BY MIDDAY THE NEXT day, the news was all over town. The rumors that had run rampant for days—about how the Vanished were sending messages, or maybe even returning to claim the land that had been stolen from them; about how the Lady Vampire of the Bay was back, terrorizing the people of Crystal Cove—morphed into something even more sinister: Crystal Cove was under attack from dark forces.

And the Howler’s latest headline definitely wasn’t helping tamp down the climate of fear that had overtaken the town.

I dropped my phone, disgusted, faceup on the table in front of Daphne. She didn’t even glance at it; she already knew what it said.

She sighed and pushed away her lunch. “I know. It’s not great.”

“ ‘The Curse of Crystal Cove Continues as Town’s Most Important Artifact Vanishes’?” I said, fuming. “Is Milford trying to give people heart attacks?”

“I’m just an intern,” she reminded me. I dropped into the seat next to her and pulled out my bagged lunch. She eyed my sad little sandwich before pushing her own tray over. “Sushi?”

“I don’t want sushi; I want answers.”

“We’ll get them,” Daphne assured me. Her brow crinkled. “I think.”

“We need a new plan.” I took a deep breath. “And … maybe we should tell Shaggy’s mom about the ruby we found in the Haunted Village.”

Daphne shook her head. “Let’s keep that to ourselves a while longer. The police are investigating the theft of the Crystal Cove Crystal,” she said. “Shaggy told me they’re reviewing video logs from the Rogerses’ security cameras right now.”

“He also told us those videos auto-delete after forty-eight hours,” I reminded her. We went back and forth for a few minutes, trading barbs about how—or whether—the police would investigate, and whether it would prove worthwhile. The way I saw it, the police hadn’t bothered to do even a cursory investigation into the jewels, and they probably didn’t see the connection between them and the Crystal.

But I did.

“Hey.” Shaggy appeared, sliding over an empty chair and collapsing into it. His tall, lanky body made a C-shape as he slumped over and rested his head on the lunch table. Daphne and I exchanged worried glances.

“You okay?” Daphne asked him.

He moaned in response.

She pushed her plate over to him. “Sushi?”

“Nobody wants your day-old sushi, Daph,” I snapped.

An incredulous expression crossed her face. “Do you honestly think I would eat day-old sushi? That’s harsh, V.”

“My dad is going to murder me,” Shaggy said, lifting his head and reaching for Daphne’s plate. “I may as well die from food poisoning first.”

“What’s the latest?” I was eager to hear some truth straight from the source. No one at school could be trusted, and of course, neither could the Howler.

Shaggy filled us in. His mom’s police squad was investigating, and the Rogerses were fully cooperating; nothing else appeared to be missing from their house—not even their expensive jewelry or electronic equipment; not even the big wad of cash they kept in an empty coffee canister on the kitchen counter for emergencies. So far, there was no sign of a physical break-in, but the cops were still looking for evidence. As far as Shaggy knew, there were no official leads. Shaggy hadn’t talked to his dad, but his mom had—Mr. Rogers was on his way home from his latest trip and, so far, he’d ignored every one of Shaggy’s apologetic text messages.

“You know it’s not your fault, right?” Daphne peered into his face.

“I know. And, like, I’m sure my dad knows, too. But I was the only one home. And, like, my dad and me …” Shaggy’s voice trailed off.

Few people understood weird family dynamics as well as I did. If someone were to ask me what was up with my dad, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to adequately convey it to them. But Shaggy and his dad, at that moment, seemed like a problem way out of my league. It was hard enough to penetrate Shaggy’s oh-so-carefully-cultivated surfer shell; no way could I crack the hard, cold nut that was Mr. Rogers, too. At least, not without a whole lot more time and resources at my disposal.

“Okay, we have a few minutes left until sixth period,” Daphne said, pulling out her little reporter’s notebook and pen. I tried to refrain from rolling my eyes, but I confess I was not particularly successful. “Let’s figure out who would even want the Crystal Cove Crystal. Like, pie-in-the-sky, throw-anything-at-the-wall ideas.”

