A/N: Sorry it took so long to update. I wanted plot out my story a little more so I could have a better of idea of how I want it to go. I also changed the last part of chapter 2. Scooby overhears Mr. Anderson on the phone instead of the whole gang. This is to give Scooby a little more lime light. The good new is I'm almost done with Chapter 4 and it should be up in a few days. Thank you to the wonderful reviewers, I really appreciate it. I do not own Scooby Doo, but if I did that would be so cool.
Chapter 3:
"Sho dah rou guysh fink Mr. Randerson dif it?" Shaggy asked with a mouthful of food. They were at their favorite restaurant in town, Manny's All-You-Can- Eat buffet as Scooby reenacted the conversation between Mr. Anderson and the mystery man on the other end of the phone.
"Jeepers!" Daphne exclaimed. "Mr. Anderson seemed like such a nice guy."
"I'm not so sure. Killing someone just to have more money for the school seems a little over the top," Velma disagreed.
"Well, maybe there's more to it than that," Daphne reasoned.
"Hey, let's not make any accusations until we have hard evidence," Frank reminded them. "People don't call on us to solve cases because we point fingers at the first shady person we see. We need to make sure we've talked to everyone involved, investigated every lead, and have hard evidence before putting someone's future on the line."
Velma nodded, "Precisely. Remember how many cases were committed by people close to the victim."
"I guess you're right, I just can't shake off this bad feeling about him." Daphne moaned.
"I think we all just need some sleep," Fred concluded.
"Right after dessert," Shaggy added, getting in line for dessert with Scooby close behind.
The rest of them groaned. "We'll be here all night," Velma sighed.
Shaggy and Scooby merely chuckled.
* * * * * * *
After Shaggy and Scooby finished their twelfth course, the gang drove back to the garage apartment of the Blake Mansion where they usually stayed when they returned home. Fred threw the keys to the Mystery Machine on the counter of their miniature kitchen.
"Well, I'd say today went well," the rest of the gang nodded in agreement.
"Like, boy am I beat," Shaggy yawned.
"Re roo," Scooby added.
"Don't you think it's odd that Mr. Anderson was so insistent we take on this case? Maybe to throw suspicion off himself?"
"Man, are you still thinking about that? You need to learn to be more laid back. Sometimes breakthroughs come when you least suspect them." Shaggy advised.
"Yeah. I suppose you're right. It's just when I'm on a case I can't stop thinking about it till it's solved." she said with a grin.
"Yeah. Like, I've noticed." Shaggy remarked which made Velma blush slightly.
The gang headed to their respective rooms for some well deserved sleep, except Velma who lay awake trying to put the pieces of the puzzles together. She spent many nights like this- tossing and turning, trying to make sense of things. She just couldn't rest when there was a mystery to solve; another one of her qualities that made her a great sleuth. The last image in her head before drifting off to sleep was the smiling face of Matt Palmer.
* * * * * * *
Daphne couldn't wait to get to the anatomy room so she could question her suspect, she hated everyone talking about theirs when she had no clue what hers was like.
Questioning suspects had always been her favorite part of a mystery.
As soon as she entered the room, she wanted to run back out again because the scent of formaldehyde was so thick, she thought she'd lose the egg white omelet she had for breakfast. C'mon Daph, you can do this! she thought to herself taking on more deep breathe before entering the room.
She immediately recognized Ella from her picture. She was sitting at an empty lab table towards the back, reading her anatomy book with great intensity. Her wavy, strawberry blonde hair came just past her shoulders and she would occasionally tuck a strand behind her ear. But what immediately caught Daphne's attention was her cute outfit- a brown halter top and embroidered jeans. They were assigned to be lab partners in anatomy which gave Daphne the perfect opportunity to question her.
"Hi, I'm Vanessa Clarke," she introduced herself with her charming smile. She was also sure to use an alias so she wouldn't be recognized.
The girl looked up from her book and gave Daphne and equally appealing smile "Ella, Ella Bookman," she said shaking her hand. "Nice to meet you. Welcome to our school," she said enthusiastically, her hazel eyed shinning.
"Thanks, everyone here is so friendly. I feel very welcomed. So I guess we're lab partners today."
"Guess so," she said cheerfully.
The teacher gave the class a brief lecture on what he wanted them to do and read the lab safety instructions, even though all the would be doing is looking at various cells under a microscope and determine which phase of mitosis they were in. Pretty simple.
Ella couldn't wait to get started. She was the first one to grab a microscope and slides and got to work. She was completely focused on observing the slides only looking up occasionally to scribble down the answers. She was almost as take charge as Velma in the lab!
