Half an hour later and three members of Mystery Inc. were sitting at a table in a restaurant eating- the other two were sulking at the side of the table. As Fred had pointed out, if those two had been allowed to order something, even just a small thing, it would have turned into half the menu being ordered, then the other half too.
"Emily's pretty keen for us not to go ghost-hunting," Velma commented, munching on a mouthful of chicken. "I wonder if she might know more than we think she knows."
Fred shook his head, his knife and fork hovering over his plate.
"Well, if she knew more, she would probably have told us a bit more. No, she seemed pretty innocent to me."
Velma looked sideways at him and he flicked a chunk of chicken at her that had fallen off her plate.
"Don't even go there, Velma!"
Next to him, Daphne choked on her chickpea risotto. Fred leaned over and banged her on the back, and she swallowed and smiled.
"Sorry! Thanks, Freddy," she added, her cheeks a slightly luminous shade of scarlet.
Velma rolled her eyes and diverted everyone back to the task at hand.
Meanwhile, a young waitress had walked over to Shaggy and Scooby, who were looking decidedly mutinous.
"Are you eating here?"
They shook their heads, looking sour. Then Shaggy leaned in to talk to her.
"Like, you don't think you could give us some menus, do you?"
The waitress blinked at the obvious secrecy and nodded mutely, walking away to the swinging door leading to the kitchen.
Daphne glanced over as the waitress entered the swinging doors, looking baffled, but she didn't see where she came from.
"Maybe Emily is in on something, but I don't see what. We need more clues, so we need to go find them, at the hotel."
Velma nodded, swallowing a mouthful of beans.
"As soon as we get back, we'll go find some clues. If only the guys hadn't tried to clean out the cafeteria completely and succeeded… Hey, um, guys?"
She pointed to the young waitress, who was balancing several plates in her hands, and walking over to the window table where Shaggy and Scooby were sitting with another waitress, also carrying a month's worth of dinners for a normal person, but a single meal for Shaggy or Scooby…
Velma groaned out loud as the pair started to chow down on the food, without a moment's inhibition. The waitresses watched for a minute, unbelieving expressions on their faces as they watched, but they were both pushed aside by the rest of the gang, who looked furious.
"GUYS!" Daphne yelled. "WHO PROMISED THEY WEREN'T GOING TO EAT ANYTHING IF THEY WEREN'T LEFT IN THE HOTEL WITH THE PHANTOM?"
Shaggy and Scooby shrunk down in their seats as she yelled, until only the tops of their heads were visible above the piles of plates. Fred and Velma stood by, both silent, trying to muffle laughter at Daphne but both annoyed that there were going to be yet more expenses on the gang's credit card bill again, thanks to the gang's pair of bottomless stomachs.
