Shaggy flipped pancake into the air and caught it in the skillet, one hand behind his back. Scooby jumped back and forth across the kitchen floor, impatiently waiting for him to drop one.
"Wow, I don't remember the last time I slept in until eleven," Fred said as he plugged in the coffee pot. "Feels good, eh gang?"
There was a murmur of agreement from everyone except Daphne.
At some point during the night, she decided to just stop trying to sleep. There was no point in watching Danny die again and again. Every time the movie started over in her head, she would try to get close enough to see the figure, but it didn't happen. So here she was now, trying not to fall asleep at the kitchen table.
"Are you okay, Daphne?" Velma asked quietly as Fred poured them cups of coffee.
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Daphne lied. "Are you okay? You know, from when I fell on top of you."
"Yes, I'm fine. Apparently falling and being fallen on feel the same way the next day," Velma said, with a small smile, which faded when she saw the look on Daphne's face. "I'm fine. Really. I was just kidding."
Daphne nodded, and sipped the coffee gratefully.
"So, like should we go down to the river?" Shaggy asked as he slid pancakes onto the plates Fred got down from the cupboard.
"Sure," Velma said. "I'm not sure how much we'll find since it's been two weeks since he died, but it's worth a shot."
"Like, we should eat first though."
"Agreed," Fred said as his stomach growled loudly.
Everyone but Daphne laughed. Daphne sighed heavily, and began to eat her own pancakes. Her head hurt and she just wanted to go back to sleep.
Sensing that something was wrong, Velma reached under the table and took Daphne's hand. She squeezed it for a moment, and then let go to resume eating her pancakes. Daphne's heart swelled at this tiny gesture of caring, but her head was throbbing too much to linger on it.
If Velma, Fred, and Daphne were being perfectly honest with themselves, they would not be caught dead in Shaggy's van.
It was a 1964 paneled van painted a bright blue. A green stripe ran down both sides, and Shaggy had taken it upon himself to adorn the stripe with orange flowers.
"Like, my dad gave me money when I graduated high school to buy a car. He wasn't exactly impressed with my choice, but like I didn't care."
The other three kids nodded suspiciously.
"Well, come one. Like, we gotta go," Shaggy motioned them to get into the van.
"We don't have to go now," Daphne said as she walked a circle around the van, eyeing it closely. "The vigil isn't until 7, so we've got a little time. You know, it's a nice day. Maybe we could walk."
"Like, come on guys. It's already two. We've gotta go now so we still have time to visit Casem Hall. So, like hop in," Shaggy tossed the keys to Fred. "Like you drive man. See how she handles."
Fred exchanged looks with Velma and Daphne. Daphne gave him a push towards the driver's seat. Fred gulped, and walked to the other side. He climbed up into the driver's seat. Daphne climbed up next to him. Shaggy slid the back door open, and Scooby leapt onto the seat.
"Like sorry buddy, but you've gotta go in the very back."
Scooby whined, but jumped over into the empty back space anyways. Shaggy stepped back to let Velma in, but she motioned for him to get in first. He shrugged, and climbed in. Velma slid her crutch under the seat, and took a deep breath. She gripped the back of the bench seat with one hand and the side of the doorframe firmly, and lifted her right leg into push herself up. With one heave, she pulled herself up and into the seat, and grabbed the door to pull it shut. It shut with a slam so hard the gang was sure they heard the glass wobble in the windows.
"Like, maybe don't push it that hard next time, okay Superman?" Shaggy said. He tapped the roof of the van. "I'm not sure she's not strong enough to handle what you can throw at her."
Velma nodded, blushing slightly.
They drove for about twenty minutes before they reached the basin of the Coolsville River. It was at least a mile off campus, which made them all wonder even more how Danny Snyder ended up all the way out here.
Fred squinted in the sun as he hopped down out of the driver's seat. He crossed around the van to pull open the door for Daphne, and then pulled the back door open. Velma slid down, followed by Shaggy and Scooby.
Daphne stretched for a moment, taking in the warmth of the sun (one thing the van did not have was a working heater). She took in a deep cold breath which chilled her deep into her lungs, but distracted her from the pain in her head. She looked over the scene.
There was a sign in front of them that read Coolsville River, basin, along with a few smaller warning signs. Beside it was a stone bench, and just a bit farther were a few picnic tables and a metal grill. A sign slightly beyond that read Please do not stand on the tables, with a Coolsville Ordinance reference written just below it.
"What would you say, about thirty yards across?" Fred estimated, one hand raised to shield his arms.
"Like just about. Up along here, it's about two feet max, but back there," Shaggy pointed to a bank to their left. "It's deeper. Maybe three or four feet."
"Where was he found, exactly?" Daphne asked. She hung back with Velma, far from the waters' edge, as the boys went closer to observe.
