An apology to anyone who studies Paleontology, museum curators, and anything else I might have gotten wrong in this story. Please feel free to correct anything you see here and send me it so I can fix it.
The ride wasn't that long, but it was enough to make Melvin sick. He wasn't used to traveling in the back of van, and all the bumps seemed to congregate underneath just him and no one else. At least he thought so. His face was a nice shade of green and Scooby's food offerings from the 'rations', weren't helping much. Thankfully he was able to keep his eyes out of the back of the van at the passing scenery. And the window was cracked open in the front, giving him enough of a supply of fresh air, so he made it to the location without making a mess and adding to the decor. Once stopped, Melvin was the first out to get his feet on solid ground. With some quick thinking from Fred, he got the kid a drink of water and waited until he was ok before they headed in to the museum. Shaggy stayed beside Melvin to give the kid some support until he was feeling better enough to walk on his own. Melvin felt embarrassed, but Shaggy laughed it off.
"Like' don't be sorry man. At first Velms and me had a hard time with car rides in the back of the van. Those bumps used to be doosies to us, but you get used to it."
Melvin hid his surprise that even Velma had been carsick. He couldn't picture the strong older girl walking confidently in front of him, could have had problems just like he had. The whole gang seemed to glow in the anticipation of the mystery at hand. It was different from when they all were home. They really seemed to be the legends that Scrappy had told stories about. And here he was, somehow walking with them. And he was actually going on a mystery with them. To bad there was no monster to unveil, but then again… He wasn't sure he could handle a monster.
They walked through the main doors and headed to the security desk. Most people had left the museum, except for the few hard-core people who didn't leave till they were kicked out. Fred and Daphne went to talk to the security guard while Velma wandered over to the informational booth, where she was quickly absorbed into reading the information there and collecting maps of the exhibits. So that she would know where everything was. Melvin found himself generally looking about when Scrappy walked over excitedly.
"Can you believe this? We actually got to go on mystery. Oh! This is going to be a blast! You're going to love it Mel!" Scrappy ending his sentence with the nickname he called his owner. Melvin looked down at Scrappy and nodded, not being able to stop the grin from spreading across his face. He was feeling the excitement too. Melvin for some reason felt giddy in anticipation. Scrappy then got a look of sadness.
"I was hoping we would get a monster or something though. It's been ages since I went on a monster hunt with the gang. Oh you would love it! The chasing, the monsters…the traps!" Scrapped sighed with a wistful look upon his face. "Those were the days."
Melvin wasn't sure he wanted to be chased, or chase monsters, which ever Scrappy had meant. It was not hard to believe in monsters when someone in a costume that looks pretty real, is running straight at you. At least that's always how it sounded like. The gang would be chased until they got enough clues to prove who it was underneath and then they formed a plan and captured them to unmask them. But a lot of the time it sounded like they seemed to be running compared to the actual capture time. Not exactly something Melvin wanted to experience. So he was quite happy there were no rumors of a ghost or monster. It still was a mystery to solve.
Fred came back to where Melvin and Scrappy were standing and waiting, while Daphne pried Velma away from the information booth. Once everyone was there, they noticed something was missing.
"Where's Shaggy and Scooby?" Velma wondered, in her hand was a map of the museum. A quick scan of the area proved that the two had gone missing from visual range. They all looked around a bit, spreading out since they could not have gone far when Scrappy called out from down the hall. "Over here guys!"
The rest followed Scrappy's voice and came upon the guys. It was a comical sight. They had stumbled across the children's section, and were romping around with material dinosaur tails strapped to themselves and each had a hat on that made them look like those head-butting dinosaurs. Shaggy and Scooby kept charging at each other and clashing heads. But thankfully there was enough foam in the hats that they weren't hurting themselves. Shaggy noticed them and waved for them to come into the area, urging them to join the duo.
"Like' come on guys, it's fun. Grab a tail and romp like a dinosaur!"
"Oh Shaggy, Scooby… What are we going to do with you guys?" Daphne sighed, though with a smile on her face as she watched the two goofballs playing. Fred leaned against the wall and watched. They had talked to the security guard and he was going to get one of the guys who worked on the project for them, so they had to wait a bit anyway. Might as well wait here. It wasn't that far from the main desk. Daphne also watched, leaning forward to lean on a short wall that surrounded most of the kid's area, enclosing it except two entrances, one on each side. Velma was curious and she wandered into the room they were playing in. She examined the various things they had to offer the kids, picking each up to eye them though her glasses perched on her nose. A bucket full of dinosaurs, a few construction tables that had educational things on them about dinosaurs, and a basket which had several other dinosaur tails and hats that the guys had discovered. Velma crouched over and was mumbling to herself about the names of the various tails and hats, saying something how the hat's Shaggy and Scooby where wearing did not match the tails they each had on.
"A Pachycephalosaurus would not have the tail of a Ankylosaurus or a Stegosaurus. Though it could also be a tail of a Europlocephalus instead of a Ankylosaurus, and a Kentrosaurus instead of a Stegosaurus, but the children would know the more merchandised species rather then any other type that might have lived with similar characteristics."
While Velma babbled to herself, Melvin found himself wandering around. He noticed large statues of various dinosaurs. They were very large for a child; he guessed that it was to show to the children kind of how tall the dinosaurs really were, compared to them without seeming overly whelming and scary. But they were more cartoon-ish then their real counterparts so they didn't scar the children with nightmares of the large reptiles. Some kids really couldn't take the sheer size of the dinosaurs at young ages. As Melvin was walking around them, he wasn't careful where he was placing his feet and he tripped over one of the dinosaur's tails.
"Waaaaaaah! Oof!" He yelled as he fell and landed with a crash.
