Sponge: Oh my darlings, I've returned! Thanks so much for your patience! Let's get right to it, so you don't have to wait any longer. The previous chapter, "I Play the Road" is the title of a song by Zac Brown Band. Here's chapter 2. Warning: language and mentions of teen pregnancy and child abandonment. Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Scooby Doo characters. They belong to Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, and Hanna Barbera. All information on criminal trials comes from my friend who's a lawyer.
Chapter 2: Those You've Known
The gang stared aghast at the mayor, minds reeling with confusion. There were several moments of silence as this information sank in.
"…Rirth rarents?" Scooby finally murmured, gazing perplexedly at Mr. Jones. That didn't make any sense. The mayor's status as a single parent was well-known throughout the community. Everyone in Coolsville saw how the mayor's devotion to his son met his devotion to his constituents. It was one of the reasons he was so beloved by the people, why they kept voting to re-elect him year after year. And he was a single parent because Fred's mother had abandoned them when he was a baby. Fred had even found the note she'd left behind that confirmed it. That was the story they all knew.
But apparently, that story was a lie.
Still reeling, Scooby wrenched his gaze from the mayor to glance around at his friends. Shaggy's jaw had literally dropped, and Velma had furrowed her brow in bewilderment. Daphne kept shooting sidelong glances at Fred, who was gaping at the mayor in stunned disbelief.
The mayor himself looked rather pained. "I…imagine you have a lot of questions," he said quietly to Fred.
Scooby knew that he certainly had a lot of questions. He couldn't imagine how Fred must be feeling. He placed a comforting paw on Fred's knee, but the blond boy hardly even glanced at him.
"I understand that this is overwhelming," said the mayor, now glancing at each member of the gang. "So, I'll start from the beginning."
Daphne reached out and took Fred's hand to squeeze it comfortingly. He blinked for what felt like the first time and glanced at her gratefully.
"I first met Brad and Judy in the fall of their senior year of high school," the mayor began. "I was in my late thirties then, getting ready to run for mayor for the first time. They applied to be interns for my campaign team. I admit, I was a little skeptical at first."
"Skeptical of what?" asked Daphne.
The mayor shrugged. "I wasn't sure what they hoped to get out of the internship. They were scientists, not politicians."
"Scientists?" Velma frowned.
The mayor nodded. "Yes. They'd been accepted to Cornell University's biochemistry program for the fall. Regardless, they turned out to be excellent interns. Hard workers, with great attitudes. I ended up appreciating their help more than I'd anticipated."
He glanced at Fred now, but didn't let his eyes linger for long. "Soon after they graduated from Coolsville High School, they learned they were pregnant with you."
Fred just nodded slowly.
Velma picked up the photo and glanced at it. "Sorry to belabor this point but…you said they were scientists?" she asked, a hint of skepticism in her tone. She thought this couple looked more like a football player and a cheerleader.
The mayor nodded. "Yes. Like I said, they were planning to study biochemistry at Cornell. I believe they wanted to go to med school afterwards and become obstetricians. They also discussed getting degrees in cryptography, but I think that was more of a fun hobby for them."
"Rut's ryptography?" asked Scooby.
"It's the art of writing and solving codes," Velma responded. "Also known as cryptology – but I'm assuming they were more interested in the computer side of coding, given their science background. Though medicine and computer science are completely different fields…"
Daphne cleared her throat – she felt they'd gotten off topic. "So, they gave Fred up for adoption in order to go to college?" she clarified, trying to see the line of reasoning. It didn't explain how Fred had ended up with the mayor, but it would explain why Brad and Judy weren't around. A teen pregnancy would certainly throw a wrench into plans for further education. Daphne had to admit that she would certainly be feeling the same way if she were in that boat now.
But the mayor looked hesitant. "Well…yes and no," he hedged.
Shaggy and Scooby frowned. "Like what does that mean?" asked Shaggy.
