Chapter 8

As we sat down at the table, we repeated our mealtime ritual: we served ourselves as quickly as possible to avoid Shaggy taking everything. Daphne explained to Norville the outcome of the mystery while he ate all the food she put in her plate. Unfortunately, we couldn´t eat any of the main dishes. With the same sudden agitation he had at the restaurant, Scooby-Doo jumped on the poor maid, then dropped the roast beef she had in her hands and ate before we could scold him. Taller than the table, Scooby quickly mouthed the pie and ran away with it. When Scooby´s show finally ended, Norville ate the remaining food, so lunch didn't last long.

Shaggy: Wait, gang, this mystery hasn't been solved yet, don´t you remember Scooby's behavior in the restaurant? And also in Liberty building? Scooby-Doo has never behaved like that! Something strange is going on…

We all (including the poor maid who was still taking the meat sauce off her clothes) disagreed.

Fred: Shaggy, Scooby-Doo is not a K9 anymore. You turned him into a pet when you pampered him and gave him bad habits. Now, he is behaving like a normal, spoiled dog.

If Jones had called Mrs. Rogers a wh*re, maybe Shaggy would not get as offended as he got when he heard the captain badmouthing Scooby-Doo. Like a father defending his child, Norville got angry and raised his voice.

Shaggy: Hey Jones, Scooby-Doo is my best friend and I know him very well, if I'm saying he's never behaved like that ,I´m sure about what I'm talking about! Scoob can be a little unpolite sometimes, but he's the best K9 sniffer in the department and surely there's something wrong! Did you forget about the luminol stains?

Shaggy was so angry that he almost hit Fred, but Daphne offered him her dessert plate and he decided to spend more energy putting a delicious cake in than useless words out.

Velma: Well, Shags, don't get us wrong. What we're trying to say is that Scooby probably behaved in such strange way because he has sniffed some meat in that restaurant and in that secret fridge. He behaved like that when Anette brought the meat, didn't he? So, we can logically conclude that the reason of his behavior was the meat smell. About luminol stains, that place was a huge fridge and obviously stored pieces of meat that dropped some animal blood, simple like that.

Fred: Or Scooby has sniffed drugs in Mayberry's suit, because he certainly is a drug dealer.

Fred´s point that Mayberry was carrying drugs was another silly try to invalidate Alan to Daphne (because the captain knows well that drug dealing is a much more serious crime than faking a robbery). Shaggy was still angry, but he didn't say anything because his mouth was too busy chewing with the same anger showed by his eyes. Daphne seemed a bit hesitant.

Daphne: Well… being honest, I agree with Shaggy. I felt something really bad in that secret fridge, those gift boxes looked like coffins and... I can't explain right. My intuition says something is wrong, yet I don't know exactly what it is... I know, all the evidence says Alan faked everything, but I feel that this mystery has not been fully solved…

Shaggy: And, like, do you remember that the app showed that Scooby said "Beware, killer!" at the restaurant? He has never said that before! I mean, he has only said that when he has found a real murderer, but like, under normal circumstances, he has never said that... like, I think Alan killed Sang-woo and he is faking a robbery to get an alibi... a lot of murderers report their own crimes to pretend they have nothing to do with the crime, don´t you watch crime series on TV?

Inevitably, Fred and I laughed again about Shaggy's dog language translation app, and he got so mad that Daphne had to ask Anette to bring more cake to distract him.

Velma: C´mon gang! I'm sorry, but we can't guide a whole investigation based on intuition, TV series and an app that translates barks into human language. We need real evidence, and all the evidence says this mystery is solved and Mayberry is a liar.

Fred: Yeah, and now we have to discuss how we can trap Mayberry and arrest him for his crimes…

Fred started talking again about arresting strategies that no one cared about. Daphne and Shaggy looked annoyed and disagreed. Suddenly, my cell phone vibrated and the face of cyber crime department´s captain appeared on the screen. I got up and walked away to answer the call since Jones wouldn't shut up and wouldn't let me hear. We talked for some minutes, then I returned to give them the news.

Velma: Gang, I have one more good proof that this mystery has really been solved. The cybercrime department has said there is nothing wrong with Liberty´s NY branch besides that business licenses issues. They´ve traced the bank transactions of all Liberty managers an nothing unusual was found. The only suspicious activities were done by Cho Sang-woo, and this is the part where things get more interesting…

Fred stopped talking when I said "things get more interesting" and paid attention, and the others did the same.

Velma: First of all, Cho Sang-woo is a famous embezzler. He is the most wanted embezzler in South Korea and in four other different countries. His crimes are: taking money from his clients, creating pyramid schemes and gambling. Here in NY, Alan Mayberry was his most important client. However, unlike the story Mayberry told us, Alan is an old client. The first time he got involved with Liberty´s services was two years ago, in a $36 million investment in a cryptocurrency scheme…

Daphne: Oh no, it´s the money Dad gave him?

Velma: Certainly. However, as we had thought, Sang-woo made the money melt down and lost everything in a bad investment. That loss has prompted Mayberry's second involvement with Liberty, a loan…

Fred: And he probably used the borrowed money to start his fintech.

