Chapter 16
Marcie woke me up because she smelled pancakes in the air. Even though I was in an intermediate stage between deep sleep and wakefulness, I remembered her that we were at the Rogers' house, so no one would give us any food. Then, she decided to get up and buy her own pancakes at some coffee shop. As soon as she left, my stomach demanded pancakes too, so I texted Marcie my breakfast orders and hoped she would see my message in less than 24 hours. When I left the bedroom, the image of Shaggy stacking layers of pancakes with layers of bacon and eggs (and then covering everything with maple syrup, blueberries, and vanilla ice cream) made me lose my hunger.
Daphne: Good morning, Vel! Flim Flam has good news!
I approached Daphne with a wide smile, showing her that I was aware of what had happened between her and Fred last night, but she just ignored me.
Daphne: Flim Flam sent me a Missing Person report from Seoul Police Department, look at these results!
Daphne placed her cell phone in my hands, activated the translator, and enlarged the document, so that we could see it; Fred and the others approached too, since the letters were so small, I read the underlined parts aloud.
Velma: "In Seoul, about 420 people go missing anually, and all disappearances occur in the month of June…" (…) "The seasonal disappearances occur since the year of 1988, none of the victims was found again dead or alive, and there are no clues…"… Jinkies!
Daphne: Exactly. It's such a strange phenomenon that local police call it "the disappearance season".
Fred: What about those money transfers to Silmido? Miller said they occur once a year, always in May… since when? Does anyone have this information?
Shaggy: Like, Biggs only said "for more than thirty years", but he didn't mention exactly when it started…
Fred: We need to know the exact date of Liberty's first money transfer. If it's the same year that the disappearances started, we're on the right way. Can you find that information, Agent Rogers?
Shaggy: Like, surely, captain.
Shaggy typed quickly on his cell phone. And I faked a cough to get everyone's attention back to continue reading the report.
Velma: "The victims are all adults and they have different profiles, so it was impossible to trace a pattern. Consequently, it is equally impossible to identify potential future victims…" (…)
Daphne: "…the only kind of bond that exists between all victims are debts. All the missing ones were either bankrupt or in debt…"
Fred: That's what Velma concluded, and now we know she is right. I think it's ok to say that all 35 victims we found are a fraction of those 420 disappearances occurred in June 2020 in Seoul. Yeah, gang, Flim Flam is right, we'll only find the answers we need if we work with Interpol and Seoul police...
Fred´s words terrified Shaggy, so he grabbed my arm and buried his face in my shoulders.
Shaggy: Hey, gang! Like… WE ARE IN JUNE! FUCKING JUNE, and you want to go to Seoul, are you crazy? What if… what if… we disappear too?
Fred: Why are you scared? Do you owe Liberty something?
Sugie: No, but he owes me $200 and two milkshakes.
Shaggy: Hey, you live in my apartment free! Don't you try to charge me!
Sugie: Of course I will, you eat my food free!
Shaggy: Because you drink my beer free!
Sugie: And you use my internet free!
Fred: Ok, if neither of you owe Liberty some money, there's nothing to fear.
Daphne: Do we really know if all the victims were in debt with Liberty? I may have missed some information, but apparently only Cho Sang-woo and Alan Mayberry are debtors… the others have other kinds of debts…
Shaggy: Like, let me confirm... give me a few minutes...
Velma: Gang, if we find out that all victims were in debt with Liberty, then we can assume Alan is a survivor of June 2020´s disappearances… right?
Shaggy: Like, good idea, Velma. Then we will only need to interrogate this motherfucker and solve this mystery HERE!
Fred: In fact, if we do this, we will only clarify the mystery involving the disappearances and the deaths. We still need to understand about the millionaire money transfers in May, and put it all together with weird cards,a desert island and the VIPs…
Velma: Damn, thanks for reminding me that the clues we have don't make any sense and I hate this case!
Shaggy: Like, they still don't make a loooot of sense, Vel, but it seems like the direction of all the answers we need is Alan...
Velma: Thanks for reminding me, Shaggy. I think I discovered the bond with Mayberry this morning, while analysing the photos I took at Applegate Bank. Those names on the doors were very strange, so I assumed they were anagrams. Interestingly, "Alan Mayberry" is na anagram of one of the names, look!
I showed a photo on my cell phone screen, then I opened the anagram app to prove my theory. Everyone was surprised, and Fred took my cell phone from my hands to see the other photos.
Fred: So… can we assume that the other names are also anagrams?
