The following morning, Daphne is found curled up on the couch in the living room surrounded by various scraps of paper. She's still in her pajamas and, judging by her lack of urgency, she has most likely called into work.
Shaggy comes up behind her and holds out a steaming mug of coffee that she accepts gratefully.
"Anything?" He asks, taking a seat next to her.
Daphne huffs and shakes her head, dropping the paper she had been holding, "As of right now, only three things are known about this case and one of them we found out last night."
Shag picks up one of the papers on the couch, "And that is?"
"That Elmira is still alive." She says before blowing over her mug.
He nods in recognition, "Well I suppose that's as good a place to start as any."
Daphne sends him an inquisitive look.
He responds with a simple shrug before saying, "Best to try and sniff out a trail with the most recent piece of information."
She stares at him blankly for a second, absorbing what exactly it is he said, and then her eyes light up and she smiles, "Solid plan Rogers."
"Really?" He answers, tone shocked.
Daphne shrugs, resting her free hand on his knee, "It's better than us just sitting on the couch looking for clues among all the articles." She gestured to their surroundings.
Shag raised an eyebrow at her, "But, like, where exactly do we go based off of one recording that the whole town saw?"
At his words, Daphne gasps and leans closer towards him, violet eyes sparkling intensely, "Shags! You're a genius!"
"I don't even know what I just said." Shag says, leaning back in an attempt to avoid his wife staring into his soul.
"Whoever this guy is…he was able to hijack every TV in Coolsville, he was on every, single channel." She says, finally leaning back to take a gulp of her coffee. She winces and it's clear that it's still way too hot, "Now…how does one hijack every TV in a town?" Neither her nor Shag are particularly tech-savvy so to speak, that was a Velma thing. But now they were acting sans-Velma which meant they were going to need to get creative.
Shaggy breaks the pensive silence and says, "We could always go and talk to Red, he practically runs the broadcasting center. I'm sure he's gonna be looking into what happened last night anyway."
Once again, Daphne leans towards him with eyes aglow, "You're on fire today babe."
The previously mentioned Red was definitely surprised to see the couple entering the building and asking for his name at the front desk. He gets up from the bench he's been sitting on and walks over to the desk, "I'll take it from here Marlene thanks."
Shag and Daph turn to look at him with surprised expressions.
"Is there a reason the Rogers have decided to visit me in my place of work?" He says with a smirk while gesturing them to follow him.
"Like, it's good to see you too Red." Shag responds with a dash of sarcasm seasoning his tone.
Daphne sends him a glare before adding with a genuine voice, "Yeah how has Francine been?"
He nonchalantly waves his hand as he opens the door to his office, "Eh she's been doing great. Her gardening habit is finally paying off and now she pops up at nearly every farmer's market in the county." He flips on the light revealing wood paneled walls and plenty of filing cabinets. In front of his big, oak desk are two chairs. They both look significantly less comfortable than the plush office chair but Shag and Daph don't say anything as they take a seat.
"That's good to hear." Daphne says, smiling brightly. But Shag can tell that she's trying to not focus too hard on all the honey-colored wood on the walls. She can't stand wood paneling.
Red nods and reciprocates her grin before saying, "That enough small talk? Am I allowed to ask the question now?"
Shag rolls his eyes and Daphne nods encouragingly.
"Why are y'all visiting me here? We live less than a block away from you." He crosses his arms and leans back in his seat.
Daphne clears her throat, "Right. Well, I'm sure you know about what happened last night."
Red snorts, "Tell me about it! That stunt has the phones here going off constantly. I'm this close to disconnecting everything."
Daph sends him an apologetic look but Shag says bluntly, "Yeah that really is something…is there a chance that you know how one person would be able hijack every single TV in Coolsville at the same time?"
The man gave them an incredulous look before saying, "That might be the most asked question in Coolsville right now. Phones have been going off every five minutes and – " As if to further emphasize his point, the phone on his desk began to ring. All three of them stared at the phone, wide-eyed and wondering what to do. After a few seconds, the ringing stops so one can only assume that another person answered the line.
Red lets out a sigh of relief and quickly picks the receiver up and leaves it on the table. A soft dial tone emanates from it, they know they won't be interrupted again.
"And I've hardly had any time to look into it because I've been too damn busy explaining to every Tom, Dick, and Harry that this ain't the work of the Ruskies." Red finishes.
Shag raises an eyebrow and shares a look with Daphne, "Like it's always gotta come back to the Russians, doesn't it?"
Daphne sighed and shook her head, the chances of this being some sort of international attack were incredibly slim. Maybe a 5% chance that this could actually be the conclusion everyone is jumping to.
Red, sensing the couple's skepticism, leans back in his chair, "Seeing as any old moron can hijack broadcasting, I have major doubts that a group of Russian soldiers went outta their way to kidnap a random teenager from a small town in Louisiana of all places."
