Later that night, Daphne waited anxiously by the door to Fred's apartment. Eight o'clock ticked closer and closer, and yet neither Fred's new friend nor her new friend had shown up. Silently, she cursed herself for not getting the girl's home phone number, or even her name. Just as she was ready to give up and go sit down, there was a knock at the door. Taking a deep breath, she pulled it open.
The girl she had talked to at lunch was waiting on the small porch of Fred's apartment. In one arm, she carried an armful of books, and in the other she supported herself on a wooden crutch with leather straps that ran horizontally over her forearm.
Feeling a weight lift from her chest at the presence of her new friend, Daphen smiled broadly.
"I'm so glad to see you," Daphne said, smiling. The statement brought a smile to Velma's face as well. "Uh, come in, come in."
"Thank you," Velma muttered as Daphne stepped aside. Velma stepped inside, and made her way into the living room off to the right.
"I was worried you weren't going to come," Daphne admitted as she passed by Velma deeper into the living room. "Or you got lost or something."
"Why wouldn't I come?" Velma asked. She set the pile of books down on a nearby armchair, and then slid a bag of her shoulder.
"I don't know," Daphne shrugged. "I mean, I just didn't know if you were really interested or just being nice."
Just as Velma opened her mouth to answer, Fred walked in the room from a doorway on the other side of the room. His blonde hair was still wet from a shower.
"Oh Freddie. This is my friend..." Daphne trailed off, realizing she still hadn't learned the girl's name.
"Velma. Velma Dinkley," Velma finished, with a slight wave.
"Good to meet you Velma," Fred announced, crossing the room to offer a hand. He paused, as Velma's right hand was still holding the crutch. She shuffled it to her other hand and shook his.
"Feel free to make yourself at home. We're expecting, uh, two more. They should be here any second," Fred said, with a smile. "Daph, could you help me in the kitchen for a sec?"
Daphne nodded and followed him into the kitchen. He turned and dropped his voice.
"Who is she?"
"She's my friend," Daphne explained, crossing her arms. "You get to bring your friend, I get to bring mine. It's only fair."
"But... she's not going to get us into trouble is she?"
"No," Daphne waved it away. "No, no. I thought she could be helpful. She was the one who decrypted that letter we found. I thought maybe she could help us figure some more stuff out. Especially if your friend brings those documents."
"So..." Fred took a deep breath. "You trust her?"
Daphne considered for a moment, and then nodded.
"Well if you trust her, I trust her," Fred concluded. There was the sound of more knocking, and Fred led the pair back into the living room.
The tall lanky kid from the sit-in was waiting on the porch. Fred looked around for a second, trying to see the other person the kid was to have brought. But instead he just saw a...
"A Great Dane?" Fred asked in shock. "I... I thought you said you were bringing your friend Scooby-Doo?"
"Like dude this is Scooby-Doo! He's my best pal in the world," Shaggy announced.
"Rah, rah," the dog agreed.
Fred stared.
"Did he just... talk?"
"Oh, like yeah. He does that," Shaggy nodded. "So can we come in?"
Fred, still shocked, stepped back. The dog bounded in and jumped up on Fred, licking his face excitedly.
"Come on Scoob," Shaggy chuckled.
Scooby tilted his head, then gave Fred one more lick, before jumping down. He then turned to Daphne and repeated himself until Shaggy called him off. Velma had remained seated during it all, and Scooby appraoched her too, but, sensing her nervousness, allowed her to just scratch his ears instead.
"Alright. So if everyone is here, I think we can begin," Fred announced. "Just for the sake of, uh, you know introductions... I'm Fred."
"Daphne."
"Shaggy."
"Velma."
"And Rooby Doo!"
Daphne and Velma both laughed along with the guys at the dog's comment, but exchanged brow- raising glances nevertheless.
"Let's get down to business," Fred said, clapping his hands together. He took a seat next to Daphne on the couch. Shaggy sat in in armchair opposite Velma, and Scooby laid down at his feet. "Daph, will you please fill everyone in."
