The Ring a Velma Adventure by John Likeglass

With apologies to Warner Brothers, Hanna Barbara and anyone else who might hate this story. (although I believe any true Scooby Doo fan will love it!) All borrowed characters have been safely returned intact and healthy. This is a Scrappy free story. It's a long one, so, feel free to print it out and save it for later reading!

 

 

Part two

Daphne and Fred were locked in the safe with the new diamonds. "I hope this works", she said. Fred looked around. "I'm just glad I'm not claustrophobic!" Daphne chuckles. "Being locked in a safe with diamonds is not necessarily a bad thing from a girls point of view." Fred sat back. "So diamonds are real special to a girl?" Daphne picked up the small white bag and opened it up. She could see the five diamonds glittering in the bottom of the bag. "They imply a lot of things. Permanence.... Solidness.... Value.... When a girl gets a diamond, it tells her that she is special." Fred is happy that the light in the safe is so dim. This way she can't see his face clearly. "Daphne, you have lots of diamonds. Do you get that feeling from all of them?" Daphne relaxes her legs and sighs. "No... None have been given to me by someone special.. I mean, my mom and dad gave me plenty and they are special, but....." Fred starts to get a little choked up and lets the conversation go quiet for a while. His heart is beating in his throat as he adds, "Not like getting one from a guy..." Daphne sighs again. "Exactly! One given out of love, for love.. It's so romantic, what every girl dreams of!" She sits up. "Hey... You never did tell me why you and Velma were here looking at diamonds!" Freddy feels his throat going dry.. "Ahh.. Velma knew this guy who used to work at the university she attended.." He was stuck! How could he explain this without it becoming obvious that he was buying a ring for her! She was sitting there waiting for him to complete the thought, and his mind was a blank! "You mean J.P. ?", she asked. Fred breathed a sigh of relief... Now there was a way for him to change subjects! "Yea, J.P. worked there and the two of them knew each other. That was a few years back before he took over the family store. He was in the mineral and gemstone department. I guess he also has a teaching degree." Daphne seamed safely on another topic now, and Fred wiped some sweat beads off of his forehead. Then she spoke.. "So why were you guys here this morning?" Ker-thump! His heart was back in his throat! "Wait... What was that noise?" Indeed, they could hear footsteps in the store! "The alarm system is on!", Daphne says, "But it's not going off! Maybe it really is a ghost!"


Velma steers the Mystery Machine down the street to within two blocks of the address on the card and parks in the shadows. Scooby and Shaggy get out of the van and join up with her. Velma is holding the card in her hand. "According to the address written here, it should be down this way." The three of them walk the first block, then hiding around the corner, peer down the second block. "I don't see any therapist's office, do you?", Shaggy says. Velma shakes her head no. "Scooby, go down the street and look for a sign that says 341." Scooby shakes his head no. "Rut Raa... Row Ray!" Velma looks over to him. "Oh, come on, no one would think twice if the saw you! I'd offer you a Scooby Snack, but I don't have any on me!" Scooby mumbles something to Shaggy and then says, "Ro Kay!", and starts down the street. Velma looks puzzled. I don't get it... Why did he agree? What did he say to you?" Shaggy chuckles. "He was willing to go but wanted to see if you were holding out on him!" Velma rolls her eyes. "Oh brother!"

Scooby returns. "Round Rit! Rollow ree..." Shaggy and Velma join Scooby and sneak down the street till they get to 341. Velma sneaks up to the door but then quickly retreats. Scooby and Shaggy follow her and all three hide in a cellar stairway across the street. "Someone's in there.... And, I found another clue, one that raps it all up! There's velcro on the door!" Shaggy looks puzzled. "So? ... I don't get it." Velma looks back across the street. Someone is opening the door... "Watch", she says. A strange man reaches out the door and sticks a sign onto the velcro strips, then closes the door. Velma removes a spy glass from her pocket and holds it up to her glasses. "Dr. Michael Brainer, Therapist!" A car pulls down the street and the three of them duck down into the stairwell. As they hear the car door slam, the three slowly raise their heads and take a peek. "It's that Lora girl! I knew it! And look at the fancy car she is driving!" The three watch as she goes up the steps and is let into the house by the strange Dr. Brainer. "When J.P. said it was Lora that recommend the therapist to him, I knew she had to be in on it! Then, when I found out that..." Velma stops short as all of them can hear that there is an argument going on in the house!


Daphne turns out the light in the safe and grabs the water pistol out of her purse. "I sure hope you guys are right", she says, "otherwise, this water pistol won't give us much protection." Fred smiles in the dark. "Oh.. We are!" The smile fades and he feels around on the floor and picks up the large metal block that serves as a doorstop. "Just in case we're not", he thinks to himself. Quietly, they listen as the combination lock starts to turn. Whoever it is knows the exact combination to the safe. The lock clicks open. The heavy door creaks open and a hand reaches in and flips on the light.... J.P. Murphy is standing there!!!

