Disclaimer: I do not own Jimmy Neutron or it's characters.
Chapter 37,
Jimmy and Detective Martin took the police car back to the hospital. Even though the car was slower then Jimmy's hover car, it was better for the actual arrests.
"So Jimmy. You seem to be a smart kid. It seems to me that you may have actually figured out your own way of executing this. Is there anything that I should know?" Detective Martin asked as they entered the parking lot of the hospital.
"Well, sort of. I was on the phone earlier." Jimmy hesitated and Charlie glanced at the boy.
"I think I saw a bit of that." Charlie said and Jimmy nodded. Charlie parked his car near the front of the hospital and the two stepped out of the car.
"Yeah, well, I was just..." Jimmy blinked when he noticed someone, and then someone else.
"I was just calling some back up." Jimmy said as Detective looked up and saw a jamboree of kids.
"Whoa." He commented at the children he saw. Jimmy and the Detective walked up to the group.
"Detective Martin these are my friends. They are going to help us stop Libby. This tall guy is Jack. He had known Cindy forever because he works as the Vortex's butler. He also stopped the rape and save Cindy, so he could be a witness." Jimmy paused to let the two adults shake hands.
"I'm glad to get your help Detective." Jack said and Detective Martin nodded.
"I try my best to help where I can." He said simply said and Jimmy moved on.
"Beside him is Betty. She volunteered to help specifically with Libby. Then there is Amber, you should recognize her from the video. Next is Simon and Millie, they are friends with Cindy, and finally my closest friends, Carl and Sheen... Sheen?" Jimmy blinked a bit. With so many others it, didn't quite register that he was even there.
"How did you hear about this Sheen? I don't remember calling you." Jimmy said still trying to sound polite and Sheen crossed his arms.
"I was with Amber when you called her, Jimmy. It turns out that we, uh... actually have a lot in common." Sheen said smiling at Amber who blushed.
"And she told me the truth. The, eh, the real truth about Libby. At first I thought that she was lying until I remembered the dance last night. When Amber was tied up to that basketball post and people were throwing stuff at her. There was a voice that I knew, but couldn't remember where. And talking to Amber, I knew that voice was Libby's. And she... (sigh) She's a... horrible person." Sheen said and Jimmy knew that must have been hard for him to say. Sheen has loved Libby for such a long time, his first crush if Jimmy was correct. And now he just looked so betrayed.
"Well, I'm glad you're here." Amber said bashfully and Sheen blushed softly.
"We all are." Jimmy said with a smile.
"Now we need to strategize. The best way to do this is to separate the enemy. Jack can deal with one of the parents. Betty is for Libby, but she may need assistance. Amber, Millie, is one of you good at acting?" Jimmy asked and Amber instantly shook her head.
"Well, I am. I just don't like to do our school productions because the casting is so predictable." Millie said and Jimmy nodded.
"Alright then, you can help Betty, and because Libby doesn't know you, you don't need a disguise. Sheen, you and Simon can distract Nick and keep him away from the room as much as you can." Jimmy said and Simon looked at Sheen. Not knowing him, Simon probably wondered how Sheen could possibly distract someone, but he'll learn.
"I guess that leaves Carl and Amber together to take care of Cindy's other parent. I have an idea for you two, but it's probably better if you get the more level-headed adult." Jimmy said and Jack looked at him.
"Adam is the calmer of the two, Sasha only stands children if they are clients kids. And Adam... well, has to deal with Sasha so he's more calm." Jack said and Jimmy nodded and looked at his watch.
"11:40. Man, I didn't think paperwork took that long." Jimmy said and Detective Martin shrugged.
"Our department is like that. Not a lot of crime, but a lot of paperwork." The Detective said and Jimmy straightened his back.
"Nothing we can do about it now. Carl, did you bring the walkie-talkies?" Jimmy asked and Carl produced a bag, and Jimmy counted them.
"There are only 6, so some need to pair up. Detective and Jack, I'll give you each one, leaving four." Jimmy paused to look at his friends.
"Millie, I'm going to give you one, and Betty you stay with her; because you're both going to take down Libby. I guess that means Amber and Carl should share one, and Sheen and Simon should share the other one." Jimmy said handing a walkie-talkie to Amber, Millie, and Simon.
"Only one left, I guess that it's mine by default." Jimmy said.
"Hey Jimmy, what are you going to do anyways?" Amber asked and Jimmy slipped the device into his pockets.
"Exactly what I have been doing from the start. I'm going to protect Cindy." Jimmy said and the others kind of glanced around at each other, but didn't say anything.
"Ok, now we should focus on Amber and Carl's distraction. They are the only one's who need preparation." Jimmy said, but then paused.
"Oh, wait, Jack you should probably go to Cindy to make sure that no one arrives early." Jimmy said and Jack nodded.
"Of course." Jack said rushing off.
"Now, Millie, Betty, did you two grab the things I asked?" Jimmy said and Millie turned and pulled two stacks of buckets off the table behind her.
"Art club does have it's advantages." Millie said putting them on the ground.
"Well the drama teacher do know the best place to get these water balloons, Jimmy. I wasn't sure how many to get, so I got six packages." Betty said, pulling them out of her purse.
"Good, we need to fill them and place them around the hospital before they get here." Jimmy said and Detective Martin looked at Jimmy as his friends started to walk away.
"You certainly know how to rally your troops." He said as they started to walk away.
"Thanks, Detective Martin." Jimmy said and for some odd reason, Sheen froze. Sheen slowly turned back towards Jimmy and the Detective, and walked over to them.
"Did you forget something, Sheen?" Jimmy asked.
"More like remembering something." Sheen said staring at the Detective.
"You... look familiar." Sheen said and suddenly it donned on him.
"You're the guy who investigated my mom's death." Sheen said and the Detective froze.
"The Estevez boy?" The Detective whispered and Sheen took a step back.
"Wow. It's been many years, huh?" Sheen said sadly.
"Yeah." The Detective said and Sheen inched away.
"Well, I'm sure this will be different." Sheen said with a sad smile, and then he walked inside the hospital.
"What was that?" Jimmy asked and Charlie looked down.
"There is a reason why I'm a Detective working the field. Sheen is right, I was one of the policemen who worked his mother's case. It was actually my first murder. The traffic camera at this intersection was damaged earlier in the week, and the ones in the surrounding area were no help. No witnesses, were around, and we checked body shops, but no one got serious damage repaired. So the case went cold, and I couldn't let it go. After I got promoted to detective, I went back and tried to solve it again. But my chief found out and told me to stop wasting resources. I just had to pull up those videos from the surrounding cameras. Get a list of all the cars shown and narrow the suspects down. The chief caught on to what I was doing and temporary sent me to work an average officer job. But I just... I just wanted to give the family some closure." Charlie said and Jimmy glanced away.
He knew who killed Sheen's mother. After all, he had to film Mr. Folfax's confession because Jimmy can't listen through walls without it. If nothing else, at least one person was still working Mrs. Estevez's case. It really tells something about Charlie Martin's character, if you think about it. Jimmy looked at his watch one more time. 11:55. In one hour and five minutes, everything will be different... everything.