Chapter 10: At the cemetery and busted
With Scooby taking the lead, the gang looked around anxiously as they entered the cemetery with their flashlights on.
"Wow-wee." Velma remarked as she shined her flashlight towards the nearby tombstones. "The city's guidebook wasn't kidding when it mentioned that the establishment of the cemetery predates Coolsville's incorporation as a city in 1872."
With her flashlight shining towards a nearby tombstone, she added, "A lot of these tombstones have been here for more than a century."
"No kidding." Daphne agreed as they continued on through the cemetery.
As Daphne and Velma made those remarks, Shaggy said to Scooby.
"Like, are you sure this is the place where you've spotted those two ghosts, Scoob?" He asked.
Scooby paused, turned towards him and nodded. "Reah."
Shaggy nodded and swallowed. "Was afraid you were gonna say that."
"It's definitely best if we stick together." Fred agreed.
The others nodded as they continued following Scooby, and it was clear that even with all of their flashlights on, the light wasn't exactly enough to penetrate through the lingering darkness.
Another minute went by before Fred, who was walking slower than usual, bumped right into Daphne, who was behind him.
At the bump, Fred almost immediately jumped in fright, and Daphne turned towards him.
"You scared?" The redhead asked.
"Uh...no, not at all." Fred quickly calmed down, though he blushed heavily as he added, "I was...a bit...jumpy...yeah, jumpy, that's all."
Even in the darkness, the blonde can see the look of skepticism on Daphne's face.
"You sure?" Daphne asked.
"Of...of course. What made you think I was scared?" Fred quickly clarified.
"The way you've jumped earlier." Daphne pointed out.
"Jumped?" Fred asked. "More like I was surprised, that's all. I can't be scared, man. I play on the school football team, I can't be scared."
"Not even after what Mr. Blake had said to you earlier?" Velma added.
Daphne almost laughed while Fred muttered under his breath. "Et tu, Velma?"
Velma surpassed an urge to chuckle, though the situation shifted when Scooby started barking.
"Hey, I think Scooby's found it!" Shaggy announced, and Fred and the girls turned towards them.
By this point, Scooby had quickly adopted the pose of a hunting dog who had just located its prey, with his nose pointing right towards two particular tombstones.
Velma narrowed her eyes at the sight of the two tombstones and she walked towards them as Fred and Daphne looked on.
"Ezekial Gallows and Prudence Prufrock." Velma read the engravings on the tombstones.
Noting the distance between the two graves, she then added, "They don't seem to be related, yet their tombstones are right next to each other with no space in between."
"I wonder why's that." Fred remarked.
"Huh." Velma grunted before reaching into her bag and pulled out a sheet of paper. "Hold the light for me."
Daphne and the boys shared looks with each other before they all shined their flashlights towards Velma, watching her rubbing the sheet of paper onto the tombstones.
The trio then looked on as Velma closely examined the sheet of paper, adjusted her glasses and then turned towards them.
"Based on my observations of the fragments I've collected from the tombstones, it appears these two people have died, along with most of the people in this part of the cemetery, during the Crystal Cove Tsunami that flooded the town." Velma adjusted her glasses as she spoke.
Daphne and the boys shared looks with each other in surprise as she continued, "The tsunami was formed as a result of the aftershocks from the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, which led to a lot of of casualties on that fateful day as the whole city was flooded by the tsunami waters."
"Holy moly." Fred remarked.
As everyone stood by, Shaggy frowned when he remembered something.
"Hang on." He said.
"What is it?" Velma said as they all turned towards him.
"I remember seeing a third ghost issuing the other two ghosts orders when I was on my way to my locker, and I happened to have sneezed and that the third ghost ordered the other two ghosts to kill when they caught me." Shaggy winced at the memory.
"So?" Fred and Daphne both arched their eyebrows.
"Like, that third ghost was dressed completely in black, complete with a hood." Shaggy said before pointing at the two tombstones and added, "Yet, we only have two graves here."
Fred and the girls frowned and shared looks with each other.
"A third ghost." Velma repeated as she folded her arms.
"That's right." Shaggy insisted. "And even though Scoob didn't spot the third ghost, you know the saying on how dogs have this sixth sense that can detect the paranormal."
He then turned towards Scooby as he added, "You know what I'm saying, right Scoob?"
"Reah." Scooby nodded. "Ri know rhat rou've came into contact with re third ghost, ret Ri can't put my paw ron rhere rat third ghost ris supposed to rome from."
"Which means that either the third ghost, the one issuing the orders to the two ghosts, wasn't originated from this cemetery or it was a fake." Daphne pointed out.
"Exactly." Shaggy nodded.
Fred and Velma shared looks with each other at the remark, then they turned back towards Shaggy.
"Okay, for the sake of argument, say that the third ghost is a fake, who do you think was behind those two ghost appearances?" Fred asked.
"Likely the same guy that was responsible for Thomas' death." Shaggy quickly said. "The hallway where I spotted the gruesome trio was right at where the football locker room is at."
Velma frowned when she remembered something.