"Certainly. Alright, so the focus of our meeting is on the murder of Daniel 'Danny' Snyder. Twenty-one years old. Found at 9:24 pm on Sunday October 12th by Officer Dan Toole of the Coolsville Police Department," Daphne picked up a black and white photo and passed it to Velma. "He was found at the basin of the Coolsville River. He was wearing a University of Coolsville sweatshirt, a brown winter coat, and gray slacks. No shoes, no gloves, no hat, no scarf."
Velma passed the photo back to Daphne, who passed it to Fred, who passed it to Shaggy. Velma noticed the slightest of grimaces pass over his face as he looked at the photograph. Daphne reached into her bag and pulled out a map. She unfurled it and laid it flat on the coffee table in front of them.
"This x represents the spot where he was found."
"Where was he last seen?" Velma asked, leaning forward to view the map better.
"That we don't know," Daphne said. She pulled out her Public Speaing textbook and poured the papers inside onto the map. She picked up a piece of notebook paper and unfolded it. "We have confirmation that he was at Gregor's Restaurant in the early afternoon but only spotty testimony after that."
"Like, what did the coroner's report say?" Shaggy asked, averting his eyes from the additional photos and newspaper clippings Daphne had pulled out.
"They said his lips were blue from low oxygen and because he was found in water cause of death was determined to be drowning. However, additional observation also noted that there was no water found in the lungs."
"No water in the lungs does not necessarily mean they didn't drown," Fred added in response to the concerned looks from Shaggy and Velma. "Sometimes the larynx spasms and water can't get in, so they drown but there's no water in the lungs."
"The police then said that the death was an accident less than 24 hours after they pulled him out of the water," Daphne continued. "Parents barely had a chance to come claim him."
"So that implies that someone wanted to cover it up so they wouldn't look into the death further," Velma concluded. Fred and Daphne nodded.
"Who are the suspects?"
"There's several. Seventeen members of the football team, three coaches, three administrators, and the ten people who said they might have seen him the day he died," Fred listed.
"That's a lot of suspects," Velma stated. "Aren't you supposed to narrow it down?"
"We tried. But no one will talk to us about it, so we had to keep the list broad," Daphne said. "That's what we were hoping you guys could help us with. We've got a list of the clues and connections we've found. Maybe you guys could see something we haven't seen."
Daphne handed out typed lists of the clues, each with their own number and letter, that connected to labels Daphne had applied to the papers and cuttings spread out on the table. Velma pulled a handful of pencils out of her bag and passed them down to the others.
The team sat, jotting notes on their respective papers. Occasionally, one would lean in towards the table and pick something up, or adjust their view.
Velma picked up one labeled C5. On the paper, C5 was described as "a plain piece of paper in an envelope left at the resturant by the victim." She carefully lifted the paper out of the envelope and unfolded it.
The paper was wrinkled, like it had gotten wet, but the envelope was not. This struck Velma as odd. How could the letter have gotten wet, but the envelope stay dry? She ran her fingers over the letter. She couldn't feel any rips, holes, or ridges that implied writing that had been erased.
Then she smelled it.
She sniffed again. Lifting the paper up to her face, she smelled the letter. Lemons.
"Does anyone have a lighter?"
Everyone else looked up.
"Why do you need a lighter?" Fred asked, confused.
"Well, probably not a lighter. A hairdryer, or an iron. Something that makes heat."
"Why? What did you find?" Daphne asked, scooting closer down the couch to observe the letter as Fred got up to get an iron.
Velma breathed hot air over the letter. Faint letters showed up on the top left hand corner.
"Invisible ink," Velma stated. "Lemon juice."
Fred returned a moment later with an iron. He plugged it in to an outlet on a close wall. Velma handed over the letter. They waited quietly for a moment as the iron heated up. When the small light on top lit up, Fred gently pressed the iron over the letter. They all waited with bated breath as he lifted up the iron.
