Chapter 5: Another victim and a rough start

October 8, 1968

Fred Jones groaned as his alarm clock went off at the usual time of 6:00.

He could've sworn that the alarm clock was resetting itself five minutes earlier in each passing day, which may explain why it felt like he's getting up earlier and earlier as the days passed.

Not that he minded getting up early, considering his routine of going out for a jog every morning before breakfast.

It was a routine he has adapted to ever since he joined the school football team, and couple that with the workout schedule and strict diet he followed, it has allowed him to build up his muscles.

As the blonde was in the process of changing into his jogging clothes, there was a light knock on his door, followed by a familiar voice that asked, "Frederick, you awake?"

"Yeah, I am Dad." Fred replied. "I'm just changing right now."

As soon as he put his Coolsville Central Hornets shorts on, the blonde proceeded to open the door, revealing his father Jefferson "Skip" Jones at the other side.

Like Fred, Skip is well-built with muscles, his being a carry over from his service in the United States Navy during the war, also explaining the military trim of his blonde hair.

As his father walked into his room, Fred asked, "What's up, Dad?"

"There is something I was wondering if you could look into for me." Skip began as he stood at the doorway. "Something you could describe as...unorthodox."

"Unorthodox, how?" Fred raised an eyebrow.

"Before I go into the details of what I am asking you to look into for me, Fred, how familiar are you with the Alvin Garrett murder case?" Skip asked.

"Very familiar, Dad." Fred nodded. "It led to the exposure of a major jury-planting scandal in San Barbara, on top of revealing deep levels of corruption in the Crystal Cove courthouses, didn't it?"

In referring to the case, Skip was discussing the major scandal that rocked the San Barbara Criminal Justice Center, the county criminal courthouse in downtown Coolsville, two months prior, though it was most certainly not the first major scandal to shake Crystal Cove County to the core.

Ever since District Attorney Doug Roulsen was indicted by a federal grand jury in 1927 for accepting bribes from bootleggers during Prohibition, Crystal Cove County's criminal justice system just seems to have fallen into a pattern of being rocked by one scandal after another in the years that follow.

For starters, Crystal Cove County was not spared by the fallout from the scandal surrounding the use of employees of the Works Progress Administration by local Democratic Party politicians in the leadup to the 1938 congressional elections, which saw a few Crystal Cove prosecutors ensnared in the controversy.

The Crystal Cove County Sheriff's Department came under intense criticism for their handling of the Watson's Creek Riots in 1943, though it was more accurate to refer to their handling as inaction.

And when the sheriff's did pick up the slack and began to crackdown on rioters, subsequent trials were marred by allegations of evidence-tampering and witness intimidation, which continue to cast a dark cloud over the county's criminal justice system for the remainder of the 1940s and into the 1950s, especially when non-white defendants were disproportionately hit with harsh prison sentences.

Further fueling the fire was the county's relentless prosecutions of suspected Communist sympathizers in Crystal Cove in the height of the Red Scare during the 1950s, a fire that continued to burn intensively after it emerged that many of the prosecuted suspected Communists were never given due process or that their confessions were forced.

And then along came the bombshell allegations that dropped in the fallout from the murder of former assistant district attorney-turned defence attorney Alvin Garrett.

Garrett was found shot to death in the parking garage leading to his defence practice in the morning of August 2nd, and it was only when the initial murder case was wrapped up did the defence attorney who received Garrett's caseload, Leroy "Roy" Lestrade, who Skip had served with in the Navy during the war, disclosed to him what had unfolded.

Throughout the investigation into Garrett's murder, Lestrade learned that Garrett has been involved in bribing someone in the legal process that would plant a jury member who would help obtain an acquittal for his client Brad Chiles, an industrialist on trial for the murder of his wife and her Italian lover, regardless of the evidence.

Skip was the prosecuting attorney leading the state's case against Chiles, and in thanks to Lestrade's thorough questioning of the state's witnesses, it would appear that regardless of the planted juror's presence in the jury, Chiles would've been found not guilty regardless.