"What is it?" Daphne asked when she noted the frown on Velma's face.
"I was just thinking about the moment when we discovered Tom in the storage room." Velma replied. "When I examined him for a pulse, he was still wearing his football uniform."
Turning towards Fred, she then added, "Does Tom ever where his football uniform outside of practice?"
"No." Fred shook his head. "No one on the team ever does. In fact, Coach Conway has made it clear to us that we must bring a change in clothing for practice and game days, and once practice is over, we must change out of our uniforms at the locker room."
"Which means that Tom wasn't killed at the storage room." Velma interjected.
"The lack of blood on the floor in the storage room also confirms that." Daphne nodded. "His body was moved."
"And I'll bet that the football locker room was where he was ambushed and killed." Velma concluded.
"Which may explain why that third ghost ordered the other two ghosts to go after Shag." Fred said as they turned towards Shaggy. "He must've stumbled onto them as they were finishing the deed."
"Did you remember what the three ghosts were saying when you stumbled onto them, Shag?" Daphne asked.
Shaggy frowned. "Like, all I was able to make out was 'catching a snooper' and that the two ghosts will make any potential snoopers think twice on digging into something."
"Digging into what?" Velma asked.
"Whatever it was, I don't know." Shaggy shrugged. "Because my nose decided to inhale some dust at that moment, and I wasn't able to hold it much longer."
Velma and Daphne both rolled their eyes as they shared looks with each other, all as Fred cleared his throat.
"In any way, gang, looks like we've got a mystery in our hands." Fred said.
"Who is that third ghost and what did Tom did to rub him the wrong way." Velma nodded.
"And why is he going through the trouble of framing us for Tom's death." Daphne added.
A short while later, the gang had made it back to the Manor, having had snuck past the snoring officer on the front porch.
"Now, we're going to have to figure out how to get to the bottom of this while still being considered as the main suspect's in Tom's death, gang." Fred was saying once they reached the second floor of the manor.
"Yeah, especially knowing that the cops aren't gonna do much in clearing this case." Velma agreed.
"If only there is a way for us to do that..." Daphne pondered as they prepared to split up and head into their rooms.
Just as the gang were about to split up, though, the hallway lights suddenly switched on, and the gang paused and looked around.
"Well, well, well." A voice from the stairs remarked, and the gang all turned towards the source, only for their eyes to meet the stern expression of Sergeant Daniel McBride, who looked none to pleased to see them.
"What have we got here?" McBride demanded as he walked towards the gang.
Meanwhile, back at the Rogers home, Sam and his wife Wendy were in their bedroom deep in sleep when the phone rang.
The couple almost immediately groaned and Sam grunted as he got up.
"I'll take it, honey." Sam grunted as he reached over to the phone and answered it. "Rogers here."
A pause went by before he said, "Hey, McBride. What's up?"
Another pause went by before the captain became alert. "He what?"
At that remark, Wendy turned over and opened one eye.
Sam groaned and then he got off the bed as he said, "Okay. I will be right over, Sergeant. Talk to you later."
The captain then hung up the phone, groaned and turned towards Wendy.
"What's going on, Sam?" Wendy asked in concern.
Over at the City East Division, the gang were all looking out of the cell doors.
"So much for sneaking out of the manor." Velma remarked.
"You're telling me." Daphne agreed. "And now here we are."
"At least we're not spending the night in the dog pound, unlike poor Scooby." Fred said, only for Shaggy and the girls to glare at him.
At the glares, Fred backtracks and said, "Okay, that didn't sound right at all."
Fortunately, the awkward silence was broken when footsteps were heard from the hallway.
"This way, captain." One of the officers was saying, and the gang turned towards the source of the voice and footsteps.
When the sources approached the cells, Shaggy recognized his father, who was walking with Sergeant McBride.
"Well, Mr. Rogers." McBride announced as they stopped at the cell. "Consider this your lucky day."
Fred and the girls turned towards Shaggy as Sam looked at his son.
"Norville." He said.
Shaggy swallowed. "Dad."
The police captain sighed before saying, "I hope you all have a good reason on what on heavens name were you all thinking when you snuck out of the manor few hours ago."
"Uh, we actually do, Captain Rogers." Fred piped up.
"It has something to do with the ghosts Scooby had spotted the other night, the ones who we all spotted earlier that afternoon." Daphne said.
"You don't say." Sam narrowed his eyes, and McBride turned towards him.
"Please don't tell me that they've decided to cook up this ghost story in order to provide excuses to get out of this one, sir." McBride said.
"I honestly don't know what to think." Sam snapped as he rubbed his forehead before glaring at each of the gang in the cells.
Looking at them sternly, he then added, "I don't have much time, since I'm not even supposed to be here, so you kids have five minutes to explain to me what the h*ll is going on here."
Then, looking at Shaggy specifically, Sam added, "So don't make this a complete waste of my time. Understood?"
Shaggy, Fred, Velma and Daphne all shared looks with each other, then they all nodded.
"Okay, so what prompted you all to sneak out of the manor in the dead of night five hours ago?" Sam demanded.
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