Velma: Probably not, surely! The transaction history proves the money that founded Alan's fintech was a loan. However, his start was not so good as he had expected, and he had to take out several loans over the next few months…

Fred: And the loans became debts…

Velma: Lots of debt! But luckily, he still had his Blake Bank director key to give him the opportunity to pay off those debts…

Daphne: So he stole Dad´s money to pay off his debts?

Velma: I'm not saying that, your bank receipts are. His debt was up to 38 million, so Mayberry took 36 million from Blake Bank and 2 million from his fintech customers accounts to pay Liberty…

Fred: Then he got into a 2 million debt again, and now he needs this amount to pay back his customers and cover up his embezzlement…

Velma: Exactly. And maybe that's why he faked everything, he intended to win that amount in court in a lawsuit against Liberty.

Daphne: What about Liberty's money ending up in an abandoned island in South Korea? I have proof that really happened!

Velma: Yes, it happened, but Sang-woo wasn´t the one who did it. The authorization key used in that transaction was not his key. Also, the transaction occurred last month in Liberty´s accounts, the last activity in Cho Sang-woo's personal bank account was in June 2020, which is the same month he went missing.

Daphne: So you're saying that Sang-woo is innocent?

Velma: No, I´m saying he didn´t transfer that money to that desert island. That bank transfer was authorized by a secret key and the cybercrime department was not able to track this person's data.

Shaggy: Wait, is Mayberry guilty or not?

Velma: Alan stole from Blake Bank and his own customers to pay off his debts and faked a robbery, so I think he could be considered guilty in a couple of crimes. Also, he used the desert island money transfer as an evidence in his fake story, so he must know who made that transfer and why, or he must be involved in it too.

Fred: I think we definitely got Mayberry.

Velma: If we combine all the evidence we´ve found with the evidence cybercrime department has, we can put a good case together, Daphne.

Daphne: But… what about Sang-woo, gang? What happened to him? And who is the author of that desert island bank transfer? Why was that money transferred?

Shaggy: Like, and what about Scooby-Doo's behavior?

Daphne: Shaggy is right! We haven't solved all the mysteries of this case...

Velma: Daphne, we can't have all the answers. We have neither evidence nor accusations against that transferred money, so technically it's not of our business. It must be a crazy investment, I dont know. And Sang-woo is missing because he's a embezzler…

Daphne: It's the same amount, Velma, it must be something related to Alan…

Velma: It must be only a coincidence, Daph. We have evidence that Alan is lying to you. Alan is in financial world for years, he certainly knows a lot of investments and used one of them in his case.

Fred: We unmasked him Daph, that's what matters.

Daphne didn't want the case to die, since the solution meant that we would split up and would enjoy vacation far from each other. However, she had no arguments to keep the case alive, so she accepted the outcome.

Shaggy: Like, if you guys don't mind, Scoob and I have to go back to K9-Unit because I have, like, a lot of administrative stuff to do before my vacation...

Shaggy's "administrative stuff" were three messages from Crystal on his cell phone screen, saying "where are you?", "I'm waiting for you" and "come soon, I'm alone". Fortunately, Fred empathized with Daphne and offered to take her back to town - apparently, they had also their own "administrative stuff" to deal with before vacation, and I celebrated his decision with a grateful smile. Fred winked at me, signalling a thank you, and I was glad we both have changed a little since our argument. Marcie and I also said goodbye, I wasn't in the mood to "do administrative stuff ", but I was looking forward to our vacation together, even though I knew our destination would be Fleach amusement park.

The way back to town was relaxing. "Duty accomplished" feeling gave me inner peace, I felt happy for myself – for realizing my mistakes in time to fix them – and also for my friends, who were getting along very well with their crushes. I felt lucky for being Marcie Fleach´s fiancée, the kind of woman who makes you want to "do administrative stuff" even when you're not thinking about it, and that's exactly what we did when we arrived home. I woke up many hours later with the irritating sound of a cell phone call from a forensic agent.

Miller: Dinkley! Are you at the department?

Velma: No… I'm home, agent… what happened?

Miller: I need you to come here as soon as possible to take a look at these samples!

Velma: What's up, Miller? What samples?

Miller: Those samples we took at the Liberty building this morning. It's human blood, in perfect condition.

My heart raced immediately. Damn, Shaggy and Daphne were right, the mystery was not completely solved.

Velma: Do we have the victim's DNA? Do we know her or his identity?

Miller: Hmm… yes… we do… we were able to extract DNA from the samples, Dinkley…

Miller sighed loudly.

Velma: And who's the victim, Miller, tell me!

Miller: Well… it´s not "the victim," Dinkley. There are thirty-five different DNA samples, which makes thirty five victims. Among them, Cho Sang-woo.

As I´ve said before, things would be slow until ch8, from ch9 on they will submerge more and more inside Squid Game universe and things will happen faster.

I´m sorry for taking so much time to update this story and also read and review other stories here. I had a hard time with my depression and for some weeks I couldnt do much more than leaving bed to do my chores then return to bed again. But now I´m better and things will be different :)