Toys.
Chapter 19.
Things moved very quickly once Cross was arrested, within days the Greenwood facility was raided by federal agents and the local police, all the staff on site at the time were detained, all records seized and all toys removed from the property and housed in government facility's. The owner and management of Greenwood were arrested later that day. One employee remained unaccounted for a trainer named Alistair Black... it was assumed he had fled until his body was found a week later.
Dick Roman was furious as he sat in the police interrogation room waiting to be questioned. He had been at home when Tracey had called him to tell him the Greenwood facility was being raided and that Black was nowhere to be found... that the police had found his "re education room" and shit had hit the fan in a big way. He can only imagine what they found in Alistair's play room and he thinks to himself 'I told that idiot to be more restrained... if some new owner went running to the fed's because of him... i'll skin him myself'. At this point he had no idea the sadist he had hired as a trainer was already dead.
Detective Singer let's the Greenwood owner sit and stew for awhile as they wait for his lawyer to show up. He had made sure that the heat in room was up a bit and that no one had taken this prick anything to drink... he wanted him uncomfortable and pissed off... the rich tend to let things slip when their angry.
"We rounded up every one who works at that horrible place but for one trainer and he seems to have vanished completely" says Rufus as he stops beside Bobby.
Singer frowns "Which one ?" he asks his partner.
Rufus looks at his notes "Fuck... the main one we wanted actually Alistair Black, the one Dean told us about".
"Balls !" growls detective Singer.
"Larry and his team are already going over the books and all paper work we found there... the captain sent Richard and his team to the main offices to shut it down and get all their files too" adds Rufus.
Bobby nods "Good... i want to bury this prick so deeply no lawyer can dig him out... detective Delacroix from Miami called... Cross says he" Bobby points to Mr Roman "Promised that Dean would be trained to keep his mouth shut about how old he was when sold... the bastard knew he was breaking the law".
Detective Turner shakes his head sadly and pats his partners shoulder "We will make sure none of them get out of this Bobby... we have enough to put Roman away for life already".
Singer nods but feels that it isn't enough... that he should do more and not just about this case but about the whole toy trade... in this moment he decides to go to Michael Novak... to talk to him about what the police can do to help end this horrible sub culture that had invaded their country. Detective Turner has a cousin in the press and he has "accidently" leaked just enough information to get the story in the papers. He hopes that even die hard toy owners will baulk once the details of this case are known to the world. The rest of the world already looks down on America for it's toy trade and he is hoping the added pressure and disgust this case will cause does some thing to help abolish the trade for good.
Meanwhile Zachariah Cross has decided his best option is to fully cooperate and beg for police protection in exchange for his testimony against Roman and Greenwood. He broke down and confessed everything to the police who arrested him, gave them every detail he could remember, including the fact that he had been approached by a woman who represented Greenwood... and told in a round about way that his job put him in a good position to make some money.
Detective Delacroix was disgusted at this and immediately made calls to several government departments to warn them of this new tactic. He also called detective Singer to give him the woman's name so she could be found and questioned. This case made him sick to his stomach and he could hardly wait to ship Cross off to Singer and wash his hands of the vile little coward, who's only thought even now was his own hide... the man seemed to have no regret about what he had done to that poor little boy who had been devastated and trusted him. He could tell Cross was only worried about being caught out not about what he had done and it takes every ounce of his self control not to beat the snivelling little shit to a pulp but he knows they need him as a witness and keeps the man safe despite his own feelings.
Detective Singer keeps the Novak brothers updated on the case as much as he can and when Michael learns that Greenwood had people hunting the child protection agencies he see's the perfect tool to get the average American behind his cause... this could happen to your child if you die... so within hours of learning of this fact he had his PR people putting together a campaign.
"It's fucking disgusting... i know but we can use this Lu... the average citizen ignores the trade because they think only unwanted kids get sold... only babies that would be neglected or abused anyway. When they find out that these bastards have got people hunting for their kids they will want blood, every working class parent with no extended family to take their kids if they die will freak. They will demand our government take steps to stop kids being sold off like Dean was... this could break the trade Lu... we have to use it against them" says Michael.
Lucifer nods even though he hates the idea purely because he can see Dean being made the poster boy for this campaign and does not want that for him... his boy has been through enough already. He sighs deeply and says "Your not using Dean... you can mention his case but focus on Cross and on the toy buyers".
Michael nods "Of course... Dean's been through more than enough already... I know that Lu and he has the trial to get through yet... I had no intention of putting him through more shit".
Lucifer nods "Thank you Mike... I just want to get him through this damn mess so he can be happy and done with it all".
Michael nods and feels bad for his brother... he knows how keenly Lu feels his boys distress and how badly he wants to make it all go away for Dean's sake. Michael is very proud of his brother at this moment and he knows their parents would be too.