He groaned and patted around for his glasses, which had fallen off in the fall. Everyone had come over to help him up; Fred picked him up, while Daphne dusted him off. And for once Velma was the one to find the lost glasses. She handed them to him with a smile. Melvin blushed as he thanked her and accepted his glasses back. Shaggy and Scooby had come over to see if he was ok as well, still looking ridiculous in their hats and tails. Scrappy hovering in the back of the group, once he saw that Melvin was fine, he turned his attention to the Dinosaur which had been knocked out of place.
"This dinosaur is pretty heavy…"Scrappy commented as he tried to put the tail back in place that Melvin had tripped over and moved. The Dane couldn't even lift it off the floor.
"Let me help Scrappy." Fred said as he came over. Getting a grip on the tip of the tail, he heaved with his back and knees to lift the tail. He did little to move the heavy tail, and ended up tilting the heavy dinosaur, it slowly started to fall over being set of balance. The gang braced for impact as the dinosaur started to head to the ground. But the dinosaur never hit. Peeking though fingers and closed eyelids, they saw that the Security guard had come back and caught the monster of a dinosaur with one hand. Righting the dinosaur with a grunt, he leaned down and moved the tail back into place before glaring over at them all.
"Stupid kids… Always messing with the scenery…" The guard grumbled to himself, as he made sure it was back to the way it was before. Then he turned to Fred and grunted, narrowing his eyes towards him. Turning, he talked grumpily over his shoulder. "The Assistant will see you now."
"O…Ok." Fred almost stammered as he looked at the security guard who effortlessly moved the dinosaur without any problems, while he himself could barely move the tail and ended up knocking the dinosaur off balance. He looked back at everyone and shrugged, motioning the rest of the gang to also follow the security guard. The security guard led the gang back to the security desk where a scruffy looking man stood. He looked like he was just out of college and a bit out of place in the museum in his clean lab coat and thick glasses. He looked like a nice enough fellow though, unlike the grumbling security guard, no doubt mumbling about annoying kids and dogs. Fred tried to thank the guard, but all he got was a glare from the man. With a slam of the door, the guard was in his office and away from the Mystery Inc. gang.
"Ignore Robert. He's had a long day and we have field trippers in here earlier. The little kids drive him nuts…" The assistant said with a chuckle. He extended his hand out of Fred. "My name is Derk Reinman, nice to meet you all. I have heard of your exploits. Glad to have you here to help us out."
Fred returned the gesture, shaking the man's hand and moved straight to business. "I heard that a set of bones was stolen, can you fill us in on how you got the bones and what happened around the time that it was stolen. Tell us as much as you know. Any little detail might be the thing that can crack this case."
The man nodded, running his hands though his orange-red hair as he recalled what had happened so far to get them all up to speed. The rest of the gang listened carefully; trying to make sure nothing was missed. Derk started to lead them to the main warehouse where there bones had been, talking as he walked.
"It all started a few years ago. I was just out of college and I was invited to a dig. Not just any dig, but a dig with the famous Professor Kent Perl."
Velma couldn't prevent herself from commenting, drawing on her vast knowledge.
"Kent Perl, you mean 'The' Kent Perl, head of Utah's division of Paleontology researchers? He has been on every important discovery that has been made in the Utah region in the last 5 years. He is said to be one of the best people in Paleontology at the moment and he is very skilled with excavation and location of dinosaurs."
Derk snorted, apparently not believing the words Velma thought was the truth. At least that is what papers and news had said of him.
"That man has no clue what he is doing when it comes to Paleontology. He can't tell the difference between a mini jack for prep work, and his power toothbrush for his own teeth. All that man does is goes on the site, shouts orders and then takes my credit when I finally find something. The Deinoscerasaurus, or Terrible Horned Lizard. It was what looked like a raptor like body and structure, but it's head, frill and spine resembled those of a Cera family. The horned dinosaurs like Triceratops and Protoceratops. Though it's bottom jaw was more of a carnivore then an herbivore. Making the species totally new and never discovered. I could name it my own… But Kent… He took it and called it Veloceraraptor. That doesn't even make any sense! Just changing Cira to Cera a name for a dinosaur does not make!"
It was clear that there was more to this, and the man could go on for hours. But they were drifting from the subject at hand. Managing to get the man's attention, Daphne calmed him down enough to get in another question.
"Alright Mr. Reinman…"
"Call me Derk."
"Alright Derk, we know what it is now, now can you let us know how or who might have stolen it?"
Breathing in deep, and smoothing out is hair that got a bit mussed from his annoyed rant, he continued. "… I think it was the old man."
"Old man?" Velma asked, making sure to milk the man for as much information. Melvin was trying to make sure he paid attention to everything he could. The stories of them solving mysteries always fascinated him, so he didn't want to miss anything. Maybe he would even help out. So Melvin was trying to remember everything that was being said. He was half tempted to take notes like school, though he had not brought a pad or pencil. Derk continued.
"Yes… There was a old man…"
"A Crazy old man… Nothing more." A voice interrupted Derk, as he was about to continue. Standing before them, in front of the warehouse door was Kent Perl. He stood there, with his arms cross, a grin across his face. He looked like a Crocodile Dundee reject, his athletic form covered in a tan, and was clad in an almost safari looking attire. A dusty brown cowboy hat was sitting atop his bleach blond hair. His smile was a set of pearly whites; he made sure to flash a dazzling smile at the ladies present. Velma gave him a raised eyebrow look, and Daphne smiled back. Derk made an audible groan while Fred pushed forward in front of the group.
"Ah, you must be Kent Perl. I have heard a lot about you Mister Perl."
