a moment, but decided to save his strength for the day's challenge, whatever it might be. Ten minutes later, he stopped. A bend in the path blocked his view, but he could hear Richard's voice.

"Yes," Richard said. A pause, then he said, "No, I don't think anyone's wise to me. I think I can throw a wrench into the plans. With the stakes as they are, I sure hope I can," Once again, he waited, then said testily, "I've got it all under control!" Jack started walking again, hoping to catch a glimpse of what was going on. A twig cracked under his feet and Richard suddenly went silent. A few seconds later, Jack rounded the bend. "Oh, Richard!" he said. Richard Maxwell shifted his feet nervously as Jack neared. "I came out here to look for you. You're wanted back there," he said, trying not to let on that he had heard anything. "Oh, uh… yeah, sure," sputtered Richard as he turned around and headed back towards the clearing.

Back with the group fifteen minutes later, Richard Maxwell and Jack Allen sat down on a bench just as Brian Dern stood up to announce the challenge of the day. "Well, it looks like all of you are ready for your challenge. In this challenge, we're doing things a bit differently. One of you in this game is in essence a fugitive. And the producer and I have agreed that Richard Maxwell is our man. Hope you don't mind, Richard, but even if you did, I wouldn't really care. But back to what I was saying, we're setting you guys loose in an abandoned village not too far from here today. The entire area you'll be using is taped off with that police tape stuff you always see at crime scenes. Or at least like the ones you see on crime scenes on television. In the real world, who knows? But hey, who cares?"

"Anyways," he continued, "it's a small section of the town. Half a square mile, I think it is. Richard, you do have a motivation to stay hidden from the group. If you can elude your potential captors for the course of two hours, you will be given a personal check for five thousand dollars – and an exemption. If the team captures you, on the other hand, $60,000 will be added to the pot for the game's winner to eventually take home. Now, the captors will each carry two items – a CB radio and a pair of handcuffs. We're not letting you get off easily. You have to physically capture Richard and handcuff him, hands behind his back, to win. It's not easy, but since when is making $60,000 supposed to be an easy task? I mean, that even takes Gates and what's his name, Paul somebody or other—well, whoever it is, it even takes them probably twenty minutes to make that much cash. You know, I just went through budget renegotiations and they ended up settling on paying me a measly $68,000 a year because they didn't have the money to pay what I really deserve. They say that, then turn around and pay one of you clowns for two hours of playing a glorified game of capture the flag with Richard here being the flag. That makes me really mad."

He paused a moment to calm down, then added, "Well, that's all, I guess. You guys get two hours to capture him. We'll be in the area, so you'll just call in if and when you catch him and we'll be there in a minute. We better be for Richard's sake. After all, we have the only set of keys that opens up those handcuffs you guys are all carrying."

"That guy's sure long winded," Connie giggled. Mitch, standing nearby, grinned. Dern, who had caught what was said, announced, "One more crack out of you, girlie, and I'll kick you out of here. Got it?"

Almost forty minutes later, seven of the eight contestants stood waiting impatiently just outside of the taped off area. They held their citizens band radios in hand and each had a set of handcuffs in a deep pocket, in a pouch or hanging on their belts. Richard Maxwell had been dropped off there over twenty minutes ago, long enough to decide on a course of action and to perhaps find a suitable hiding place in which to remain during the search. Dern held his hand high in the air and stared at the pocket watch he held in his hand. His hand dropped and the contestants were off.

Mitch, Eugene and Jason quickly formed one group, while Monica Stone, Connie Kendall, Barry Muntz and Jack Allen ended up in the other. "You four split up and take that side," Jason instructed, "and the three of us will take this side of town. Check everywhere. Keep constant watch and please don't miss him! Split up and we can all keep in contact with these," he said, holding up his CB.

"Now," Jason continued, this time only talking to the two in his group, "Mitch, you take over there take from the tape to about one third down the area set out. That's about at that old barbershop out there in the distance. Eugene and I will go farther down. He can take the barbershop to the 2/3rds point and I'll take the rest. Is that alright with everyone?" The two nodded in the affirmative and they were off.