The mayor sighed. "I'm still a bit unclear on these details myself," he admitted. "I mentioned before that they applied for the internship back in the fall, but it wasn't until much later that they became pregnant. They didn't even realize they were expecting a baby until around June. At that point, Judy was about six weeks along."
Fred did some quick mental math. At least they'd been celebrating his real birthday these past eighteen years.
"When they told me they were pregnant, I wasn't sure how I could help. But they said they didn't want anything from me. They simply asked me to be your godfather."
"Hold on," said Daphne, holding up a hand. "Godfather?"
"Yes," the mayor replied.
"How did that get upgraded to 'father?'" asked Velma.
The mayor sighed once more and leaned forward to rub his temple. When he sat up again, he looked exhausted.
"As I'm sure you know," he said. "One of the major responsibilities of a godparent is to look after the child should something happen to their parents."
Daphne sat forward. "So…are Brad and Judy…?" she trailed off. Were they dead? Was that why the mayor took in Fred? If so, that was horrible, but then why was the mayor telling them about it now?
Mr. Jones shook his head. "I don't know," he told them. "After I agreed to be your godfather, they told me they would defer their acceptance to Cornell for a year so they could be nearby for the duration of Judy's pregnancy. They insisted on a hospital in Columbus, even though it was an hour and a half outside of town, but I didn't think anything of it. I offered to help them as much as I could. I went to many of Judy's ultrasound appointments, at Brad's insistence. And I was there the day you were born. January 19th, just before three in the afternoon, eight pounds, eleven ounces, twenty-two inches long."
Fred blinked, his throat rather tight. It had been almost nineteen years, and the mayor still remembered details about his birth.
"In hindsight," the mayor sighed. "I think they wanted me there – at all the doctor visits, and at your birth – for two reasons. The first was so that it would be easier for them to do what they did."
"What did they do?" wondered Daphne.
"And," the mayor went on, seemingly not hearing her. "The second reason was…so that I'd grow to care for you. And it worked." He glanced up at Fred a bit sadly. "I've always thought of you as my son, ever since…" he trailed off.
"Ever since what?" asked Daphne, a bit more fiercely now.
The mayor finally looked at her. "A few weeks after Judy gave birth, I woke up in the middle of the night to the doorbell ringing. I had only just taken my oath of office, so I was still new to the official mayoral residence." He gestured to the house around them with a shrug. "It took me little while to get downstairs, but once I arrived, I found you asleep on the porch, wrapped in a little blue blanket. I picked you up and looked down the street. I caught Judy's eye through the windshield as Brad backed their car out of the driveway. And then I watched their taillights round the corner and drive away." The mayor said this last very quietly, gazing at Fred in anguish.
Fred felt as though he'd been punched in the gut. A hot wash of realization flooded his body. All his life, he had believed that he'd been abandoned by his mother. But it turned out that wasn't true. He had been abandoned by both of his parents.
In an extremely soft voice, he murmured. "So…they just…left me?"
Daphne squeezed Fred's hand harder.
The mayor seemed as though his heart was breaking. Briefly, he closed his eyes to collect himself. When he opened them, he reached into the pocket of his suit jacket again and pulled out a faded sheet of paper. The mayor set it on the coffee table and pushed it towards Fred and the gang.
At first, Fred thought it was the note he'd found as a young teen, the one explaining that his "mother" was leaving him and the mayor. But this note was written in handwriting that Fred had never seen before. With a shaky hand, he picked it up.
"Mr. Jones," he read aloud, before his throat closed up.
When he didn't go on, Velma gently took the note from him. Normally she would have let Daphne handle this, but the redhead's eyes had welled with tears, so Velma continued where Fred had left off. "We're sorry we have to leave like this. It breaks our hearts to do it, but it's the only way. We can't get into specifics, but we are in grave danger. Our baby isn't safe with us, and he won't be safe with anyone but you. Most importantly, he absolutely cannot know that we exist until the danger has passed. Please don't tell him about us, and please don't come looking for us yourself. We'll be in contact with you when it's safe again. In the meantime, please find everything you need in the bag.