"Kent is fine. And you guys must be the famous Mystery Inc. Nice to meet you all."
He shook Fred's extended hand and winked at Daphne. Velma rolled her eyes and looked away. As much as respect as she had in his works that she read about, and the papers she read of his; as soon as she saw his chauvinistic attitude… she liked him a bit less. She found it odd that a man who wrote such wonderful and insightful papers could seem so shallow. She chewed on the inside of her mouth as she reluctantly turned back to gather information he might provide, mulling over the information already given to them. Melvin was a bit in awe. He didn't get out much, but he figured a person who was such a famous Paleontologist, wouldn't look so impressive. He had to work out or something. Melvin figured that most Paleontologists would be geeks like him and Derk… People in lab coats and were skinner then the man before them. This guy looked like he lived in a gym and tanning booth, not out digging up bones and sitting behind a microscope in a lab. Derk looked more like a Paleontologist then Kent did. But Kent seemed to be the right person.
"So Mister Kent, What is this about an old man?" Daphne tried to bring up their only lead, to find out more. He grinned at her.
"Well, if you really want to know. There was an old man who came to the dig and was talking about an ancient undead guardian or something like that. Some strange dinosaur ghost that seems to haunts the bones of its relatives, and guards it against people who disturb it. Or some crock like that. I think that old man baked in the sun to long, if you know what I mean. Ghost dinosaurs… Sheesh." He laughed, obviously not believing the old man's story. As the gang had known a few times before, that not all Indian guardians were real. From Indian shamans, to Tiki gods and Aztec stone creatures. They had been all people in costumes, so it wasn't impossible for this to be the same thing. But that didn't stop two of the people present, from shaking in their shoes. (Well, only one of them actually 'wore' shoes.)
"…G…G…Ghosts? I thought you said no monsters… Now we have to deal with some walking undead Dinosaur? Great… Just our luck Scoob." Shaggy moaned to his canine cohort. Who looked to his with equal dread.
"Just our luck Mel!" While Shaggy and Scooby clung to one another, with another prospect of a monster to chase… Scrappy seemed excited! He would get to go on monster hunt with his uncle Scooby and the rest of that gang after all. He couldn't be happier! But Melvin wasn't so sure he was sharing Scrappy's thrilled response.
"Yes, there was an old man at the dig site." Interjected Derk from behind, trying to get their attention off Kent, some signs of agitation was clear in his voice at his superior. "He was trying to tell Kent to stop digging. That if they didn't stop, the ancient guardian of the dinosaur bones would rise up, preventing the bones from being unearthed and transported."
Kent eyed the interrupting assistant, but kept his tongue behind his glittering white teeth in effort to keep his more superior air around the guests. Derk didn't seem to notice the look, or if he did he just enjoyed it as he continued. "I listened to that old man one day, out of curiosity of what the old crackpot had to say. He spoke of an undead dinosaur, standing as tall as a man, and having a ghostly look to it. Its eyes glowed an eerie red and…"
Before the man was able to continue, Kent interjected. "That is enough Derk. These people are not here to listen to your tales of fables and myth. There is no such thing as ghosts or monsters. The man was just an old Indian man who spoke of myths to get rid of us from digging. I didn't see you stopping the dig just because the story." His eyes narrowed, but his Cheshire grin stayed as he enjoyed telling his assistant off. "Now run along Derk, some of us have to do some work. Not all of us can stand around and tell fables for a living…" Kent turned his back and made a motion for Mystery Inc to follow him to the warehouse. Derk was clearly restraining himself as he turned and stalked off. Fist clenched as he walked away, Melvin almost stopped to chase after the man, but with the rest of the gang following Kent, he had little choice of where to follow. Trotting to catch up, Melvin panted as Kent held out his arms in dramatic fashion.
"Welcome to My Warehouse! This is where all my findings and my research are stored. Only Me and a few others have the key card to enter." He did a flourish and pulled out his card and swiped it. With a beep, the doors slide open. He did a bow and offered the ladies to enter first, then the rest to follow. Daphne humored him, while Velma gave him more of a look before she entered. Kent waited till they were all inside before he came in behind them. He began a long speech about his various accomplishments that had or was being held on the shelves that they walked past. Shelves and shelves packed row-by-row lining the whole inside of the warehouse except for pockets of area's that were used to hold some of the larger artifacts that would not fit on a shelf. Melvin was too busy swallowing up all the grand sights of the priceless artifacts to pay full attention to the whole long stories of Kent's many achievements that lined the walls… And those who were listening only did to hope for some clue in his story about the missing bones.
With relief to them all, Kent finally came to a large crate that one could assume had contained the bones. He dramatized him pulling out the key, holding it up before them all. "Here is the key to this crate. Only Robert and I have a key to it… for security reasons. But apparently that wasn't enough to stop them from stealing my bones." With a flourish, he used the key and heaved the heavy lid open quickly. Inside was what looked like a milky white covering? It was a type of insulation foam, and one could clearly make out the shapes of where the bones had been, but where missing. Velma and Shaggy peered over the sides of the deep box and inside, the beatnik giving a poke at the foam in curiosity.
"Ah, I see you noticed the foam. It's a brand my scientists and I worked out. It's a two-part gel that starts off clear. When the gel takes an impact, the flimsy wall between the gels breaks and a reaction happens. The two compounds mix and expand to create the milky white substance you see before you that act's as a cushion to the bones. It is like the same principle of a glow stick. But instead of illuminating and making a Florissant glow, it creates a cushioning. It's great for transporting bones without worrying about them breaking. Soon everyone will be using it!" He spoke proudly of his creation, which caused Velma to roll her eyes once again, but Melvin was amazed! Not only did this guy discover lost bones, and travel all over the world. But he was also a scientist who made fascinating chemical compounds to further his study's longevity.
