Chapter 10: Practice and the First Phantom
Not surprisingly, the contestants all slept in as a result of the chase they went through the previous night.
By the time the group all woke up, it was almost ten in the morning.
After a quick brunch, the group made their way back to the Place des Arts complex, though their first stop is at the Théâtre Maisonneuve, where Garfield and the RCAC Youth Orchestra is doing their practice.
Garfield and the cadets were taking a break from their practice when the group arrived at the venue, and the WO1 wasted no time walking over to them when he saw them enter.
"Hey guys." Garfield said in greeting.
"Hey Garfield." April nodded. "You have a minute?"
Garfield glanced at his watch before noting the looks on their faces and said, "Maybe. What's going on?"
"It's the Phantom again." Fred said. "He showed up in our hotel in the early morning and chased us around."
"Lucky for us, Mudsy scared him away when he tried to break into our room." Skip added.
"And the Phantom left this newspaper page behind when he ran off after Mudsy scared him away." Suzie added as Dee Dee produced the newspaper page from Cavey's fur and handed it to Garfield.
Garfield frowned as he looked at the newspaper page and scanned the article, then he looked up and nodded.
"Clearly, whoever is doing this is going through great lengths to attract our attention to last year's case." Garfield said.
"Definitely someone who feels that we're getting warm on the financial trail." Henry interjected. "A financial trail that paints a picture of something fishy going on at the venue, something fishy that relates to that embezzlement case you guys cracked last year."
"But wouldn't something fishy involve plenty of fish around here?" Bubbles asked.
"Bubblehead, he meant that there's something not right going on at the venue." Shelly groaned.
"Anyways, we may have to check out Mr. Barbot's office to confirm our suspicions." Fred said.
"Sounds like a reasonable course of action to me, Fred." Garfield nodded. "However, we're definitely gonna have to be careful going forward with this, especially when you add in yesterday's close call."
"Agreed." The Chans all nodded in agreement as the air cadet checked his watch.
"Anyways, break is almost over." Garfield said. "Would you guys like to stick around and watch us rehearse?"
The group shared glances with each other before Daphne said, "We won't miss it for the world, Garfield."
"Yeah, I'm sure we can use the free time to see you in action." Augie added.
"In that case, follow me." Garfield smiled as he motioned them to follow him into the theatre.
A short while later, the group found themselves sailing through the rough waters of the North Atlantic Ocean near the Hebrides off the coast of Scotland on a cloudy afternoon, amidst the playing of the cello and double bass sections, followed closely by the violins and violas.
The weather was quite damp, not to mention that it was quite foggy.
The waves tumbled near them, rocking the boat as it did so, while the brass section of the orchestra played their notes of Mendelssohn's The Hebrides overture.
In spite of the rough weather and rough waters, the group didn't seemed all that concerned as they turned towards Garfield, who was navigating the boat through the rough waters and ensuring that it stays afloat and upright.
With the flutes, bassons, clarinets and oboes echoing, the fog cleared slightly as the entrance to Fingal's Cave came into view.
The group took the time to enjoy the sight of the sea cave with their mouths hanging open, and there were some murmurs among them as they took in the sight.
With the waves crashing against the shore, everyone on board the boat closed their eyes briefly.
When they all opened their eyes again, the group found themselves seated in the theatre off stage watching Garfield gently waving his hands as he conducted the youth orchestra on stage.
The group silently looked on as Garfield gently swung his hands while the string players plucked their instruments before the stormy section returns, upon which Garfield's hand motions become more pronounced.
In particular, the drum roll on the kettledrums in the back of the orchestra and the stormy performance of the brass section left quite the impression on the group.
"Classical music may not be something I frequently listen to." Biff remarked quietly. "But Garfield sure knows how to put up a performance."
"He sure does." April nodded in agreement.
Eventually, after the cello and double bass players plucked the final B notes, Garfield gently placed his hands down and nodded at the cadets before they proceed to put down their instruments.
The gang and the others subsequently began to clap their hands, and Garfield turned around on the podium and bowed briefly.