"We've named him Fredrick, after you. You'll be an amazing parent to him."
Fred's throat felt very tight again, and he swallowed several times. Daphne reached into her purse and pulled out a handkerchief to blow her nose. Shaggy and Scooby sniffled and leaned against each other. Even Velma, who normally didn't let her emotions show this way, took a shaky breath and turned to gaze out the window while she collected herself.
Once she felt in control of her voice again, she exhaled and turned back to the group. "The note mentions a bag," she said to the mayor. "What was in it?"
The mayor cleared his throat and discreetly rubbed his eyes under his glasses. "Baby things," he replied. "Blankets, toys, diapers." He hesitated. "And a folder full of papers, indicating that I was the biological father."
Daphne sniffed and blinked rapidly at the mayor. "They forged a birth certificate?"
"I think they must have used their city hall credentials to do it," the mayor told her. "They went to very intense measures to cover their tracks. That was why they wanted to have the baby in a hospital outside of Coolsville – so it would be easier for them to disappear."
"So…like, where did they go?" asked Shaggy.
"I figured they went to Ithaca," Mr. Jones replied. "To start at Cornell. But when I contacted the university, they told me that they'd never arrived for orientation."
"Wait," said Shaggy. "You like, tried to find them even though they told you not to?"
"I was worried about them," said the mayor. "It seemed like they were in trouble. I wanted to make sure they were okay."
"Did you ever figure out what happened to them?" asked Velma.
The mayor shook his head. "No, but not for lack of trying. Whenever I wasn't working or spending time with Fred, I was searching for Brad and Judy. I was convinced that they'd left some sort of code behind, but the 'clues' I followed usually turned out to be nothing but wild goose chases." The mayor sighed and looked at the gang a bit wryly. "I'm afraid I've never been as good at solving mysteries as you."
He took a deep breath. "And then, about eight years ago, I got a phone call."
"A phone call from who?" asked Daphne.
"Brad," the mayor replied. "He called while Fred was in school – I think you were around ten years old at the time."
Fred simply nodded.
"Brad told me that they were getting close to being out of trouble, and to be patient just a bit longer," the mayor said. "He wanted me to be on the lookout for a clue from them so that I would know they were safe. But he also said that if I didn't hear from him or Judy within a week, then something had gone wrong. He was explicit that I didn't say anything to Fred until we knew one way or another. If Brad and Judy contacted me again, then I was free to tell Fred whatever I liked about them."
"But I assume they didn't call you again," said Velma.
The mayor nodded. "When I didn't hear from them, I guessed that the danger they were running from had finally caught up with them." He glanced at Fred now. "This was also around the time that you had started asking me questions about your mother in earnest. I was afraid that you would go looking for Brad and Judy and somehow get caught up in whatever danger had found them…so I wrote a fake note from a fake woman, and left it where you would find it."
"I did find that note," Fred told the mayor. "But not till three years later, when I was thirteen."
The mayor nodded sadly. "I know," he replied. "I'm so sorry I've lied to you all these years. But Brad and Judy were afraid, and I was too. I didn't know what kind of danger they'd stumbled across – I still don't – but I couldn't risk losing you." The mayor was gazing at Fred with watery eyes.
"So why tell us now?" asked Velma, all business. "If you haven't heard from Brad and Judy in…what, eight years? Almost nine? Why tell us about them at all?"
"I had to be the one to tell you," he confessed, still looking at Fred through red-rimmed eyes. "I didn't want you to learn about them on your own, and try as I may to deny it, I always knew you'd find out about them eventually. Better you learn about them from me, so I could explain that I was only trying to protect you, than discover them yourself and think me a dishonest man."
