Chapter 2

New Orleans, Louisiana

"Like, I remember this place!" Shaggy exclaimed as Fred parked opposite the market where they first met Lena, and Shaggy and Scooby had a very hot and spicy sandwich.

"It's not as busy as I remember." Velma said, as the gang took their bags out of the Mystery Machine. They headed into the hotel across the road. After they'd checked in and put their bags in their rooms, they headed down to the police station to meet Beau.

"Detectives." A familiar voice said, as they entered the police station, "Detective Neville." Fred greeted, shaking his hand. "It's great to see you, you all look well." He said, looking at Velma, "Thank you for coming on such short notice." Beau said. "Like, we're happy to help Detective." Shaggy said. "Let's get started." He said, leading the gang to his office.

The gang stood in front of the whiteboard, "This case has had me stumped for the last year, fifteen disappearances in one year and I have not found a suspect or a motive." Beau said, Velma pulled out her notepad and pen, "It started the beginning of last year, the first victim was sixty-five-year-old Hector Andrews, he was fishing in the bayou, legally and he was putting the fish back in the water. We found his notepad and pen, he was just weighing and measuring them." Beau said.

He took a deep breath, "He was reported missing by his wife, she said he had gone fishing but hadn't returned on time and she got worried. When she said he had been fishing we suspected that he had gotten lost or lost his boat while he was still on the island, our worst-case scenario was that he'd drowned, but we couldn't find him." Beau said.

"There is this too." Beau said, turning his attention to the old TV in the corner, "We're not sure why Hector Andrews decided to go fishing in such cold weather, but the next disappearance took place on April twelfth, and then a few cases after that on June twelfth, two teenagers Arthur Bearer and Ryan Ball decided to go onto the island."

Beau turned to TV on and footage from a camera played;

"What's up guys, it's me Arthur here with my buddy Ryan and guess where we are today? Moonscar Island!"

Arthur Bearer looked young, from what the gang could see, he was wearing a red lumberjack shirt and a blue bomber jacket. Then the camera panned from Arthur to Ryan Ball, he was also young, and he wore a black shirt which looked like it had AC/DC on the front and he wore a plain black jacket.

"They were both nineteen, Arthur and Ryan had a ghost hunting interest and had their own YouTube Channel." Beau said. "Horror Hunting with Ryan and Arthur, like I aware of their channel, Sugie watches it all the time." Shaggy said.

"Hundreds of years ago a pirate named Morgan Moonscar discovered the island and named it Moonscar Island. Before two-thousand and twelve, there had been strange disappearances on the island, then when two-thousand and twelve came to an end, the disappearances stopped. But, on January 10th, this year, people started disappearing again. Ready Ryan?"

Arthur turned the camera to Ryan, who looked very nervous about being on the island, and it made the gang's stomachs drop.

"Sure."

"Then let's get going."

Arthur turned the camera away from Ryan and pointed it towards the thick woodland of the island.

"Morgan Moonscar, are you here?"

Ryan shouted, Velma could feel her body begin to shake as she remembered their experience on the island, six years ago.

"Maybe we should go further into the woods?"

"Maybe we- did you hear that?"

Arthur stopped himself as he heard a rustling in the background.

"You scared Artie?"

Ryan joked, Arthur laughed a little, but the rustling was heard again.

"Dude, it's probably just a rabbit or a fox or something."

Ryan said, teasing his friend.

"Probably but-"

The film stopped, "The battery either ran put or something went wrong with their camera, but this is all that was filmed." Beau said. "There was no sign of any animal that might have attacked the missing people, I've sent a helicopter with a night vision camera over the island but they've not seen anything, myself and a team of armed officers searched the island and we found nothing and I've sent a dive team into the water several times but they've found nothing.

"So, what are you like, suspectin'?" Shaggy asked. "I promised Mrs Andrews I'd do my best to find Hector, but I don't know what to think of all this." Beau said.

"You said there are fifteen missing people?" Daphne asked. "Yes, that's correct." Beau said. "All the victims are male." Fred said, looking at the whiteboard. "It's probably nothing to do with the case, a lot of the victims were fishing, others were leaf collectors, but those two boys were just…kids, they were the youngest." Beau said.

"Have you checked the house?" Velma asked. "Yes, when we searched the island, we searched inside the house, but there was nothing, the house didn't look like it had been touched since we left it." Beau said.

"Can we have the missing persons reports and the statements made by the relatives?" Velma asked. "Of course." Beau said, he opened a cabinet and gave Velma fifteen case files, she photocopied each statement, then the gang and Beau read through each statement and highlighted anything suspicious.

When they had finished, they discussed their findings, they had each highlighted parts in the statements which showed that the missing people had mentioned something about hearing or seeing something before they died.