Then along came allegations that one of the jurors has stolen the identity of someone else being brought forward to the presiding judge, resulting the trial coming to a halt just as Skip was certain the state was about to go down in defeat.

It was later that Skip learned that the planted juror had attempted to jump Lestrade, only for the police and the feds, who were observing the lawyer, to jump in and take the planted juror into custody.

As it turns out, the feds have been looking into allegations of jury-tampering and the related corruption in Crystal Cove for quite some time, and Skip soon learned that Judge Roger Stevens was the brains behind the entire operation.

And of course, the senior judge's arrest and subsequent indictment by a federal grand jury for charges of conspiracy to commit fraud, murder and corruption was the first domino to fall for what's to come.

For starters, the planted juror, who was a conman, was planted in at least dozen other cases in nine different courthouses across Crystal Cove.

Two, among the cases impacted by the planted juror's sway in the jury was a fraud case against Dixon's Chemicals back in March.

Three, before getting appointed to the bench, Roger Stevens was a prosecutor and employed numerous investigators on his team. Among those investigators was Colin Spacely, who later joined Dixon's Chemicals as the company's chief security officer upon Stevens' appointment to the bench.

"Indeed it did." Skip nodded. "As you may have known, the corruption in the Crystal Cove courthouses went deeper. Chief among them being planting that juror in cases involving Dixon's Chemicals, thus shielding the company from convictions of fraud, embezzlement, war crimes and illicit transactions with a foreign entity with ties to our enemies, which could be upgraded to charges of treason."

"What was Spacely's role in the conspiracy?" Fred asked.

"Arranging security to help smuggle tonnes of Agent Orange chemicals in a shipment of aid meant for South Vietnam. They would set sail out of Los Angeles Harbor, then once outside our territorial waters, they will reach the drop point previously agreed, with their contacts then taking over the ships and set sail to the Viet Cong." Skip said.

"Which then provides the pretext for us to further deploy troops there and use whatever chemical weapons we have in our disposal to combat the chemical threats posed by the Viet Cong." Fred scoffed.

"Sums it up pretty much, the feds do have an idea on what their endgame was, but I won't be surprised one bit if it all comes down to your usual war profitteering." Skip nodded.

Fred exhaled as he frowned, then he asked, "So what happened to Spacely?"

"I was told that Spacely was supposed to be taken into protective custody, but the feds couldn't find him this morning." Skip said. "In fact, I was informed just now that there were wolf claws found at his house when the feds made the search."

Fred felt his insides were tightening, then he said, "It's the Werewolf."

"My suspicions exactly, son." Skip nodded. "Unfortunately, my team and I can't do the sleuthing, owing to a major trial taking place next Monday and we need to be prepared, given that we're gearing up against one of the best players in defence."

"Slammin' Sneakers, Dad?" Fred asked, referring to the defence attorney Samuel "Slammin'" Sneakers, who got his nickname from his ability to slam right at witnesses testifying against his clients and sow doubt in their credibility as a result.

Skip nodded, and Fred exhaled once more before he asked, "That's unfortunate, Dad. Who do you have in mind that can help out?"

Fred was seated at his usual spot in his second period chemistry class, his mind drifting off to the nearby window as Mr. McDabble discussed molecular weight.

Even though it has been several hours since his father Skip asked him to help out in getting to the bottom of the Werewolf nonsense, Fred still find himself unable to process what Skip asked him to do.

After all, his father didn't seem like the type who would endorse him sleuthing, considering Skip often noticing him reading mystery novels and cautions against playing detective.

But with word on how deep Chief of Police Lou Strickland is also involved in the corruption, Fred figured that his father couldn't simply sit back and leave the police to handle it, not when they have not been making due progress on the case to begin with.

Of course, there were the feds to take into account as well, though Skip himself had a rather checkered history with the bureau and would rather not push his contacts in the FBI to get them to take over the case and get to the bottom of it.

That's also on top of the feds largely keeping to themselves on any federal investigation they may have ongoing in relation to the major corruption case unearthed by Garrett's murder, so that leaves involving the feds in the case to be out of the question as well.

