Chapter 3: A meeting at the cafe and a surprise

November 17, 1888

It has been four months since Daphne had returned to Coolsville and saw Shaggy and Scooby at Miles Alley. In the months since their first encounter in more than five years, Daphne had dropped by to help Shaggy and Scooby with their cases at times.

Working out of the Fearless Samsworth Detective Agency, Shaggy and Scooby spent much of their days biking around the city to clear their minds, often ending up at a crime scene and pick up a case from the sheriff's investigators investigating the crime. During days where they were working on cases, they will spend much of the day at their office to examine the collected evidence at the crime scene and doing interviews with witnesses. On days where they managed to crack the case and find out who the culprit is and then set off to have the sheriff or his deputies arrest the person responsible.

The sheriff, Sheriff Gillian F. Hill, had quite a dislike of Shaggy and Scooby, as the duo often ending up doing his deputies' jobs and get the publicity for solving crimes. In fact, he had gone so far as to referring to the Fearless Samsworth Detective Agency as the "Meddling Detective Agency." Often when Shaggy and Scooby arrive at a crime scene, they will end up clashing with some of his deputies or Hill himself for interfering with "police business".

In the meantime, Shaggy had tried his luck in finding a date, but most of his dates often ended with breakups, simply because either his or the girls parents disapprove of their relationship or their relationship didn't work out. His most recent date was a young lady named Googie Borden, who he had met during his army service at a Texas fort. Their relationship didn't last long, as Shaggy was shortly transferred to the reserves based in Fort Glensburg and Shaggy felt that their relationship was forced, as she happened to be the daughter of his then-commanding officer.

Meanwhile, Daphne has tried her luck in dating men, most of whom were from prominently rich families. However, she wasn't fond of any of the men she had dated, as many of them were either playboys (Which she has a dislike of) or simply only cared about money and work. Her parents had tried to arrange some dates with those young men's parents, but those dates often ended in breakups.

As a matter a fact, the reason behind that many breakups had nothing to do with Daphne's dislike of the men she was dating. Rather, the reason was that none of the men she had dated were as nice as Fred. Had Fred managed to survive the shooting, they would've been married. Similarly, Shaggy felt that none of the girls he had dated were like Velma, which serves as a reason as to why his relationships never lasted long.

That afternoon, Shaggy had took Scooby out for a walk. Dressed in his usual brown suit with a green loose tie and a dark brown bowler hat, he made his way down the streets of Coolsville.

As the duo walked by a small cafe, they ran into Daphne, who was getting off her cab and was about to enter the cafe.

"Hey, Daph." Shaggy said.

"Oh, hi Shaggy, Scooby." Daphne replied. "What brings you guys here?"

"Like, I was bringing Scoob out for a walk and we happened to walk by."

"I see. Do you want to hang out in the cafe with me?"

"Like, sounds like a swell idea, eh Scoob?"

"Reah, rood ridea!" (Yeah, good idea!) Scooby replied.

Soon, the trio made their way into the cafe, where they promptly ordered some coffee and a slice of cake each.

"Jeepers, you guys haven't been eating as much as you used to lately." Daphne remarked after Shaggy and Scooby took their orders.

"Yeah. I haven't really been noticing it but a few months ago, I happened to be having dinner at home, sitting right in front of a photo of me and Scoob having breakfast years ago, and I was surprised by the amount of food Scoob and I used to eat almost everyday."

Daphne nodded. "Can you explain the lost of appetite all in a sudden?"

"I think Fred and Velma's passing's may had an effect on Scoob and my appetites." Shaggy explained as Scooby nodded.

The trio were silent after that remark until Daphne decided to talk about something else.

"So Shaggy, have you find any dates yet?"

"Like, yeah. However, most of those dates didn't last really long. Many of those girls I've met were either too forced in our relationship or our parents didn't approve of our relationship. The thing is, none of them are as understanding as Velma is."

"Sorry to hear that." Daphne said. "Same here. None of the men I've met were as much of a gentleman as Fred."

"Like, I guess that means we have the same problems, Daph."

Daphne nodded. While her relationship with Shaggy wasn't as close as her relationship with Fred during their times in the gang, she and Shaggy remained close friends. As a matter a fact, Shaggy was the one that introduced her to Fred when Mystery Inc. was formed, and Shaggy was the one who understood her feelings well, sometimes even better than Fred or Velma. In addition, excluding Shaggy, there is no one in the gang who is as close to Scooby-Doo as Daphne.

After finishing with their snack and paying the bill, Shaggy and Scooby started to discuss with Daphne some of the cases they had worked on.

In one of the cases they had worked on, a trio of theater actors were found dead after apparently breaking some superstition beliefs (Such as walking under a ladder or breaking a mirror). The sheriff's investigators concluded that those deaths were accidental, but Shaggy and Scooby proved them wrong by piecing the clues together and catching the murderer, a play writer who wanted to retain the rights of the play the actors were about to perform in (See The Superstition Murders! from Batman Issue #8, first published in the winter of 1941).

In another case, a man was found dead in a room with a broken glass window and a bloody brick by the side. Shaggy and Scooby managed to figure out that the man was strangled and that the bloody brick was used to divert suspicion. They later caught the real killer who turned out to be his business partner, who wanted to take over his business and claim the compensation money stipulated in their clause of working together. (Similar case with my FictionPress story The Case of the Broken Glass, to be written.)

Soon, the trio decided to head home. As Shaggy stood up and put on his bowler hat, Daphne asked, "Shaggy, will you mind escorting me to my place with Scooby?"

"Like, not a problem, Daph." Shaggy replied. "What do you say, Scoob?"

"Rot ra roblem, Raggy!" (Not a problem, Shaggy!) Scooby replied excitingly.

Soon, Shaggy and Daphne made their way to Daphne's mansion with their arms linked as Scooby followed.

After walking for several minutes, they got to Daphne's mansion. Before entering, Daphne turned to Shaggy. "Well Shaggy, Scooby, thanks for the escort."

"Like, at your service, my lady." Shaggy replied, sounding formal.

"Well, I better get going now. See you guys around!" Daphne added before giving Shaggy a kiss in the cheek, causing him to blush slightly.

"Yeah. See you, Daph." Shaggy replied with his cheeks almost as red as Daphne's hair.

Midnight at the Docklands

As the city sleeps for the night, a man had exited an all-night bar heading home.

The man turned at a small intersection, entering a dark alley. As he made his way through the dimly-lighted alleyway, he saw a woman laying face-down and flat on the ground.

"Miss, are you alright?" The man asked as he approaches the woman. There was no response.

"Miss?" The man asked again. Still, there was no response.

The man leaned down and attempted to turn the woman around to see if she was all right, but as he did so, he felt something wet on her dress.

Removing his hand for a moment, he noticed that it was blood.

He then looked at the woman. Her face was pale-white, she had knife marks on her chest and she was wearing glasses.

"Good Lord!" The man exclaimed when he realized that the woman was dead. He quickly raced towards the nearby sheriff's station house to alert the deputies of the discovery.

I sure wonder what was that? Please read and review!