"Looks like we might have some research to do." Daphne said. "Well, in that case I'm going on a coffee run. Anybody want anything?" Velma asked. "Like, hot chocolate please." Shaggy asked. "I'll come with you." Beau said. "Fred, Daphne, black coffee?" Velma asked quickly, Fred, Daphne and Scooby noticed Velma acting awkward, but Shaggy was too busy thinking about hot chocolate with chilli peppers to notice, "Erm, sure. Thanks, Velma." Fred said.

"Come on, let's go. The sooner we get back the sooner we can solve the case." Beau said, leaving the office, Velma gave Daphne a look before she followed Beau.

"What was that about?" Fred asked. "Yeah, anyone would think she was like, in love with him." Shaggy joked, and he, Fred and Scooby laughed. Daphne shrugged, trying not to act suspicious, but Fred noticed. "Wait a sec, Daph. She does, doesn't she?" He asked, Shaggy and Scooby stopped laughing, Daphne nodded.

"Well, like I can't really blame her, he is like a handsome dude." Shaggy said, Fred rolled his eyes.

"How have you been?" Beau asked as he and Velma stood in the queue. "Fine, how have you been?" She asked. "Fine." Beau replied. "Listen, what happened six years ago was… a mistake, we were both drunk and it shouldn't have happened." Velma said quickly, Beau raised his eyebrows at her. "What?" She asked. "You should know that I haven't thought about that night since you told me to forget about it the next morning." Beau said, Velma felt her cheeks turning red, "But it seems like you haven't stopped thinking about it." Beau winked at her and Velma's eyes widened and she felt her cheeks burning.

"Can I help you?" The barista asked, "Hello there," Beau said cheerfully, "Can we get two black coffees, one latte and a hot chocolate please?" He smiled, the young girl smiled back, "Any cream and marshmallows with your hot chocolate, sir?" She asked. "Sure, why not." Beau smiled, "What do you want Velma?" He asked.

"A white coffee, please." Velma asked. "All to go please." Beau smiled.

Waiting for the drinks felt like hours to Velma, with Beau standing close by, but Velma watched the other customers in the café, trying to pretend that what just happened between her and Beau, did not just happen, she had sure made a fool of herself. Had Beau really forgotten about her? It had been six years, but she had told him to forget, and he had forgotten.

Maybe Daphne was right, maybe Velma was more into Beau than she thought.

Finally, the drinks were ready, and they headed back to the police station.

Daphne and Fred were using Daphne's laptop to research somethings in the statements. One of the statements written by the wife of Steven Grady, said that he heard there was a fishing competition, to find the biggest catfish in America, which was Big Mona who lived in the waters around Moonscar Island.

Daphne and Fred searched and searched but couldn't find anything relating to a fishing competition in New Orleans, nor even in America.

"This is so strange." Daphne said. "I'll say." Fred added. "D'you guys think this has anythin' t'do with the cat creatures?" Shaggy asked, sitting on a spinny chair with his laptop on his lap. "No, they all died, we saw it." Daphne said.

"Rats had rowing eyes." Scooby said. "Like, y'mean Simone's cats?" Shaggy asked. "Reah." Scooby said. "It could have just been sunlight in their eyes, Scoob." Fred said. "Yeah, I'm sure these disappearances from Moonscar Island are just coincidental." Daphne said.

Beau and Velma returned with the coffees and a donut for Scooby. "So, what did you guys find?" Velma asked. "Well, in the statement Rachel Grady gave about her missing husband, he said there was a fishing competition to find the biggest catfish in America, she said he researched and the nearest one was in Big Mona. We searched and searched for anything about a fishing competition and we couldn't find anything, nothing about a fishing competition in New Orleans or anywhere in America." Fred said.

"That's strange." Velma said. "Indeed." Beau said. "So, like how did Mr Grady find out about the competition?" Shaggy asked. "It was emailed to him." Beau said, "I remember Rachel Grady was in hysterics when she couldn't find the email, she said Steven showed it to her and he was excited about it. So, we took his laptop and searched through all his emails and files, and we couldn't find it."

"Does Mr Skinner live nearby?" Fred asked. "Yeah, he's the dock master he's always down on the docks from dawn till dusk." Beau said, "He also feeds the fish down there too."

"I think we should go see him and ask him a few more questions." Fred said. "No, Velma and I will speak to Mr Skinner, you go back to the hotel Freddie, you're tired, you've been driving for hours." Daphne said.

"No, I'll be fine." Fred said, fighting back a yawn. "Fredster, we'll be fine, Daph an' Velm can speak t'Mr Skinner and Beau, Scoob an' Me will speak t'couple of the locals." Shaggy said.

"Ok, fine. Call me if you need me." Fred said, quickly kissing Daphne's and giving her the keys to the Mystery Machine.

Velma quickly grabbed her notepad and her coffee, and she and Daphne headed out to the van and headed to the docks.

Shaggy picked up a piece of paper, "What's that?" Beau asked. "I made a list of people who gave statements on the missing people, and those statements had somethin' suspicious in them that I thought we could like check out." Shaggy said. "Let's go." Beau said, grabbing his car keys.