Couple that with Skip's ongoing campaign to run for District Attorney, and with him and his team stretched out already as it is, Fred figured that his father had no other option but to turn to him.

I suppose there's a method to Dad's madness here for this case. Fred thought to himself, during which he looked around and his eyes settled onto Velma Dinkley.

The 14-year old has always been at the top of the class, and couple that with her involvement in the school's science club, it doesn't take much for Fred to figure that she has a strong, unwavering belief in science.

With her helping him out on the case, he could have someone analyzing the clues located at the scenes of the latest werewolf attacks, not to mention debunking the werewolf legend with the same stone.

Besides Velma Dinkley, Fred has another person in mind who could be of great asset in getting to the bottom of the werewolf case was Daphne Blake.

The redhead had interviewed him a number of occasions, particularly during her time at the school newspaper.

Daphne herself has hinted to him of her interest in pursuing investigative journalism as a career, and Fred figured that she could be of great asset in piecing the clues together and help crack the case.

Of course, Fred figured that there are going to be some complications in his efforts to assemble his team. After all, Velma's likely sore at him for not stopping Red in forcing her to finish his essay that was due yesterday that past Friday.

As Fred continued to stare towards the window, Velma, who was seated within Fred's line of sight to the window, turned towards him suddenly.

Noticing Fred was looking towards her, the auburn-haired girl glared at him. What the h*ll are you looking at?

Immediately, Fred quickly turned away and back towards the blackboard, and Velma huffed as she turned back towards Mr. McDabble.

A short while later, it was lunch period and Fred decided to take care of the situation with Velma first thing.

The blonde found her seated at her usual spot in the cafeteria writing notes, and as he approached her, he noticed that her lunch was at the side and apparently haven't been touched.

"You not hungry?" Fred asked in greeting.

Velma paused from her note-taking and looked up, her eyes narrowing at the sight of Fred.

"Not really." She responded with a frown. "What can I do for you, Jones?"

Fred didn't respond for a minute, as he was busy taking a closer look at her glasses. I swear she could burn ants with those lenses on her glasses.

Just then, the blonde felt a sudden shot of pain from the back of his head, and he let out an involuntary yelp of pain briefly.

As Fred rubbed the back of his head, Velma had just sat back down, and it didn't take much for the blonde to figure out the source of the shot of pain at the back of his head.

He may have been trained to withstand the usual pain that comes with the slams or tackles in football, but that doesn't mean the lingering effects from a simple headslap remain painful.

"What the h*ll was that for?!" Fred asked.

"What do you think, Jones?" The frown on Velma's face deepened as she raised her voice. "Maybe if you have reminded Red Herring to get his English essay done sooner, he wouldn't need to go through the trouble of 'convincing' me to do his essay, not when that fits the definition of plagiarism!"

Seeing the confused look on Fred's face, Velma continued, "You do realize that if Red gets caught, you and I can get into trouble for knowing about his plagiarism and not doing a thing about it, huh?"

Fred only rubbed his head in response, and he studied the hardened look on Velma's face.

The blonde finally nodded with a sigh, then he conceded, "Well, I suppose I deserved that headslap, but what Red did last Friday not the reason I'm here."

"Then, what would you like to discuss?" Velma asked.

"Well...I need help on a project." Fred said.

"What kind of project?" Velma raised an eyebrow.

"It...involves capturing a...monster, to be exact." Fred explained hesitatingly.

"What?" The frown on Velma's face disappeared, replaced by the look of surprise, and Fred figured that she wasn't expecting him to make this sort of request to her.

"Yes." Fred nodded. "I know this sounds ridiculous, but given your strong foundation in the sciences, I am certain you're deeply skeptical on the legitimacy of those supernatural legends haunting the city, and I need someone smart enough who could prove exactly it."

It was then that Velma completely put down her pencil as she digested the information, then she looked up at him squarely.

"Are you talking about that wolf-like creature that has been snatching girls off the streets of Coolsville recently, Freddie?" She asked. "Because I hate to waste my time working on an activity that pretends such mystic creatures actually exist, so you can count me out."