"What's this?" Came a comment from Scrappy. He was leaning under the top of the crate; though being under it gave little light for him to look at it. "There is something carved into the top here."
Daphne and Fred moved to heave on the top to bring it back in place to see what Scrappy was talking about. Though it was heavier then they thought. Kent moved swiftly around to help them out bring the top quickly over and back in place. Deep claw marks were raked across the top of the crate. Kent had been to occupied with showing off, that he had not noticed the top of the crate before he opened it for them to see.
"I can't believe this!" Came the first clear angry words out of Kent. He threw up his hands in protest and stalked away from the crate as he continued to talk. "I can't believe that Derk would go so low to mark up my crate even after he stole the bones!" Kent growled, pacing back and forth, with angry hand gestures to go with it.
"Now see here… Mr. Perl." Velma moved away from inspecting the claw marks on the crate to shake a finger at the hollering man. "I do not know what has happened between you and your assistant, but it can't be determined on feelings alone that he is the person who stole your bones. We need more evidence before you can start to point fingers." She moved towards him as he, who was caught off guard by a lady daring to argue against him. "It appears that someone… or something has clawed up your crate here."
"Are you claiming that the ghost Derk was talking about is here? What nonsense!" He straightened up against her arguing and nodded. Feeling strong about there not being a ghost. Someone had to have done it.
"She's right Kent. We have solved a lot of cases and it's best not to jump to conclusions. It could merely be someone using the ghost tale to scare you away. Making a few scratches on a crate isn't that much beyond what someone parading around trying to scare you off might do. We've seen it before." Fred added in Velma's argument's defense.
"I'm not saying that it is the ghost, but in our profession we don't make assumptions till we have all the facts." Daphne added in as well. It looked to her like a clear case of someone trying to parade around as the 'ghost' or what not in order to scare Kent away.
"… And for all you know, it could be someone in a dinosaur costume romping about trying to scare you away. It would not be the first time someone has done it. We deal with them all the time." By this time, Velma was lecturing him face to face. She was sick and tired of him taking it out on his assistant without proof. There was always a scientific and logical explanation for everything and this case wasn't going to be any different.
"Velma, Maybe you should come…" Scrappy was about to try to rein in the arguing brunette when a roar sounded in the warehouse. It was like the whole place was rattling due to something massive and heavy moving towards them. Velma only had a short time to turn and go wide-eyed as a huge form came flying towards her and Kent. With a quick glace and thinking quickly, Kent pushed himself forward and scooped Velma into his arms. To the rest of the gang looking on, they watched as a ghostly form of a dinosaur flew inches away, where only seconds before Kent and Velma had been standing. At a quick glace, as the image burned into the scared minds of Shaggy and Scooby. Floating off the ground, the ghostly white dinosaur had piercing glowing red eyes. It looked taller then a man!
"Zoinks! That's like' the Ghost dinosaur!" Squeaked Shaggy as Scooby hoped reactively into his arms. They both shook as they stared where the dinosaur had just flown by.
"Th… Thank you…" Stammered a blushing Velma as Kent put her down. Being rescued from being crushed by a dinosaur monster, now that wasn't really what she had expected. She had not expected him to save her like that. It had definitely threw her off, but Kent seemed to be having a harder time with what had just happened then she had.
"What the heck was THAT!"
He pointed to where the form had just nearly run them over. He looked definitely shook up. He was about to yell some more before Shaggy gave warning. Him and Scooby had moved to peer where the ghost had gone in morbid curiosity, actually hoping it was gone and just a figment of their imagination. But no such luck. "No time for that gang! It's coming back!" He yelled, taking off to the warehouse door down one of the paths through the shelves. The shelved rattled, as the dinosaur got closer. The rest were not far behind. Daphne and Fred had to grab the confused Velma and Kent and dragged them out as the dinosaur roared back into view. Scrappy paused at the doorway, turned and assumed a fighting stance. "Let me at 'em!" The young Dane was going to try to fight off the ghostly apparition. But this wasn't new to the duo and they heaved on the younger Dane's collar to drag him out of the way. With Scrappy repositions away from the door, Shaggy and Scooby made sure to heave it shut before the Dinosaur was able to follow them. The door shut with a lock, and a bang could be felt and heard, coming from the warehouse. Kent took off running and the gang followed him to what seemed to be Kent's office. The man was shaking, obviously not used to the idea that a ghost dinosaur had just been chasing them all over the warehouse and the shock of the situation settling in. A few others were shaking, though only one had been from excitement.
"That… was GREAT!"
Clapped Scrappy with glee obviously caught up in the adrenalin rush. Melvin looked over to his Dane with a bewildered expression. Who in their right mind found that fun? It was clear to Kent that he was sharing Melvin's thoughts. "I don't care what that thing… Was…. But you are going to get rid of it!" Growled the angered man, his hair mussed and his hat had fallen behind him on a string that had caught it from falling. "That is why you're here… And I want this taken care of quickly! I need my bones back! Now get out and do… What ever you do! I'll…. Be here in my office with the door locked. Leave me!" The disheveled man who had seemed so composed moments before, shoved and forced the gang to leave his office to leave him alone. With a slam, he closed the door on their faces.
With a sigh, Fred tried to gather everyone together. Melvin had been quite shaken as well. This was his first monster, and he didn't like the experience. Especially how it almost attacked Kent and Velma. Daphne had taken a few short seconds to catch her breath and smooth out her hair in perfect order. Velma had regained her composure and was already off and thinking. Shaggy and Scooby had latched on to Scrappy to prevent the young dog from running back to the warehouse. They argued that they didn't have card to get in so Scrappy could beat him up. Scrappy conceded but knew that he could have taken the monster on.
