Fred and Shaggy were well into their plan to fall asleep while watching some TV when they were startled awake by a commotion from the hotel lobby, they turned to see Daphne bust into the TV lounge.
"Get… police… Velma… something… wrong…" she panted resting her hands on her knees as she spoke.
"What's wrong? What happened Daph?" Fred wheeled himself over.
Daphne swallowed "Boat left us behind, couldn't see her. We, we climbed up to see what was going on, boat went wrong way, dropped Velma off at different cave then just went away."
"Like where's Scooby?" said Shaggy as he finally managed to hobble over.
"Scooby's keeping watch and getting as close as he can. Guys I think she's found the treasure but treasure hunters have found her. I have a really bad feeling about this."
"Come and sit down and catch your breath then tell us in detail what happened," said Fred guiding her into the nearest chair.
"OK Freddie, but get the hotel to call the police first. Well it started out OK…" Daphne recounted the day's events in as much detail as she could while the hotel receptionist called the police.
"…and then I ran and kept running I didn't look back, I knew I just had to get here."
"Like man that was quick, the police are here already," said Shaggy as he saw a police car pull up outside. A woman was escorted out of the back, there was a flash of hope that this affair may be over before it had even begun. The woman in question was brought in by two police officers but it wasn't Velma. She was taller and rounder than Velma with frizzy hair and wore stripy coloured clothing. She also looked rather dishevelled and shocked.
"I'm looking for a Velma Dinkley?"
"Who are you?" said Fred.
"I'm Lindsay Hogan, Clive's assistant. He asked me to meet Velma; I'm late as some idiot rammed my car into a ditch, stole my stuff then tied me up."
"Oh-oh" said Fred quietly.
"What do you mean oh-oh? Where is Miss Dinkley?" said Lindsay.
"We think she's in trouble, she was collected by someone claiming to be Clive's assistant this morning and hasn't been seen for a few hours, We've got someone looking out for her…" said Fred.
Just then Scooby came in, limping badly.
"Relma, rirates rave Remla."
"Like the pirates have Velma!" said Shaggy.
"Oh Scooby look at you," Daphne knelt down to examine his injuries.
"What happened Scooby?" said Fred. Scooby explained that he had got as close as he could, there had been no sign of Velma but a boat had arrived and dropped off a few people then left, but no Velma emerged.
"I'll call a vet, his paws are all cut up, must have been from climbing," the hotel manager headed off to reception.
"I'll call in CID and a dog unit" said one of the officers who arrived with Lindsay Hogan "do you have a description and photograph of Miss Dinkley?"
Fred's diary entry for the day summarised the morning. 'Give statements, cool heels, crawl up walls.'
Finally another police car arrived containing another pair of officers, one male one female, both in plain clothes. Things were obviously stepping up a gear; they both strode in with a business-like manner. The woman walked up to Daphne and introduced herself "I'm Detective Inspector Julie McAlistair from Devon and Cornwall CID and this is Detective Sergeant Hirst. We were hoping to come and see Miss Dinkley tomorrow to discuss a number of items she found during her searches. I understand now she's missing?"
"Like bad news, she's been captured by pirates," said Shaggy.
"Pirates, I don't think so. Did any of them look like this?" DI McAlistair showed them some photographs.
"Jeepers, that's the guy who claimed to be Clive's assistant, and that one looks like the man who was driving the boat we were on."
The detective and the sergeant exchanged glances, the sergeant walked out of the room speaking into his radio "Uniform 9-9 urgent..."
The detective took out her mobile "Get me DCI Hawkins… Chief it's Julie, that smuggling case has just turned nasty..." A few minutes later she turned to face Daphne, "We've an armed response unit on the way, tell me exactly where the entrance to that cave is."
The cave itself was large and deep, there was a small channel where water had cut through a weakness in the rock over the millennia. Aside from the channel most of the cave was dry, except a spring tides. At high tide it was just possible to bring a rigid inflatable into the cavern. The cavern itself was a hive of activity; the smugglers were getting ready to move their loot out to a safer location, too much attention was being paid to this location. When the tide was high they would load up the small boats and be on their way taking everything with them, almost everything. At the furthest end of the channel bubbles regularly appeared at the surface. At the bottom lay a human shaped cage within was Velma. A pair of air tanks attached to the outside provided her air. Trapped inside Velma worked hard to free herself whilst conserving as much air as possible, despite her situation, she had a plan. In their haste to get her out of the way the gang had one mistake.
Finally the gang was finished, all their loot had been organised and stowed into suitable boxes for shipment. The leader looked around.
"Right one last check lads before we call the boat in. There's only one thing we'll be leaving behind."
The group fanned out searching the cave for any incriminating evidence. A pair of torch beams hit upon a mound in the furthest recesses of the cave. They'd seen it before and not given it a second thought, it looked too much like a rock from a distance. One of the gang approached it, motioning for the other to follow. The rock was in fact mouldy sailcloth thrown on top of something. The cloth fell apart when it was prodded with a torch. Rolls of the same material were in front and resting on fop of some wooden chests which easily fell apart after a few well-placed kicks, gold coins and jewels spilt out.
"Hey boss look at this."
After a brief look he called for some bags to be brought over, they scooped the gold and jewels into them then carried them into the centre of the room for all to see.
"Well boys we're about to go into the antiques business…" they turned to look at the water. There was a mass of bubbles from the where the gibbet lay, one of the gang checked their watch; it was about time for the air-tanks to run dry. One of them drew a pistol and approached the edge, there seemed to be a faint glow and disturbance in the water a distance away from where the cage was. Seconds later the cave was enveloped in a choking mist, shots rang out, screams of terror echoed briefly round the cave then all was silent.
(A/N Devon and Cornwall CID. The Devon and Cornwall police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the counties of Devon and Cornwall in England. CID stands for Criminal Investigation Department, the division of the police which investigates major crimes.)