Velma: Certainly. But we have no idea about the real names of the other VIPs, so we don´t know exactly what to look for…
Daphne: How about "Cho Sang-Woo"?
Shaggy: Like, or the names of the other victims that Flim Flam found at Ancestry!
Velma: Hmmm… I confess I hadn't thought about it, but it's a great idea. I will do it right now.
Shaggy: Like, I can help you while I look for the information we need about Liberty´s debtors… but we have to hurry, I only ate 12 pancakes, I will be hungry soon…
Daphne: In the meantime, I'll book our flight with dad's pilot… and also our stay at a good hotel in Seoul. Do you prefer to fly in a Dassault Falcon or in a Bombardier Global?
Fortunately, the questioning look on our faces was enough to make Daphne understand that none of us were multi-millionaire enough to own two private planes and know the difference between them, so she simply ignored her own question and started the process of booking the plane she preferred.
Shaggy: Like… I prefer planes that serve chips, Oreos and Coke, Daph…
Daphne: I'll remember that, Shags.
Shaggy was happy to answer the question in his own way, and I sighed when I imagined I would spend about fifteen hours listening to the sound of Shaggy chewing chips with his mouth open. Well, now I think I know which plane I prefer: the one with a big wall between me and Norville munching nonstop.
Fred: Okay, and I'm going to work on those cards. We need to be sure about the meaning of those numbers.
We didn't have time to work on our duties: Marcie arrived with many packages of food and asked us to clear the dining room table, so she could serve us the breakfast. The delicious smell coming from the packages restored my appetite immediately, but also brought Shaggy, Sugie, Amber, and Scooby Doo around the table. Scooby and Amber started their "give paw" tricks to get some of that food, and Shaggy and Sugie, despite not knowing any tricks, showed a very similar canine behavior. Marcie grimaced of indignation when she realized the Rogers siblings wanted to eat a bit of our meal, so Crystal smiled and left us to get more food. Marcie - very wisely- had eaten her pancakes at the cafeteria, and she was brilliantly strategic in putting a huge portion of bagels and cookies on the table to distract the Rogers while Fred and I gulped down our eggmuffins. Daphne rummaged through her fruit salad and read the nutrition facts of all yogurts, while arguing with her sister Dawn about the availability of her favorite plane. She didn't have time to choose which yogurt best suited her diet - because Shaggy drank all them -, so she just swallowed a few spoons of fruit while yelling elitist slurs like "Dawn, I hope you come back from Ibiza on a commercial flight".
As we finished, Marcie took the dirty dishes to the sink (̶s̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶o̶e̶s̶n̶´̶t̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶h̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶i̶s̶h̶e̶s̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶h̶o̶m̶e̶,̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶r̶s̶e̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶n̶´̶t̶ ̶d̶o̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶e̶l̶s̶e̶´̶s̶ ̶h̶o̶m̶e̶), then she curled up in an armchair to fiddle with her phone, and Sugie said goodbye in a hurry and left to college. Shaggy left the table to start his research, Fred did the same and migrated to the living room small table, so I had the entire dinner table. When the fight with Dawn ended — victoriously, with our trip to Seoul scheduled for the next day at 9 pm, and Dawn reassigned to a first class seat on a British Airways flight — Daphne sat next to me. I couldn´t do much since my concentration was interrupted every five minutes by the noise of her cell phone vibrating with calls from George and Nan Blake that were promptly declined. Suddenly, Alan Mayberry's face appeared on the screen and Daphne looked at me startled, waiting for my guidance on what she should do. I told her to accept the call, and she ran to one of the bedrooms to talk with him. Fred Jones immediately went into a sulk and sighed loudly while he slammed his fist on the table. Shaggy was startled by the noise, turned to me and asked my intervention. I sighed, saved my files on my computer, and approached the damn little table to comfort him.
Velma: I just want to remind you that there is nothing happening between you and Daphne and…
Fred: Excuse me, who are you to define what happens between us?
Velma: I am the person who would receive a lot of ecstatic messages from her if you both finally started a relationship, but since my phone is silent and Daphne is avoiding me, I think what I saw last night was only one more bullshit from you. And if it´s one more bullshit, your jealousy is abusive, sexist, obsessive, irrational, immoral and childish. Plus, there's nothing happening between her and Alan, which makes your jealousy pretty stupid too.
Fred sighed again and lowered his eyes, Shaggy looked at me indignantly, gesticulated to express that my intervention was inappropriate and whispered: "it´s not the help I asked for, Velma!". Then I sighed and tried to feel some empathy for the person who stole several mystery solutions from me.
