Dark Entries

Chapter 2 - Mystery Inc.

Darrow University Campus, Crystal Cove, January 5, 2023.

7:00 am

Velma woke up before the alarm clock. In a few minutes, she dressed and prepared her breakfast, because she knew that only the smell of food would convince Shaggy to wake up on such a cold morning. However, this time, only Scooby-Doo got up and had breakfast with her. Apparently, her sleepy boyfriend had no intention of waking up before noon. Before leaving home, she received a message from Fred, arranging a place and time for lunch, so she left a message for Norville and set his alarm for 11:30 am.

On her way to college, she read the post about Molly Becker case on True Crime Forum. Indeed, cherryred had revealed an impressive information that built an interesting theory about the crime... but, still, it was only a theory. And Velma hated the fact that silly theories were taking the well deserved place that judges, prosecutors, lawyers and law students occupied in solving crimes. So, she thought she should show cherryred her feelings about it.

"I would really appreciate seeing evidences that Roy really said that, cherryred. Or, at least, seeing a minimally logical reason to make the maniac of Redding have contact with a small town's math teacher. Keener's victims were all adults, and police never found a pattern that links all them. What a 13-year-old victim has to do with it? Anyway, we all know that Roy Keener passed away a few days ago and left no concrete proof... so, obviously, you have nothing to sustain your theory. I mean, nothing but your fragile ego.", were the words that expressed a little bit of Velma's anger, as politely as possible. However, she did not have a True Crime Forum account to post that. Velma Dinkley would never waste her time on something so amateurish. But Mystery Inc. had one. So, without worrying about the opinion of the other two members of the team (nor about the future reputation the famous group of urban explorers would have in that forum after such harsh words),Velma logged in Mystery Inc.'s account and posted her objection without mercy. At the same moment, the college bell rang, showing that her first law school class was about to start.

Blake Manor, Crystal Cove, January 5, 2023.

7:50 am

Daphne impatiently filed her nails while Jenkins served her tea and Cosette set a small breakfast table in her room. Obviously, her anxiety wasn't caused by hunger, she was just eager to access True Crime Forum. So, when the butler closed the door, she quickly picked up her MacBook and checked the new replies to her last two posts.

Unfortunately, the messages only increased Daphne's anxiety. With more than a thousand replies, the thread about the moon pendant mystery had gone way too far. Users had identified the naval officer who lived near the place where the crime happened: Joel Marlow , 88 years old, living in Pacific Heights. To make matters worse, cherryred 's post had gone viral in Australia, and Elandra Mahon herself had joined the discussion. Daphne's heart skipped a beat when she saw the old photos that Elandra had posted, because Allyra 's pendant was identical to Jane Doe 's pendant. "I'm sure this girl is Allyra. I doubt anyone else in this world has a pendant like this. I'll be in San Francisco on Friday, and I'll ask local police to help me with this 40-year-old mystery. Pray for me!" , Elandra's last post said. Soon after, users posted photos of Jane Doe 's grave, filled with flowers and signs saying "Justice for Allyra Mahon ". Daphne felt a chill run down her spine. She was so nervous that she felt like deleting the post and throwing her computer into the nearest river. "Calm down, Daph, you've already done this more than sixty times, everything will be fine, no one will find out that you leaked the photo of the pendant...", she reassured herself, while breathing calmly to control the fear. "And after all, you are doing good deeds for a victim and her family. There is nothing to fear, you are right!", she said to herself, while typing messages of encouragement to Elandra Mahon.