Both were quiet for a while. Daphne's mind was racing, trying to find something to talk about that would hopefully get her to the subjects surrounding Matt but Ella was so focused Daphne could say, "I'm not wearing any underwear," and she still wouldn't look up.
Instead, it was Ella who broke the silence, "Done!" she chirped. "Sorry, I didn't let you look, but I can be kind of a control freak when it comes to science I just get so into it. Here, you can just copy my answers," as she handed the paper to Daphne.
"Uhhhh…thanks, but I can do it myself." Daphne replied.
"Suit yourself." Ella shrugged. "So how do you like our school so far?"
"I love it! It's a lot different than my school back home. I only wish my boyfriend were here. I miss him soooo much!" Daphne swooned.
At that Ella's face changed from a perky grin to a melancholy frown. She was silent for a moment, then muttered, "Well, at least you have a boyfriend," and turned her attention back to her book.
"Why? Did your boyfriend break up with you or something?" Daphne asked innocently.
"I don't want to talk about it," she mumbled.
"But talking might help you feel be-"
"It's none of your business!" she yelled.
The class stop looking at their labs, staring at them and whispering amongst themselves.
"Ladies, please, keep it down," teacher told them.
And with that, neither of them spoke a word for the rest of the period.
* * * * * * *
Luckily, Shaggy and Velma were having better luck Matt's last period of the day- Tech Theatre. It was held at the theatre across the street where the school performed their plays and concerts…it is also where Matt died.
It was a good size for only a high school. It sat about 3,000 people with a 60 foot stage in the center. The walls were burgundy accented with a light blue which matched the seat cushions.
"No, Gavin. The fence goes to the right of the farm house," a round, dark haired man with a pencil in his ear directed the skinny, blonde kid Velma recognized from art. He, along with five others, were setting up the set on stage.
"Hi, we're the new students," Velma said motioning to Shaggy and herself.
He peered his clipboard, "Ah yes, well I think I'm going to put you over there," pointing at a table with a huge easel on it, "painting the Emerald City background, okay? Good," he said not waiting for an answer and went to attend business elsewhere.
"Yeah, it's nice to meet you too. I'm Shaggy, this is Velma. We're here
undercover investigating a murder," he said to the now empty space in front of him.
"C'mon, goofball," she grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the stage.
They each grabbed a paint brush as Velma's first period friend walked towards them.
"I see you've met the charming Mr. Feldman." the kid Mr. Feldman called Gavin joked.
"Yeah. He seemed a little…"
"Rude, surly, intimidating. Don't take it personally he's like that with everyone.
Especially whenever there's a major production coming up like the spring play next week. He's wound so tight his balls might drop off any day."
"Why's that?" Velma casually asked, hiding a discrete smile.
"He's just obsessed with having thing perfect. He's always throwing a fit about one thing or another."
This immediately caught Velma's attention. "Like tantrums?"
"Something like that. You know. Yelling at kids, throwing stuff around the stage, that kinda thing." the blonde boy explained with a shrug.
Now Velma was really interested. If this guy was throwing fits all the time, how much anger would cause him to harm a student?
"Has it ever gotten….violent?" Velma asked clearing her throat.
Gavin looked slightly taken aback. "Not that I've ever seen. Sure he's gotten in kids faces before, but I don't think he's ever hit anyone. If he's did he'd be out of a job before you could say "second act" and this is like his dream job. He loves managing plays and concerts, plus he's a total techie. I don't think he'd do something to jeopardize all that."
Well what about when people aren't around? Velma wondered pensively. It sounds like Matt had worked closely with the tech supervisor on all the out of class work on the art events.
"Well, how close is he with his stu-"
Velma's question was interrupted by a soft crash followed by a snap, they all turned to see a student lying on the floor, being verbally bashed by Mr. Feldman.
"What the hell happened?" the heavy set man demanded.
"Well…I was taking this tuba back to the prop room like you asked me to sir, but I was kinda heavy and I accidentally tripped on that saw horse over there…and well...fell…"
"Do you realize what you have done?! You've broken Glinda's staff! It was from a specialty costume store way out in L.A. I had to order it a month ahead of time. There's no way we can get a new one by next week! That was one of the single most important set pieces we had and you broke it!"
He went on shouting and using several vulgarities- Velma thought she'd have a heart attack and Shaggy was shaking like a leaf. The boy was in even worse shape, all the color was drained from his face and his eyes were filled with fear. Real fear. If nothing else, Mr. Feldman had a seriously bad temper. And sometimes bad tempers can get out of control.