Mitch raced to the first building in the laid-out area. The tape was along the side of the building, so it was the first possible place to look. It was an old, run-down shack with the feel of a shack in an old movie, not something someone had actually lived in at one point. The glass in the windows had long since cracked and the shutters were hanging loosely, swaying in the wind. He swung open the door and stood there as it creaked loudly. So much for sneaking up on him, he thought. There weren't many places to look. An old fireplace with crumbling bricks making up the chimney and frame covered nearly the entire left wall and the back wall of the main room featured only an old writing desk with a few scraps of paper held firmly under a rock used as a paperweight. A tattered end of the paper caught Mitch's eye and he lifted the paperweight and slipped the sheet into his pocket to look over later. The only other feature of the room was two hand-made chairs, so Mitch moved on to the adjoining room. The room, a kitchen, was completely bare. Only the counters and empty cabinets remained. Mitch swung open the doors to a few larger floor cabinets to assure himself that Richard Maxwell had not concealed himself inside, then ascended the ladder to the loft where the former occupants had apparently slept. There was no possible place of concealment, so he climbed back down the ladder and headed to the door. The boards creaked and bowed significantly with each step and it suddenly occurred to him that he had stepped up to get into the shack and that judging from the way the boards had bowed under his weight, there was nothing but a frame directly underneath. He raced out of the house and searched for a way to make it under the shack. There had been no doors inside the house that could have led to a basement. Of that he felt quite sure. He made his way around the house, looking closely. Nothing caught his eye, so he considered moving on. He reached down and depressed the talk button on his CB. "Jason," he said. "The first shack seems to have some empty space under it but I can't find a way to get under there or even to look underneath. Should I keep looking or move on?"

Jason, who was just arriving at the area in which he needed to search, looked down at his watch. Six minutes had passed. "It's up to you," he said, "but we have to conserve time. Six minutes in one place is too much. We've got to cover a lot of ground and we only have two hours to do it." Mitch agreed. "If I can't find a way in, I doubt Richard did either," he said as he moved on. "I don't see how we can do this. I mean, there's only one house on either side of the road, but there are other buildings behind them, not to mention fields with all that tall grass. It seems like it will be just hit or miss. Take a guess of where to try and hope you find him in time."

Eugene, who was in the middle of searching an old stable, cut in. "With grass that tall, you'd see a path if he walked through it," he said. He peered in every stall, looked behind an old plow, and examined the loft. Jason, meanwhile, ransacked an old store searching for anything a person could hide in, under or behind. He failed to find Richard. An excited call came from Eugene across the radios. "I found some footprints," he said. Mitch was not nearly enthusiastic. "How do we even know they're his?" he asked. "The game workers are staying on the road," Eugene replied quickly. "And they're not mine. Whom else could they belong to if they were not those of Mr. Maxwell?"

Mitch asked calmly, "And do they lead anywhere?" Eugene replied, "Unfortunately, no. Once they get out of the mud over here, there's no sign of them for more than ten feet. But at least we know he was headed towards where Jason is checking." Jason groaned. "You know everything there is to know about computers, technology, linguistics, and all that but you can't figure something as simple as this out. He could have walked backwards through the mud or doubled back once he was out of it. If he went through mud, he wanted to confuse us."

"He didn't walk backwards," Eugene declared emphatically. "If that were the case, there would be considerable weight against the heel which would show up on the prints, as they are fine, untouched specimens. These prints clearly show the weight rather evenly distributed with only a small amount more pressure on the ball of the foot than that of the rest. I can stake my reputation on the fact that he was traveling in a forwards direction." Mitch hit the talk button and replied, "But as Jason said, he could have walked through, then once he was out of it went in the opposite direction." He paused momentarily and Jason cut in, "Just keep searching, Eugene."

