Chapter 2
Due to Fred's tendency to hit 'snooze' up to ten times in a morning and the resulting annoyance caused by that, Daphne's phone was set to alarm five minutes before Fred's. This occurred at 5:55 AM, roughly 2 hours after Daphne had finally fallen asleep. The inside of her eyelids felt like sandpaper. Was it just her imagination, based on the new zero in her age, or was it much harder to function after two hours of sleep than it had been in her twenties? She dragged her feet into the bathroom and checked out her face. Her eyes were red, they had black circles under them, and – worst of all - the barest hint of the beginning of crow's feet at the corners. If the eyes are the mirror of the soul, then she was in for seven years of bad luck.
But then, she was Daphne Jones, the queen of the make-up counter at Newbury Department Store at the Cove Dwellers Mall. If anyone could salvage a face out of the carnage she saw before her, it was the queen. She finished her shower just as Fred was hitting 'snooze' for the second time and got down to work. Two snoozes later and he was knocking at the door asking when he could have a turn in the bathroom. Her response was to hand out his toilet kit with instructions that there were towels in the guest bath closet. She heard his grumbling as he shuffled out into the hall.
Everyone was supposed to arrive at Fred and Daphne's house at 7:00 AM to be ready for the 8:00 AM grand opening. The group was shelling out an extra $100 per month to have three separate VOIP telephone lines at the kitchen counter which could be accessed from any of the three phones that were now sitting there. The phones looked old-fashioned, probably because they were. They had tried to come up with a way to use their existing mobile phones for the purpose, but they ended up with two options: one where they rolled their calls into each other's phones (including personal calls) and the other where they shelled out over $5,000 plus $500 per month to all have double sim phones or two sets of phones, one for work and one for personal. They had decided on the cheapest option and the three VOIP lines would roll from one to the other and then to Fred's cell and then to Daphne's. With one of the gang always at the house to answer calls, this should make for no missed calls.
Velma arrived in front of the house at 6:50. Anxiety disorders make a person very predictable and usually early. She made the attempt to sit and wait until 7:00 which was nearly impossible with the mounting boredom of sitting in the car coupled with trying to stay awake with as little sleep as she had gotten the night before. She made it to 6:57 and got out of the car which put her at the side door off the gravel driveway at 6:58. They would have to deal with the two-minute intrusion into their privacy.
Or maybe they didn't. Repeated knocks finally brought a harried Daphne to the door at 7:02.
"Sorry Vel. Things are running a little behind here this morning."
Well, 'Vel' was a thing now. Velma had known Daphne for over two decades and her friend had never called her anything other than 'Velma' in all of that time until Shaggy, while they were recovering from a very emotional event, had referred to her as 'Vel' one time. She had decided at the time that it was something she would accept but she didn't expect it to be used so often. It still sounded funny, and she always caught herself waiting for the rest of her name.
"No problem. It's not raining."
Daphne responded to this with a huge yawn and then absent-mindedly patted Velma's head with her outstretched hand before returning it to her side at the end of the yawn.
This was surprising. Daphne knew that Velma, like most diminutive people, did not like being patted on the head. While realizing that the top of her head was within easy reach and that it seemed an obvious thing to do, it was annoying. In all honesty, Velma was not a huge fan of being touched at all. She considered that to be one of her various social and anxiety disorders with which she was having to come to grips in adulthood. The first time that she and Shaggy had tried to become romantically involved, her reticence to human touch had made their efforts at necking or snuggling awkward and his matching lack of experience in such things had made it all a debacle. That is until he had chosen Scooby over her which made everything else moot.
Of course, that had been in the second to last season of the show and it had all been captured by the cameras and broadcast for the world to see. Besides fueling unlimited humiliation, this had started the lengthy internet debates about her sexuality which eventually caused her to leave the gang. And, as if the public humiliation weren't enough, she had wondered enough about her own sexuality to float the idea of a physical relationship to Marcie just as an experiment. By so doing, she had found out that Marcie was completely straight but not given much opportunity with the opposite sex due to the lingering smell of hot dogs from her father's shop and her own personality issues. At the time, Velma had thought of matchmaking between her and Shaggy as the smell would be perfume to him. But the thought of him with another woman, especially one who she considered to be a close friend, was uncomfortable. She had ultimately come to grips with the fact that she just didn't like being touched.