Velma: Look Fred, I don't know what to tell you because there´s nothing to say about it. The only person who can say something and change everything is you. Instead of being jealous of stupid situations, why don't you say how you feel? Or at least try to do it? It's been ten years since high school, Fred... and everything is still so confusing between you... you argue with each other, then you sleep together, then you act like friends on the following day, then you feel jealous of her, then you argue again, then you sleep holding hands, then you act like friends again, you take care of each other, she does everything to be close to you… damn, it makes me crazy, don´t you think you should, at least, define this relationship? Or clarify how you feel about each other?
Daphne burst into the room and interrupted me making a silence signal with her index finger. Then, she turned on the speakerphone, and Shaggy had the brilliant idea of turning his cellphone voice recorder on.
Alan: …I'm relieved to know that FBI is taking care of everything. Now the monsters involved will be exposed and punished...
Daphne: How can you be relieved? FBI is lying about my dad and Steven, didn´t you see the news? The media is telling everyone the case is solved and my dad is the villain, but we both know that´s not true!
Alan: Do we know, Daphne? Because, seriously, I´m not sure… like I told you yesterday, thats how business works and the only thing that matters to the business owner is the maintenance of the power and the fortunes… so, I wouldn´t stick up for the old Applegate… for some billions, people could do heinous things...
Daphne: But not my dad!
Alan: Daphne, do you really know your father? For example, do you know where is he right now? What is he doing? C´mon, you barely talk with each other, he was not present in your life, you were raised by a butler and an army of nannies. I bet your dad doesn´t even know how old are you or your second name…
Daphne: I KNOW THE KIND OF PERSON MY DAD IS! We started this case to punish Liberty for its financial crimes, remember? Why did everything turn against them now? Dad wasn´t even aware of the money you stole, how can he be involved? How can you doubt about their innocence?
Alan: Oh, Daphne, don't be innocent, we both know there are plenty of Jeffrey Epsteins out there that will never be exposed and punished... I'm really sorry you found out in the worst way the money that buys your Chanel handbags comes from clandestine organs taken from people in debt…
Daphne: MY FATHER IS NOT LIKE JEFFREY EPSTEIN! WE BOTH KNOW LIBERTY IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL THE CRIMES, ALAN!
Daphne's scream startled us and made Alan stop talking. The brief pause allowed us to hear a noise similar to a click, and Fred immediately looked at us with concern.
Alan: Hey Daphne, calm down! I´m sorry for my words, I really didn't mean to...
Daphne: Oh, you didn't mean? How can you celebrate such injustice if you know you are the one who involved Blake Bank? You stole my father´s money and transferred it to Liberty!
Alan was silent and we could hear another click during the call. This time, the click was so obvious that Shaggy and Fred looked at each other. Fred immediately took a pen and scribbled: "be careful, the call is being tapped". Daphne looked at us scared, so Fred just wrote: "don't say anything about the case, let him talk".
Alan: I´ve made a mistake and I´ve already talked about it yesterday. But what about that money transfer to Silmido? It was done by a special code, something that only banks have access to… and we have two accused bankers here, don't you think that's a little suspicious?
Daphne: We also have a fintech´s CEO and half a dozen investors that Applegate calls "VIPs". Qualified people who would know how to make this transaction and have reasons to do so…
Fred squeezed one of Daphne's hands to make her stop talking, and then signalled her to end the call.
Daphne: I have to hang up, I need to talk to my dad's lawyers...
Daphne ended the call gruffly and didn´t say good-bye. Then, she started spouting her kindergarten curses at Alan Mayberry.
Velma: Jinkies, Alan is definitely not a victim. He seems to be pretty comfortable with the idea that Liberty, Blake Bank and Applegate Bank will be punished.
Shaggy: Pretty comfortable? Like, he was practically accusing Daphne's father to make her speak about the evidences… and, like, he was probably recording the conversation to show the FBI later…
Fred: I think it proves that Mayberry is one of the VIPs. After all, everything Steven Applegate told us about the media libel and the FBI is happening again…
Velma: And it proves defamation is the real reason of Alan´s lawsuit against Liberty.
Fred: Now we just need to find out who the other VIPs are…
Suddenly, my cell phone rang, indicating an unknown number. When I answered, a woman identified herself as an FBI forensics scientist and asked to meet with me at NYPD, so I could explain to her what I found at Liberty and give her the blood and DNA samples. I agreed and arranged our meeting for 2pm. I can't explain why, but at that moment, I had a strange feeling that something was wrong. Norville was nearby and overheard part of the conversation, so he opined.
