"What's taking her so long? It's only a ten minute walk! I told her to be here at 11:00 today," Fred complained.
Fred was pacing back-and-forth in front of the front door. Daphne was leaning against the wall, watching him pace. She had always thought it was one of Fred's better qualities, how he was always so concerned when one of the gang was 5 minutes late.
Shaggy and Scooby were in the kitchen, trying to satisfy themselves with the food stocked in the Blake's pantry. Mr. Blake himself was in the library, reading, while Mrs. Blake was away, visiting her sister.
Daphne started to giggle watching Fred pace back-and-forth. "While you're waiting doing absolutely nothing to help the situation, I'm going to get the mail," she teased.
She opened the front door and walked outside to the mailbox to retrieve the mail. Daphne walked to the library where her dad was busy reading the morning paper. She walked over to the desk, sat down, and started sorting through the mail.
"Bills, bills, bills," Daphne mumbled, while flipping through the envelopes, "magazine, bills, magazine, bills." She stopped as she came to one addressed to Mysteries, Inc.
She opened the letter and started reading. She gasped as she read the letter. "Daddy," she said hesitantly, "you should read this," she said shakily getting up and walking towards him.
She handed it to him and he started reading. He finally finished reading it and handed it back to Daphne.
"Looks like you've just been handed your biggest case yet," he said solemnly. "Would you like me to contact the Darlews and put their case on hold?" he asked.
Daphne nodded and hurried out of the library to Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby.
The three were standing in the hallway before the front door. Fred was leaning against the wall, his head bowed down a little, deep in thought. Scooby and Shaggy were standing with him, finishing their ice-cream sandwiches. Fred looked up as he heard Daphne approach.
"What's wrong?" he asked. He began to worry when he saw the look on Daphne's face. She handed him the letter, and folded her arms, standing next to him.
He read the note, with Shaggy and Scooby reading over his shoulder. Fred's face turned paler every second his eyes were on the letter.
"Relma, ridrapped!" Scooby said, starting to whimper.
"L-l-like what do we do?" Shaggy asked, looking at Fred.
"We put our other case on hold and find Velma," he replied, the color slowly starting to return to his face.
"Already done," Daphne said, while wiping the few tears from her eyes.
"Okay," Fred said, unsure of what to now. He thought for a moment about where to start and then it came to him. "Was there anything left in the envelope?" Fred asked.
Daphne quickly ran back to the library, searching for the envelope. Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby followed after her. She picked up the envelope and looked inside. She noticed a small piece of paper, and picked it up. They all stared at the paper, trying to decipher what the clue meant:
A favorite place to run and hide.
"Like, what does that mean?" Shaggy asked.
"Reah," Scooby said.
There was a long pause. Then Daphne spoke up.
"I think I know what this means," she said confidently, then she quickly walked to the Mystery Machine.
"Uh, Daphne, where are we going?" Fred asked, climbing into the passenger seat, for the first time.
"You'll see," she said, starting the engine.
Velma opened her eyes. Nope, not a nightmare, Velma thought to herself sadly. She shivered from the cold wind that blew in from the small window.
Without notice, the door at the top of the stairs opened, with one of the men standing in the doorway. He started down the stairs toward her. Velma could barely tell that he was holding something, but she couldn't tell who he was.
He finally got close enough that she figured out that it was Redd. He carried with him a large glass of water, and a straw. He came closer and set the glass on the ground next to Velma.
"I can't kill you in front of the gang if you've already died from starvation, now can I" he snickered. "You get three bathroom breaks a day. Each a couple hours after your meals," he continued, while fixing some straws together to reach from the glass to her mouth. "Your meals will pretty much be something you can drink with a straw, because I certainly don't want to have to hand feed you."
He finished setting up his "invention" and then walked back up the stairs. Then, once the door closed, there was silence, again. Velma leaned against the wall, noticing that it was becoming more difficult to breathe. She started to think that maybe it was more than one rib that was out of place. She closed her eyes, and decided to sleep.