But then, just a few weeks ago, ten years of psychological warfare waged against her mind by their previous employer had culminated in her almost losing everything. As she had descended into her own personal emotional and mental abyss, the only thing that kept her in contact with reality was the sense of Shaggy's arms wrapped around her. That and his voice were the lifelines which he had used to pull her back up. That memory and that sense of association between his touch and safety were what kept her able to lean into him instead of away and not shrug out from under when he put his arm around her shoulders. Both of those reactions were still a part of her, but now, so was he. It was confusing, but what wasn't?
None of which has anything to do with Daphne's surprising faux pas as regards the top of Velma's head.
As they stepped into the kitchen, Daphne was not crisply picking up her feet as she walked which was very unDaphne-like. Nan Blake, the matriarch of the Crystal Cove Blake Clan, would have definitely sighed had she seen it and possibly even dropped a 'tsk' or two. Daphne wordlessly pointed at the coffeemaker which was making its usual burping noises. There was definitely a dearth of mojo in Daphne's world. Velma made her way around the counter to the cabinet, pulled out a mug, and filled it.
As she took her first sip of the black coffee, Daphne touched her lightly on the shoulder, "What do you think of my face?"
From anyone else, this would be a startling question. But from Daphne, Velma knew immediately what she meant and turned her deductive reasoning on the face in question. There was a tiny droplet on Daphne's lower eyelash which was probably from an application of eyedrops. This meant that she had woken up with red eyes due to either crying or lack of sleep. The base which she normally applied sparingly on her face due to her naturally immaculate complexion was applied over the area below her eyes indicating that she was covering dark areas. This confirmed that the cause of the red eyes was lack of sleep rather than crying. That was good but more information was going to be needed to determine the reason for the lack of sleep. Finally, the make-up base was even heavier at the corners of her eyes which meant that the act of staring at her eyes due to the lack of sleep had made her cognizant of the tiny beginnings of crow's feet which were just starting in her eyes and she had self-consciously covered them up.
The end result of the analysis was that a normal woman would rate having Daphne's face this morning as one of the best days of her life. To Daphne, the face rated at death-warmed-over.
Velma delivered her results, "You didn't get much sleep. Me neither. Worried about the first day?"
Daphne stared into her own cup of coffee which included so much milk that it looked like cocoa but which she microwaved to nearly boiling hot, "Sure, we'll go with that."
Velma didn't actually speak reverse-woman-speak but she could understand it. So, she understood that any statement by Daphne which implied that she might not want to talk about something personal meant that she wanted to talk about something personal. And here they were, two female lifelong best friends standing alone in a kitchen with mugs of fresh hot coffee. This was exactly where two normal women with normal lives would sit down and share their personal problems and issues.
And that is when the talking dog knocked at the door.
"I got it." Fred came out of the bedroom and whizzed past on the way to the door, fully dressed but drying his hair with a towel.
The girls stood quietly as they heard pleasantries exchanged and then Fred headed back to the bedroom. Shaggy and Scooby entered the den/kitchen area. Velma stepped around the counter, walked up to Shaggy, got on her tiptoes and leaned her head back. He leaned down and they shared a pecky little kiss. After a few weeks, they were already at the pecky little kiss stage. But they had had nearly twenty years as a head start to this relationship.
That didn't stop Scooby from issuing his trademark giggle like he did every time he saw them sharing any type of affection.
Velma dropped back down on her heels, "Good morning, Scooby."
"Rood morning, Relma. Rhen are you moving in?"
There is a special kind of good-natured obnoxiousness that is shared between two guys that have been roommates for a long time. It exhibits itself in the one roommate believing he can say whatever he wants to the other roommate's girlfriend. But the operative phrase was good-natured, and Velma tried very hard to respond in kind.
"As soon as the bathtub isn't covered in dog fur."
Shaggy stepped in, "In all fairness, a lot of that is mine."
This all was much better than the previous time, a few years earlier, that Shaggy and Velma's relationship had gone romantic. That time, Scooby Doo had been a selfish jerk. But that was in the past.
Velma gave Shaggy a light punch to the arm in honor of his effort at a joke and walked back around to her coffee cup. Daphne was staring at hers with empty, exhausted eyes and likely had heard nothing of the exchange.
Fred came rushing back in carrying notes, "Morning, Vel. Thanks for checking those spreadsheets last night."
Yep. 'Vel' was definitely a thing.
"No problem, Fred."