There is a blank look on his face as he moves over to the shelf that has the diamonds on it. It was as if Fred and Daphne were not even there! "Now!", Fred says. Daphne begins squirting the water pistol in J.P.'s face. For a second, there is no reaction, but then he falls backward toward the wall and shakes his head. "Huh?? What... What's going on?? Where are we?" Fred moves over to him. "You're robbing your own safe!", he says. J.P. looks angry for a second, but then he looks down and sees that his hand is holding the bag of diamonds! "I don't get it!?! What's going on?" Fred looks at him in the eyes. "We'll explain it all later, but for now, we have an appointment with a therapist to keep! After locking up the shop, the three of them get into J.P.'s car and head off. Daphne flips on her cell phone and makes a call to their favorite police chief.

Velma is trying to make out some of the words that are being shouted in the house, but a loud grinding and groaning noise is drowning out the conversation. "Sorry", says Shaggy, "Neither of us have had anything to eat in over two hours!" Velma felt something shaking and was about to scold the two of them for having the world's loudest stomach growl, when she realizes it's her cell phone, which is set to vibrate! "Hello... Yea... How soon? ... And the police? ... Ok, we're ready!" She turned to Shaggy. "They're on the way. The police have been called. This should all happen in about two minutes!" Shaggy looks back over to her. "What did you find out at the library?" Velma positions herself for a better view. The argument seams to be over and all is quiet. "Actually, we were at the library, but the info I found out about was on line. Lora has a brother named Bob that was released from prison about the same time that J.P.'s wife died. He had been serving time for being a con-man. Here's the kicker. He studied magic in prison, specifically tricks involving hypnosis!"


A car pulls down the street. It's J.P.'s. He pulls up and parks in front of the house and gets out. He knocks on the door and the strange man, now dressed in a suit and tie opens the door and lets him in. J.P. closes the door behind him, but not hard enough for the lock to click. Fred and Daphne, who were hiding in the back of the car, pop out and go up to the door, closely follower by Velma, Scooby, and Shaggy. Fred peeks in the door to make sure the coast is clear and all five enter. They can hear voices in a room down the hall and all listen quietly.

"Did you bring the cookies that mom baked?" J.P. nodded his head and handed the strange man the bag. Lora grabs the bag from his hand. Velma turns to Daphne. "He thinks... Or was thinking he was bringing his brother cookies his mother baked! That's the hypnotic suggestion they used to get him to do it! He thought they were cookies, not diamonds!" Lora comes into the hall and the gang flatten against the wall behind a hutch. She makes a quick right hand turn and heads down some basement stairs. On that cue, Daphne and Velma head after her and Fred & Shaggy rush into the living room where J.P. is. "Your busted!", Fred announces loudly! Dr. Brainer, AKA Bob, takes one look around and makes a run for the front window, crashing through it! Outside are two police officers, who quickly grab him!

Meanwhile, Lora is in the basement removing a stone in the wall. Behind it are a batch of little white bags. "Look!" Velma exclaims. Daphne and Velma charge over and grab onto her. Lora turns out to be a lot stronger than they thought and throws the two of them off of her. She grabs all the bags and runs for the stairs! "Oh No, I broke a nail!", Daphne moans as the two of them scramble to get back on their feet. As Lora runs up the staircase, Velma reaches up and grabs her ankle. Lora slips and falls down the stairs on top of them! Lora turns around and swats Velma's glasses off her face. "Your not getting me Four Eyes!", She shouts as she makes another go at the stairs. Velma leaps at the blob heading up the stairs and tackles Lora to the ground! Daphne comes over and helps sit on her. Fred, having heard the noise downstairs, looks through the basement door. "Everything OK down there?" Velma laughs! "Oh yea! Just playing a little touch football down here. We got the Pig-skin on the third down!" Now Daphne starts laughing as well. Lora was not laughing.

The gang is sitting at a table at Sally's Pizza Place. Daphne is filing down not one, but two broken nails. Velma is reworking the adhesive tape wrapped around the broken hinge on her glasses. Shaggy is leaning back finishing up his fifth slice of pizza. Fred is sitting back in the chair looking over his clean white shirt. "You know, I thought it was us guys that were suppose to handle the rough stuff." Shaggy laughs. "Actually Scooby handles the ruff stuff!" Scooby smiles and all laugh. Freddy picks up the conversation. "J.P.'s insurance company has agreed to give us the finder's fee, which works out to about ten thousand dollars! The police and the insurance people were not happy about the fact they were not called first, but did agree that given the original set of circumstances, J.P. would have been the prime suspect." Daphne smiles. "Well, J.P. got his diamonds back, Bob, who was on probation, is headed back to jail. And my favorite part, Lora is in jail facing five counts against her!" A cheer rises from the whole gang! Daphne continues. "Now, that there are no other distractions going on, and the whole gang is here, I have just one unanswered question." She looks at Fred. "Why were you and Velma looking at diamonds??????"

 

The End!

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