"I've worked it out "Daphne looked down at Velma. " The clue was those fake bills we found. The old house is being used as the base for a counterfeiting operation."

"What about those creepy noises, the disembodied head and that zombie?" asked Daphne doubtfully.

Velma smiled. "The noises are just recordings played through hidden microphones. The head is just a projection from hidden cameras and the zombie is just someone dressed up. The only problem is proving all this. "

"What about Mr. and Mrs. Hartingford?" asked Daphne.

"I guess the counterfeiters tried to scare them away, and when that didn't work they took them prisoner and are keeping them locked up somewhere. "

"Gee – poor Mrs. Hartingford – I really liked her," said Daphne. "How are we going to prove all of this and rescue the Hartingfords?"

"Well "said Velma, "I think we can rig up a trap for that zombie. I noticed that it always seems to appear in the Dining Room. If we can capture the zombie, then there must be a secret entrance from the Dining Room to the place where they print the money. That should enable us to catch the counterfeiters red-handed and give us all the evidence we need. Come on let's find the boys and tell them what we've worked out. "

"No wait "Daphne grabbed Velma's arm. " If we tell Fred he'll just take all the credit the same as usual, and Shaggy and Scooby will just mess up the trap like they always do. Why don't we capture the zombie and the counterfeiters, show the boys that we don't need them to look after us?"

"I'm not sure "replied Velma, looking worried. " We've always done these things as a team before. "

"You don't believe we can do it, do you?" said Daphne. "Fred's got you completely under his thumb, working things out for him, solving all the puzzles and then letting him get all the glory."

Velma frowned. "You're right Daphne. It's time we showed them what we can do. Let's head out to the Hartingford place and get to work. "

Some time later, the girls were ready. They had driven out to the deserted house and set their trap. Velma had worked out where the secret entrance was. An old roller-skate was carefully positioned so that the zombie would step on it. It would then skid into an old tall lamp standard, from which was suspended a weighted net which would fall on top of the zombie and trap it. If that failed, there was a backup plan. In the absence of Shaggy and Scooby, Velma would act as bait. She would lead the zombie into the kitchen where Daphne was hidden, who would throw another weighted net over the zombie.

Heart pounding Velma deliberately triggered one of the devices the counterfeiters had set up to warn them when someone was in the house. Going into the dining room, she waited for the secret door to open.