Fred handed out copies, "Okay gang, our first office hours start at 8:00 which is 47 minutes from now. I took the hours that you all said you were available and made this table for when you needed to be here to cover the phones. You'll notice that for each time period, there is a primary and a back-up. That is in case the primary has a case assigned which requires field work, then the back-up will have to come in. I tried to give Shaggy morning shifts to minimize impact on the restaurant, Velma got Tuesday afternoons and Thursdays to work with her college schedule, and Daphne and I fill in around them. Our office hours are 8:00 through 5:00 Monday through Friday. After those hours, if you are here and the phone rings go ahead and answer it. Otherwise, it will roll through to my phone. That work for everybody?"
"Rwhat about me?" Scooby eyed Fred intently.
Fred was caught off guard by the question, "You? On phone duty? Well, Scoob, I sort of just thought that…"
"Rust kidding. No one can understand me on the relephone." Trademark giggle.
They all laughed along. No one mentioned that he couldn't pick up the phone well without thumbs. The fact that human-made items almost all required thumbs to operate was a sore spot with Scooby. He had tried to apply for 'reasonable accommodation' under ADA a couple of times, but no one considered being a dog as a disability. And that one was hard to argue. Most of the advantages to being a dog were pretty awesome.
Fred continued, "We are each going to take leads based on our talents. Daphne will handle missing persons due to her people skills. Shaggy will take insurance cases because of his experience working with the insurance companies for his restaurants. You speak the lingo.
"Reah, the ringo."
"And Scooby, you'll be taking client relations. Meetings, business development, and things like that since you are the only fully-licensed detective, the most recognizable of us, and you have the best people skills."
"Rhat's strangely ironic."
"I'll take working with lawyers since the rest of you said that you couldn't stand being around them. And Velma, for now, you will take point on any case which requires surveillance since you are the least recognizable of us."
This had been especially true before their last mystery as Velma had let her hair grow out of the page boy of the show days and it had been streaked with premature grey. Few people would recognize her and when she was recognized, people usually thought she was Lisa Carbanola, the actor that had portrayed her in the movies. But during the last mystery, she had been required to return to her old look for a day and Daphne had cut and dyed her hair. Now she was letting it grow back out which created an odd yarmulke-shaped grey-streaked area on top of her head with the rest being the brown color of the cheap dye which Daphne had used as it had now grown down to just below her shoulders. For the time being, she was pushing as much of her hair as she could up under a ballcap which she perpetually wore.
Fred was still speaking, "But guys, every job will potentially have field surveillance and you'll have to handle it yourselves. Velma only gets the ones that start out as field surveillance."
Velma nodded. That was fair enough.
Looking at his watch, Fred began speaking more quickly, "Guys, what we want when we answer the phone today is to set up a meeting at the client's home or office. That is what this piece of paper is for. Scooby is the only one that has to be at all of the meetings. So, when you set up a time, make sure and see what is already scheduled and to put plenty of time on the 'travel time' line. It's almost 8:00, so, Daphne will answer the calls unless she is tied up, then I'll get it. Followed by Velma and then Shaggy. I doubt that all four phones will be tied up at once but that is always a possibility. Everybody ready?"
Nods all around.
"Then let's see what happens."
And then, it was 8:00.
And then, it was 8:05.
And then, it was 8:10.
At 8:12, the phone rang. Daphne answered, "Scooby Doo Investigations." Pause. "No, thank you. We've got that handled." She hung up and shook her head, "hey were selling HR and accounting services."
At 8:19, the phone rang again and was someone trying to sell them advertising space on billboards.
At 8:25, the phone rang for the third time, "Scooby Doo Investigations." Pause. "It's Daphne Jones now but yes, that's me." Daphne started writing notes. "Yes ma'am. I got it. Where would you like to meet? Yes, I know where that is. Does 1:00 work for you? Good. Scooby Doo will meet you there at 2:00 and he'll be accompanied by the agent assigned to the case, Velma Dinkley. Yes, the real Velma Dinkley. Please remember that we have a $420 non-refundable fee to open the case. Okay. Yes, we can accept a check. Also remember to bring photographs of the object and any information about his schedule and habits that you can remember. Perfect. Thank you for the call and they'll see you then."
She carefully cradled the old-fashioned receiver and looked around the room, "We have a case."
"Yes!" It was Fred.
Velma glanced at Daphne's notes, "What type of case?"
"Surveillance. This woman wants us to follow her husband around and see if he is cheating on her."
