"Come on Daph. Open up," Fred muttered as he rapped again on the door to Daphne's apartment.

There was the dull sound of footsteps and the click of a lock. Daphne pulled the door open.

"What are you doing here? I wasn't expect-"

"I had to come as soon as I could. I've got loads to tell you," Fred said quickly. Daphne stepped aside to let him, catching a whiff of him as he passed.

"You didn't shower did you?"

"That's not important," Fred claimed, waving it away. "I need to talk to you about the protest today. You know, the sit-in?"

"Yeah?" Daphne said slowly, taking her seat on the couch. "I saw you talking to the leader kid. Negotiating the terms of disbanding it, I assumed."

"Yes. We did. But that's not the important part," Fred said. He started pacing back and forth across the living room floor. "What's important was that he told me that he's investigating Danny's death. And the protest was part of it. By protesting, he distracted the administration so that one of his friends could break into the coach's office and steal some documents that he believes are connected to Danny's death."

"How could coach's documents be tied to his death? I thought we decided the coaches weren't part of this…?"

"Well, we didn't think they were. But he has reason to believe that Danny was signed to a contract he didn't know about. And everyone knew Danny wanted to play professionally, that was no secret. But what if… what if he had been signed to a contract without his knowledge, and then when he signed his own contract, he voided the other? And maybe that could have provoked the coach or manager… whoever was set to make money off of it?"

Fred continued to pace as Daphne considered this new information. He ran his hand back and forth across his clean-shaven chin.

"So what do we do now? What do we do now that we have this…theory, I guess you'd call it?" Daphne asked.

"Well I told him to meet me at my apartment tomorrow night and we'd compare notes. I said you'd come and he said his bring his friend too."

"Okay. I've got a paper to write, and then I'll review my notes and see if I have anything on the coaches."

Fred stopped pacing and nodded stiffly, his mind clearly elsewhere. He took a step towards Daphne, who had stood to go to the kitchen. His arms were raised for a hug. She stopped him with a finger to his chest.

"Not until you shower."


Daphne circled the south dining hall at least four times before deciding where she wanted to sit. In truth, she wasn't thinking about lunch. She was performing a mental catalogue; scanning students to figure out who wasn't at the protest and who might be able to give her more information on the meeting that Fred had arranged for the coming evening.

She decided on a small table towards the back of the hall. Setting down her tray, she turned the chair so her back was to the wall and she could see the whole room. Absently picking up single fry after single fry, she continued to scan, checking off name and attendance on a running list in her head.

"Um…excuse me?" a voice said from somewhere to Daphne's right. She turned her head and realized she had sat down at a table that was already occupied, and despite the girl's bright orange sweater, Daphne hadn't even noticed her.

"Oh. I-I didn't see you. Sorry," Daphne said absentmindedly as she picked up her tray and stood up.

"It's okay. If you want to stay. I don't mind. I just… I was just wondering how long you were going to sit here before you noticed I was here," Velma said wryly. "After ten minutes I decided to give in and say something."

Daphne stared at her.

"I…I ignored you for ten minutes?"

"Just about."

"I-I'm sorry," Daphne said apologetically. "I was so far in my own head I didn't even notice you."

"Don't feel bad about it. You're not the first and you certainly won't be the last," Velma muttered. She pulled a piece of onion off the sandwich she was holding and flicked it aside.

Daphne continued to stare at Velma as Velma resumed eating her lunch. Then she smacked the small table, which made Velma jump. Daphne turned her chair to face Velma directly and dropped her voice.

"It was you, wasn't it?" Daphne asked incredulously. "You were the one who snuck into the coach's office, weren't you?"

"Snuck into the- what are you talking about?"

"I mean," Daphne looked around to make sure they weren't being overheard. "I know that someone snuck into the coach's office yesterday to get some documents that might be related to Danny Snyder's death."

"I don't know what you mean," Velma's brow furrowed. "I thought they ruled that an accident?"

"They ruled it an accident. That doesn't mean it was," Daphne shook her head. "But that's just it. We need those documents. And since I don't remember seeing you at the sit-in yesterday-"

"Wait. There was a sit-in yesterday?" Velma threw down her sandwich. "Well that makes sense."

Daphne sat up, confused.

"Wait… you didn't know?"

"No," Velma snorted. "I'm not exactly the first person people run to with news. Or, it seems, the last."

"So you weren't at the sit-in and you weren't sneaking into the coach's office…where were you?" Daphne asked incredulously.

"I went to class! Like I was supposed to."

"And you didn't think it was odd that no one else showed up?"

"Well of course I thought it was odd," Velma spat. "I was getting ready to leave when my professor came in and I got stuck talking to him about American literature for two and a half hours."

"I guess there's worse ways to spend two and a half hours," Daphne shrugged. Velma gave her a look.

"Had it been a discussion about good American literature, it would not have been a bad way to spend two and a half hours. But he insisted on talking about the symbolism of The Red Badge of Courage," Velma crossed her arms. "The red badge of courage is blood. It's just blood. If the protagonist wanted a wound so bad he could have given himself a damn papercut."

Daphne snorted. She sighed. She hadn't realized how much she had been counting on her sudden and mostly unfounded accusation of the other girl's previous days' actions to be true.

"You…were you the ones who left the study room the other day?" Velma asked quietly.

"Yeah. We… we had somewhere to go," Daphne lied.

"Well, you left something behind," Velma informed her. She bent down and pulled a small envelope out of her bag and handed it to Daphne.

Daphne pulled the letter out of the envelope. It was the encrypted letter, but now under the carefully written code was a second line of writing. It was different lettering, smaller and fainter, as if the author did not want to damage the letter itself.

Dear Sarah,

I have been so far away but soon it will be over. I promise you dear I will see us through. Do not forget that. I love you so much.

Sincerely,

Danny

"You decrypted it?" Daphne asked, her eyes reading and rereading the words over and over again.

"Yeah," Velma said, suddenly shy.

"How did you know?"

"How did I know what?"

"I mean, how did you know that the cipher was?" Daphne laid the paper flat on the table so both of them could see it. "There aren't any repeating letter patterns."

"That in itself was the pattern. That, and the keyword on the inside of the envelope, led me to believe it was a Vigenere cipher. I plugged in a few words and it turned out to be right," Velma stated. Then she frowned, her brow furrowing again. ". It… it has to do with the football player's death, doesn't it?"

Daphne sighed, and then nodded.

"I heard about that on the news. They said he drowned… was that not true?"

"No, that part was true," Daphne sighed. "They… they called it an accident. Because he was found in the part of the river that students will go swimming in. Except that he was found in the middle of October and was wearing a coat and pants. The police called it in accident less than a day after they found him, and it got swept under the rug."

"I see," Velma nodded gravely. "Well I hope you find out what happened to him. And feel free to let me know if you get any more letters like that. I'd be happy to help you out."

Daphne muttered a word of thanks. Velma resumed picking at her sandwich.

"What are you doing tonight?"

"What?" Velma looked up at her.

"Are you free tonight?" Daphne repeated.

"Uh… yes?" Velma sat up a bit straighter. "W-why?"

"Some of us… a couple of us who are looking into this further, we're meeting tonight. 8 pm at 330 Scarborough Ave Apartment 1. You want to come?"

"I, uh… yeah," Velma nodded. "I just… I just have to ask my parents first."

"Alright. Sounds good."

Daphne stood and picked up her tray, but then promptly say down again.

"Um… can I sit here to eat?" Daphne asked, shaking her head ever so slightly.

"I… yes?" Velma answered slowly. "It's almost weird of you to ask now."