I nodded. “Good plan. I have a few ideas. Anyone you’re thinking about?”

Daphne nodded. “Yep. Taylor Burnett.”

Shaggy nearly jumped out of his chair. “No way! Like, why would you say that?”

“She’s kind of odd, Shag,” Daphne said. “Something about the way she’s always watching people … I don’t know, I just get a vibe from her.”

“Rude.” Shaggy crossed his arms. “Taylor’s a sweet kid, she’s just, like, going through a hard time. I’ve known her since she was a baby.”

“Well, tell her to stop staring at everybody all the time. Maybe then she’ll find some friends.”

“She has found some friends,” he pointed out, jabbing himself in the chest with his thumb. “Me.”

Daphne raised an eyebrow. “Why are you so intent on protecting her?”

“Why are you so intent on, like, calling her out?” He shook his head. “She’s just a kid, Daph. I told her mom I’d watch out for her. What do you care?”

I gave Daphne a look. Now wasn’t the time to tell Shaggy about how we might’ve spotted his old friend lurking around the Haunted Village. “Let’s move on.” I drummed my fingers on the table and said the first thing that popped into my head. “What about Jack?”

“Like, what?” Shaggy guffawed. “My cousin?”

“Like Daphne said. Anything at the wall. He shows up out of the blue the day before the Crystal disappears? It’s suspicious!” I argued. “I’ve never even heard you mention Jack.”

“Like, you’ve never heard me talk about anything but Scooby, surfing, and pizza,” Shaggy muttered.

“Whoa.” I held up my hands in surrender. “Don’t blame me because you like to keep things surface-level. I’ve tried to be your friend. Your real friend.”

“Why don’t we all take a breath,” Daphne suggested. Her voice had that bright tint to it, but I could see she was alarmed.

Shaggy shook his head. “This is pointless. It’s not like you two are gonna be able to solve this.”

“Hey,” Daphne protested while I stewed. I wanted to scoop up the remaining bites of sushi and throw them in Shaggy’s face. “Do I need to remind you, it was Velma and me who found Marcy and everyone else? We solved the kidnapping mystery!”

“Not to mention a ton of other cases when we were kids,” I said, disgusted to hear a wobble in my voice.

“Exactly,” Shaggy said icily. “Kids.”

Daphne pointed a finger at Shaggy. “You need to chill out.”

He stared at her, looking like he was going to say something. Finally, he sighed, and her face softened. Something happened between the two of them, a moment I couldn’t define.

“You’re right,” he said quietly. To me, he said, “Sorry, Velma. I’m, like, wound a little tight right now.”

“Me too,” I mumbled.

Shaggy put his head in his hands again. He looked so forlorn, so completely down, that I felt a rush of desperation to help him. And there was only one way I could think of to do so.

Gently, I circled back to our earlier conversation. “I’d like to cross your cousin off the list of potential suspects. I really would. I just need you to give me a reason why.”

I held my breath, but to my surprise, Shaggy nodded, his face serious. “Well, for starters, he’s a Rogers. I’m not sure why he’d feel the need to, like, steal the Crystal. It already belongs to him, right?”

Daphne nodded. “Sure. But he’s also a stranger—” As Shaggy’s eyebrows leapt to his hairline, Daphne held up her hand. “To us, he’s a stranger. So we need to clear him using all the regular tactics we would use to clear any other suspect.”

Shaggy shook his head but laid out his defense. “Jack slept in the guest house Friday night, and then he spent all of Saturday morning at the office with my dad. Like, I get it, but I don’t think he ever had an opportunity to take the Crystal.”

“Cool,” I said smoothly as Daphne drew a line through his name, knowing that she was just doing it for show. In actuality, both Jack and Taylor were very much still on the list. “So he’s off the list. Who’s next?”

We were all silent for a moment, thinking. Shaggy started to get that nervous look on his face, the one where his left eyebrow twitches, and he moved around in his seat a bit. He was tall, Shaggy, and these lunch chairs were tiny. But he’d managed to sit still so far, until now.