On the other side of the road, Monica Stone began shouting to the others in her group. "Why wouldn't anyone come when I called on these CB-thingies?" asked Monica as Connie came into sight. Connie, racing up, took a quick look at the radio in Monica's hand and replied dryly, "The radio works better if you turn it on." Monica shot her an angry look, but quickly forgot the words and pointed excitedly in front of her. Behind an old home in a small patch of wooded area, some vines were pulled down to the ground, apparently yanked out from the trees they were entangled in. Some still dangled loosely from the tree branches, while one entire stretch of vine lay flat on the ground. One of the mid-sized vines was freshly cut – and it was a clean, smooth cut. The wood inside was still green and damp. The ground behind the vines looked as if someone had sprawled out on it, and then covered it again quickly with leaves and brush. "Well, it looks like he tripped on a vine and got his foot stuck in one," laughed Connie.

Monica nodded. "He must have cut himself loose with a pocket knife or something. Otherwise, it would be torn or twisted and not a smooth cut like this" She radioed in to Jack and Barry to inform them of the find and to get instructions. Barry, who had taken charge of the group, said to try to guess where he might have gone from there. All the contestants realized there wasn't time to search everywhere. They had to take some chances – they had to make some guesses and follow hunches.

In his hiding spot, Richard pulled out his CB, which he had secured from Bryan Dern unbeknownst to the others, and put his ear buds in. They were much smaller than traditional headphones and were much easier to use in his position, as they were two separate hearing aid sized pieces that could be slid into the ears without the bulk or the arch of regular headphones. He once again began scanning through the fourteen channels, hoping to catch one just as someone was calling in. On channel eight, he heard a click as if someone had just released the talk button. He waited a minute, and then heard what he had been waiting for. The voice of Barry Muntz came across the frequency, giving instructions to the others in her group. If he could keep track of where the groups were searching, he could stay a step ahead of them during the course of the game. He settled down into a more comfortable position and listened intently to the conversation.

Fugitive Challenge Part 2
Wednesday, September 18, 2002

"I … can't … go … any farther," wheezed Monica as she sat down on the ground and caught her breath. Connie, who was still working alongside, urged her on. "We haven't been out here more than an hour," she said. "We need to keep going." And in a few minutes, they did move on, trying to follow Richard's trail, deciding where he could have emerged from the clump of trees and where he may have gone from there. On one side was a field. It was obvious that he could not have gone through there, as there was nothing trampled down. The grass and weeds appeared perfectly untouched. They continued searching.

A place where it appeared someone had stopped at least momentarily, perhaps to pull out a thorn or something similar as the area was well overgrown. The trail was still somewhat warm. But then came the dilemma: a small trail in the grass indicated that he had walked onto the road. But where did he go from there? He could have walked a ways, then headed right back to the same side or could have crossed over. Connie ran across the road and tried to pick up the trail, but could find nothing. "He could be anywhere," she groaned.

Back on the other side of the road, Robert Mitchell saw Monica Stone and called her over. "Can I borrow your radio for a second?" he asked. Permission was granted and he quickly flipped to his group's frequency. "Jason, Eugene, I'm on Monica Stone's CB right now. A moment ago I reached down to grab my radio and it was gone."

Jason snatched up his radio and depressed the button. "Gone? We're gonna need all of those things!" Mitch quickly responded: "I know. I've been searching for it for the last five minutes, but it's gone." Jason sighed. "Well, don't waste all day looking for it. You're just going to have to do without it." He looked at his watch and added, "We only have forty minutes left."

Mitch handed the radio back to Monica and resumed his search. Eugene, meanwhile, began desperately sweeping the area, taking broader, quicker passes in hopes of stumbling upon Richard before time had run out. In the first hour and twenty minutes, he had covered only a little over one-third of his designated area and he had to move faster, even if that meant sacrificing the quality of his search methods. He raced into an old feed mill and peered quickly down the old grain bins, looked inside the gutted out machinery, checked each room quickly yet thoroughly and dug frantically through the old stacked up crates that had once held large shipments of flour to be sent to neighboring towns. He then raced into the small dug-out basement and felt his way around in the semi-darkness, trying to cover the entire darkened area with his hands. Once again, no sign of Richard Maxwell.

