Blood on the Water
Chapter VI:
"What has the clue got to do with any of you?" The other detective said after the clue had been read out. His partner coughed and he rolled his eyes. "The name's Carlton Lassiter, now let's focus here folks. We have a job to do and there is no time for pleasantries." Karen rolled her eyes and they refocused on the clue. Velma read it out again and it took about five minutes before anyone could make a connection to it at all.
"Like, I think it might be for me..." Shaggy had spoken up after a moment of silent thinking. "I think because he took Maggs, he's trying to get at me." They nodded.
"What can take from it?" Karen asked as she pulled her coat about her tighter. The snow was falling heavily now and they were alone in the parking lot with the exception of the new guard who'd just arrived to protect the book shop and the chief of police who was staying with them until they could get a lead on the new clue.
"I used to go every summer for like, a week to my uncle's house in the countryside by Lake Erie. It's about ten minutes out of town and like, twenty on the highway. I'm not sure if we'll have like, enough time to get there and go someplace else if I'm wrong."
"Well, why do you think we need to be there?" Karen asked while Carlton rolled his eyes.
"The thing says 'three little ducklings all in a row,' I figured he might mean my little sister and two of my cousins watching the plays that my like, older cousin used to make about our mystery solving and I'd always have to be in them." Shaggy told them. Fred put a hand on his shoulder.
"It's the only connection we can make. We don't have time to discuss it." The others nodded and the gang got into the Mystery Machine. The detectives were about to get into their car but the chief held up a hand to stop them.
"Lassiter, Kavet, you're riding with them in their van." Detective Lassiter looked disgusted.
"You want me to ride in that hippy-dippy, drug-induced, beatnik thing he calls a van?" The chief eyed him. "I mean, yes ma'am."
"That's what I thought, Detective. You are to inform me the moment you locate a new clue. Understood?" The detectives nodded and the chief left after they had gotten into the back of the van with Shaggy and Scooby. Lassiter looked gravely annoyed by this. It took them about thirty minutes to get Shaggy's uncle's home. His uncle wasn't home, but where they needed to be wasn't in the house. Shaggy ran around back with the others in tow as he dashed into the dead corn fields. He found was he was looking for in the dead center where a bunch of wooden crates had been pushed together to form a make-shift stage. Three chairs were present and a doll of his sister's had been left on the stage with rope tied around it's neck in the knot of a noose. A note was hanging from it. Detective Lassiter took the note and opened it. A picture fluttered out and he picked it up off the snowy ground.
It was a picture of Margerate and Ms. Wilson still tied to their chairs but a tea table had been set up between them with small china cups and moldy food. The detective read the note. "Diddles to you if you figured out my clue. What I want from you can be found here on this very property. It's nice to see that you've brought friends into the game by the way, the more players the merrier. Detectives are wonderful toys. Now, I want to you take a box for me. You'll find it by the river in the woods. Don't open it, don't question it, just take it. If you do open it, you'll receive a punishment and I will either kill one of my captives or I'll take one of you. Cheating is not allowed. When you take the box deliver it the post office and your task is complete. I give you one extra hour to do this. - Harley."
"Where's this river?" Karen asked Shaggy and he pointed towards the north and into a frozen wasteland of trees. "How far in?"
"Only about a mile." Shaggy said and began leading the way. They got to the river and saw a a cardboard box sitting on a tree stump with bits of snow collecting on it's top. The detectives checked the area first and when it was cleared Lassiter took the box and it was surprisingly light.
"I bet you nothings even in this box." He said grumpily as he carried it out to the van and they began the long drive to the post office. Lassiter told the chief of what they'd found and the chief had both snipers and stake-outs on guard at the post office. They left the box on the post office doorstep and got back in the van and drove to Mystery Incorporated's Headquarters. They set up camp in the living room that night and Fred and Shaggy drew all the curtains closed while the girl's made sure every window and door was securely locked. Scooby slept on the floor beside the sofa where Shaggy was sleeping. The girls, excluding Detective Kavet, shared a sofa as well. Karen and Lassiter set up watch duty times and Karen stayed up first. Lassiter slept in an armchair. Fred settled for putting three dining chairs together. Officer Howard showed up as planned and stayed outside on watch. Karen brought him blankets and a warm mug of coffee while the others slept. It was going to be a long night.
Xx
She watched the snipers with interest. The thought was wonderfully sweet to give her a treat. She slipped onto the roof quietly and crouched to hide beneath the small wall that ran along the top. She prepared her dart gun and she lifted herself just high enough to see the snipers on the roof facing the post office. She blew five straight shots and hit her targets. She then turned and shot five darts into the necks of the snipers on the roof she was currently on. They'd never even heard her. She went over quietly to the other side of the roof and shot the last five snipers on the rooftop to the right side of the post office. She then simply walked down to the first floor of the building and out into the snow. She saw the stake-outs in their car and smiled as she walked past them in the appearance of a civilian. As she passed, she pretended to bump into their car. The second she made contact with the vehicle she placed a miniature homemade bomb. She walked down the street and heard a small explosion and pretended to be shocked as everyone was.
She ran over as many others were but instead went up the post office steps, grabbed the box and left quickly. When she returned home she went down to the basement and opened the freezer. Margerate and Ms. Wilson watched in horror as she took body part after body part out of her freezer and stuffed it into the empty box, humming merrily as a busy mother would when cleaning her home. She sealed the box shut with packing tape and wrote an address out in boxy letters on the front. "To the Coolsville Police Department, with love." She said happily as she finished up. She capped the sharpie and tossed it into the shadows before returning upstairs and placing the box on her doorstep. A neighbor saw and waved to her. The woman waved back happily.
"Got a box going out, Ms. Foreman?" Her neighbor asked. "It'll get wet in the snow, I can take it to the post office while I'm running my errands if you'd like." The woman smiled at her neighbor.
"That would be lovely Mr. Kirk." She handed the box upside down to her neighbor and gave him a twenty for the cost of the post office delivery. "Have a nice day," she said cheerily and the man drove off having no idea what was in the box or his neighbor's basement. The woman had a wicked twinkle in her eye as she went into her bedroom and changed out of her civilian clothes and into a black frock before going downstairs into the basement where she re-drugged Ms. Wilson and chloroformed the child so that they slept for the night. Without another thought she went back upstairs and prepared to go out again to take her third captive. "One, two, Harley's coming for you," she playfully said to herself. "Three, four, lock your doors. Five, six grab your crucifix. Seven, eight, stay up late. Nine, ten, never gonna sleep again..."
AN: The last bit is a real poem that my friend Erica told me about once. It's supposedly from Nightmare on Elm St, but I made it to fit Harley :) Also, Detective Lassiter is named after Detective Carlton Lassiter from my favorite television series: Psych :) The chief and Karen are spin-offs of two other characters on that show as well XD