Curse of the One-eyed Phantom
Chapter Four: Beware the Trials
Fred's parents were sobbing in the living room of Blake manor, Mrs. Jones clutching the only surviving photo-album from the fire in a vice-like grip as Mr. Jones holds her close, thankful to have been out shopping that Sunday instead of home relaxing. In the background, Daphne's mother and father are speaking to police on what's happened at the Jones' home. Upstairs, Colby, Pia, and Jaz are replaying the tape, Colby copying every word she hears.
"Like, what're you doing?" Shaggy asked as he sat down on the bed next to her.
"Checking for a cryptographic code in the message." She says calmly as she presses stop on the recorder. Next to her, Pia is sketching in a notebook with her laptop open in front of her on a stilled image from a video feed.
"A crypto-what?" Shaggy asked in confusion as he looked down at Colby's notes.
"A cryptographic code." Jaz tells him as she sits cross-legged on the bed. What looks to be a glass beaker sits in front of her with several strips of paper only barely touching the water that fills it. He sniffs the air, it smells strongly of gasoline. "She's checking for a pattern in the words; you know, in case there's a clue in the words. Uncle Stan practically trained her to death in it after she told him she liked solving codes."
"Right," Shaggy says in an understanding voice, "I have no idea what she's doing, so like, what're you doing?" He says, pointing to her beaker.
"One of these strips," She says, pointing to the one nearest her, "Has gasoline from the crime scene at headquarters on it, while all the others contain gasoline from every gas station in Coolsville. When the gasoline travels up the strip as the water pushes it, it'll turn a certain color to match that of the first strip if it's the same type of gasoline."
"Right," Shaggy draws out the word and turns to Pia, "Please tell me you're just drawing a picture?" They all laugh and Pia shows him her sketchpad. On it is a robbed figure, one half of the face is blurred out from the fast movement of the perpetrator, unfortunately, and the other is covered by what appears to either be long hair or part of the cloak.
"It helps if I draw it." Pia explains as she continues to add detail. Shaggy nods. If there was thing he knew at all times, it was never question his cousins ways. They may all be completely mad in their own special ways, but they were smart and he had no doubt that if they wanted, they could be a part of their own Mystery Inc.
A knock sounds on the door and the door opens slightly. It's Velma. She steps in and another girl follows suit. They look a lot alike, the only real difference being in the hair and glasses style. The other girl had pony-tails in her hair and wore white glasses rather than black. "Hi." She says cheerily, waving slightly.
"I just came to see where you guys were," Velma says, "Dinner starts soon. This is my sister Madelyn. Madds, you know Shaggy, well these are his younger cousins. Pia, Jasmine, and Colby." Madelyn smiles and quickly excuses herself on errands.
"She seemed in a hurry." Colby says after Madelyn has gone. Velma nods.
"Well, she's a bit lost at the moment, she can't decide what to do with her life." She sits on the bed with the rest of them, looking at all they're doing. "Did you find anything in the message?" Colby shakes her head no as another knock comes from the door. Daphne walks in and sits on the edge of the bed.
"Any luck?" Everyone shakes their heads. Daphne sighs, "Fred's taking the burning pretty hard you know. His whole life was in that house. Alumni Degree, College Degree, birth certificate, memories, you name it, it was in his parents house." Colby looks up from her notes.
"Everything?" Daphne nods. "Ok, this may be a bit far-fetched here, but I think I have myself a theory." They all look at her expectantly as she begins tearing through her notebook for a clean page. When she finds one, she immediately begins scribbling notes and diagrams.
"This may take a while before she speaks again, I suggest coming back later?" Pia says, setting aside her now complete sketch. They all nod and excuse themselves.
Part 2:
It's five in the morning, and the three girls are still awake, contemplating their now shared theory. They are on the roof, having found a ladder leading up to it. The air is cool and crisp, perfect Lake Erie autumn breezes flowing in. It all felt familiar to them in a reminiscent sense. They'd been coming to Coolsville ever since they were little. They always blamed coming for Thanksgiving for the fond memories of the breezes and the crinkly leaves that blew their way all the way across the lake from as far as Fort Niagara and beyond, but something always loomed over them. A feeling that they'd been here for far longer than a few weeks at a time. They shake off the feeling and focus on the now ready strips of paper. They each take strips and compare them to the first.
"Hmmm," Jaz says after a while, "No match..."
"It must have been imported." Pia says, writing that down in the notebook.
"No, I don't think so." Colby says. "The only way would have to be across the lake or through the canal. Both of which are fairly far-fetched ideas at that considering they have gasoline right here in the local stations." As she says this, something is thrown onto the roof. A tape-recorder with a message on it. Delicately, Pia presses play.
'Listen well, brats. You're opening doors you're going to wish you'd never even laid eyes on, so I suggest you high-tail it straight back to your dirndl-wearing, beer-drinking country and leave Coolsville forever. This is between me, and them; got it? Now, if you're a good bunch of brats, I'll make sure your cousin, Norville, makes it out unscathed. Don't pretend I don't know all about your petty broken family, I know for sure you'd never risk what you have left. If you stay, well, I'd have to say let our games begin.' The voice dies off and they look at each other knowingly. If their theory is wrong, and they blow it, they're all going to die. They only have one trial; no error.