"Alright gang. We had our first run in with this so-called Ghost. Now let's see the facts that we have so far." Fred jumped to start brainstorming. "What do we know? And who do we have as suspects?"
"Well… The bones seemed to have disappeared once at the museum. So it has to be stolen by someone who works here or could get access to things. And that only Robert and Kent had access to the key to the crate." Daphne added in.
"Like' Robert the grumpy security guard didn't seem to like us very much. He might be a suspect. He had one of the keys and like' he was really Cheesed off." Shaggy offered up some more ideas, with Scooby echoing. "Ra Ra, R'eesed r'off. R'um!" Scooby and Shaggy licking their lips at the mention of food.
"And it's clear that Derk has it out for Kent. Obviously unhappy with the way he gets treated by his superior Kent. It's impossible to rule him out, though we have yet to have any evidence yet." Velma added. She had to count him in, even though she could understand a bit why the other man got frustrated with Kent… Though he did save her life. "…Though he saved me… I don't think Kent is off the list of suspects either."
"…But why would he steal his own bones and make such a reaction when the monster attacked?" Melvin wondered out loud. This was his first case, so maybe there was something he was missing. But why would he go through the process to save Velma and then react so badly to the dinosaur showing up? It didn't seem like he was expecting that.
"I don't know Melvin, but we need to gather more information if we are going to crack this case." Fred moved into leader mode. "I think it's time to Split up Gang!" As usual, Shaggy and Scooby groaned.
"Like'… We have to go explore the warehouse… Don't we?" Sulked Shaggy. Really not looking forward to meeting the creepy ghost dinosaur again. Scooby hid behind Shaggy's legs with a whine.
"No… It's ok guys. You get to play guard duty. I want you, Scooby and Scrappy to keep an eye on Kent. He's not ruled out as a suspect, so I want you guys to watch his door. If anything happens, send Scrappy to come and find us." Fred suggested, and frankly the guys like that suggestion better then having to search the warehouse like they thought. With a salute, Shaggy took up his position.
"Nothing will get past us!" "Rah rah!" Adding to the salute, Scooby stood besides Shaggy, with Scrappy falling in right behind him. "Leave it to us!"
"The rest of us will go talk Derk and Robert. Maybe we can find out more information from them. Let's go Gang." Fred made a motion for them to follow. Melvin was a bit pensive about trailing along, feeling more comfortable with his dog. But he wasn't put on the guarding list, and with Daphne's tugging since he was falling behind, he had to follow.
"Should I…" Melvin stuttered, blushing a bit as Daphne dragged the boy with her to catch up.
"The guys can take care of themselves. They've done this before. We need you to come and help us. We can use all the hands we can get. Now come on, we're lagging behind." She trotted to catch up, with Melvin in tow. He was surprised at how strong she was. Not that he weighed much, but she didn't seem to have any problems pulling him along at enough of a speed to catch up to Fred and Velma. Their destination was the guardroom. Perhaps Robert could tell them more information. Rapping lightly on the guard window, they waited for Robert to show up. It didn't take long for the grumpy security guard to come and slam the window separating them open.
"What you kids want?" He grunted in a stony tone, narrowing his eyes at them all. Melvin dived to hide behind the rest of them, but they didn't seem to even flinch at the man's unwelcoming nature. Fred was the first to speak.
"I understand your name is Robert. Should we call you anything else instead?" The irritated guard glared at Fred before making his response. "…Suppose not." Fred took that as a good sign and continued. "Well Robert, would you mind if we ask you a few questions?" The man's expression didn't change, he merely grunted in what Fred took as a positive response. Velma then took over next.
"Where were you just now? Say, about ten minutes ago?" The man turned his heated glare at her. She didn't seem to mind it, though Melvin would have shrunk under that angry of an expression. Robert didn't take long to respond, voice still as monotone as ever. "I was here for a bit, then I went to talk to Peter about his faulty cameras in the warehouse."
"Faulty cameras?" Came an inquisitive voice from Daphne, picking right up on a possible clue. The guard looked over at her and explained. "We have installed several camera's all over the different parts of the museum, the displays and in the warehouse. But recently the cameras in the warehouse have gone static and you can't make out much. Like when you guys were in the warehouse, it cut out. I went to talk to Peter about it, but by the time I came back with him to look at it, you were outside on the entrance monitor heading for Mr. Perl's office."
"So you saw us in the warehouse?" Fred inquired.
"For the most part." Grunted Robert. "Like I said, it worked fine till the camera broke."
"Did you see anything on the camera? Like something you couldn't explain?" Daphne asked. He turned at her and his brow's furrowed.
"What might you be talking about? I told you it was fuzzy and static. I wasn't able to make out much once it broke. That's why I went to talk to Peter." Robert replied in defense.
"Do you mind if we look at the camera's and the tapes?" Velma wanted to investigate more, and if the tapes might have recorded what had happened, even if it was fuzzy, she might be able to find something of use to them. The security guard didn't look happy. Sliding the door shut, he disappeared from sight. Melvin thought that maybe he was so angry that he was ignoring them, but soon the guard door opened and he was standing on the other side. "Do you know what you are doing?" He grunted in what seemed to be a question. Velma and Fred nodded their heads. Fred had some experience working for Daphne's TV show and Velma did some recording and editing on her own, so she was skilled in the machines. He left them pass and Fred sat down and started to pull up the tape that had recorded there time in the warehouse while Velma leaned over to ponder at the video screens on the guard consul. They seemed to know what they were doing, so the guard moved to leave before Daphne stopped him. "Where are you going?"