Fred inhaled shakily. He prided himself on his honesty; he always had. Ironically enough, he'd picked up that trait from his father – that is, the mayor. And he hated being lied to. It was the reason he and Daphne had split up briefly in the spring, the reason the whole gang had split up. And now it turned out that there was nothing honest about his existence at all. His entire life was a lie.
"And," the mayor continued. "I wanted to give you the chance to look for them, if you wanted to. Heaven knows you've faced dangers in the past – not the least of which what you experienced back in the spring – and now that you're safe, and finished with high school…it seemed an appropriate time." He shrugged. "I couldn't stop you from growing up even if I wanted to," he sighed, smiling proudly at each member of the gang. "I meant everything I said in that toast at your graduation party tonight. You've all grown into such magnificent detectives, finding clues and solving cases that have baffled people twice your age. If anyone could solve the mystery of what happened to Brad Chiles and Judy Reeves, it's you kids."
The gang glanced at each other. Solving a mystery? While they were on a road-trip? It sounded perfect, like a dream. But there was a problem.
"We like, don't know where to start," Shaggy pointed out. "You said yourself that like, you don't know where they are."
The mayor cleared his throat. "Actually," he said. "I might have a starting point for you."
The gang sat up a bit straighter.
"Earlier today, before we left for your commencement ceremony, I checked the mail and discovered a package addressed to me, containing a CD. I believe it's from Brad and Judy."
Velma adjusted her glasses. "What makes you say that?" she asked.
"It was the debut album of an Irish folk group," the mayor replied. "They liked folk music, always had. I remember them listening to music like this while they worked for me. The group itself is rather new – they're called The High Kings – but it was enough for me to believe that this was the code I'd been awaiting for eighteen years." He gazed at the gang seriously. "I saved the return address from the package." He reached into his suit jacket pocket for a third time, and produced a torn piece of brown paper.
The gang leaned closer to read it.
"Farmingdale, New York?" asked Daphne when she saw the address. "Where's that?"
"Long Island," Velma answered, already looking it up on her phone. "About an hour outside of Manhattan."
"It appears that they went to New York after all," the mayor said. "Just not where I'd thought they'd gone. But they must be ready for you to know about them now." The mayor sighed again. "Of course, you don't have to look for them if you don't want to. But…if you are so inclined…maybe you can figure out what happened to them."
The mayor looked pained again. Fred had to admit, he hated seeing him like this.
"You know us," said Fred. "We can't resist a mystery." Then he glanced at the gang. He really should clear this with them first. After all, this was supposed to be a college road trip. "Can we discuss it alone for a minute?"
"Of course," the mayor replied, swiftly rising and heading towards his study. "I'll give you all some privacy." Quietly, he shut the door, leaving the gang alone in the den.
"Freddie are you okay?" asked Daphne in an undertone, placing a hand gently on Fred's arm.
He hesitated for a moment. "Yes," he said, though he wasn't sure if he was. Fred didn't know how to feel about the mayor's involvement – it truly seemed as though he was a simple bystander, doing what he'd been asked to do – but this revelatory bombshell made Fred's head spin and his heart clench. And more than that, the mystery of what had happened to his birth parents, and why they'd left him in the first place, intrigued him in an almost debilitating way.
He couldn't articulate any of this to the gang. Not that he didn't want to – he just literally couldn't figure out what to say about it.
So, he simply barreled on.
"I think mostly I'm curious," he told them. That much was certainly true. What was this danger that had frightened Brad and Judy so much that it had led to them abandoning him on the mayor's porch? Was it still a threat to them? Were they really in trouble? There was only one way to find out.
Daphne stared intently at Fred. "You want to try to find them?"
Fred nodded slowly. "Would you mind splitting our time in New York?"
Daphne shook her head immediately. "Of course not. This is important to you, so it's important to me."
"To all of us," Velma agreed.