Dear Danny,
I'm sorry to have to write you like this. You know I was never as good with codes as you, and they read all our mail. I don't want them to think I'm a spy! I had to convince them that the last letter from you was written in Greek. They bought it, but I still had to sneak this into a parcel to get it to you safely. Soon we won't need letters. Soon we will be together always. I cannot way until that day.
Until we meet again,
Sarah
"It's a letter. A response to the other one," Daphne murmured. She pulled out the envelope Velma had returned to her earlier.
"Like, who is Sarah?" Shaggy asked.
"Don't know," Fred said. "Something to look into. Unlikely that she's a student here, but we should look into it."
"Clearly they tried to hide their romance," Daphne stated. "Given the circumstances, that's suspicious. And Shaggy, you knew him best, so if you don't know who Sarah is, then we've got a lot to look into."
"I'll try to figure out if it's anyone we knew in high school," Shaggy asked. "And like, since we're on the subject, I think it's a good time to talk about yesterday."
Scooby plunged his nose into a Shaggy's backpack. There was the sound of sniffing, before Scooby pulled out a folder with his mouth. Shaggy took it from him.
"So these are what my friend Dave got from the office yesterday," he said, passing the folder around. "He didn't have time to find anything specific, but he managed to grab this."
Fred opened the folder and pulled out a stack of papers. He pulled a small pile off the top and passed it down.
"I, like, haven't had the chance to read through them yet."
Silence fell as Fred, Daphne, and Velma flipped through pages from the folder.
"What exactly are we looking for?" Velma asked as she scanned pages.
"Well, like, I saw Danny in September and he said that he had been in talks with some recruiters. Mostly from Cleveland, but also with some teams out in California. He was really excited about it," Shaggy explained. "But then a few weeks later, I heard a few football players talking about him going to Atlanta. When I saw Danny again just before he died, he was still talking about Cleveland."
"I see," Velma nodded.
There was more silence while they flipped through more information.
"I've got nothing that looks like a football contract."
"Me neither."
"Me neither."
Shaggy nodded. Fred collected up the papers and replaced them in the folder. He handed them back to Shaggy, who handed them off to Scooby.
"Sorry, man," Fred said apologetically.
"Like, should we go back? Maybe it's not in his folder but in another?" Shaggy offered.
"We could," Fred suggested. He ran a hand through his hair as he thought. "It's after 9. I bet there's no one there right now. We should go."
Immediately, every other member of the group expressed protest.
"Like dude I've got math homework..."
"I need to pick a subject for my paper..."
"My parents are expecting me home by 10..."
"Come on, gang," Fred said, jumping to his feet. "We've got a lead. Two leads. We've got to go."
"You know what, Fred," Daphne started. She stood and placed a hand on his arm. "This was a good start. Maybe we should stop here. For tonight at least. Then we could come back together tomorrow, and pick up from there."
"I can't do tomorrow," Fred muttered. "Friday nights are always longer practices and then meetings. And the game is all day Saturday."
"Well, we'll get together then. Go over a couple things, and come back together on Saturday night then," Daphne concluded. "That good with you guys?"
Velma and Shaggy both nodded. Scooby, who had so far hung out quietly under Shaggy's chair, perked up.
"Okay. Then we'll break for the night, maybe meet tomorrow, and definitely come back together on Saturday."
There was a mutter of agreement, and shuffling as they put the clues back on the table and pulled their stuff together. Daphne laid a reassuring hand on Fred's back.
"Like, by the way, if we ever need to go anywhere together, I can bring over my van. We'll all fit inside. It's like huge man."
"Groovy. Good to know," Fred said, though his tone did not imply it was groovy at all. Daphne slipped an arm around his waist, and squeezed him close to her. He cracked the smallest hint of a smile.
"I just worry that we're going to risk losing evidence if we don't do something tonight," Fred muttered as he and Daphne waved at their new friends rereating backs.
"I think we'll be fine," Daphne hugged him again. "Something tells me we're going to do good things together. Don't you worry."
