Chapter 7
That night, after dinner, Daphne laid on her bed staring at the ceiling, she was still bothered by the man earlier in the gallery.
Six months ago
Daphne stood at the upstairs window in the Church House, it was twelve o'clock at night, and a black Toyota SUV pulled up outside. She's written the information down on a scrap piece of paper, she checked the number plate on the back of the car, and it matched the one the man had given via email.
She went downstairs and opened the door, "You Harry?" She asked, the man climbed out of the car, "Yep, you Daphne? You look a little bit young to be selling thirty plus bottles of old wine." He said, he had a British accent, and Daphne could tell that, by his underestimating of her, he's probably going try and take all the wine and leave her with twenty dollars. But she wasn't going to let that happen.
"I'm old enough to get a job in the country, and this is my job." She said. "Right." He said, slightly impressed by her attitude. "It's my job too." He said. "You seem like you know what you're doing." He said.
"I do. And if you try anything, I'll call the police." She said. "Would you now?" He asked, pointing at a lamppost which had a piece of paper stapled to it; a missing persons flyer with Daphne's face on it.
"Good play." She said, realising that she wouldn't call the police, she didn't want to. "So, do you want this wine or not?" She asked, he nodded and followed her into the building.
She'd got the crated lined up for him, he picked a bottle from one of the crates. "Nineteen-ninety-nine." He said, "Nice."
"Most of this has been here since this bar opened in the sixties." Daphne said. "Everything we discussed, it's all there?" He asked.
"Yep." She said.
"Right." He said, lifting a crate. "Hey, money first." She said, he laughed a little. "You are good, for a missing person." He said. He reached into his coat's inside pocket a wad of dollar bills, Daphne made sure it was all there before she let him put the crates into his car.
"Well, pleasure doing business with you." He said. "If you have any other, old alcoholic beverages that you want me to take off your hands, you've got my email." He said.
"There isn't." She said. "Alright." He said, he reached into his pocket and a pulled out three twenty-dollar bills, Daphne didn't take it, but he told her to.
"That isn't the price we agreed." She said. "Well, I didn't know you were a missing person until I recognised you from the flyers." He said, "Stay out of trouble." He climbed into his car and drove away.
Daphne didn't regret selling him the wine, she needed the money and she didn't want to go back to her parents, not after how they reacted when Fred left.
She sighed, she felt like he was following her, but then she remembered that he told her that it was also his job to buy wine, maybe he'd sell them off or he's a collector. Maybe that's why he was at the gallery, to buy something from Randy Warsaw, and bumping into her was just a coincidence.
She decided that was it and tried to get some sleep, but she continued to think about it.
Still unsure if she was being follow, Daphne kept an eye open for anything suspicious, but nothing happened. Until one morning when Fred picked her and Velma up for school, she noticed Fred seemed nervous.
Daphne thought maybe he was nervous about the biology test coming up; seeing as she, Fred and Shaggy had been absent for nearly half of the school year, Velma helped the study for the test.
"Zoinks!" Shaggy exclaimed, "I just remembered, I have a candy bar in my locker!" He exclaimed. "Why am I not surprised." Daphne mumbled.
He and Scooby jumped out of the van and ran into the school, Fred, Daphne and Velma followed, Velma a further ahead.
"Daph, I have something to ask you." Fred said, Daphne smiled at him. "What is it?" She asked, he took a deep breath. "Do you want to go on a-a date?" He asked. "A date?" Daphne asked. "Yeah, just you and me." He said. "Freddie, I'm not ready to go on a date with you yet." She said. "I'm sorry, but I'll think about it." She smiled. "Ok." He said, slightly heartbroken that she didn't say yes, but glad that she was going to think about it.
Daphne recalled her first date with Fred, at the trap exhibit, and she loved Fred, she knew she did. But she didn't want to get into a relationship with him again, not just yet. He'd proposed to her and they'd started planning their wedding when he left her. And he loved her, and he regretted leaving her.
A black Audi SUV pulled into the driveway of a little house in Crystal Cove. Harry, the man who'd bought the wine from Daphne, climbed out of the car and entered the house, locking the door behind him and throwing the keys into a bowl on the side. He walked through a door that linked into the garage.
He turned the lights on and stepped towards a wall on the far side.
Pinned all over the wall were clips from newpaper articles; MYSTERY INC UNMASKES CICADA CREATURE
MYSTERY INC UNMASKS AVACADOS AS DIAMOND THEIF
MYSTERY INC UNMASKS CRAB MAN
MYSTERY INC UNMASKS CRYBABY CLOWN AS HOLLYWOOD CELEB
But the one in the middle, surrounded by all of the papers; WEALTHY LOCAL GIRL DISAPPEARS – Daphne Blake, the youngest daughter of wealthy couple Barty and Elizabeth Blake, disappeared on the evening of July 12th, only a couple of weeks after the Mystery Incorporated team separated and Fred Jones Sr, the Mayor of Crystal Cove, arrested.
Also pinned to the wall was a missing persons flyer; DAPHNE BLAKE, made by her older sister Daisy, who left Crystal Cove a few weeks later.
Not only were there newspaper clips of Mystery Incorporated, but of the Blakes; ELIZABETH AND BARTY BLAKE DONATE TO DARROW UNIVERSITY
ELIZABETH BLAKE HOSTS FUNDRAISER FOR WOMEN'S CHARITY
"So, have you thought about it yet, Daph?" Fred asked, after the test. "Freddie, I need more than an hour." She said. "Right ok, gothcha." He said, fumbling through his locker.