"Reah," said Scooby loyally. It wasn't like the dog to run headlong into danger like this, but he couldn't help being reminded of when he and Shaggy had first moved to Coolsville. They had discovered pretty soon after they'd moved into their home that there was a monster haunting the woods behind their neighborhood, but Fred, Daphne, and Velma had rushed to their aid to solve the mystery. Of course, it turned out in the end that it wasn't really a monster, just a recently disgraced realtor and his wife, but the gesture was a kind one, regardless. The gang had wanted Shaggy and Scooby to feel safe, to be safe. Scooby wanted the same for all his friends. He'd wanted it for Daphne a year ago, when a phantom had been after her during the school musical. He'd wanted it for Velma last month, when she'd been kidnapped by Leon. And he wanted it for Fred now. He gazed at the blond boy resolutely.
Fred gazed back. "You really want to do this?"
"Of course," Daphne repeated adamantly, clutching Fred's hand. Shaggy and Velma also nodded in agreement. Scooby just kept staring determinedly at Fred.
Fred swallowed. "All right then," he said, nodding once. "Call Holden, Daphne. Tell him we're coming to New York."
x.X.x
Later that night, after the gang had spoken to Holden and gotten ready for bed, Daphne lay awake in the mayor's guest room, staring at the dark ceiling above. Her head was still spinning from all the information they'd learned. Fred's secret past. Fred's secret parents. He couldn't truly be as okay as he appeared, could he?
His room was across the hall, and Shaggy and Scooby were in there with him. It might not hurt to check on him.
Daphne shifted quietly, glancing over her shoulder at the other bed in the guest room, to make sure Velma was still asleep.
Only, Velma wasn't in her bed.
Frowning, Daphne got up and examined the room. She didn't see Velma anywhere. Where had she gone? When had she snuck out of the room? How had Daphne not noticed? Maybe she'd gone to the bathroom – Daphne would find out after she checked on Fred. Quietly creeping out of the room, she padded across the hallway and eased open the door to Fred's room. She saw him sleeping soundly on his top bunk, as Shaggy and Scooby both snored lightly on the lower one.
A rush of affection flooded Daphne's heart as she watched Fred's chest rise and fall. She wanted so badly to crawl up there and snuggle up beside him, but she knew it was a bad idea with Scooby and Shaggy in the room – and with Fred's dad (not-dad?) right down the hall.
Besides, Daphne wanted to figure out where Velma had gone.
The door to the dark bathroom was wide open, so Daphne knew Velma wasn't in there. However, she noticed a soft light coming from downstairs, so she silently slipped down the hall towards the staircase. She found herself back in the den, which was also dark, but a sliver of light shone from underneath the door to the mayor's study. Daphne was pretty sure the mayor himself was asleep upstairs, so she gently creaked the door open.
She found Velma sitting in the mayor's desk chair with her phone pressed up to her ear. Her laptop was open in front of her, and she didn't seem to notice Daphne looking at her from the doorway. Her eyes were tight, and her mouth was pulled into a slight frown as she listened to whatever the person on the other end of the line was saying.
"I don't know, Marce," she murmured. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"
Ah. She was on the phone with Marcie Fleach, another friend of theirs. Marcie had had a crush on Velma for a while last year, but now they were just friends. It was a crush that Daphne suspected had been mutual, but Velma was in love with Shaggy, and Daphne knew that feeling was stronger than anything else.
But why were they talking in the middle of the night?
There was a pause as Marcie responded to Velma's query.
"I still don't know how comfortable I am with it," Velma told her.
Another pause. Daphne furrowed her brow quizzically. What are they talking about?
"Hmm. I guess that's better. Not much, though." Velma hesitated for a moment. "Okay. Will you call me after and let me know what happens?" She glanced up then and finally noticed Daphne staring inquisitively at her from the doorway. She held up a finger for her to wait. "Definitely. I'll tell the gang you said hello. Talk to you later."
She pressed the "end" button on the phone's screen and returned Daphne's gaze. "Marcie says hi."