"That was spectacular, Garfield." Clam said as they clapped their hands.
"Yeah." Brenda agreed. "Fantastic, even."
Garfield smiled and nodded briefly, then he turned back towards the orchestra as they all flipped a page on their scores.
After another half hour of rehearsals, during which the group watched Garfield leading the orchestra through another full practice of Antonin Dvořák's Czech Suite, the group took their leaves not long after Garfield stated that he will join them in the afternoon when the orchestra has the rest of the day off.
Upon returning to the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, it was agreed that Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels would continue to try to get to the bottom of the mystery while everyone else continues with their practice and rehearsals for the contest.
"Someone sure is trying very hard to throw us off our game with these reminders of the case which Garfield and Mystery Inc. solved last year." Dee Dee remarked as they walked down the hallway.
"Tell me about it." Brenda agreed. "Especially with the disturbance we had last night at the hotel."
"Someone clearly had followed us to the hotel after we returned to the gang." Taffy said before frowning and added, "Do you guys suppose that the financial records Garfield had found in that secret room had something to do with last night's disturbance?"
The girls and Cavey paused before Dee Dee reached into the caveman's fur and pulled out the binder.
Flipping through the pages in the binder, Dee Dee said, "Well, while it's too soon to jump to any conclusions, especially since the contents are all written in French, from what Garfield has seen so far, there may be pages here that tells us the fate of the embezzled money that was never recovered after last year's case."
"Not to mention the fate of the missing artifacts that were hidden here in the venue in plain sight as theatre props." Taffy added as she flipped through a couple of additional pages and pointed towards a photo of an expensive-looking ring.
"Artifacts that Rempel was accused of stealing but were never recovered even after the case was cracked last year." Dee Dee nodded as she pointed at the ring in the page and added, "Such as the Ring of Rhinegold, which was on loan from the King Ludwig Museum in Munich when it was stolen and interestingly enough, was posed as the prop used for depicting the title ring in performances of Wagner's Ring Cycle."
"So do the pages provide any ideas on where the embezzled money and the missing artifacts have ended up at, Garfield?" Taffy asked Garfield later that afternoon once the air cadet joined them and took a good read of the pages of the binder.
Garfield frowned as he read through the pages detailing the accounting figures related to the embezzled money and the log figures linked to the missing artifacts.
"Not exactly." Garfield shook his head. "However, I do have a name that keeps popping up in the pages here and there, a name that the gang and I do recall from our case from last year."
"Who's the person named in these pages?" Dee Dee raised an eyebrow.
"The financial manager Jean-Philippe Cloutier." Garfield replied before he frowned as he remembered seeing the financial manager reporting to Mr. Blaney and added, "Though it's kinda weird how Mr. Cloutier is helping Mr. Blaney in setting up the stage decorations while he's supposed to be in his office taking care of the accounting for the venue."
"Either way, I take it that you're thinking that Mr. Cloutier is the person to ask regarding this whole mystery." Dee Dee interjected.
"Exactly what I was thinking." Garfield nodded. "I know where his office is at, so-"
Before Garfield could finish, the smoke alarm suddenly went off, surprising the group.
"What on earth?" Dee Dee asked.
It was then that one of the stage decorators rushed by, and the group quickly flagged him down.
"What's going on?" Garfield quickly asked.
"Something inside the financial office has caught fire, likely from some careless guy who was lighting a smoke and forgot to put out the flame on the match before tossing it into the garbage bin." The decorator shrugged. "The office guys are putting out the flame in the office as we speak."
After Garfield translated to the girls, Taffy remarked, "Sounds to me that this is more than just a small office fire from a match in the garbage bin, since the smoke alarm is still screaming."
Before the decorator could say anything, their attention was drawn towards evil laughter from down the hallway, and the group turned towards it source.
In the distance, they can see a shadowed figure running down the perpendicular hallway, wearing the top hat and armed with what appeared to be a blowtorch.