Shaggy: Like, how bizarre… I thought they knew all the details… after all, the media is talking about it all the time…
That comment made me feel so suspicious that I googled the name of the agent to confirm if she was real. In fact, she existed and she had a brilliant career at FBI forensics department ̶(̶a̶l̶t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶t̶u̶d̶i̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶a̶ ̶m̶e̶d̶i̶o̶c̶r̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶l̶l̶e̶g̶e̶)̶... but, still, I could smell a rat.
Shaggy: Like, they published all this yesterday!
Shaggy showed us a series of headlines accusing Blake and Applegate, some of them mentioned the victims were South Koreans who were in debt to Liberty.
Shaggy: Like, the most bizarre part is that we´ve found out the victims were in debt yesterday night! Minutes ago, Daphne asked if all the victims owed Liberty, because we're not sure about yet either... so, how do they know?
Velma: Well, maybe Miller or some other forensics agent shared some of our discovers with FBI forensics agents…
Daphne: Or maybe the person who told them is the one that said: "I'm sorry the money that buys your Chanel handbags comes from clandestine organs taken from people in debt".
Immediately, Daphne took Shaggy´s cellphone and played the recorded conversation. Before we could say anything about that, Daphne's phone rang. Fortunately, it was not Alan, just the manager of the Waldorf Astoria confirming a reservation in one of the hotel´s best suites.
Daphne: I need to go, gang. Jenkins finally got me a suite, I really need a long bath and a soft bed to forget a bit about all these horrors… see you tonight?
Fred: No, wait! Daph… Velma… uh… has an… interview… with FBI after lunch… so… we could all have lunch together, how about that? Then we go to the department together, we can't leave Velma alone, it can be a trap… you, know, it's important that we stay together now…
Fred took her by the wrist and looked into her eyes, but Daphne just lowered her eyes in embarrassment. Shaggy doggishly accepted the invitation while I surreptitiously stomped on his foot as a signal that he shouldn't accept Fred's suggestion.
Velma: I'm sorry, but I already have plans. Marcie is going to her parents' house in Florida at 2 pm and I'd like to have lunch with her today.
Shaggy refused too and sulked like a 3 yo, and that made Daphne suspicious that something was on. She waited to hear his plausible excuse, but he couldn't find any - after all, we all know he wouldn't turn down free food even if his own mother's life depended on it –, so Daphne realized that was just a setup to make her have some time with Fred.
Daphne: Sorry, Fred, I'll have to decline… I'm not in a good moment… I need some rest to forget about everything…
The way Daphne looked at Fred showed that he was included inside the "everything" she said.
Fred: Wait, Daph! You can´t stay at this hotel! It's not safe to be alone now that the scandal is on the media, it's dangerous for you... you're a Blake too, have you forgotten?... I think it's better... for you... to stay here... or stay at my house with me... I mean, not exactly with me, just, you know, stay for the night… I mean, as friends… just as good friends… don't you think?
If I had never read one of Fred Jones´ compositions, I would feel secondhand embarrassment for his total inability of expressing his feelings. As I had the unfortunate experience of correcting his texts during high school, I just felt a familiar shame. Daphne just sighed and cosplayed her mom´s look of disdain.
Daphne: Fred, I appreciate your concern, but I can take care of myself. Furthermore, good friends don´t stay for the night.
Daphne stared at him in silence for a moment, and when she realized he won´t say anything, she let go of her wrist, walked to the door and left us. On the same moment, Crystal arrived with food and several trays of an unique, mysterious-flavored green ice cream, our childhood´s favorite. Shaggy forgot about the tense moment immediately and approached the trays with the same canine joy he had showed before. Marcie and I looked at each other and then we looked at Fred, who was still petrified.
Crystal: You won't believe what I have found near the Mc Donalds on Fulton St.! Fruitmeir! Was it your favorite too?
Shaggy: Like, it's still my favorite ice cream!
Velma: Any ice cream is your favorite, Shags…
Marcie: Including that digusting pieces of ice that were formed after a frozen can of beer exploded on the bottom of the fridge…
We all laughed except Fred, who refused the ice cream and had an incredulous expression on his face. Then, Shaggy went back to the computer to do his research, Fred returned to the living room table with the cards, and I shared the table with empty ice cream cartons that were annoyingly licked by Scooby Doo. Unfortunately, the noise Scooby was making wasn't the only thing that disturbed my concentration, my emotions were on edge due to the events of the last two days, so I couldn´t sustain my concentration for more than ten minutes. Fred didn't seem productive either, since he was staring at the wall with an afflicted expression that – I confess – made me feel sorry for him. The only one excited about the investigation was Norville.