He turned and looked down at her, "To make my rounds." Well, he was a security guard. Melvin used this time to slide past the guard and into the room himself. He didn't know anything about cameras, tapes or editing devices, so he made sure he was just out of the way. But he noticed a lot of the screens were either blank, or the blue screen that needed input. "Why are these screen's not working?" Melvin asked over his shoulder at the stopped guard.
"Peter didn't get a chance to fix the cameras. Apparently some of the cameras were faulty and so we had to replace a lot of them. But with the new problem of the missing bones, Peter has yet to have gotten around to putting them in." Robert replied, impatient to get to his rounds on time. He always liked being prompt and on time with his duties and these stupid kids were preventing him from making his rounds. "Anything else?" He growled, wanting to get to work.
"Yes, one more thing."
Daphne interjected. "Where is Peter? Can we talk to him?"
Robert
gave Daphne the directions, and then was allowed to go. Stalking off,
his shoulders were hunched over and he seemed to be mumbling
something to himself.
"Cheery guy." Melvin muttered.
"Yeah, a real ray of sunshine." Commented Daphne as she moved away from the door where she had been standing. Coming up behind, she leaned over to see what Fred and Velma were hanging intently over. "You guys found something?"
"Well… it is just like Robert said." Fred explained. "You can see us here entering the warehouse, here. And here was where we were following Kent to the crate. You can see as everything plays out fine till about when we all heard that roar in the warehouse. Then the screen goes static. You can make out a bit on these screens, but nothing that can help us. The angles of these three cameras don't get a good look what ever passed by us." "You mean the ghost dinosaur?" Melvin added, a bit of fear in his voice. He didn't like the idea of ghost dinosaurs romping about. "I highly doubt it is a real dinosaur ghost. We have yet to find any real evidence on ghosts existing." Velma said with a snort.
"Well there was that one time in the bayou…"
Daphne started, but a look from Velma stopped her. Melvin was confused, but he didn't say anything. He continued to watch in amazement as they worked together and had gathered a lot of information already. Had he been trying on his own, he would not have known what to ask, or what to say. Yet these people in front of him, only a few years his seniors… were already on their way to solving the case. At least it sounded like that to him. Pushing away from the monitors, Fred leaned and looked back. "Well… I can't find anything on this tape that shows someone entering the room with anything. Though the time code of the bottom looks odd. Velma, can you stay in here and try to figure that out while Daphne, Melvin and I go and have a talk with Peter?" Velma nodded and waited till Fred had gotten out of the seat he had been in, so she would have closer access to the controls. "Leave it to me. I'll figure out what's funky with these time codes." Fred nodded and moved to leave the room. Daphne was close behind, though Melvin wasn't sure that Velma should be left alone. Once outside the room, Melvin turned to Fred. "Is… It alright to leave her alone, by herself?"
"Velms?" Fred cast a glance back to the room. He could hear the button's clicking away as Velma's fingers flew across the control board as she searched. He chuckled. "It's better not to get in her way right now. And she'll be fine. I don't think Robert is going to be gone to long, so he'll be there to keep her company. Plus there is a camera pointed to see all directions approaching the guardroom. So she'll see anyone coming before they even get to her."
Even though Melvin felt odd leaving the older girl alone, but Fred and Daphne had thought nothing of it, so this must be not uncommon for them to do. It was splitting up, like Fred had said before.
Daphne led the way, since Robert had explained to her how to get there. Pushing the door open they came upon a guy who was leaning over a small device. He seemed to be to busy with that he was working on to really notice them. He was a lean man, with frizzy reddish brown hair. He was not exactly the neatest man, dressed more for comfort since it appeared he worked out of this back room away from most people that came to the museum. A cough from Daphne got his attention, but it was little more then a quick glance. "The museum is closed. Go away." Came a muttering from him, though he didn't even think of why they might still be allowed to be in here. He waved them away with his hand as he went back to his work.
"We are here to solve the case of the missing dinosaur bones. Derk called us here to help. Are you Peter?" Daphne asked the man curled around the device he was working on. At the mention of bones, his head snapped up to look at them.
"Bones? Oh yes… Bones… Terrible thing they are missing. But I had nothing to do with that." He seemed a bit jittery, almost falling over to stand up. His hand rubbed the back of his head in an anxious manner. "I been to busy with these darn cameras. I've barely been out of this room unless I would be working on a camera out in the museum. I seemed to have miss placed a few and can't seem to find them. Clumsy me." He chuckled nervously, fingers playing with the device he had in his hand.
"Pardon me, but what do you have there?" Daphne pointed out the device, calling attention to it. It looked like a small tube with various wires sticking out of it. The man looked over and noticed that she was pointed out what he had in his hand.
"Oh! This?" He held it up for her to look at. "This is the latest in Lipstick cameras. This little baby, if a normal person wanted to buy it would be any where from ninety to two hundred dollars. But that range is all depending on what you wanted it for. The lower cost one's are just black and white. But the more expensive ones like these babies. Can see infrared, catch audio, zoom and if I wanted, could be installed with personal LED lights that could illuminate up to 20 feet from the camera. But since the reason we are installing these cameras are for security and keeping an unseen eye on the public to make sure our museum's pieces are not bothered, or anyone is trying to steal something. It would make little sense drawing attention to it. We have caught more people since they don't think we are watching." Peter seemed very proud of his lipstick cameras. Fred and Daphne could understand why, though it all was Latin to Melvin. But it sounded cool.
"So why, if these are such good of cameras, that they mess up and go static like Robert was talking about?" Daphne wondered. If they were so good, why did they not work there?
"In the warehouse?" Peter wondered.