She then resumed her note taking, only for Fred to reach out my hand to block her eyesight.

As she looked up at him in annoyance, Fred quickly said, "Well, I'm sure you'll like to take the chance of changing your own dull life, a chance investigating these werewolf sightings provides. And besides, if you decide to try to prove that there are no such thing as werewolves or to prove me wrong, then wouldn't you be sharing a common, attainable goal with me?"

Velma paused and her lips formed a straight line as she considers Fred's remark and studies him, during which Fred began to gently tap on the table.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, she reluctantly nodded.

"Fine." Velma said. "Though you know, once I help you out, I expect something from you in return, Jones."

Fred arched his eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

"Don't play dumb, Jones." Velma said. "I expect you to keep Red in line and stop him from causing trouble to others."

"Well, we're...not exactly friends." Fred scratched his head, though Velma rolled her eyes in response. "We do enjoy playing football together, but outside of that..."

"Now don't give me any excuses, Jones." Velma cut in sharply. "Even if you're not exactly friends with Red Herring, you can be judged by others based on the type of company you keep."

"I'm not sure if I follow." Fred said.

"I don't think you were following anyway." Velma said. "So I'm just gonna make this straight: Either you do something about Red Herring and his bullying ways or you can count me out of this 'project'."

Fred frowned, and then he said, "Well, I'm not a f**king snitch."

Velma grunted before she picked up her belongings, got up from her seat, then she said, "Then, don't expect any help from me for your project."

With that, Velma proceeded to walk away, during which Fred glanced around.

Through the glass panel viewing the hallway from the cafeteria, Fred can see Red and his pals taking lunch money from another helpless student, and the blonde sighed.

Red himself was no stranger to the school detention room, and Fred thought that it was quite hypocritical for Red to call Troy out for his deeds even though Red himself was nowhere better.

Even so, Fred thought that there was some logic in Red's madness. After all, Red never feared practice and has often contributed to the school securing game-winning touchdowns, whereas Troy frequently fumbled as quarterback.

But thinking back to what Velma had said earlier, Fred find himself unable to argue with her logic. She raised plenty of good points, and just because Red frequently contributes to the school's victory streak in football doesn't justify his bullying ways.

Reluctantly, Fred swiftly thought of something and quickly ran after Velma.

"Velma!" Fred called out.

The blonde watched as Velma stopped in her tracks, and for a few moments, he could tell that she was contemplating whether or not she should turn around and go back to him.

Finally, Velma reluctantly turned around and her eyes narrowed as she walked back to him.

"This better be good, Jones." Velma said.

Fred had his hands in his pockets as he met up with his friends at their lockers after lunch, and he was still thinking about what he just did.

Even though he wasn't facing the cafeteria, the blonde was aware that Velma was watching him.

He managed to convince her to help out with the case in return for letting her do something to get even with Red, though deep down, he felt that his gut was telling him that this idea is bound to backfire on them should things go wrong.

Anyways, a short while later, the blonde was on his way to his third period English class when he walked by Shaggy, which is when he realized that he had forgotten about something.

The guy may be quite the slacker with his drug problems, but based on what Fred had observed, Shaggy doesn't seem the type who would easily crack under pressure.

By that point, though, the hallway was crowded with students heading to their third period class, and Fred find himself having a hard time trying to make his way towards Shaggy, who was pretty much several feet ahead walking in the opposite direction of the flow.

It seemed like whenever Fred tried to push ahead against the flow, the further away Shaggy is from him.

How is it even possible? Fred thought to himself as he saw Shaggy's retreating back further ahead down the hallway. That slacker's going in the same direction as me, yet he doesn't seem to be pushed back by the crowd as much as I am.

Immediately, the blonde decided to call him out.

"Rogers!" He shouted.

Of course, Shaggy didn't respond and continued on down the hallway, likely a result of the crowd drowning out Fred's shouting.

Fred struggled in vain as he tried to catch up to Shaggy, where the crowd of students continued to pour through the hallway.