“Say it,” I suggested. Okay, commanded. Semantics.

“I mean …”

“Who’s got a motive?” Daphne pressed. “Any motive. Large or small, silly or smart. We have to explore them all.”

“Like, my dad is a guy with a lot going on. Lots of balls up in the air!” Shaggy barked a nervous laugh.

“He’s been pretty stressed lately,” I said, thinking of the last time I’d seen him. And every time I’d seen him. He wore his stress like a sweater, Mr. Rogers—heavy and unmistakable.

“My dad? He’s, like, ninety-seven percent composed of stress!”

“Any new stressors? Has he done anything out of the ordinary?” Daphne’s pen was poised over her notebook.

“Gambling debts? Insurance fraud?” I suggested.

“Velma,” Daphne hissed.

“What? We have to go through all these possibilities.” I crossed my arms.

“He’s been traveling more than usual, I guess,” Shaggy said. He crossed one ankle over his knee, nearly knocking over the lunch table. He was making me nervous. “But that’s normal when your biggest company is about to go under. Also, my grandma’s been sick, so I know he’s visited her a few times.”

“Did you say … your dad’s biggest company is about to go under? Rogers Enterprises?”

“Uhhh …” Shaggy rubbed his head. When he pulled his hand away, his hair stuck up in three new places. “I, like …”

“Come on, Shag,” Daphne coaxed, her voice soft, pleading.

“Like … my dad has a ton of companies. Some, like, flourish, but some explode and collapse into pieces.” He shrugged, looking down at the table, his knee jostling. “Listen, his business is not my business, you know what I mean?”

“But it could be our business,” I said.

“The Crystal is worth a lot of money to some people,” Daphne mused.

“Maybe enough to save an underperforming business?” I held my breath as my words landed. I was sure Shaggy would freak out at the implication that his dad had something to do with the missing Crystal.

But instead of anger, Shaggy radiated fear. “Like, please. I’m begging you. I’m not even supposed to know about that. I just overheard him a couple weeks ago, on the phone. And then I saw some paperwork I wasn’t supposed to see. Please. Like … just, please. Don’t say anything to anyone. A rumor like this would make it even worse.”

“We have to look into every and any lead,” Daphne explained. She placed her hand over Shaggy’s, but then quickly removed it. For the second time, they seemed to have an unspoken conversation, right in front of me, and I was bewildered. I knew Daphne had technically spent a lot more time with Shaggy over the years—his parties, Fred’s house after school, all the stuff the in-crowd did together—but I suddenly realized how all those years I’d chosen to keep to myself had had consequences. I’d missed a lot.

“Please,” he repeated. “I don’t think my mom knows about this. She’d be so worried. And she has enough to worry about.”

“I’m sure she does.” Daphne squeezed his hand. “But shouldn’t your dad be honest? If he wants a real investigation, he’ll need to disclose stuff like this. All of it.”

“It’s just that … well, my dad has a reputation to uphold,” Shaggy said softly, his eyes only on Daphne’s. I started to get that invisible feeling again, that sensation that everyone else around me was real while I was just a ghost, just a shadow of a girl. “I don’t do the best job of that for him. Jack does, though. He’s like … like the son I’m sure my dad wishes I were.”

I closed my eyes and took a breath. Shaggy’s pain was palpable.

“I’m sure that’s not true,” Daphne murmured. Her eyes got a faraway look. “But believe me. I know what it’s like to feel like you’re not living up to your parents’ ideas of who you should be. I get it.”

I stared at my feet. My combat boots were scuffed; one lace was untied. I concentrated really hard on that lace, on counting its knots and bumps, trying to sort out this rising tide of emotions.

I had always wondered if Shaggy was deeper than he led everyone to believe he was. And of course, I knew now that Daphne certainly was. I just wasn’t sure why we were doing all that hiding. And I couldn’t help but wonder what kinds of things everyone else around us was hiding, and if maybe we’d all be better off revealing ourselves once and for all.