Daphne nodded in agreement, "That's why we're here Red… To find out how any old moron could hijack Coolsville's main broadcasting channel. No – every broadcasting channel."
Red bounces his gaze from Daphne to Shaggy, who nods in confirmation, "The rest of these panicked hicks I understand…but you two are pretty smart…. why do y'all need to know?" His tone is suspicious, "Is someone coming outta retirement? Reliving the good ol' days?"
The pair is silent for a moment, Daph biting her lip and Shag fidgeting with his hands.
Red had been a part of their class from grade school all the way up until graduation. All of that class was aware of the four meddling kids and their dog regularly leaving town to find trouble and ending up on the front page of newspapers. When Shag and Daph returned to Coolsville for good, all of their former peers could piece together that Rogers and Blake had retired. And were now married which definitely threw everyone for a loop (even more so than the retirement thing).
Finally, Shaggy ended the silence, "Our kids aren't safe – nobody's kids are safe Red. We can't just…just stand aside and watch." His words are firm and resolute.
It's clearly something that merits respect because Red straightens up in his seat and nods before saying, "Do the cops know?"
Shag sighed, "They'll have to find out eventually…"
"They always do." Daphne finished.
Red didn't say anything, instead he simply stared at the couple for a minute. Processing their question, their intentions, their reasoning. Eventually, he nods, "Far be it from me to get in the way of two concerned parents on a mission…"
"All we need is for you to answer our questions, you don't need to get involved beyond that." Daphne states in a comforting tone.
"Not that we were even asking you to." Shaggy adds and Daph sends him a glare.
Red smiles fondly, they had all practically grown up together and this moment the three of them were sharing almost felt like a journey into their past. For old time's sake, it wouldn't hurt to help them out.
"This is how it is in most towns nowadays," He starts, "If there's some sort of emergency or crisis that puts the entire town at risk, city hall is able to take over the signal of every radio and broadcast tower in the county."
The couple have inched in closer, taking in everything being said.
"Most people don't even know about it," Red continues, "On account'a the fact that Coolsville has never needed to use it. That's probably why it got everyone so spooked yesterday."
"Yeah, and I'm sure the fact that it was a dude in a creepy mask threatening to kidnap kids had nothing to do with it." Shaggy adds dryly.
Red gives him a look and Daphne shakes her head, "Ignore him. So, this emergency signal… thingy, any person would be able to get to it?"
"That's just the thing…the radio room is an extension of the mayor's office. Which probably has the most security in that whole building." The man relaxes into his chair.
Shaggy jumps in again, "Well sure but how tight is city hall's security to begin with? One? Maybe two guards armed with flashlights and rubber chickens?"
Daphne sighs but Red shakes his head, "Your husband makes a fair point…" He goes silent for a moment, his expression is pensive before he continues, "I suppose…if a person mapped out the building's layout and managed to avoid the guards, they'd be able to sneak in for a little bit."
"And how difficult is it to operate this emergency thing?" Daphne asks.
Red raises an eyebrow before deadpanning, "The mayor was able to figure it out."
The couple nods, not needing any further clarification.
"So, what have we learned?" Shag asks, leaning over Daphne's lap to open the glove compartment and grab something from their emergency car snack stash.
Daph bites her lip before saying, "Well we know that anyone could have gotten into the mayor's office."
Shag grabs a granola bar, "And we know this because we've been able to sneak into city hall like three times – and we were dumb teenagers when we did it."
Daphne flapped her hand dismissively, "Well obviously I couldn't tell Red that. Gossip spreads through this town faster than the flu."
Her husband smirks at her before opening the wrapper, "Right, we wouldn't want Coolsville finding out about our unconventional youths."
"But" Daphne continues, ignoring him, "We did also find out a crucial detail."
Shaggy took a bite out of the bar, sending her an inquisitive look.
"There needed to have been at least two culprits." She holds up two fingers, "One to sneak into the mayor's office and hijack the broadcast, and another to sit in front of the camera."
Swallowing, Shaggy's eyes went wide, "Two? Shit man… There's not a chance that one person pre-recorded that tape and played it?"
Daphne shook her head, "I mean, probably not. Red said that this was used for county-wide emergencies. That would mean that it's all live right? Like happening now?" She gave her husband an expectant look, waiting for his opinion on her reasoning.
He seemed to mull it over for a few seconds before finishing the granola and turning the key in the ignition, "And you said that I was on fire."
She smiles brightly at him before grabbing onto his hand and weaving their fingers together.
For anyone wondering, Red is a character from A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. I definitely live for Shag and Daph embracing this sort of small-town familiarity despite not fitting the cookie-cutter small townie mold like at all. Coolsville is a collection of weirdos, and they definitely have their own warped version of domestic normalcy. And I for sure have fun playing around with it.