While the others searched frantically for him, Richard was comfortably resting, listening to their occasional calls to each other on their radios and occasionally catching a few words yelled back and forth among the searchers. As one of the searchers was nearing, he wondered if it was time to abandon his hiding spot. From words exchanged on the radio, there was a good chance that he would not be found, he thought, but if he could sneak out of where he was and make it to a building that had already been searched, he could be nearly assured of his $5,000 and the exemption. He pulled out the left ear bud and pressed his ear against the side of his hiding place. There was no sound to be heard outside of the occasional call of a bird. But should he risk it? "This place is good enough," he said to himself.

He wondered if he should have reconsidered when he heard footsteps above him. Someone was walking across the old, wooden floor of the shack. The floor creaked and sagged with each step and for a moment, Richard wondered if the floor would hold or if it would at any moment come crashing down on top of him.

Eugene winced as the floor panels bowed with each step. The wooden floor was covered in a thick layer of dust, which plumed up into the air when he walked. He heard a very faint, muffled cough. Below, Richard had spread his shirt collar over his mouth and was trying not to cough. A hundred years of dust and dirt was falling with each step of the searcher above and his eyes were swelling, his mouth had the taste of dirt in it and he was afraid he would sneeze. He held back the sneeze, but couldn't refrain from coughing. It was a short cough, muffled by the shirt material, but it was enough. The person above stopped moving.

Eugene pressed down on the CB talk button and whispered to the others, "I think I've found him… the only shack with the porch in front," then slipped the CB back in place. There was nowhere in sight where Richard could be hiding, so he began tapping on the wall. While it was obvious there were no hidden spaces in the walls of the tiny shack, he had to be sure. He then stared up above. He could see the exposed rafters. Nothing up there. The only remaining option was down below.

He brushed his foot against the floor in a sweeping motion, trying to find a way down to the basement. There was no door and he had been outside looking around the place before he had come in. The only option was a root cellar. He pulled aside an old couch and dusted off the floor where it had set. Beneath him, he heard a sneeze as the inch-thick layer of dust literally poured through the wide cracks in the hardwood flooring. But even though the sneeze was far louder than the cough that he thought for a moment that he had imagined, it somehow seemed more distant. He kept looking for a way down. Soon he saw it - an old rusty handle. But then, he reconsidered. There was no way that Richard entered there or the dust would already have been cleared. And without knowing to look for it, he would have been unlikely to find it. He raced out of the shack and stood vigil at the door, blocking anyone from exiting through the shack while keeping an eye out for Richard at other exits. For there had to be another one somewhere. Jason ran up and agreed to keep an eye on what was going on outside while Eugene went back inside the shack to enter the root cellar.

Not realizing that reinforcements had arrived, Richard raced to the other exit, the shack next door. The two houses were nearly connected and shared the same root cellar. He ran to the door of the house and swung it open, desperate to get out before the person following him found the same second exit, but nearly ran into Jason, who was standing nearby. Jason yelled and began the chase, but Richard had a head start jumped with little hesitation down the root cellar entrance. He landed on his knees below and quickly picked himself up and ran towards the other exit, hoping that original exit would be left unguarded. He swung the door open and was starring straight at Eugene, but Jason wasn't far behind, so he jumped out and stood face-to-face with Eugene.

Richard made a break for the shack's door, but Eugene caught him just as he swung the door open. The two of them rolled down the shack's steps with Eugene keeping a firm grip on Richard. "I've got him," he yelled. A moment later, as Richard began to gain some control, Eugene called out once again. "Hurry, Jason!"

Eugene felt himself being slammed hard against the ground and saw Richard get up and run. He dizzily got to his feet, but fell down after only a few steps. Jason was on the run after Richard, but was nearly twenty steps behind and was tired from his search, while Richard was still relatively rested. Eugene, from where he lay, switched to the other team's station. "He's coming your way," he said. "Right across from the barber's shop."