As he looked towards the other end of the hallway, Fred can see Shaggy's retreating back in a distance.

A crowd of students arriving from an intersecting hallway briefly blocked the blonde's line of sight towards Shaggy, and a split second after said crowd had cleared, much to Fred's astonishment, Shaggy was nowhere to be seen.

What the h*ll? Fred's eyes widened in surprise as he quickly pushed his way through the crowd.

He eventually managed to reach where Shaggy was standing at before he simply vanished into thin air, and the blonde scratched his head in confusion as he looked around.

There were no doors nearby, just rows of lockers, and Fred couldn't see the familiar-looking dusty brown shaggy hair in the students that were at their lockers.

The blonde frowned. Shaggy was taller than most students, even more so than the juniors and seniors, yet in spite of standing out like a sore thumb, he somehow managed to disappear behind the crowd of students.

You've gotta be f**king kidding me. Fred scratched his head, though a quick glance at the nearby clock swiftly reminded him that he will be running late for his third period class should he keep standing at where he is at.

That evening, Daphne was going through her usual routine of going out on a walk at the neighbourhood park after dinner.

Considering the news of the werewolf attacks lately, it was reasonable for the redhead to be on her guard.

The self-defence classes she has taken since as a child have been bearing a lot of fruit for the redhead, especially when it comes to growing up in a city like Coolsville.

Behind the wealthy, prosperous façade stood a city where a legacy in segregation and discrimination in urban policy planning has resulted in serious racial tensions and a divide between the rich and poor, the former further fueled by the segregationist policies of the county and the recent assassination of a civil rights leader.

It is natural that there will be resentment towards the wealthy from the disadvantaged, and so George Blake had thought it fit for Daphne to be enrolled in self-defence classes.

As the redhead strolled through the park, her instincts instantly placed her on high alert when she sensed someone nearby, which prompted her to reach into her purse.

Just as the redhead reached for the pepper spray she carried at all times for self-defence, a familiar-voice said, "Relax, Daph. It's me."

Daphne paused before she turned around, and she relaxed when she saw that it was Fred Jones standing behind her.

"Seriously, Fred, what the h*ll?" Daphne placed her hands by her hips as Fred stepped closer. "If it wasn't for your clarification earlier, you would've been on your way to the nearest washroom to have pepper spray washed off your eyes."

"Eh...sorry 'bout that, Daph." Fred scratched his head sheepishly. "It just feels a little...awkward going to you to speak after that...last interview you gave me."

"Don't remind me." Daphne deadpanned. "Unless you're asking me to do a clarification on what I've wrote on the paper from that interview, I'm afraid what I've written is already circulated out there and people are getting some good ideas about what exactly was going on behind the scenes during football practice."

Fred paused his lips before he said, "Well, to be honest, I probably should've clarified early on, though there's not much I can do about it now, especially since I'm sure no one's reading the clarification as much as those that read the original article, but that's not why I'm here."

"Okay, then." Daphne nodded thoughtfully. "What do you need?"

"Uh..." Fred's eyes glanced towards the nearby bench and he pointed towards it. "Can we sit over there for a minute?"

"Sure." Daphne replied, though inside, she was confused about what Fred was saying earlier.

In spite of the confusion, Daphne nevertheless followed the blonde to the nearby bench and they promptly took their seats.

"All right, Fred." Daphne said once they were seated. "Mind telling me what's going on?"

"Listen, you know my Dad's the assistant district attorney looking to unseat DA Knight in the upcoming election, right?" Fred asked.

"Of course." Daphne nodded. Everyone knows about Assistant DA Skip Jones' campaign for the DA's office.

"Anyways, he knows people at the police department who's been investigating this spree of disappearances lately, a spree that began a few weeks ago when a girl's body was discovered at Fred Quimby Memorial Park." Fred began. "You see, that girl went missing two days before that, and her parents found wolf claws in her room."

Daphne deadpanned as Fred continued, "Given that her body was covered with horrendous scars all over, ones that match that of animal attacks, the police initially figured that her death was the result of that."

