Chapter 1
The Gang's office, Buffalo, New York
"Ok gang." Fred said, Velma was sat at the desk on her laptop, Shaggy and Scooby were eating Subway sandwiches and Daphne was watering the plants.
"We have our new case." Fred said, then gang gathered around the small coffee table. "So, we were just contacted by a police officer in Bushkill, Pennsylvania, there was a fire." Fred said. "We've never investigated fires before, Freddie." Daphne said. "I know Daph, but I think this one is up our alley." He said.
"What is it?" Velma asked. "So, this police officer; Officer Klass, said there was a fire and they're not sure how it started." Fred said.
"Go on." Velma said, getting interested in this case. "So, they managed to put the fire out and they found the owners, Georgia and Arthur Robert inside, they're both dead. There was no fault with the wiring and no problems with the gas before the fire." Fred said, "They want us to check it out."
"Ok." Shaggy said, taking a bite out of his Subway sandwich. "I did some research into the house's history and found nothing, but then I researched the family's history and Georgia, who died in the fire, she's related to a man called Dragomir Bloodwood." Fred said.
"Like here we go, an old family curse, right?" Shaggy asked, Fred nodded, Shaggy took a huge bite of the sandwich.
"So, what does that have to do with the fire?" Velma asked. "We won't know until we investigate the ruins of the house." Fred said. "Alright." Daphne said, "Fred's right, this is definitely up our street." She said.
"Ok, so I'm going to do some research into Dragomir and this fire." Velma said. "You can do that on the way, Velma. We're leaving soon." Fred said.
"Will we have enough time to pack?" Shaggy asked, thinking about all the snacks he'll need to pack for the journey. Velma grabbed her notepad and her laptop, Shaggy and Scooby went across to Subway to get sandwiches for the journey.
"Are you alright to drive?" Daphne asked. "Yep." Fred smiled, "But I'll tell you if I need to stop." He smiled, pressing his lips to hers, she smiled. "When Shaggy and Scooby get back, we'll get some gas and be on our way." Fred said. "Well if we're waiting for Shaggy and Scooby, we'll be waiting all day." Daphne joked.
Just after two o'clock, the gang arrived in Bushkill, they went to the police station and were led to the scene by a police officer.
"There's a gas station down the road," The police officer said, "The lad who works there called nine-one-one when he saw the smoke, he knew only houses were up this way." He said. "He said he knew it was too cold for people to be having barbeques, and the smoke was too thick to be a barbeque." He said.
The gang stood in front of what was left of the house, they could tell that it had been a big house. The roof was gone, the front door was gone and most of that side of the house had crumbled.
"How long was the fire going when you got here?" Velma asked. "Well, Tobias Black, the kid from the gas station, called about twelve o'clock yesterday afternoon, we got to the house just after quarter past." The police officer said.
"Right, so the house could have been burning for hours before Tobias spotted the smoke." Velma said. "That's what we think." The police officer said, "Notice the houses aren't close together." He said, the gang looked around, guessing that there was probably one hundred yards between each house. "Yeah." Fred said, wondering where this was going.
"None of the neighbours saw the fire." The police officer said, the gang exchanged looks. "How many houses in the neighbourhood; one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten." He said, counting each of the houses, included the one destroyed by the fire, "Imagine how many people are inside each house; none of the neighbours were home." He said.
"So, there are ten houses in the neighbourhood, one of them is on fire and all of the other neighbours are out?" Daphne asked. "Weird isn't it." The police officer said, the gang nodded.
"We didn't realise they were in there until we put the fire out and had a look, neither of the couple drive." The police officer said. "We've contacted their families," He said.
"What about Tobias?" Shaggy asked. "We questioned him yesterday, we looked through the security camera footage, he was in the gas station the whole time." The police officer said
"Can we see the footage?" Velma asked. "Of course, do you want to look around the house first?" The police officer asked. "Yes." Fred said. "I've got hard hats in the trunk." The police officer said, he went to his police car and pulled out five hard hats.
Then the gang went into the house.
"Be careful gang." Fred said.
When they walked into the house, they tried to imagine what the house looked like before the fire. Walking through what was left of the front door, on the left was doorway to the dining room, and the on the left was the living room.