Velma took this in, "She's paying, right?"
"She'll have the deposit check with her when you meet."
Velma nodded as everyone waited to see her reaction to tailing a straying husband. Velma looked around and raised her right hand, "Then somebody give this girl a high five!"
High fives and handshakes were shared. After which four more calls from salesmen came in before a call from an attorney's office in Riley asking if they could put the gang on retainer and use their name in the law office's advertising. Fred took the call and explained that they would be willing to discuss a monthly retainer to use their name in advertising but would also like to include a guaranteed minimum amount of hourly work they could expect. He set up a meeting for the following day with Scooby.
This was followed by seven consecutive sales calls before there was a knock at the door. All of their advertising had been clear that the address was for mailing only and that all meetings would be conducted at the client's location. Daphne got up and went to the door to find a young couple. Both wore wedding rings and the presumed husband had two black eyes, a long cut on his jaw, and severe bruising around his face. It all looked very fresh.
Daphne scanned all of this as she said, "Can I help you?"
The woman spoke, "We're here to see Scooby Doo Investigations?"
Daphne smiled, "I'm sorry but this address is for mail only. If you would like to set up a time and place, we can have someone meet you."
The wife spoke, "Our child has been kidnapped." The words were emotionless and her eyes were dry. Not only were they dry, they were not red and showed no sign that the woman had been crying. There were dark circles under her eyes, likely from lack of sleep. She was dressed well and her make-up was appropriately applied. Nothing seemed rushed or out of place.
Daphne made the decision, "Come in."
Scooby came up behind her, "Rease, have a seat." He gestured to the living room area of the small house.
The couple made their way to the sofa and sat side-by-side.
Daphne continued, "I am Daphne Jones and that's my husband, Fred. And this is, of course…"
The woman nodded, "We know who you are. We watched the show."
"Wait." It was Velma. "I know you from somewhere. We've met."
The woman looked down at the ground at her feet, "I wouldn't call it actually meeting…"
"The airport! You took a selfie with me."
Put in that context, everyone, except for Scooby, who had not been there, remembered. Velma agreeing to a selfie was unheard of and they had all been stunned when she had allowed it.
Velma kept going with her amazing memory, "You didn't give your name but…" she pointed at the husband, "you're name is Robbie. And your child is a daughter."
Robbie didn't respond.
The woman spoke in his stead, "Robbie can't answer you because his jaw was broken last night and its wired together until it can heal up some. My name is Amanda Black and our daughter's name is Elizabeth but she goes by Bettie. Robbie is, of course, short for Robert."
Daphne sat in Fred's chair, Fred stayed near the phones, Velma sat on the arm of Daphne's chair, Shaggy pulled over a bar stool from the counter, and Scooby sat on the floor.
Daphne still had her notepad and pen in hand, "You said that your daughter was kidnapped?"
"Yes. Last night."
Daphne was having trouble processing what she was seeing. The husband and wife sat next to each other but there was a stiffness and no effort by either to reach out for physical contact with the other. A pause prompted no further information. So, Daphne asked a follow-up.
"Where was she taken from?"
"Our home. We live in Danforth, which is just outside of Riley."
"I'm familiar with it." Danforth was a very posh suburb with minimum one-acre estate lots. All of the Blakes knew people from there by interactions at the country club and charity benefits. When the city of Riley had grown and tried to annex Danforth, the people had worked with their tiny Government to hire the best real estate legal team in the country and the attempted annexation had been quashed. Then, when Riley/Culver County had gone metro, the legal team had come back and guaranteed that Danforth would remain a separate governmental entity. They had their own police department, fire department, school system, and government.
Houses were large and expensive and taxes were steep and there was no land available for new construction. When someone wanted a new house, they had to bulldoze an old one. The average age of someone living there was nearly 40. These two seated on the sofa were in their mid to late twenties. Very unusual.
"How did you come to be living in Danforth?"
"My husband grew up there and he wanted our daughter to have the benefit of their school system."
Daphne nodded, "I knew a girl named 'Black' from Danforth. She was my age, Chastity Black. We did theater camps together in the summers. Any relation?"
Robbie's first response to anything since they arrived came in the form of a nod.
Amanda answered verbally, "That's Robbie's sister."
Daphne tried a smile, "Is she still a social activist?"
The smile was not returned, "Very much so." No further information was volunteered on the subject.