"Ah, zut!" (Oh, great!) Garfield muttered. "C'est le Fantôme!" (It's the Phantom!)
"And seems to me that he's armed with a blowtorch!" Dee Dee added.
"Which means he's gonna burn this place down if we don't stop him!" Brenda added.
"Vite!" (Quick!) Garfield urged as he turned towards the decorator. "Call the fire service and have the building evacuated!"
Then, turning towards the Teen Angels, he added, "Meanwhile, we have to stop that Phantom from burning this place down!"
"Right, let's go!" Dee Dee nodded as they quickly followed Garfield's lead down the hallway.
Backstage, everyone else were looking at each other in confusion as the smoke alarm sounded.
"What's happening?" April asked.
"Sounds like the smoke alarm to me." Biff remarked.
"And if I'm not mistaken, where there's smoke, there's fire." Clam added. "We should definitely evacuate the venue."
Everyone else nodded as they quickly rushed off the stage, though as everyone moved to evacuate the stage area, Scooby's ears picked up something.
"Ruh?" Scooby asked as he stopped and turned back towards the stage.
Shaggy was following the others out of the theatre when he saw Scooby wasn't following them, then he stopped and turned back towards the Great Dane.
"Scoob!" Shaggy urged. "We need to evacuate now!"
"Rait, I rink ri'm hearing something." Scooby said.
"Like, what is it that you're hearing that's more important than evacuating from a place that is on fire, Scoob?" Shaggy asked as Clam and some of the others paused as well.
"Rounds like...re blowtorch." Scooby said.
"Blowtorch?" Shaggy asked before he turned towards the others, who now have their eyebrows raised. "Now why do you suppose someone would be carrying a blowtorch during a fire emergency?"
"Unless you're the one who's creating the emergency with the blowtorch in the first place." Augie pointed out as he, Stanley, Skip, Clam and Alan joined Shaggy and Scooby.
At that remark, the seven turned back towards the stage, in time to see some sparking light coming from one of the curtains.
The sparking light revealed a shadow amidst the fire, and as the seven looked closely, they can see that the shadowed figure was wearing a top hat.
"Wham-bam! Seems to me that the Phantom's up to no good, guys." Stanley said as everyone else stopped in their tracks and turned towards them.
"And what do you suppose the Phantom's up to burning the place and prompting the evacuation?" Clam asked.
"Likely seeking to take advantage of the fire and do something fishy while everyone else is evacuated from the building." Alan answered.
"If that's the case, then we need to stop him now before he burns the place down!" Fred said urgently.
Everyone else nodded as they quickly rushed over towards the stage, during which the Phantom was lighting one of the curtains with the blowtorch when he turned towards the audience stands and saw the group rushing over to the stage.
"Curses!" The Phantom muttered as he quickly dropped what he was doing and instinctively made his way to the nearby ladder and climbed up onto the catwalk above.
As Fred leaped onto the stage, he quickly turned towards the others briefly and said, "Quick! Go grab a fire extinguisher and put out the fires here!"
"What are you gonna do, Freddie?" Velma asked as the others quickly scattered to find fire extinguishers.
"Stopping this madman." Fred answered as he grabbed onto a nearby rope.
It was then that the flames on the curtains spread towards a nearby rope used for keeping a counterweight in place.
With that rope now burnt, the counterweight, which was attached to the rope Fred grabbed onto, dropped down, propelling the blonde into the air and towards the catwalk above before Velma could say something.
The Phantom was making his way down the catwalk when Fred landed on it in front of him, prompting him to retreat.
"Hey!" Fred shouted as he took off after the Phantom. "Get back here!"
As Fred chased after the Phantom on the catwalk, the others managed to find the fire extinguishers and put out much of the flames on the curtains.
"Hurry!" Suzie shouted as she aimed her fire extinguisher towards a higher part of the curtains. "The fire's spreading!"
"He must've dosed the curtains with something flammable like oil." April nodded as she found the nearby fire hose station and grabbed the hose.
With Biff, Shelly, Bubbles, Skip and Augie holding onto the hose from behind, April quickly turned it on, leading it to spray out flame retardant suddenly.
