Blood on the Water
Chapter I:
Shaggy jumped the counter that separated the kitchen from the living room in Mystery Incorporated's headquarters. He walked over to sofa in the center of the room and sat down with his sandwich as his favorite television program returned from it's commercial break. Not long after had the door opened and Velma, Daphne, and Fred came in with groceries and a folder with their newest case files tucked inside. Shaggy turned the television off and gave the rest of his sandwich to Scooby as he got up to help unload the groceries from the van and into the kitchen. "Like, hey guys. Find everything you needed?" He asked as he took a bag of groceries from Velma.
"Everything but the batteries for the high-powered flashlights. The hardware store was out." Velma explained to him as she went with him into the kitchen to start putting things in their place while Fred and Daphne got more bags from the van. "On another note, though," she smiled at him when they got into the kitchen, "I can't wait until Friday night for the festival." Shaggy grinned and put his hands on her waist.
"Neither can I," he said softly as he leaned in and kissed her lips gently. Velma's cheeks flushed and when he pulled away he found his own getting warm as well. Daphne walked in through the door and they busied themselves quickly with putting groceries away. Daphne giggled and set the grocery bags she was carrying on the counter and began taking off her jacket. The snow had come early this year and her hair was still dotted with tiny white crystals that sparkled.
"You guys don't have to keep being all shy, you know." She told them as she took her gloves off and set them on the counter next to the bags. Shaggy and Velma both blushed and Daphne giggled again as she began setting groceries away in the cabinets. Fred came in a moment later and kissed Daphne on the cheek before slipping his own jacket off and helping them. Once everything was all put away they gathered in the living room and opened their new case file on the table.
"Now," Fred said as he spread the pictures and notes on the coffee table, "the chief says that our latest guy has managed to kill five other citizens this year alone. In the past he's killed a total of ten others. Each of them were depressed at the time." The rest nodded as Fred put the pictures of the people before they were murdered side by side.
"They all look so young..." Daphne said as she touched the picture of the latest known victim. "He couldn't have been more than thirty..."
"He was killed last week," Freddie said sadly. He was going to continue when their phone rang and Shaggy got up to answer it.
"Mystery Incorporated, how may we, like, help you?" Shaggy's face got serious and then he hung up not long afterward. He turned to the gang. "The chief says she'd like to see us at her office, that something just arrived for us."
"We were only there an hour ago," Fred said, confusion on his face.
"We'd better go, the chief isn't, like, a patient person." Shaggy said nervously. They nodded and piled into the van. Fred got them to the police station and they went straight to the chief's office. She beckoned them in and a manilla envelope sat on the desk in front of her. She motioned for them to close the door.
"Something just came for you at my office." She said in a stern voice. "This envelope has not been touched since it got back from forensics and was cleared."
"Who sent it?" Velma asked.
"I believe it was sent by a man only known as 'The Harlequin,' the most notorious murderer in Coolsville. I believe he is calling you out." They all nodded. "Whatever is in this envelope, it's going to ask you to do the same thing it always asks. It's going to ask you to play a game. Before I let you open it and decide, I want you to remember that no one has ever seen this man and every time you fail to do a challenge of his correctly, one of your friends or family will die. It could even be someone you met for just a moment, it could even be one of you. From the moment you open this envelope, he will know everything about you." They all hesitated a moment. Fred was about to speak but the chief held up her hand. "He already has his first victim ready if you refuse to play. He'll kill them if you don't." This made them all stop. Fred closed his mouth. "Now you don't have to decide now, but the second you open the envelope it'll all begin. Good luck detectives." The chief stood and left the office to the gang.
"He already has someone..." Shaggy muttered.
"Rand he'll krill him, Raggy!" Scooby trembled.
"We can't an innocent person die..." Fred said in a soft voice as he stared at the envelope.
"I agree with Fred," Velma spoke up, "we gotta try." They all nodded, albeit reluctantly. Fred picked the envelope up carefully and tried to keep himself from dropping it when he saw the twisted smiling drawing of a clown on the seal. He opened it carefully and tipped out the contents. A letter fell to the chiefs desk with a photograph. Fred picked up the letter and read it aloud:
'Mystery Incorporated,
Oh, how I love playing games. They're so much fun, especially when there are stakes to pay when things don't go someone's way. Do you like games? I do hope so, because I have one all set up just for you. Don't worry, Scooby can join in the fun too. The game I set up will start with my clue for you; ech clue, by the way will be specifically for a certain member of your group, in this case it's for all of you. If you can figure out where that picture was taken, I'll leave a little gift for you there. If you don't find it in time, well I'm afraid Ms. Wilson is going to have to die. Such a pity, she is such a nice looking girl.
- Harley
P.S. Every time you fail my challenges, one of you will die as penalty for your faulty play. Everytime you win, one of your relatives or friends will go missing and you will only get them back once you defeat the game. Aren't stakes just the most fun of the game?'
"One of us will die?" Daphne repeated aloud.
"There's something else in here," Fred said as he shook the envelope. A tiny slip of paper fell out and he picked it up and read it out. "P.P.S., shame on me for not mentioning, but you only have one hour to complete each challenge and the clock is already ticking."
"How does he know we opened it?" Shaggy asked nervously, but no one answered him. Instead Velma picked up the photograph from the chief's desk and examined it closely. It showed the bottom edge of a house, it was made of wood and the grass was covered with dying leaves. A black shoe edge could be seen in the corner.
"That could be anywhere," Daphne pointed out.
"But it's supposed to be somewhere we know." Velma reminded her.
"I got it!" Fred shouted. He took the picture and held it up to the light. "It's the headquarters from when we were kids. That shoe was from when Red Herring through it at me up in the tree house. Those leaves are still on the tree, not the ground!"
"Are you sure, Fred?" Shaggy asked as he looked over his friend's shoulder at the picture.
"Surer than I've ever been, now come on. We're killing time." They nodded and raced out to their van and onto the highway, heading straight for the woods.
