"Can we have a photo of her? We're going to broadcast it on the news."
Shaggy nodded silently and passed a picture of Velma over to the police officer. In the photo, she was grinning at the camera, her hand on Shaggy's and her arm casually slung across Fred's shoulders, wearing her red bikini under a long orange beach dress. It was one of the few photos of herself Velma didn't hate, and Shaggy knew that it was a good, clear one, one that people would recognise her from.
"We'll get this out. Someone is bound to come forward. You are Mystery Inc., after all."
Shaggy nodded and the gang returned to the van, sitting inside in silence until Scooby broke it.
"Rare re roing ro rearch ror Relma?"
Shaggy looked round at the others, who looked back at him.
"I dunno," Daphne said slowly, thinking hard. "I mean, the people who took her might get violent and try to hurt us and her, but at the same time, she is Velma and we need her back."
Fred leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes briefly, thinking. Daphne reached out and put her hand on his forehead.
"Freddy? You're flushed. Have you got a fever or something?"
He shook his head, opening his eyes and looking round at the others.
"I reckon we should try and find her. I don't know what these people want, but we should try and find her no matter what. We're detectives and she's one of us."
"Like, agreed, man," Shaggy said, nodding his agreement and reaching out to stroke Scooby's smooth light brown head. Daphne smiled and took her hand off Fred's so he could shift the van into gear.
Watching them from the shadows, a person moved away, slinking through the bushes at the edge of the police precinct and watching the van leaving the parking area and joining the main road.
She looked down at the ground for a second, and then walked hurriedly away, hiding her face under a crimson wool hat, allowing a few strands of thick blonde hair to fall from underneath it.
"Hungry, Miss Dinkley?"
Velma glared at the door as it opened and the person holding her captive walked in, their face once again hidden beneath the balaclava. This time, they had someone else with them, but it wasn't the person who had tied Velma up in the van; this was a new person, a woman from her figure, with short blonde hair peeping out from under her balaclava.
"I'm fine, thank you."
The balaclava'd person smiled.
"Of course you are. I wonder if you recognise my girlfriend?"
Velma scrutinised the woman, her forehead wrinkling.
"If she would take the balaclava off, then I might do. Have you told my friends what you want from them yet?"
"Not yet. I sent my messenger a while ago to drop something off at the police precinct. They will know about the ransom for you."
Velma clenched her fists.
"They will find me, the guys or the police. I promise you they will."
"No problem. I have my Taser at the ready."
The cold voice came from the woman, and her lips curved beneath the balaclava as she reached up, seeing comprehension and realisation dawn on Velma.
"Yes, Velma. You know who I am now, I suppose?"
Velma stared into the cold grey eyes she now recognised, hate beginning to course through her body.
"You!"
The woman laughed, a cackling, triumphant laugh that sent shivers down Velma's spine.
"Me."
She reached up and swept the balaclava off her head in one extravagant action, revealing her scheming face and wicked grin.
The woman was Verona Dempsey.
"She's not around here, and there are no clues at all."
Fred sighed as he stood up and stretched his cramping calf muscles, having spent what felt like hours examining an area of the street Velma had been kidnapped on. His eye caught something in a bush nearby and he limped over, reaching down with one hand to rub his leg and reading the little note as he did so.
"3PM, WES GRDNS, ALL UR LOT WINS. LUV V"
Fred walked back to the van with the paper in his hand, holding it out so that they could read it.
"Is it, like, a code?" Shaggy asked, looking over it.
"I think it's the ransom note."
Daphne gently took it from her boyfriend and started trying to decode it.
"We really need Velms for this sort of thing… 3pm, somewhere, and they're saying we have to take all our lottery wins. They want the five million and they're not going to stop until they get it, it seems. Oh, Velma… I hope she's OK."
Fred rested his chin on his hand, allowing Daphne to snuggle into his chest and press her face into his torso and putting his arm round her.
"WES GRDNS… Humm. What about West Gardens? That's an estate in the suburbs over to the west. That might be where they're holding her."
He glanced down at his watch. It was showing ten past seven.
"We've been out here for longer than I thought. Maybe we should go back now and stay put until morning. We're not safe here."
"Freddy, we need to find Velms!" Shaggy protested.
"I know that. But it's not safe even with us as a group. They might try taking more than one of us and that is the last thing that we want to happen."
"Man, Freddy, are you just completely paranoid or something?!" Shaggy yelled.
There was a brief silence. Fred bowed his head slightly, looking away from Shaggy, whose eyes had become wide and shocked at what he had just said. Fred had had a close scare with paranoia a couple of years ago during one mystery and the gang knew it was a sensitive subject. He had almost had to give up being a member of Mystery Inc. due to it.
"Like… man, I'm sorry, I… I didn't mean it. I'm just worried about Velma. I'm sorry."
Fred shook his head and silently turned away, taking the note out of Daphne's hand and starting to read it again, using it as something to do that wouldn't mean he had to talk to Shaggy. Shaggy's face was bright red and Scooby whined softly as he saw the rift appear in the group.
"Freddy?" Daphne asked softly. He looked up at her and gave her a forced smile.
"I'm OK. Just reading the note again."
"Freddy. Talk to us. Please."
"What am I meant to say?"
Daphne fell silent, knowing that she couldn't answer his question.
"Maybe we should go there now, but they're probably armed, they might hurt Velma if we go near them. We don't know which house in West Gardens, either."
"Like, I think we should take them decoy money," Shaggy said, sticking his thoughts into the conversation and trying to find out if Fred had forgiven him. Fred looked up and the two held eye contact for a few seconds before Shaggy smiled slightly and moved to look at the note as well, knowing from the look in his friend's eyes that he was forgiven.
"Decoy money might not work; I think they'll probably kill Velma once they've got the money. She's seen where they've gone, heard their voices, she's probably got all the evidence needed to secure a prosecution. We need to rescue her first and try to avoid contact with whoever took her."
Shaggy nodded and the group turned as one and slid into the van.
"Verona…"
Velma almost felt sick with hatred. First Verona had hijacked their mystery when she had been the crook herself, and now she had had a role in her kidnapping. The woman herself smiled, a cruel, knowing smile.
"You probably absolutely hate me, don't you, Velma Dinkley?"
Velma nodded, narrowing her eyes at her enemy.
"Good. The feeling's mutual."
Verona turned to her boyfriend, giving a small smile.
"Maybe you should reveal who you are as well; I'm sure Velma would recognise you. Goodness me, she would regret making the mistakes she made with you, wouldn't she? This is the perfect revenge plan, and I would like it if she knew from the outset who the joint masterminds were."
The person smiled, and reached up to remove his balaclava.