"I think we should stick together," Fred said, "It's not safe to split up."
"Let's go in here." Velma said, walking into the dining room, the dining table was still standing, though badly burnt. The dining room stretched out into what was left of the kitchen.
They looked around, when Fred spoke to the police officer over the phone, he said the firemen weren't sure how the fire started, he said they'd looked at the wiring and the gas and there were no problems with it before the fire started.
After the kitchen, they went into the living room. It was large room; the TV and the furniture, which were destroyed, filled the room. They didn't know how old the couple was, but they certainly had a lot of money.
"What's through there?" Daphne asked, pointing to a door, the firemen had obviously opened it, so the gang went in.
It looked like a small library; with bookshelves that touched the ceiling and a desk in the corner and a reading chair.
"Hmm…" Shaggy began, "Something doesn't feel right in here." He said. "What do you mean?" Fred asked, looking around the burnt room, Velma looked at the burnt books on the shelf, Daphne could make out a photo frame on the desk, the pretty frame was burnt, and the glass was cracked and there was still a picture inside. She took the frame apart and took the picture out, it was burnt a little bit but only around the edges; it was a picture of some children and an older couple
"Like, I can feel something odd in here." Shaggy said.
Daphne looked at the picture; a man and woman, probably in their seventies, and four children, the oldest probably eight. There was something written on the back, Daphne tuned the picture over to read it, some of the words were burnt but she could make out what it used to say; Georgia and Arthur with Jessica, Tommy, Lucy and Jane – August 6th 2016
"I don't know, something is off about this room." Shaggy said. "Ok, well let's have a look around." Fred said. "We're not going to find anything in these books." Velma said, she picked one off the shelve and it fell apart in her hands, the pages were burnt.
Scooby was sniffing around the desk, "I found something." He said, sniffing around. "What is it Scoob?" Shaggy asked, the gang gathered around Scooby. "Let's move this." Shaggy said, he and Fred lifted the desk, carefully as it might crumble any second, and they moved it to the side.
"What's that?" Daphne asked, there was something carved onto the wooden floor, a symbol? It looked like a X with the letter's BW in the centre of it.
"Funny." Velma said, "All of the floorboards are burnt, this symbol, whatever it is, should barely be noticeable."
"It looks like it was put here after the fire." Daphne said. "Yeah." Fred said, he used his phone to take a picture of the symbol.
"Come on, we should go." Fred said, the house started creaking, "It could fall down in any second." He said, the gang quickly left the house.
"Find anything?" The police officer asked. "We're not sure." Fred said, "We've got some work to do." He said.
"So, shall we head down to the station, you want to see the security footage?" The police officer asked, the gang nodded.
They followed the police officer back to the station.
They sat around a computer watching the footage; the camera was facing the counter, but outside, people could be seen filling up their cars.
They could be seen walking through the store, but the police officer said this tape captured most of Tobias, when he was serving customers and not filling up the stock.
Tobias served a few customers; the police officer told the gang that Tobias had said it had been a slow day, so he spent most of the time filling up the empty shelves.
Tobias disappeared from the screen and then a few seconds later he went running to the counter and grabbed the phone and was looking at something out the window.
"Play it back." Velma said, "To when Tobias walked out of the camera's sight." She said, the police officer wound the tape back. "Right, now look in this corner." Velma said, pointing to the left corner of the shop window.
Tobias walks out of the camera's range, "Keep looking." Velma said, the gang stared, and then they saw it; it was grey cloud of smoke, Tobias was running to the counter and grabbed the phone.
"You probably didn't notice it, but the smoke is grey, probably because it's in the distance and on a camera." Velma said.
"Can you play that again?" Daphne asked, the police officer wound it back again, "So, it's not there when Tobias is seen on camera, he walks out of the camera's sight, then seconds later the smoke is seen, and Tobias comes back into view." Daphne said. "Yeah?" Velma asked. "Look how thick the smoke it." Daphne said, "Nothing was there when Tobias walked away, as soon as he's out of sight, which is literally a second, there's a thick cloud of smoke." Daphne said.
"She's right." The police officer said, watching the smoke, "It's too quick." He said.
"Ok, can we talk to Tobias?" Velma asked. "Sure, I'll give him a call." The police officer said.