Richard grinned as Jason fell farther and farther behind, but he too was concerned. His heart was pounding from the mad dash and he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep up the pace. He and Jason were racing up a trail on the outskirts of the town, not far from the border of the taped-off area. He rounded a bend and saw Barry Muntz racing towards him, Connie Kendall a few steps behind. He spun around and cut to the side, bypassing Barry but almost running directly into Connie, who quickly grabbed his shirt and made a failed attempt to tackle him. He broke away, but Barry Muntz had been given the moment he needed to catch up and dove on Richard. He felt himself being slammed into the ground. Jason caught up and knelt down to place the handcuffs on Richard, but he stumbled and clasped the cuffs tightly as he fell. The handcuffs looked in place and Richard saw his chance. He rolled to his side and swung his arm in a sweeping blow against Barry, who reeled sideways. Jason and Connie ran after him and Mitch, who had just found the others, joined in the chase. It was Mitch who eventually caught up to Richard, tackled him and handcuffed him. Richard gasped for air. Jason jogged up and glanced at his watch. "We did it with eleven minute to spare," he told the others gathered around. Connie grabbed her radio and changed it to the frequency the Mole assistants were using. "We've got him!" she yelled exuberantly. "Bring him back onto the road," came the reply. "We'll take over from there." Three minutes later, Jack Allen and Monica Stone met the six on the road near the edge of town. Dern was there waiting to offer his congratulations. "Well, you caught him. I must say I didn't think you would. Sixty thousand is added to the total and the producer, being in a good mood, has decided that Maxwell here gets an exemption anyway. He does not, however, get a check for five thousand dollars."

He grinned at Richards' obvious disappointment. "As further proof of the producer being in a good mood, we're going to let you all loose in town tonight with sixty dollars each. Buy dinner, a gift, call your family and friends, or just roam the town. It's your night. And believe me, I think it's crazy."

The players tossed their gear into the jeep parked at the edge of town. There were eight CBs and seven sets of handcuffs.

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Whit grabbed the remote from the nightstand and flipped on the power button. For the previous four days, he had been in Chicago attending to business matters concerning his company. And in the evenings, there just wasn't much to do in Chicago the hundredth time you visited. And so, even though it broke his normal rule, he turned on the television.

"…with the storm front likely to move to the east of us in this part of the state. This is Stacey Jordan for Channel 38 in Chicago. Tom, back to you."

The cameras cut to Tom White, the Channel 38 news anchorman, who sat behind a sprawling news desk, looking both friendly and stern at once, if such a thing were possible. His smile made him popular with the viewing audience and he spoke in a soothing but no-nonsense voice that was well suited for a news anchor.

"Today's top story is the disappearance of a young woman from the suburban home she and her husband rent on the west side of Chicago. Police say that Sue Leonard disappeared from her home sometime around seven o'clock this morning. Neighbors purportedly grew concerned after hearing several loud noises inside the house and called the police in to investigate. Mrs. Leonard, who provides private tutoring for several students in the surrounding area, has likely met with foul play, according to a source inside the Chicago Police force. Her husband, Hubert, has been out of town, presumably on business, for several weeks. One neighbor told us that she remembers seeing him leave the house, suitcase in hand, at the beginning of the month."

Whit sighed. The names sounded faintly familiar, as if he had known them. But he had never met anyone by those names, he was sure of that. Still, he had a nagging feeling that someone he knew was involved. He turned up the volume and watched intently.

The report continued, "Sue Leonard's husband has not yet been informed of his wife's disappearance, as officials have not been able to locate him as of the time this report was filed. The FBI is said to have an interest in the case and we have been told that police have several leads after only hours on the case, although they refuse to divulge anything at this time."

The anchor then began to expound on Sue Leonard's physical characteristics and Whit felt even more strongly than before that he knew the person who had disappeared. But he had never known any Sue Leonard.

"And now we head to the sports desk. We have with us today John Velta of the Tribune here to talk about the Bear's demoralizing defeat Sunday at the hands of the Pittsburgh Steelers. John, what went wrong?"