Shaggy: Hey, gang! Like, listen: Liberty was founded in February 1988, the first money transfer to Silmido's accounts happened in May 1988, and that´s exaclty the year when the first mass disappearance happened. Applegate Bank accounts were only involved in this scheme recently. From 1988 to 2019, the money came from several suspicious accounts. Now I'm going to have dinner because I'm fucking hungry and in some minutes I'll make a video call with you to explain the other things I´ve found!
Shaggy didn't understand the final sentence he read until he finished reading the message on the screen, so he gave us an awkward smile to cloak that his "research", in fact, was a message from Flim Flam.
Velma: Wow, I didn't know NYPD agents researched at Discord using a Naruto avatar, good job, Shags…
My ironic comment pissed Norville off and made Fred laugh, and I felt a little relieved about that.
Shaggy: Hey, respect my Discord informers! Its safer than dealing with scary prisioners!
Fred: I respect a lot! After all, this information confirms our theory that the disappearances are related to Silmido money. And the fact that Applegate Bank accounts were only used in the past year suggests that the FBI operation against Applegate Bank was actually a setup to bankrupt Steven. And, consequently, the current operation against George Blake is also a setup. Well done, Shaggy!
Velma: Seems like Interpol´s Gen Z is managing to find some sense for our mystery, good job Shaggy!
I was interrupted by the noise of incoming messages on my cell phone, and when I checked, I saw it was Daphne. She said Blake family´s friends organized a dinner at the hotel to show solidarity with George and invited us to attend. The moment I accepted the invitation, I could feel Fred Jones craning his neck to read the message. Soon after, Marcie came up to me and reminded me that it was time to go, as our reservation was only until 12:15.
After lunch, Marcie and I returned home to finish her baggage. Inexplicably, Fred Jones offered to take Marcie to the airport, then take me to the meeting at NYPD – and I accepted, because he studied way less than I did and earns a lot more than I do just because he is a man, so I think it's fair to have him as my personal Uber sometimes. When I hugged Marcie in the boarding line, I felt a huge tightness in my chest choke me. I am not sentimental enough to cry at goodbyes, but when I said goodbye to Marcie, some tears ran down my cheeks. I couldn't explain logically neither what happened, nor the motivation for that feeling – Daphne would say it was my intuition -, but I felt something very bad during that goodbye. Marcie hugged me tightly too, then looked into my eyes.
Marcie: Gosh, Vel, I felt a tightness in my chest when I hugged you! I think my intuition is telling me that something bad will happen soon…
Velma: Of course something bad will happen soon: you will arrive at your parents' amusement park in Florida...
We both laughed at the joke, but the laughter wasn't enough to stop that strange feeling suffocating me.
Marcie: I´m talking seriously! Promise me we'll see each other in two weeks! And you will be very careful!
Velma: Only if you promise me to not ride those sexagenarian toys…
We laughed again and had a final tight hug before Marcie disappeared at the aisle that led to the plane. The undefined discomfort inside my chest increased, and I confess I felt a little afraid of the meaning of it. Although I don't believe such things, during my professional experience I've heard several reports of people who felt this kind of "bad feeling" before becoming victims of crimes, accidents or kidnappings, so I shuddered to imagine those feelings could be a bad omen about our trip to Seoul on the following day. Five days after that hug, I hated myself deeply for being so skeptical.
The way to department was pathetic and silent. I struggled to push that weird feeling into the denial side of my brain, and when I had some success, I repeated to myself as a mantra that bad omens don´t exist. During my personal conflict, I was interrupted several times by Fred's silly questions and comments, all of them mentioned "Daphne" somehow. It was his way to show me that he wanted to talk about her and about his feelings, but testosterone, toxic masculinity and his dad´s invisible figure telling him to stay strong kept holding him at denial. I confess that I was not very nice – after all, I was also struggling with my own prejudices, denials and demons – so I ignored all his attempts to talk about Daphne until Fred was objective.
Fred: If you want to talk about what happened at Agent Rogers' house…
I sighed and looked at him with some compassion, because I knew exactly how frustrating it was to feel deep things with the heart and deny all them to death with morals and rational principles.
