Chapter 2 Manticore Case
The next day, the kids had a surprise call from Major Jones. All of them were pulled from school to visit him in his office.
"I really hate to admit it, but I need your help," Fred's father told them. "Because this thing is partially my fault, I need to get it cleared up right away. I ordered a haunted temple off the internet for Creepy Spooky Terror Land, and now it seems it's haunted by a manticore that's eating tourists. Embarrassing, but there it is."
"Who would order a haunted temple from the internet?" Daphne asked. "That seems like a foolish thing to do."
The Mayor gave her a look.
"Sorry, sir," she said.
"Dad, does this mean we're bonding? I'm all choked up," Fred said. "Look, my hand's trembling."
"Suffering platypus squirrels, Fred, don't go girly on me," his father said. "I told you again and again, real men don't have feelings."
"Of course, Dad," said Fred Junior, straightening up. "But we can do stakeouts together, make traps together..."
"I won't be doing any of that," Fred Senior said.
"Oh... all right. But you'll be there in spirit,"Fred said. "Let's go, guys! We have a mystery to solve – and I have a Father to please!"
They went to Creepy Spooky Terror Land and took a look around. They met Winslow Fleach and his daughter Philomena, whom Velma always called "Hot Dog Water." There was clearly no love between those two. In fact, they were bitter rivals for the position of smartest girl in the school.
"I'm going to have to shut the place down," Fleach told them. "Nobody comes here anymore and it's burning through money."
"My computer simulations agree, Father," said Hot Dog Water.
"But how will I afford to send you to college?" Fleach asked.
"We'll get by," said Hot Dog Water, strangely confident.
Perhaps she's relying on getting a scholarship, Velma thought. Good luck with that when I always beat her in the science fair.
They took the Haunted Temple ride and had a run-in with the Manticore, who nearly wrecked their ride car and threatened to eat their bones, but they escaped.
"Now what?" asked Shaggy.
"Now we need to do some computer searching to find out about that haunted temple site," Velma said.
"But, like where?" Shaggy said. "We'd usually go over to K-GHOUL and use the computer there, but now..."
"We could go to Chen's Internet Cafe, but Mr. E has that place hacked," Velma said.
"We'll go to K-GHOUL," Fred said. "We're acting just as usual, remember?"
They found what they were looking for on the internet – the site was a fake. Except for the haunted temple, the pictures of the remaining items were bogus. They were conscious the whole time of Angel Dynamite looking over their shoulders, but they tried to act normally.
"That's not a cursed tribal totem, that's the Statue of Liberty," said Fred.
"Right, but it did take some computer skill to set this all up," Velma said.
"This may mean we're not dealing with a real Manticore after all," said Daphne.
"You and I and Velma will go back to talk to my Dad," Fred said to Daphne. "Maybe whoever is behind this steered him onto that site. Shaggy and Scooby, you go back to Creepy Spooky Terror land and look for more clues... and I don't mean get into the nachos."
"Like, bummer," said Shaggy.
"Yeah," said Scooby. "I like nachos."
As the gang headed out, Angel Dynamite called out to Velma, "Hold on a sec, baby doll."
Velma came back nervously. "Yes?"
"Is there something going on, girl?" Angel asked. "You kids are as jumpy as a cat on a hot tin roof. And when I asked Scooby something he growled at me."
"Nothing," Velma said. "We're just nervous about the case. Fred wants to make a good impression on his father."
"You'll do just fine," said Angel, putting a hand on the back of her neck. "You always do."
"We'll get to the bottom of everything," said Velma.
"One question before you go," said Angel. "That puzzle-piece like thing you found. Who has it now?"
"Fred kept it," said Velma.
"Good, I just wanted to make sure you have it in a safe place," said Angel.
"Don't worry, we'll take good care of it," said Velma. "It's an important clue."
As she got out to the car, Shaggy held up a printed sign: "CAREFUL WHAT YOU SAY. I HID AND SAW HER PUT A BUG ON YOU."
Velma shivered. She suspects us, or else she wants to find out about the puzzle piece.
She grabbed a pencil and wrote on the sign, "FRED, I"M GOING TO ASK YOU SOMETHING. DON'T SAY THE TRUTH."
Aloud she said. "Angel just asked me about the puzzle piece from the Darrow mansion. Fred, do you have it somewhere safe?"
Fred said, "Yes, I have it hidden under the mattress in the top bunk in my room. I asked Dad for a bunk bed so I 'd have a secret place to stash stuff."
"That sounds safe enough," Velma said. "Nobody would think of looking there. Say, could we stop at a convenience store for a soda? I'm getting thirsty."
When she got the soda, she shook it and it sprayed on her when she opened it.
"Jinkies! Now we'll have to run by my house and get a different sweater," she said.
With another orange turtleneck sweater on and the bugged sweater safely rinsing in the washing machine, she said, "All right, we've confirmed it: Angel's bad. I think she wants our puzzle piece. It's either valuable itself or a clue to a treasure. Watch out Fred, she may go after that location."
Fred says, "I hope she does – that's why I gave it. It's one of my better traps."