"Jinkies! It looks like as if someone had placed a second speaker on top of the first one."
She traced her hands and found that it seemed to be connected to what looked like an electronic board for some type of wireless communication device. She was about to remove the board when she lost her balance and she landed on the floor with a crash. It wasn't too high of a height, but it was enough to jostle her glasses off.
"My Glasses... Where are my glasses..? Sheesh. Why does this always seem to happen when I find something interesting?"
She patted around where she landed when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around and squinted. It was a black blob that was in the shape.. Yes! It was her glasses. She took them gratefully and placed them on her face as she talked to the person who helped her.
"Thanks. I'm lost without my... my... Oh my..."
Once her vision zeroed in, she was staring at wicked grin of the ghost of John Ridmore. Eyes growing wide, stared at him.
"YOU! Leave this place!"
He didn't have to tell her twice. She jumped up and got to her feet running. The ghost watched for a second before he noticed that she wasn't running for the door, but back towards her friends. He couldn't have that, so he pushed the fallen chair over with another crash and gave chase. Velma looked back and hurried running towards where Fred and Daphne where.
"Ooooooo.... Why does this happen to me... Shouldn't he be after Daphne or something?"
As Velma was running down the hall, she didn't noticed Anne coming out from one of the doors from the hallway.
"Velma.. I heard a crash and..."
Velma had just enough warning by Anne's voice to turn her head and notice the girl before she crashed right into her. Not missing a beat, Velma scooped up Anne and continued to run down the hall. The world spun once as she found herself being carried by Velma. Her jaw dropped and she was stunned for a few seconds before she noticed the ghost was gaining on them and that she wouldn't make it to Fred and Daphne. Then Anne got an idea.
"Velma, turn right and run down this hall a few feet."
Not questioning the younger girl since she knew the house better then Velma did, she peeled right and almost ran into a wall. She looked in shock at the three walls closing her in before she felt Anne move in her arms. Velma watched Anne push something on the faceplate of the painting. After a second, the wall pushed in and a crack formed. Velma took no time to put Anne down and crawl into it herself before it closed. Panting, Velma looked up and took stock of the room they fell into. It seemed to be a study but it was filled with intricate cases willed with fully complete costumes on mannequins and gold laced trim on the displace cases.
"Jinkies... Where are we?"
"Pant... pant... This.. Is my grandfathers.. pant... favorite hiding room."
"Hiding room?"
Velma asked looked at the younger girl confused.
"Yeah... Grandpa never liked having to do the backbreaking labor his wife told him to do. So when he built the house, he built in this room where he could hide from her."
"So.. Basically when time to clean the dishes came around, he ran for it."
"Basically. Ha ha ha ha..."
Anne laughed outright; Velma couldn't help but to giggle as well.
"Such a strange man.. Mr. John U. Ridmore...."
"U... Grandpa never had a U in his name."
"Really? Well the picture you did something to out there had a U in it."
"Oh... Hehehe."
Velma was downright puzzled at the girl. She thought back at what had just happened. She pictured the exact thing Anne had done.
"You pressed the R in Ridmore... Then that U. for his middle name.. Then the last letter of his name... Oh... I get it. R, u, n. Run. Very clever."
Anne broke out in more giggles, as she nodded at the even quick mind of Velma who rarely missed a beat.
"I thought you might figure it out. Yeah. He doesn't have a U. middle name. He made it the buttons for his hiding place."
"Quite proper."
"Ahhh... Being in here brings back memories. This is where Grandpa used to take me and tell me stories."
Anne stood up and ran her hand fondly over the cases collecting dust.
"Grandpa liked collecting movie memorabilia. Anything from the cane from the Invisible man, to Dracula's actual cape used in the 1931 movie by Bela Lugosi, to even the original mask from the Phantom of the opera."
Velma let out a breathless Jinkies as she got up and looked at the full cases. It had a lot more then just the bits. Each was place with a sighed black and white portrait signed by the actors. From the bust from Lon Chaney jr. with one of the actual masks from the Wolf man, to even a ruby encrusted medallion from Vincent Van Ghoul. Each worth a lot of money just in their own right, but so much in one place was amazing. But Velma's calculation of how much just the room was worth alone was interrupted by Anne's voice.
"But Grandpa's favorite piece always sat on his desk. Anne walked over to her grandfathers still cluttered desk covered in dust and age. Sitting on one corner of it was a rather large wooden box. It looked like it contained lots of compartments... Almost like a make-up kit.
"This belonged to the late Lon Chaney."
"THE Lon Chaney... You mean, that's his make-up kit?! The one used and he was referred to as the Man of 1000 faces?"
Velma said shocked. She knew her history and Lon Chaney back in the day was a movie legend and what was even more fabled was his case that they said he could become anyone out of. It was more of a myth then anything else. And she could see faintly at the bottom right of the case in his actual handwriting the signature of Lon Chaney. Velma leaned back against the wall in bit of a shock at how much was in the house. No wonder the villain wanted the house. Who ever was trying to scare everyone away probably wanted to sell everything here.
