Time After Time (a Stranger Things fanfiction)

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?

"Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?"

You know we've got a mystery to solve,

So Scooby-Doo be ready for your act.

Don't hold back!

- Scooby-Doo, Where Are You

Something didn't sit right with Hopper about the autopsy. A local kid dies and the local coroner is sent home by some people from the state? That wasn't normal. And given Joyce's insistence ... well, maybe she was crazy, driven out of her mind with grief. But a parent's feeling for their child was something that shouldn't be ignored. All of Hopper's experience as a cop told him that, as well as his own all-too-brief fatherhood.

He had Flo call Gary to come into the station, and sat him down. "You feeling all right, Gary?"

"Never better."

"So you're just ... taking the day off? I've never known you to take a day off."

"Not my idea, Hopper."

"You didn't call these guys?"

"No, sir. They just showed up with the body. Troopers."

"Where did they come from? Did they tell you why they were out looking around in a quarry in the middle of the night?"

"I guess one of them was doing some kind of rounds? They didn't explain much." He shook his head. "Sure is a shame. Poor Joyce, she must be beside herself."

"It's a tough blow." Hopper didn't want to talk about it. He didn't want to have to think about the pain Joyce would be in once the truth hit her—he had altogether too much experience with that kind of pain. "So, Gary, tell me about these troopers who brought in Will."

"There was about six of them, I'd say."

"All staties."

"Yes, sir. Never seen that many troopers come with a body before."

"They told you that they were going to take care of the autopsy, huh?"

"Yeah. Claimed jurisdiction, kicked me out." Gary shook his head. "Well, it all seemed a bit over the top to me, considering ..."

"Considering what?"

"Considering this was Will Byers and not ... John F. Kennedy."

Hopper sighed. Gary had a point. Why would the state have bothered? Public health issue? But if so, why wouldn't they have talked to him? He got up, moving closer to the TV. The sound was off, but the station was tuned to an interview with the statie who had found Will's body. Why a statie? Why the quarry? It didn't make sense.

Belatedly, he remembered Gary was still there. "Thanks for coming by, Gary."

"Sure thing."

As Gary got up to go, Hopper turned up the sound on the TV.

" ... know that the troopers are on duty, and it should be safe, because we think this is just an isolated incident," the statie was saying.

"State Trooper David O'Bannon, thank you so much for your time."

The interview was over, but Hopper's questions were only just beginning. He decided to track down this trooper himself, which took some doing ... but Hopper had been a cop for a long time. He knew what cops did when they had found bodies, when they wanted to drown their sorrows. It was just a question of finding the right bar.