"And?" The tone in Daphne's voice betrayed the boredom she was feeling.

"Earlier this morning, another girl got snatched off the street with wolf claws found at her room, and this is the part where it gets weird." Fred continued. "This time, unlike the past disappearances, there was a witness who saw the whole thing happening."

Fred paused to take a breath before he continued, "Anyways, Dad told me this morning that his source was annoyed that this was another situation where the witness was confused by what he had saw."

"Saw?" Daphne lit up.

"The witness swears up and down that he saw a man's shadow approaching the place near where the latest victim live, and other than the victim, the culprit and the witness, the cops have confirmed that there was no one else around." Fred said. "Yet when you take into account of the wolf claws found at the victims rooms and the horrendous bites on the first victim, it's as if the victims were snatched by someone who transformed into a wolf!"

"As in a werewolf?" Daphne asked skeptically.

"Exactly." Fred nodded. "Now, I know what the h*ll you're thinking. You're probably thinking that there's no such thing as werewolves, and you're probably right. The witness last saw a man near the victim before the victim got snatched away by a wolf, but then again, where the h*ll do you think those werewolf legends come from?"

"Maybe the witness was confused and missed something." Daphne offered.

"Maybe he did, and maybe he didn't." Fred shrugged. "But either way, with everything that has been happening lately and the killer of the girl still on the loose weeks later, you really can't dismiss this angle of the investigation now, can you?"

Daphne exhaled as she studied the look on Fred's face, then she sighed.

"Okay, for the sake of argument, let's say that there was indeed a werewolf involved in this, Fred." Daphne said. "What is it that you will like me to do?"

"I was hoping you'd be interested in helping me getting to the bottom of these werewolf sightings." Fred responded.

Daphne almost immediately felt that the remarked sucked the air out of the surrounding area, and her eyes frowned.

"Werewolf?" Daphne asked after digesting Fred's words.

"Yeah...perhaps?" Fred replied hesitatingly.

"What you were suggesting is that you and I can get to the bottom of these werewolf sightings, am I right?" Daphne clarified.

"More or less, I know there's something going on there and that there's something the cops ain't telling us." Fred said. "Which then opens the door for an opportunity to make a difference."

Then, with his confidence warming up inside him, the blonde continued, "Imagine if what we've discovered changes the world as we know it!"

"I-I'm sorry, Fred, what exactly is it that you would like me to do?" Daphne asked.

"You'll be the journalist, or more to the point, the messenger delivering the truth of this case to the people while I do the investigating." Fred answered. "Besides, I'm sure you've got sources at your paper that could help us out, don't you?"

"Perhaps, I do." Daphne replied. "Though what you're suggesting is crazy, Fred."

"Maybe, but do you honestly think that this case will ever get resolved at its current pace?" Fred countered. "I mean, think about it! The cops aren't exactly doing well in getting to the bottom of this case, my Dad's investigators are occupied with their current trial, and do you really think that we would wanna involve the feds in this?"

Daphne paused her lips as she pondered Fred's points, then she asked, "Sure, though even then, what makes you think I should help you, Fred?"

"Come on, you're an intern at the city's largest newspaper, and I'm sure you've been assigned to write stories that has already been written or published." Fred pointed out. "H*ll, I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't even gotten to doing a solo assignment and calling dibs on the scoop of a major story."

Fred's words immediately reminded Daphne of her interview at the radio station the day before, specifically her encounter with a certain slacker.

"Not to mention that you're a Blake, and everyone in town knows that Blakes are high achievers." Fred continued. "Investigating this werewolf case is a whole different ballgame compared to rewriting s**ty articles on the paper. It's investigative journalism."

Daphne only studied the look on Fred's face as he made the remark, and she really hated it when he makes a crazy idea sounds like it makes completely sense.

Even so, she find herself unable to argue with the points Fred made, and seeing the ambition to change the world inside him, Daphne knew that there's something he's got in mind that could probably just work.

"In that case, you can count me in." Daphne finally said after some moments of silence.

To all of my readers out there, Happy New Year!

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