Daphne turned to Velma, "Velma, did you ever know Chastity Black?"
Velma shook her head, "No. I never ran with the Danforth crowd." She stopped talking before she said something about the social strata of the region which might be considered offensive by at least two people in the room.
Daphne got back to business, "You have reported the kidnapping to the Danforth Police?" Daphne saw Fred's eyeroll from the corner of her eye. The Blacks did not appear to have noticed. The high taxes of Danforth went to a lot of things, but a high-quality professional police force was not one of them. The salaries were below average and the facilities, vehicles, and equipment were years out of date. The average police to civilian ratio is considered to be 1:450. Or, for a town of Danforth's size (population 12,500) that would equate to 28 police officers. They had 11. And, due to the pay scale, they only attracted people who could not get work anywhere else for a variety of reasons. Since they did not have the facilities to solve crimes, their stated policy was to deter them. They did this by sanctioned profiling. The standing joke was that you would be asked to leave the city limits if you were caught DWNR, driving while not rich. The reality was that this was true. If you were driving in Danforth in a vehicle valued at less than $50,000, expect to be pulled over. Being basically built in a box canyon, there were just two parallel streets into and out of the city and no through roads. If a crime was committed, the on-duty police officers took there four old cars and blockaded those two streets.
"Yes, my husband reported it but, because of his jaw, they could not understand until the police officer arrived at our house. So, it was not officially reported until one hour and fifteen minutes after the event."
"Has your husband been able to describe the event?"
"Yes. He wrote it all down for the police." She pulled out a copy of a Danforth Police statement form and handed it over.
For the sake of the other members of the gang, Daphne read the scratchy handwriting aloud, "On Tuesday night, August 24th, I was home alone with my daughter, Elizabeth when, at about 8:00 PM, there was a knock at the door. I went to the door and opened it a crack to see three white males.
Descriptions as follows:
#1) Male. Caucasian. About 6 feet tall. Mid-Thirties. Brown hair. Brown eyes. Medium build. No noticeable tattoos or scars. Wearing a red t-shirt and blue jeans.
#2) Shorter – about 5'-9". Also Caucasian male. Mid-Thirties. Heavy set. Eye color unknown. White shirt. Not able to see any tattoos or scars.
#3) Standing a step down so height hard to determine. Also Caucasian male. Older – maybe forties. Medium build. Not able to see any tattoos or scars.
When I cracked the door, the lead man kicked it which hit me in the forehead and knocked me backwards to the ground. I tried to get to my feet, but they pushed through the door and started hitting me in the face and kicking me. Something very hard hit my forehead and I lost consciousness for a moment. When I regained consciousness, I could hear but could not make my eyes open or body move. During this time, I heard my daughter scream for me as they brought her through the foyer.
With the sound of my daughter's screaming, I forced myself to my knees but was hit again very hard in the jaw. This time, I lost consciousness for what seemed to be a longer period. When I awoke, the door was closed and I was alone in the house.
I called the police around 8:30 PM but, due to my jaw being broken, I was unable to make them understand anything more than my address. They arrived at around 9:15 PM."
Daphne stopped reading, looked around the room, and then turned back to Robbie and Amanda, "It took the police 45 minutes to get to your house?"
Velma interrupted, "Let me guess. Because your speech was slurred, they assumed you were drunk and gave you a low priority."
Oddly, Robbie touched the tip of his nose using the charades sign language.
Velma shook her head, "Welcome to Danforth."
Daphne resumed, "Did they block off the usual streets?"
"Yes, and they maintained the roadblocks until after midnight. Nothing."
Fred joined in, "If the kidnappers had headed out of Danforth immediately from your house, they would have been through those intersections in ten minutes. The roadblocks were essentially worthless."
Velma looked over, "Did I mention 'welcome to Danforth'?"
Daphne continued, "Did Danforth notify the FBI?"
"Yes. The FBI is monitoring and providing assistance but not actively involved."
"So, why did you come to us?"
"I don't think that the Danforth Police are up to finding my daughter."
"You answered that question in the singular." Daphne shifted her focus to Robbie, "Do you agree?"
Robbie shrugged.
Amanda translated his shrug as, "My husband believes that the authorities are best-equipped for a case like this and that your abilities might have been exaggerated by your television show. He is also worried about money."