"What about this?" Fred asked, pointing to a poster stuck to the wall; SPRING DANCE – APRIL 12TH – 7:30-11PM
"Why don't we go together? There'll be loads of other people there, so it won't be a date." Fred said. "Well, I wasn't going to go." Daphne said. "What? Why not?" Fred asked. "I don't know." Daphne said. "Come on, it'll be fun." Fred said, Daphne sighed, "Alright, fine." She said, Fred smiled.
"Where's Daphne?" Velma asked as the gang met up at the Mystery Machine after school. "Oh, she got detention." Shaggy said.
"What?" The others asked. "Daphne never gets detention." Velma said. "Well, the new Daphne does." Shaggy said.
"What happened?" Fred asked. "Like, it was in art, she drew an inappropriate picture. It was very detailed." He said.
"What was it?" Scooby asked. "It was a man holding an envelope with an ear inside it." Shaggy said.
"How detailed?" Velma asked. "Very detailed." Shaggy said.
"I can't believe you're doing art." Fred said. "What can I say, I'm an artist." Shaggy said.
"And he got kicked out of catering." Scooby said, Shaggy sighed, "Yep." He said
They climbed into the Mystery Machine and drove back to Fred's house.
"Whose car is that?" Velma asked, a blue car was parked on the drive. "I don't know." Fred said, he pulled up on the side of the road outside the house.
As they stepped into the living room, there was a couple sat on the couch. "Who are you?" Fred asked. "My name is Brad Chiles, and this is my wife, Judy." The man said, they were both tall and blonde, like Fred. He had the same chin as Fred, and she had his eyes.
"Mom? Dad?" Fred asked.
"Look how handsome you are!" Judy exclaimed, "Just like your father."
The gang know they're telling the truth, they recognised them from the pictures, but what puzzled them was why they came back now, the Freak of Crystal Cove had been arrested nearly nine months ago.
"Why are you back now?" Fred asked. "Does this have anything to do with the planespheric disc?" He asked.
"No, of course not." Brad said. "We wanted to wait until we could be sure it was safe." Judy said. "We heard Mayor Jones was arrested." Brad said. "So, we came back for you." Judy said. "He threatened to kill you, Fred." Brad said. "We couldn't let that happen." Judy said. "We had to leave, we had to give you to him." Brad said. "Not for our safety, but for yours." Judy said.
Shaggy and Scooby's growling stomachs interrupted the conversation. "My guess is you've all had a long day at school, I'll make you a snack." Judy said, walking to the kitchen. Shaggy and Scooby quickly followed her, but Scooby stopped, something caught his eye.
A beautiful little brown dog who jumped onto Brad's lap.
"What a sweet little dog." Velma said. "Yes, she is a very sweet dog." Brad said, "Her name is Nova."
Shaggy was too busy drooling over the snacks in the kitchen to notice Scooby was more interested in Nova.
Back at school, Daphne sat in detention, with the regular detention students. Mr Barns approached Daphne.
"You've never had detention before, Miss Blake." He said, Daphne rolled her eyes. "And I don't want to see you in here again." He said. "And I don't want to see anymore inappropriate drawings, is that clear?" He asked.
"How is my drawing inappropriate when there's a painting of a naked couple hanging on the wall down the corridor?" Daphne asked.
"Because your drawing was titled Kidnap and Ransom." Mr Barns said, slightly annoyed. Daphne smiled, recalling the disturbed look on her teacher's face when he saw the drawing.
"Get out of here and stay out of trouble." He said.
Daphne grabbed her back and left the room, walking through the empty school was weird, until she got outside, and the sunlight shone on her face.
She walked down the street and headed for Fred's house.
As she was walking though, she felt like she was being followed.
She tried to speed up, but she still heard footsteps behind her, she turned around and saw Harry behind her.
"What do you want?" Daphne asked. "Why are you following me?"
"I was just driving past, and I thought I'd say hello." Harry said, Daphne looked around, there were no cars parked nearby, only ones parked on drives and she knew most of the owners, and the only sound she'd heard were birds chirping. "That's a pretty shit lie." She said.
"Alright." He said. "What do you want?" She asked again. "I just wanted to make sure you're ok." He said.
"Why? I barely know you." She said.
"Well, this isn't my first time in Crystal Cove." He said, Daphne rolled her eyes. "You're a collector, I'm sure you've been to Crystal Cove more than once." She said.
"I'm not really a collector." Harry said. "I mean I do collect things, in a way, and sell them to people for more money." He said, "Like wine, jewellery, sometimes cars, and art, that's why I was at the gallery. Well, part of the reason why I was at the gallery." He said, rubbing his short beard.
"What?" She asked.
"I came to Crystal Cove some years ago, that was my first time here." He said. "I met a guy, who I knew from boarding school. My first night here we went to a bar," He chuckled, "The Church House, actually." He said.
Daphne stared at him, wondering where this story was going. "Anyway, that night, I met a woman, she was with her friends. We got to talking, she told me about her family and a few drinks later, we were back in my hotel room, you know…" He looked uneasy telling Daphne the story.
"Anyway, afterwards, she got her stuff and said she had to get home. Her nanny was watching her children while her husband was away." Harry said. "I asked her what her name was, and she said Elizabeth, Elizabeth Blake."
Daphne's eyes widened.
"I'm your dad."