Velma: Fred, she dumped you… you were dumped for the very first time, ok?… get over it… if mere mortals can handle it, you can do it too… please, don´t pretend it was a surprise, we both knew this would happen… you spent the last ten years showing confusing feelings, of course she would give up trying one day… I tol…
I squirmed to avoing saying "I told you so", because it would sound too insensitive even for Velma's standards of insensitivity, but he understood the underlying meaning of what I started to say.
Fred: She didn´t dump me… Daphne is having a hard time… when we solve this mystery everything will be fine…
Velma: That's right, ignore the problem and it will disappear, it's a great strategy...very rational too...
Fred: I know her for more than 20 years… she's not just my friend, she's part of my life... it has never happened before, of course this mystery is making her...
Velma: Don´t you think the real problem is: you know her for decades, she's part of your life, but you can barely tell her that she's not only a friend…? Because I know she is not only a friend to you. Nobody gets insanely jealous to see a "friend" kissing someone else… do you feel jealous to see Marcie kissing me? Do you feel jealous to see Crystal kissing Shaggy?
Fred went into "reflection mode" and he didn't say a word until the car stopped in front of the department. Shaggy was waiting for us alone and waved. The secretary informed us FBI forensics team was waiting for me on the fifth-floor´s meeting room. Before I could get into the elevator, one of the agents ran up to me, grabbed my arm, and stopped me.
Myers: Velma Dinkley?
Velma: Yes, it's me...
Myers: I´m agent Myers from Intelligence Department. Please come with me, Agent Miller is desperately looking for you…
Fred, Shaggy and I looked at each other and we followed Agent Myers into a = Intelligence Department room where Miller and other forensics agents were waiting for me.
Miller: Doctor Dinkley! Thank God I found you!
Velma: What happened, Miller?
Miller: The feds are desperately looking for our samples, they're interrogating all NYPD forensics agents as if they were terrorists. I didn´t want to hand them the samples before consulting you, or before you authorized me to do it, so I've brought everything we have and I´ll let you decide whether or not to give them the samples... I know they´re waiting for you upstairs, so I think you're the best person to expose our findings...
Miller took two stacks of paper out of a folder and handed me, then put two forensic briefcases on the table and pushed them towards me.
Fred: Are you saying that you didn't divulge any details of our operation at Liberty? Not even information about the victims?
Miller: No, captain...
Velma: Didn´t any forensics agent divulge any detail?
Miller: No, we all agreed that we shouldn´t do it before you and the captain tell us to do so… yesterday, you asked me a copy of all reports, didn't you, captain? That´s all I did…
Fred: Yeah… but… I… didn't… tell them… so many details… when I notified them… and the copy I asked… was… for Velma…
Fred stuttered as he realized we still had a grudge against him for what he had done. But evidences indicated his mistake was not responsible for the media scandal, so I had to prove our captain's innocence.
Velma: Fred, can I borrow your cell phone for a moment? Don't worry, I won't neither see the photos you have nor your filthy internet history...
Fred: I liked you better when you didn't have enough social skills to make jokes... this new Velma sucks...
As I went through Fred's cell phone, I saw the call to the FBI happened at 8:10 pm the night before, and I showed everyone the call record. Miller and Shaggy looked at my evidence tensely.
Miller: That's not possible! Are you sure your cell phone clock is right? FBI arrived at Liberty way before 8 o'clock and ordered us to end our operation, didn't Rogers?
Shaggy: Like, way before! At 7:53 I was already buying hamburgers for me and Scooby Doo…
Shaggy backed up what he said with a restaurant receipt.
Fred: The cell phone clock is right, because at 7:20 we arrived at Daphne's apartment and I remember looking at the car´s clock several times while you both were upstairs…
Myers: Hey, so how do they know so much?
Shaggy: Like, because the real criminals told them, Myers…
Miller: But who divulged the information, then? Who knows so much? And who has enough influence to do that?
Shaggy: Like, maybe the person who created this case and all the information we discovered at Liberty?
Velma: Yes, the person who wanted the case to become public, but not really solved. Someone rich enough to influence FBI and the media, and psychopathic enough to go to Daphne´s apartment to threaten us…
Fred: Yes, Alan Mayberry.
Thanks for reading! Thanks for your support and all the nice reviews!
I´m sorry for taking so much time to post new chapters, I had my ENEM tests on Nov. 13th and 20th and I couldn´t do anything but study a lot. Now that everything is over I will post more frequently.
I´m in the middle of chapter 17 right now, so I think tomorrow I will be able to post again.