Whit suddenly jumped up, greatly concerned, and, hitting the TV mute button as he stood, dialed a number on his cell phone. "Pick up, please pick up," he urged softly. A moment later, the connection was made. "We may have a problem," Whit nearly whispered into the phone.

Speculation Week 5
Thursday, September 19, 2002

Eugene: "Miss Kendall would surely disagree, but I believe her friend, Mr. Mitchell, is engaging in subterfuge. He distinctly told Jason and I that he had lost his radio and it was agreed that he would give up searching for it and move on in an attempt to find Richard Maxwell. Since Richard had a radio on him when we captured him, we know that eight people started out with radios at the beginning of the challenge. Mr. Mitchell lost his radio, or so he claims; yet there were eight CB radios placed in the vehicle at the end of the day. I would like to know how he would account for this discrepancy in what he told us."

Richard: "You know, I didn't expect to comment much this time around, but I found it interesting how hard the others found it to capture me. Barry was going to cuff me, but Jason offered to help. When he fell, he not only locked the handcuffs, but everyone turned away, letting me break free. He tripped, apparently, but I didn't see anything he could have tripped over. It's odd, but I think I had the best view of the situation, lying on the ground like that. It sorta makes me wonder if Jason wanted me to escape."

Jason: "Eugene called in to report some footprints, but in hindsight, I wonder if he was just trying to distract us. Surely he realized that some footprints wouldn't lead us far. He did end up finding Richard, though. Still, I think I'll stick by what Monica and I determined for now."

Mitch: "I really have no clue about who's the mole from this particular game. I was away from everyone nearly the entire game and just got into the action in the last few moments. But as for Eugene's charge about the lost CB, I found it lying in some weeds near the roadside as I was heading back. I guess it slipped off when I started running and I just didn't notice it until I needed it later on in the game. If I had to guess who the mole is, though, I think I'd say Connie. It sounds awful, me being the only one to suspect Connie and having us be such close friends and all, but she has been suspicious. If she had reacted differently on several occasions, things might have gone much differently. Still, I can't quite force myself to truly believe it."

Connie: "This is really tough. What Mitch says could have happened, but I just don't know. I'm really not sure if he's telling the truth. What if he had it the whole time? Or maybe someone else found it after he lost it and he is lying about it to cast false suspicion on himself and mess up the game or maybe he's trying to protect the real mole, but I can't see why. Unless he thinks I took the CB, but I didn't! And oh, about Monica, I don't think she's the mole, but she hasn't done a thing to help us in any of these challenges. Everyone else seems to be helping while she does absolutely nothing. I hope she leaves soon, as mean as that sounds."

Jack: "I guess I really wasn't very involved in this challenge. I searched the majority of my designated area on the far north-western side of the village but found nothing and did nothing to help the team. I never even knew Richard had been found until I got the call to come back because the game was over. Because of that, my thoughts don't mean a lot, but I find it interesting that Barry, who started out with me, disappeared half-way through the challenge and didn't show up again until the very end. I wonder what he was doing all that time."

Barry: "I find it very interesting that this is the first game so far that nothing really bad seemed to happen and its also the only week that Richard Maxwell would have been unable to mess things up. I mean, he was the one hiding, so he couldn't do much to really hurt us other than hide well, which he apparently didn't do. I've kind of gone back and forth between some people and still have to wonder about Jack, but it certainly seems suspicious that when Richard's gone, everything goes fine and when he's around, things start going wrong. Plus, now that I think about it a while, since Richard was given a task that involved messing us up, wouldn't the mole have the most motive for doing that? Maybe Maxwell was chosen because he is the mole."

Monica: "I am thoroughly confused. Jason and I came up with a suspect, but it was obviously wrong. I mean, we must have really messed up. But still, I have no idea who the mole is. I wonder if Jason wanted to strategize with me just so it would ease my suspicions that he is the culprit. He hasn't been very high-profile so far, but there does seem to be a bit of a pattern emerging."