The high pressure from the retardant spraying out from the hose caused April to lurch backwards suddenly, though Shelly managed to stop her from lurching backwards further.
"We got you." Shelly said as April got up. "Hurry and put the flames out!"
April nodded as she quickly aimed the hose towards the flaming curtains.
While that was happening, Fred managed to catch up with the Phantom on the cat walk.
"Not so fast!" Fred exclaimed as he quickly took off his ascot and wrapped it around the Phantom's right leg, which was still hanging in the mid-air as he whipped the ascot around it, and yanked it downwards.
Feeling the tug from Fred's ascot around his right leg, the Phantom unexpectedly yanked it upwards, causing Fred, who was still holding onto his ascot, to be launched into the air and landed on the other end of the catwalk.
Back on the stage, everyone else managed to extinguish much of the flames, during which Shaggy and Scooby looked up towards the catwalk.
"Zoinks!" Shaggy exclaimed as he pointed towards the Phantom as he marched menacingly towards Fred, who was in the midst of picking himself up, "Freddie's in trouble, guys!"
His shouting gained the attention of the Phantom, who responded by grabbing a nearby paper star, lit it on fire with the blowtorch and threw it towards the group holding the fire hose!
Seeing the flaming star sailing towards them, Henry shouted, "Incoming!"
Immediately, the group quickly ducked down, during which Daphne aimed the hose of her fire extinguisher and fired several shots at the flaming star, extinguishing the flames in the process.
"Good shot, Daph!" Velma praised.
As that unfolded, Fred took advantage of the diversion and managed to pick himself up before lurching towards the Phantom.
"Nobody messes with my friends!" He barked as he quickly grabbed onto the Phantom's arm and twisted it, causing the Phantom to yelp in pain.
In response, the Phantom quickly threw a punch towards the blonde, catching him off guard and leading him to stumble backwards towards the edge of the catwalk.
"Fred, look out!" Biff shouted.
Before Fred could heed Biff's words, he stumbled off the catwalk, only to land on the perpendicular catwalk below.
Everyone's relief was short-lived, as the Phantom immediately leaped onto the lower catwalk, picked Fred up and slammed him by the railing.
"Jinkies!" Velma exclaimed as the Phantom inched the blowtorch exhaust towards Fred's chin. "We need to do something!"
"I know!" April said as she tried to aim the fire hose towards where Fred and the Phantom were engaged in their struggle. "But we can't get a good angle from here!"
On the catwalk, Fred gritted his teeth as the Phantom activated the blowtorch once again, intending to use it on the blonde.
Fred tried, to no avail, to pry the blowtorch away from the Phantom, who laughed at him menacingly.
Just then, someone hollered, "CAPTAIN CAAAAAAVEMAAAAAANN!"
"Huh?" The Phantom paused as he turned towards the source.
Everyone else turned around and saw Cavey flying towards the catwalk above the stage while Garfield and the Teen Angels rushed over to join them.
Taking advantage of the distraction, Fred quickly pushed the Phantom away.
The Phantom stumbled backwards down the catwalk, during which Cavey landed in front of him and used his club to yank the blowtorch away from the Phantom.
As Fred rushed over, the Phantom stumbled towards the edge of the catwalk and began to lose his balance as he struggle to remain on the catwalk.
Cavey walked over to the Phantom and then reached over to touch him.
"Tag." He said as he touched the Phantom. "You're it."
Cavey's touch caused the Phantom to fall backwards off the catwalk and landed onto a pile of props below.
As everyone rushed over onto the stage, the gang rushed to Fred as he climbed down the ladder.
"Are you alright, Fred?" Garfield asked in concern.
"Yeah, if it wasn't for Cavey, I'm sure my goose was cooked." Fred said as he nodded towards the caveman.
"Good work, Cavey." Dee Dee praised as they gathered around the Phantom, who was tangled in the pile.
"Unga." Cavey smiled as the sirens began to grow louder by the minute.
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