Daphne nodded, "I understand. Honestly, if the FBI, the State Police, or even Metro Riley Police were actively involved, I would probably agree that further assistance was unnecessary. But with Danforth being on their own, I would recommend private assistance. If you are concerned about our credentials, we know of some excellent agencies in Riley who could help you."
Amanda fixed her gaze on Velma, "No. I have faith in you."
Velma was uncomfortable under the gaze and looked at the floor.
Daphne watched this odd interaction, "Okay then. I will be lead on your case. We will need a non-refundable deposit of $420 which will also cover the first four hours of my time. After the first four hours, we will be billed at $80 per hour per agent. If we need more than one agent on the case, we will let you know before they start. We will bill you every Friday and expect payment within one week. Since today is Thursday, your first bill will arrive a week from tomorrow and hopefully your case will be resolved and your daughter back in your arms by then."
Amanda pulled her gaze from Velma and back to Daphne. She looked as if she were about to say something but changed her mind, "That will be fine. We'll find the money somehow."
Daphne tilted her head slightly to one side, "Pardon my asking but most people who live in Danforth pay more in tips than we charge in fees. Do you two have financial problems?"
It was Amanda's turn to look at the ground, "Not problems as much as a very challenging financial plan. We moved to Danforth for the schools and, with both of us working and everything going perfectly, we would have been able to just break even."
"And everything did not go perfectly."
"It could have been worse. We both kept our jobs through Covid but we had planned on my husband continuing to have about 10 hours per week of overtime at time and a half. That dried up and it was only recently that I was able to pick up a second job to try and offset those losses. That is why I wasn't home when Bettie was taken."
"But you make efforts to hide your financial problems?"
"No. It's no secret. We almost had our electricity shut off a few weeks ago and the City put a big sign in our yard until we got the bills paid up. The whole neighborhood knows that we're struggling."
"How about friends or relatives? Do any of them believe that you are wealthier than you are?"
"I don't think so. Both of our parents have loaned us money in recent months and Robbie's sister knows our situation from family discussions."
"Do either of you know anyone who might interact with a criminal element?"
"The police asked about that since Robbie is in construction. But Robbie's company does residential replacement windows and sunrooms. His team has worked together for three years."
"We'll need those names as well as any other people who would know you well enough to know that one of you was alone with your daughter that night. We also need a photograph of your daughter along with any distinguishing marks or characteristics."
Amanda reached into her purse, pulled out a photograph, and handed it over, "I'll e-mail you the list of names after I get home. She has a scar along her hairline above her forehead from when I dropped her at the doctor's office."
"How old is the scar?"
"About two weeks old. They used butterfly bandages. It didn't require stitches. Do you take credit cards?"
"Yes, we do." Daphne stepped over to her purse and pulled out her telephone and credit card reading attachment and plugged them together. She took the card and scanned it. $420 changed accounts.
When the green banner scrolled across the screen of the phone to confirm the transaction, Daphne got back to the business at hand, "Will one of you be home in one hour?"
Amanda nodded, "Yes, we both will. We're taking off from work until Bettie is found."
"Good. I'll see you at your house in one hour."
Robbie stood and joined his wife as they headed out the front door. Fred looked out the window and wished that he had mowed the grass.
As soon as the couple had gotten into their car and driven away, Shaggy observed, "Like, did anyone notice that there was something off about those two?"
Fred agreed, "She didn't come off as a parent who had just had her child kidnapped. Neither of them did. And the two of them together had strange body language. Her voice had no emotion. She could just as easily be reading a recipe. It was all weird."
Velma's arm crossed in front of her chest and she slid down into the seat which had been vacated by Daphne, "Not everyone wears their emotions on the sleeves. People process emotions differently."
Daphne had noted Amanda's hands in her lap were clenched so tightly that they were white, "Yes, some people internalize their emotions until they have a complete meltdown."
Velma's arms crossed more tightly, "Yes. Some people do."
"So, what we just witnessed might be a clue in the kidnapping, or it might be an indicator of marital problems, or it might be that two people who internalize their emotions found each other and got married. It could also be any combination or something else entirely."
"Agreed."
Scooby was looking back and forth between Daphne and Velma, "Rood, you could cut the tension rith a knife for a minute."
Daphne gathered up her camera, small notepad that looked like something from a police television show, large notebook with the grid paper, tape measure, taser, and flashlight, put them all in her backpack, and headed out the door, "I need to put some gas in the car to get to Danforth and back. So, I'd better hit the road."
Fred yelled at her back, "Keep the receipt."