"Hi back. Why's she calling you at one in the morning, and what's she doing that's making you uncomfortable?" Daphne cut right to the chase. There had been too many secrets lately – what with all the drama from the spring, and now the mayor's bombshell, Daphne was tired of it. She wanted everything out in the open between them now. Forever.
Velma sighed and beckoned for the redhead to join her in the office. Once Daphne was closer, Velma said in a whisper, "There's a second arraignment for Leon on Monday."
Daphne furrowed her brow. "Wait…second arraignment?"
Velma exhaled. "In a criminal trial," she explained. "The defendant is arraigned within twenty-four to forty-eight hours of his arrest. That's when the charges are first read before a judge, and the judge decides whether to set bail or not. That's what happened the night you all caught him in Fred's trap."
Daphne frowned. "I never learned what happened to him that night," she admitted. She hadn't wanted to know, and she certainly hadn't wanted to bring it up with Velma.
"I didn't know either," Velma replied. "But I guess Marcie's been following the proceedings. She told me that at his first arraignment they set bail way high after he pled 'not guilty.' His parents weren't able to raise the funds, so he's been in jail this whole time. But now there's been an appeal for a second arraignment – apparently Leon's lawyer thinks he can get the judge to let him go on house arrest pending his trial if he pleads 'no contest.'"
Daphne's brain was swimming. It was too late at night for this much information. Especially after everything they'd learned about Fred earlier. "Okay," she said finally. "So, Leon's second arraignment is on Monday. Why is Marcie calling you in the middle of the night to talk about it?"
Velma bit her lip. "She…wants to go," she admitted.
Daphne's heart twisted in her chest. No wonder Velma was uncomfortable – Leon was a dangerous, unhinged young man. His abduction of Velma in the spring had proven that. Daphne didn't want Marcie there either.
"That's a horrible idea," she murmured. "Why didn't you tell her no?"
Velma looked at her a little witheringly. "I'm not the boss of her, Daph," she informed her. "The best I could do was tell her how I felt about it. But she pointed out that he's going to be in custody, so he's not likely to try anything. And she told me that Tony and the band are going as well. She called them right before she called me." She exhaled. "You're right, though. I still don't like it."
Daphne sighed. The band, Heavy Meddle, was made up of Leon's former friends and college roommates, Priya Dandekar, Felix Barnwell, Julie St. James, and Joey Moretti, who was Tony's older brother. The band had been hired to play Coolsville High School's senior prom last month, which was how everyone had met. They were all good friends now.
"Well…I'm sure he won't make bail this time either," Daphne said, trying to sound reassuring – though she herself was doubtful. She bolstered her speech, taking on a comforting tone. "Besides, there's no way our parents would let us go on this road trip if they still thought we were in danger. Earlier tonight, Fred's dad – uh, the mayor, I mean – even said we were safe." Saying Fred's dad had been a reflex, but Daphne wasn't sure whether she should even think of the mayor as his dad anymore, after everything they'd learned tonight. She felt her cheeks flush a little pink, glad that Fred hadn't heard.
Velma's stomach twisted uneasily. They had much bigger problems to worry about than Leon. She needed to be a better friend to Fred right now. So, she sighed and glanced gratefully, but tiredly, back at Daphne. "I'm sure he's right," she murmured. "You go back to sleep. I'm going to stay up for a little longer. Do you think the mayor would mind if I stayed in here? I'm going to be reading and I don't want the light to disturb you."
Daphne shook her head. "I'm sure it's fine. See you in the morning." She turned to creep out of the office, and gently closed the door behind her. She tiptoed up the stairs and down the hall. When she arrived back in the guest room, she slipped under the covers to wait for Velma to return. But sleep claimed her first, and she drifted uneasily into slumber.
Sponge: Thanks for reading! Official clues will be coming every other week, so nothing specific tonight, but there will be one next week! Check back here next Wednesday at 10pm EST for the next chapter. In the meantime, review if you please and don't forget where the chapter title comes from!