Some time had passed as Shaggy continued driving as Lute sat there with him and Scooby the talking dog; she was still taking in this detail and the fact that Shaggy didn't seem to find anything out of the ordinary about the fact. Lute couldn't help but stare at Scooby wondering how exactly did he talk; was he an angel or a demon in hiding but doing a bad job at it considering he was talking.
She could imagine demons being bad at disguising themselves up on Earth; she knew about some of the Hellborn royalty and even Lucifer himself being summoned for ritual sacrifices but nothing can really come from it. Heaven wouldn't stand for it if it did and she shook her head at the foolish idiotic mortals willing to damn themselves under the assumption that they will be rewarded for it.
A sign came up saying that the nearest town was up ahead; "looks like we are almost there finally..." Shaggy to his and Scooby's delight and Lute thought that maybe she can find work there to do now. "Wait... What's this... Zoinks!" Shaggy shouted out afraid looking at something in the in the car window that made Scooby and Lute jump. Something came up and seemed to knocking into the side of the van as it made Shaggy and Scooby fall out of the seats.
Lute quickly grabbed the wheel and saw that there seemed to be a carriage and mounted on a horse what seemed to be a cowboy with a glowing dark green skull head cackling loudly with eery music. "What... The... What is going on..." Lute wondered confused as she started steering but soon found herself at a problem.
She had no experience whatsoever driving a vehicle.
Sure she played some steering car games at arcades they had in Heaven but there were no actual vehicles in Heaven; why would there be when everyone had wings and could just fly to wherever they want?
So Lute struggled to properly steer and control the van as it swerved across the road and banged into the carriage which seemed to take the rider on the horse aback as well. Shaggy and Scooby were groaning and Lute took her hand off to help them out and got Shaggy to hold onto the wheel.
"You take care of driving Shaggy while I take care of this idiot on the road..." Lute then said as Shaggy and Scooby shared a look.
"Take care? What do you mean Lute... LUTE!" Shaggy screamed as Lute then opened up the door and launched herself at the rider and got him off the horse which seemed to crash at the welcome sign. Upon tackling the rider; Lute punched at his face with him unable to do really retaliate and she heard circuits malfunctioning which made her pause confused as she got up.
"In our my years chasing monsters; I have never seen anyone just fling themselves at the monsters themselves!" Shaggy muttered in awe as he came out of the van with Scooby after stopping.
"Rou raid it Rhaggy..." Scooby said in equal awe as Lute smirked at them.
"You both haven't seen anything yet..." Lute said but stopped as she realised Shaggy's words as some police cars came. "Wait... Did you say years chasing monsters?" Lute asked wide eyed in disbelief as the sheriff came and got the rider.
"...I don't believe it... Mr Borkman the hotel owner!" the sheriff muttered in shock taking off the broken skull face to reveal it was a mask and underneath was an angry balding man with a moustache.
"And this is the mechanic Boris..." said an officer taking out a tall man from the wreckage of the carriage as Lute just stared.
"So it was a guy in a mask?" Lute asked bewildered as Shaggy laughed with Scooby.
"Scoob and I have been dealing with people like this with our friends ever since we were kids; people pretending to be ghosts or monsters as part of some criminal scheme... But this is the quickest mystery we have solved and we don't even like know the mystery, the suspect, the who or the why? We haven't had like any clues..." Shaggy then explained and then put on a perplexed face.
"The tourism in this small little town had been drying up and I had been losing money; so Boris made this suit and the fake horse robotics with the sound equipment in the carriage so we can total the rides of passerbys and make them have to stay. Business for my hotel and Boris' mechanic business. Pretending to be the ghost of the bandit Cold Jack McCoy." explained Mr Borkman with a glare.
"40 years in special effects before it shut down and no one was hiring; had to settle for this stupid job but my experience allowed me to build all the electronics for this scheme!" Boris then explained as he and Mr Borkman was handcuffed.
"We would have gotten away with it too if you 2 and your dog hadn't been heading into town and you didn't try and tackle a ghost rider." Mr Borkman said as Lute scoffed at him.
"I have dealt with things much scarier than you..." Lute said dismissively as Shaggy and Scooby were in awe and the sheriff came to them.
"Thank you all for this as we have been trying to catch this ghost for 2 months now... YYou know in gratitude; I can have you treated to the local diner... Was in my wife's family and I technically own it until our eldest come to age... How about I treat you...?" the sheriff asked as that definitely lightened up Shaggy and Scooby's eyes and Lute thought why not.
The food at the diner was quite good for a small town in the middle of pretty much nowhere and she looked at Shaggy and Scooby chowing down plates filled off food; much more than she ever thought any mortal could possible eat. Restaurants in Heaven were actually literally all you could eat and she bet that even they would struggle to keep up with them both.
She found it quite amusing and couldn't help but giggle behind her her hand and then a rock song came over the radio playing in the diner.
She started started headbanging to it and Shaggy and Scooby looked at her in awe. "So... You say you have been solving mysteries where it turns out to be elaborate hoaxes perpetrated by con artists and crooks? How do you find all that?" Lute asked perplexed as they scoffed.
"Re ron't." Scooby said simply as Shaggy nodded.
"He said it; we never actually want to go looking for trouble but it always seems to find us. We always want to make a break for it when we realise there is a ghoulish mystery afoot but the gang never lets us." Shaggy then explained and sighed. "But you know what... A part of me actually kind of misses the life... We split up some time ago and... I guess after you have been running from monsters for so long... You get used to it and become attached to the life..." Shaggy admitted and Scooby frowned but ended up nodding.
"So what are you saying? You want to try this business again; find these mysteries and see if they can pay us or at least gives us food and shelter or reward?" Lute asked thinking that it could be something to do on Earth as she tries to find what is she supposed to do now.
No Extermination and no need for Exorcists and thus this thing could be fun.
"Would you really be up for it? This life could be like scary..." Shaggy asked with Scooby nodding and while Lute scoffed; she was ready to just laugh out loud at this.
"Are you kidding... What I have seen... It will take a lot to scare me..." Lute said confidently as they were just speechless; how could they know that she had slaughtered literal demons in literal Hell for a long time?
"I think that we have lucked out here in finding someone actually wanting to do this life?" Shaggy said and Scooby nodded and then the agreement was made. A new Mystery Inc was born.