"Yeah, Robert said they didn't work on occasion." Fred responded to Peter's question.
"Ah, well those aren't like these. The warehouse required a larger sight range then these little cameras can provide. You see these are more like point and shoot. You only can look at the limited area it can record, why it's good to point it at a piece of artwork or a relic. You only have to pay attention to one thing. The warehouse cameras had to see the entire warehouse. Though even those three cameras can only do so much. They are a board type camera design. And the static, I can't do anything for. Those models are prone to power surges. So you just need to be using something that zaps a lot of electricity to fry those puppies out. Actually, the small cameras can fry too, but they are more isolated to not have as much problems as the board one's. One good power surge, and if there is too much voltage, the camera is sure to brake. I had to replace all of them in the last few weeks. It's also one of the reason's I haven't been able to get the display cameras up. The last batch we had before had some problems with picking up a strange signal on the monitors. Probably some kid playing with their own cameras. The view kept sweeping back and forth; it was too dizzy to pay to much attention to. So Kent suggested we bought new one's. But for the life of me I can't find where I put my inventory list… I clearly remember that the list of parts and lists of what we received didn't match up. Maybe who ever took the bones wanted my cameras, and my list too. Though I don't know what they might want with them, they weren't even fully put together." Peter suggested. It was an interesting clue indeed, though at the moment this didn't fit into place.
"Do you know if there was any recording of the strange video you captured?" Fred wondered, thinking back that he would have to bring this up to Velma to find as well. "When did this start happening?"
"Well… I think it was a bit before the bones went missing. Maybe that's why we weren't able to catch the crook. Terrible really. Well, I must go look for my list again. Feel free to look around." And with that, Peter stood up, placed the camera on the table he had been working on it, and left. Melvin watched the man leave rather quickly.
"…He seemed a bit too nervous. Didn't he?" Melvin asked Fred and Daphne as Peter had gotten out of hearing range. Peering out the door where he had gone, before bring it back to look at the two older sleuths.
"Maybe Melvin, but just being a bit forgetful where he put things isn't enough to place the blame on him. We need to gather more clues. Though if we could find that inventory he seemed to have lost, it would be nice to know what was missing." Fred told Melvin as he stroked his chin in thought. Daphne had moved over to the table and was inspecting the room.
"Jeepers! It's no wonder why he lost the list in this room; it's a mess in here. And he didn't even ask us to lock the door. Odd. With such expensive equipment, you think he would be more careful about it." Daphne pushed about the camera, glancing over what else was on the table. She was looking for a bit before she came across something that looked like a small screen. "Oh… Look at this." She dug out the screen and fiddled with what looked like a battery pack. Moving to use the seat, her hands flew across the table as she put together the lipstick camera and attached the screen. The screen flickered and lit up, showing a narrow, but clear view of the room where the camera was pointing. Holding it up to the side of her head, she looked about the room. Where she could see, came right back on the camera, though it was not as good at handling the sudden rush of movement like human eyes were used to seeing, so watching the screen made Melvin nauseous.
"Jinkies." Spoke Fred with a grin. Daphne turned to look at him with an odd glance.
"Now Fred. That's Velma's line. You want me to start telling us to all split up?" Daphne joked, setting the camera down and disconnecting it. Fred put his hands up in his own defense and laughed. "Well, she wasn't here, and we found a clue." Daphne moved to him and gave him a light punch on the shoulder. He laughed. "Hey… It's not my fault it's a fun word to say! Jinkies."
"Jinkies?"
Melvin muttered, confused at the word. Sure, he had heard but before from Scrappy, but it was an odd word to hear out of Fred. Though Fred moved over and gave Melvin a hair tussle. "Yep. Jinkies." Fred nodded to Melvin, though the boy was still confused. Daphne watched them and sighed. She moved to the door and made motion for them to leave.
"Oh come on you two. Let's get back to Velma. Maybe she found something else out. Really, stealing Velma's Jinkies." Daphne couldn't help but grin as Fred placed an arm around Melvin's shoulder and lead the boy out, who still was confused at the whole incident.
'Jinkies?'
While the rest of the gang were off finding clues; Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy had taken up their duty to watch the door with gusto. With Scrappy and Scooby on either sides of the door in salute, Shaggy had taken up the British march back and forth. Though it took no time before the growls of several unhappy stomachs made Shaggy pause in place.
"Man oh Man Scoob. Like' my tummy is a rumbling and I think it's time for a lunch break!"
Suggested Shaggy in a very bear like manner, and Scooby was not far behind breaking rank to pad up to his hungry counterpart. But Scrappy's brow furrowed.
"But aren't we supposed to keep an eye on the door?" The young Dane was a bit hungry, but he could last, unlike the perpetually ravenous stomachs of Shaggy and Scooby.
"Like' we won't be long Scrappy. We'll just go down and find a snack machine and then come back. It won't take to much time, we'll even try to bring you something back too." Though no promise of food could be held accountable for the hoggish pair. Scrappy sighed, but agreed. It was better off to let them go find food, then listen to their stomachs duel each other for who was the loudest.
"Find, but head back as soon as you find something. You can eat it on your way back here. I don't want to have to explain to the rest of the gang if they come back and you guys are missing." Scrappy waved them to leave. The quicker they leave, hopefully the quicker they would come back.
"Like' no prob Scrappy. I think when we were running by, I saw a vending machine down a bit. We'll be back before you can even say 'Peanut butter and tuna fish, pickled sandwich!' Ah ha ha." Shaggy laughed, starting off to find the vending machine.
"R'ummy… Reanut r'an rickles… Umm Umm!" Scooby fell in shadow behind Shaggy, licking his lips at the tasty sounding sandwich. Scrappy groaned, he never understood how they could stomach such odd food combinations.
