I met up with the gang in the morning. Velma had done the research on the glowing seaweed. Some phosphorescent underwater stuff that only grows in one part of the area - the "Graveyard of Ships" - same place where Cutler croaked. Do we head right there while our minds and bodies are rested with the warm sun on our backs? No. Our plan is to go at night.
A typical afternoon, boring and depressing, until it's time to act. We head into a scuba shop to prepare for tonight. The place wasn't ready for a group like us. A lot of establishments in this crummy coastal town don't know what they are getting themselves into. When I walked into the scuba shop some dude immediately threw me out. It took a few minutes to convince him I was part of Mystery Inc.
Five scuba suits and a motorboat later, we cruise into the Graveyard. We spot one of the yachts that had gone missing a few days before, only to have it disappear on us in the fog. With us on one side, and a bay of rocks on the other, the only way it could have gone is down.
We dive underwater and see how this place got it's namesake. Sunken ships everywhere. Shaggy and I split off so we can cover more ground. We spot the ghost diver. The hunters have now become the hunted. I swam into a wrecked ship, one filled with hundreds of scuba tanks. This means something. Another clue. Another moment when I thought about how stupid it was for us to split up. Now I had to find the gang, tell them what I saw, and do so without getting caught by some underwater ghoul. Hiding in plain sight didn't work. The ghost diver came up behind me and tried to grab me. I swam away just in time, so that the diver's arms hugged thin air... well, water in this case. I can't count how many times that move has worked for me. Not without a price paid by my body, though. I have a piece of cartilage floating around my knee that reminds me every day.
I reconnect with the gang, who apparently have done nothing this whole time. We come across some faded glowing footprints that lead to a wall of rock. I put my weight on a rock and a section of the rock wall shifts. Secret passage. I'm wondering if I could do this all on my own.
We end up in a giant underwater cavern, filled with yachts. Some are being repainted. All of them look like the missing ships the newspapers have been reporting. Fred decides to set up a trap for the ghost diver, complete with hose, soap, and a net, all of which happen to be handy. It sounds like a good idea, but I take a more direct approach because fuck this weak guy. He haunts this area like he's all heavy, but really it's just an act. I find myself in a boat, covered in water and soap, speeding toward the ghost diver when he makes his appearance on the nearby dock. My boat gets air-time as I hit the dock, landing right on the diver. I got blood all over me.
Some of the others are ready to pull off his helmet and see Ebeneezer Shark, but really it turns out to be Cutler, who faked his own death and started this yacht hijack scam. We solved the mystery and we got our names in the newspaper. I hate the press. It's such bullshit.
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