"That's strange."
Anne's voice said from the desk. Velma walked over to see what was wrong.
"The dust isn't on the case like the rest of the room."
Velma looked and it was clear that someone had dusted off the case recently. Curious, she pulled out some gloves and asked Anne to step back. Taking great care, she opened one of the sides of the box. But how well crafted and how well taken care of the box was, it opened without any problems. Inside was a clear print of where there had been a folded piece of paper.
"Well.. I think we found where the will was. But it's not here."
"Maybe someone threw it out?"
Anne asked looking around. She spotted the trashcan and walked over to it. But there was nothing much in the way trash except a few papers and a box. Anne picked up the box and showed it to Velma.
"Is this a clue?"
Velma's eyes got wide as her face flushed red with embarrassment. She walked over to where Anne was and took the box quickly dropping it into the trash again. It was empty, but it still was what it was. Embarrassed, she tried to steer the baffled girl away from the trashcan. As she was pushing Anne away from it, she spotted a rather odd case that didn't look like it fit. Once Anne saw it she squeaked in surprise. Curious, Velma walked around the now stiff Anne and looked at the case. It wasn't as ornate as the rest in the room, one of the reason's it caught her eye. Also inside was a simple, rather banged up looking hubcap. It looked familiar. As she inspected the hub cape she recognized it in time for Anne to speak up.
"I... I didn't steal it!"
Velma turned around and looked at the girl, who was looking close to tears.
"You... You and the gang a few years ago passed through here. I... I remember it clearly. You stopped at the local restaurant for something to eat. I... I was there with my father. I... I didn't mean to eavesdrop. But you guys all sounded so happy. It was after one of your cases you just solved and Shaggy said it was time for a victory dinner. He... He cleared out the whole place. But... My father nudged me and told me about you. About all of you. That a group of kids... A bit older then me, were going around helping people... I... I wanted to be like that."
She looked up at Velma. Staring at her, to see her reaction as some tears streamed down her eyes.
"I... I took a napkin and gathered my courage. The closer I got, the more I watched how close you guys were. And even though you had your nose in a book writing something, you had a smile on your face. My father came up behind me and pushed me the rest of the way to your table and asked it you guys wouldn't mind giving me a signature. Fred was more then happy to agree and he got you all to sign it before giving it back to me. I was very happy. Then, the hubcap came off of the van as you guys left. I... I took it home and cleaned it. When I told grandpa, he told me if I wanted to put it in a case, I could. So... well..."
She was rocking back and forth slightly, unsure and uneasy how her hero would react to her story.
"...I never expected for you to show up here. Let alone solve a mystery right..."
Her voice was cut off, as there was a pounding at the wall where they came in.
"I know your brats are in there! Come out!"
It was the voice of the ghost. Anne got scared and ran into a cling around Velma's waist. She couldn't' help but get a bit shocked, but she doubted if he sounded that frustrated, he didn't know how to get inside. Pulling Anne away enough to kneel down to be at her eye level, she took part of her sleeve and dabbed at the girl's cheeks.
"Don't worry. The gang and me will solve this mystery for you. I just wish we could see what was going on beyond this wall."
Anne brightened up, her hero didn't mind her story at all, and she knew of something that could help. She grabbed Velma's hand and tugged on it bringing her over to the wall that the guy was pounding on. There seemed to be a picture of a ball and chain painted on black material. Anne dropped Velma's hand to peel back the black material to show her what was underneath.
"Jinkies, this guy really thought of everything to get away from his wife, didn't he?"
Velma noticed the painting they saw before was painted on a one-way mirror. So he could look out at his fuming wife and her not be able to see in. They were then looking at a very angry looking John Ridmore ghost. Annoyed, he banged on the door a bit before taking a step back to get a better look at the wall to see it he noticed something he had missed before. Annoyed, he brought up his hand and scratched at his neck, exposing a bit of familiar birthmark. Velma's eyes grew wide as she let the cloth fall down.
"I think I have figured everything out. But I need to get to the gang. Is there any other way out?"
Anne thought and nodded.
"Grandpa always thought she was going to figure the code out one day, so he made a way to the living room from here. But he'll see us if we go out there."
"Well we'll..."
Velma's thoughts were cut short as she heard Shaggy's voice.
"Stop right there Mr. Ghost! Like' I won't have you chasing Velma while I'm around..."
"Rah rah!"
Then came a clear gulp.
"Please?"
Velma dove for the cloth as she watched the 'ghost' turn and then smile.
"As you wish."
The Ghost then bolted after Shaggy and Scooby. Velma's eyes grew wide. But she knew Shaggy and Scooby better then anyone and if anyone could out run a ghost, it was those two.
"Alright Anne, we got our chance. Let's go."
Anne nodded and pressed a button that slid one of the cases out of the way so that they could crawl through.