"Peanut butter and ugh… Yeah… by the time I manage to stomach saying it, they will be back." Scrappy muttered as they left him along to guard the door by himself. Not that he minded all that much. It was kind of nice to be able to be trusted to watch something all by himself. He was now in charge of guarding. He straightened up, being a good watch door and keeping an eye out for anything suspicious.
Though as time inched by, he lost his enthusiasm and slouched forward a bit. Soon he was leaning on the ground, tapping his paw in impatience. 'What was taking them so long?' Scrappy wondered. 'Could they have run into the monster with out him?' He stood up and looked down the direction they had head. Though the idea passed out of his head. 'Well… if they were in trouble, I would hear something.' As if on cue, a mass of banging was heard in the distance. Again, the young Dane was on his paws. He wanted to rush to them, but he was also supposed to watch the door. From the door to the hall, as the bangs increased, so did his troubled thoughts. The banging just got louder. With one last look at the door, Scrappy abandoned it to give chase.
"I'll save you guys!" He hollered as he ran down where he had seen them go. Paws echoing in the hallway as he ran to their rescue. "Dah dah dah da dah Da! Scrappy…." He shouted as he slid into the hallway where the banging was heard. But the scene was not one he had been picturing in his head. "…power?" He had come across Shaggy and Scooby in trouble all right, but not like the kind he could have imagined. Shaggy had gotten a hold on the vending machine, pulling it off the wall; he and Scooby had been banging on it to get their food out. Apparently the machine ate their money and didn't fend over the snacks, so the guys had gotten desperate. Dropping the machine in surprise for the sudden appearance of Scrappy, Shaggy was confused at why he had run over. But when the machine slammed down, the food that had been rebelliously hanging out of reach finally came loose. Scooby picked up the handful of stuff that had fallen and looked happy.
"Rah! R'acks." Scooby offered some to Shaggy who took it and didn't waste any time shoveling its contents into his mouth. Between handfuls, he paused long enough to ask Scrappy why he had come.
"I heard you guys banging. I thought maybe the ghost Dinosaur had gotten you." Scrappy caught an offered bag of chips that Scooby had tossed his way. He pulled it open and fell beside Shaggy who started to head back.
"Like' who's watching the professor?" Shaggy wondered. Scrappy shrugged, munching on the bag of chips he had been given. "I thought you guys were in trouble. I had to leave the door unattended."
"R'I r'ope r'a roressor r'is r'ok." Scooby wondered as he tore through his second bag of chips, while eating some licorice that had also fallen. The trio plodded along, enjoying their meal. Though when Scrappy made motion that they should hurry, Shaggy won't move any faster unless he needed to. Such was his beatnik ways, relaxed and easy unless provoked.
Though maybe it was better if they had gone faster as Scrappy suggested, for when they came upon the professor's door, it was wide open. Peering reluctantly, Shaggy was only met with a sight of pure chaos. He let out a sigh; thankful it wasn't filled with the ghost dinosaur. Moving a bit into the door, he and Scrappy tried to see if the professor was still in the room.
"Kent… Mister Kent… Are you like' in here?" Shaggy placed a hand to the side of his mouth to project his voice into the room. Scrappy nosed a few papers out of the way. "I don't think he's in here Shaggy."
"Rah… Raggy…"
"Not now Scoob. I'm looking for mister Kent. Are you in here?"
"Rah… Raggy!" Scooby said with more earnest, pulling on Shaggy's brown pants.
"Not now…. Wait… Don't tell me…I don't want to know do I?"
"Ruh uh…" Scooby said negatively, inching closer and closer to Shaggy's leg. The beatnik closed his eyes, placing a hand over them.
"Like… Is it Big?"
"Rah!"
"And scary…?"
"Rah rah!"
"And Ghostly?"
Scooby's response was a whimper. Leaning out of the room, Shaggy forced his hand to open to peer through the gap his fingers made. He groaned as he noticed the giant, glowing red eyed, dinosaur. With a roar, the dinosaur opened its mouth and exhaled a hot and foul stink of breath. It smelled like a skunk, rotten eggs, and some of the leftovers he had found at the back of the fridge that had been sitting around for a while. Shaggy was forced to wave a hand in front of his face to clear the pungent smell. He got an idea, fishing into his pockets; he pulled out a breath mint and then threw it at the back of the dinosaur's open maw. It clattered as it hit the backset of teeth. The jaw shut with a snap, almost confused look on its face as Shaggy turned to Scooby.
"Shall we?" Shaggy asked Scooby as he made polite gestures to his cohort. Scooby nodded. Jumping into Scooby's paws, his delayed scared reaction made Scooby jump into Scrappy's paws. Occupied with carrying them both, he had little time to pause and fight the monster; such was the plan of Scooby and Shaggy.
"Run away!"
Hollered Shaggy as Scrappy made a mad dash away from the room. The dinosaur, recovering from its earlier confusion gave chase. It made an awful clattering sound as it chased the guys, solid nails hitting hard and echoing against the tile flooring. Thankfully, it was slower then the dashing Dane, and started to fall back as they powered down the hallways. With a few twists and turns of the skillful running of Scrappy, they soon lost the dinosaur in all the tangling turns Scrappy took to get away from it.
Panting, Scrappy had to stop and let the guys off. Even though he was older, it was hard to run to far with them since he wasn't used to it. Shaggy and Scooby got off and moved to continue to dash. They needed to find the rest of the gang and quick. Scrappy groaned, and pushed off to continue running, though it was easier now that he didn't have to carry them.
"We got to let the gang know what happened!"
