A/N: I still don't own Scooby Doo, but I wish I did (sigh).

Chapter 9:

Velma entered the theatre as quietly as she could trying not to scare whoever was in there with her. She looked around and listened for the tiniest sound that might be able to tell her where the mystery person had gone. It was quiet at first, then she heard a clanging from backstage. She walked briskly down the aisle, trying not to make a sound. But when she got there, the person had disappeared.

"Shoot, lost him," she muttered to herself.

Just then she heard footsteps coming from above- the catwalk! She climbed up the ladder as fast as she could, now even more determined to find the escapee. Why were they trying to run away? Could they have something to do with Matt's death?

When she reached the top- nothing. That's strange she thought, I know I heard something up here. Hmmm…there has to be someplace for him to hide. The catwalk consisted of two aisles: one to the left, one to the right both connected in the middle. The aisle to the left, closest to the stage, was used for lighting; probably what Matt had been working on right before his fatality. The walkway to the right was an empty space between it, used to drop balloons or confetti on the audience after a play or something. She walked around slowly, looking for any niches where they could be hiding. As she made her way to the far end of the left walkway and she kneeled down to see if they could be hiding underneath- still nothing.

"Way to go Velma, you're finally losing it," she muttered as she pushed herself up. Suddenly, the walkway shifted beneath her, and tipped back. She lost her balance and fell.

"Ahhhh!" She felt a strange force, pushing her up just enough to grab the edge of the catwalk in the knick of time. She couldn't get a good enough grip to pull herself up. She reached for the railing with her free hand, stretching out as far as she could, but still couldn't reach. She felt the same fear and helplessness Matt must have felt the moment before he died. Her hand was getting sweaty and began shaking from grabbing onto the thin, metal edge, she could already feel it slipping. She closed her eyes and prepared for impact. Her hand slipped, she winced, stiffening. Suddenly she felt herself being pulled back up. She looked up to see Shaggy pulling her to safety, sweet relief rushing over her.

They stood with the rest of the gang safely away from the loose panel. "Relma!" Scooby was so thrilled to see she was all right, he jumped in her arms, licking her face.

"It's ok, Scooby, I'm fine," she giggled, setting him down. "Thanks Shaggy, one more second and I'd be spattered."

"No problem. You ok? Like, what happened?"

"I'm fine. In fact, I think I just discovered something that will blow the lid off this case. Look!" as pointed to a hole the size of a nickel in one of the beams. "There's a bolt missing. And judging by the wear on the hole, it looks like its been out for a while. And after being walked on a number of times, it finally shifted out of place."

"Okay…" Freddie commented, wondering where she was going with this.

"Well, schools have to have a maintenance check once a month to make sure everything is working properly and they aren't violating any safety regulations. I wonder how long it's been since Mr. Anderson did one of those. Especially since he's been saving so much money for his swim team's new pool." Velma mused, giving a thoughtful smile.

"I say we find out! C'mon, gang!" Fred declared.

Just before leaving, Velma shot a glance to the area where she fell, wondering what had kept her up long enough for her to grab the rim. She observed one of the air vents above. Hmmm…probably just weird breeze. These theatres can be awfully drafty.

* * * * * * *

"Mr. Anderson, we'd like to talk to you," Fred requested as the entered the principal's office. The aged man was grabbing his coat and briefcase, preparing to leave.

"Yes, excellent work. You kids did a stupendous job, but it's getting late and I have dinner plans, so if you like a reward let's meet in the morning and I'm sure we can work something out."

"That's not what we're talking about," Velma replied. "We're talking about you neglecting your maintenance checks of the school."

"Why…I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh really. Then I'm sure you won't mind if we check your records to confirm that," Velma smirked, reaching into the filing cabinet.

"Wait! That's classified information! You can't just-"

"'Last school building/school property maintenance check: December 12th', five months ago," Velma read, closing the folder. "Care to explain why you haven't done a safety check in five months?"

"That is none of your business young lady," he said, snatching the file from her.

"You're right, it isn't. Maybe I should just call the police and they can take it from here."

Mr. Anderson hung his head in shame, "I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have been putting the students' safety at risk. I figures it wouldn't matter that much. I desperately wanted to get that pool for those swimmers. They're great kids who've been wanting one for a long time, but the school never took any initiative. I remember being on a swim team when I was their age. You see, I grew up in a town even smaller than this. Our team had to drive 20 miles to the next town to practice before and after school. But did our school care?! No! they only care about the football team or the big school play, even though we worked just as hard- harder than they did, but did we ever get any credit- NO! I didn't want these kids to feel like that, to feel less important than the other teams. They work hard, they deserve just as much recognition as everyone else," he ranted.

"Well. That little 'budget cut' did more damage than just bruising some kids egos. It killed Matt Palmer."

Mr. Anderson looked like he was about to collapse "What?! No! Ella pushed him off."

"That's what we thought too, at first. But it didn't make sense that someone with her strength could push a fully grown man over so easily. The difference in their strength alone was making me wonder. Then when I inspected the area where Matt fell and discovered there was a bolt missing from the panel holding the catwalk steady. Without it, that area of the catwalk is very unsteady. We believe that was the cause of Matt's death. I'm sorry but we're going to call the police on this one." Velma finished.

Mr. Anderson simply nodded, so overwhelmed by the revelation, he almost missed his chair as he sat down. Staring off, he tried to grasp everything that had just been explained to him. Anderson wasn't a bad person, he hadn't meant for something like this to happen. Was he really responsible for the death of one of his own students?

A/N: Wow, talk about a plot twist. So what's going to happen to Mr. A? And who was the mystery person Velma was chasing? All will be revealed in the final chapter of Murder in Coolsville.