"Like up here, I think," Shaggy went closer to a large boulder. He scrambled up it and peered out over the water. "I see a branch thing. Like he might have gotten caught on that and went under."
Then, without warning, Shaggy leapt off the boulder onto the ground, and plunged into the water. All three of the others yelled various warnings abou currents and the wind chill. Scooby, loyal to a tee, ran in after him,but as soon as he touched the water, he ran back out whimpering loudly.
"Like, I found something," Shaggy called. The rest of the gang watched as he tugged at a large waterlogged dead tree. Scooby tried to run again to help him, but didn't make it any farther the second time.
"What did you find?" Fred called, cupping his hands around his mouth.
"Like hold on," Shaggy called back.
With one last tug, he tore off a branch of the tree and carried it back to the bank.
"What exactly are we supposed to be looking at?" Daphne asked as Shaggy threw the branch down in front of them.
"Like look at the way those twigs are ripped off. This branch was on the north side of the tree, but the twigs were ripped off from the south. Same as the current."
"Which means?"
"It means that Danny gripped onto it as he was carried downstream," Velma concluded. "He was still alive when he went in the water."
"Let's check down here," Fred said, leading them farther down the river.
Scooby darted off in front of them to bark at a squirrel in a tree nearby.
"Like be careful," Shaggy warned. "There's a lot of mud."
The rest of the gang took heed of his warning, and slowed so as not to slip.
"I bet he was pulled out up here," Daphne said, pointing to a narrowing of the river where the bank jutted out into the water. "It looks pretty deep, and if the current was strong enough it could have held him under until he died. Then the bank stopped his body from going further downstream."
"I would agree," Fred said. He kicked the dirt at his feet. "Little holes. Probably for the stakes the cops used to hang up the crime scene tape."
"So this explains where he died and where he was found," Daphne said, tapping a forefinger against her chin. "But it doesn't explain where he went in."
"Let's go back. Because we can assume that he fell in upriver because we have evidence that he was pulled downriver," Fred said, taking the lead back up the bank towards the van. "So it might have been somewhere up here."
Fred and Shaggy broke off near the boulder, trying to judge where the drop off was. Daphne and Velma, trying to keep their distance from the river, made their way back up towards the stone bench and the sign. Daphne took a seat on the bench. Velma was on her way to the other side of the bench when her foot slipped on patch of mud and she hit the ground hard.
"Jeepers!" Daphne exclaimed, leaping up to help her friend up. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, yes. You don't have to ask that every time something happens," Velma muttered. "It's just mud. Maybe a bruise. I'm fine. This is nothing new."
Velma handed Daphne her crutch. Daphne set it up against the bench, and moved in closer, offering a hand. Velma waved it away, instead opting to grip onto the side of the bench to push off of. She tried twice to no avail, the bottoms of her shoes too slippery to gain any traction. It didn't help that her bad leg had gotten caught under her and made it very difficult to get a good foothold.
"Whoa, what happened?" Shaggy called as he, Fred, and Scooby jogged over to the girls.
"I just... slipped," Velma grunted. She managed so slide her right leg under her and push off so she could get into the bench. She sat back for a moment, her arm resting on the back ledge of the bench. She breathed hard.
"My God. Are you okay?" Fred asked as they arrived at the bench. Fred came around to Velma's side, careful not to meet the same fate with the mud.
"YES I'm fine," Velma snapped. "I just slipped. Stop acting like I almost died."
"Are you sure? Because that doesn't look very good," Fred said, pointing to the side of the bench. Velma leaned forward to see what he was looking at.
It was dried blood. It seemed to start at the corner of the back ledge, and dripped down the side of the bench.
"That's not mine," Velma said, shaking her head.
Fred knelt down, still wary of the mud, to look at it better. He raised a finger to touch it, but Velma stopped him.
"Don't touch it," she warned, swatting his hand away. "One, you'll mess up the evidence, and two, blood can carry disease."
"I don't think we have to worry. It's not like he died of anything bad like polio or anything," Fred said off-handedly as he observed the blood closely.
Shaggy, Daphne, and Velma stared at him. It took him a second to realize what he said. He looked straight at Velma, who looked ready to cry. Or hit him. He wasn't quite sure.
"Oh my God. I'm so sorry. I didn't know I really didn't-"
"Whatever," Velma spat. She pulled a handkerchief out of her skirt pocket and threw it at him, and crossed her arms. She could feel the mud soaking through her sweater, but she didn't care.
"Like, I don't know if this was Danny's blood," Shaggy said as he knelt down next to Fred. "Can I have that?"
Fred handed him the handkerchief. The rest of the gang watched as he put the handkerchief in his hand and picked something up from the ground.
They all looked at it, and then at each other.
"I think I know who did it," Fred said slowly. "And I think it's time to set a trap."
