"Were you working here last Friday?'
"Yes sir." Joel replied.
"Did you see these kids?" The police officer put photos of six kids on the desk in front of Joel.
"Uh…I'm not sure. There were a lot of kids that night. It was a Friday, you know?"
"One of your coworkers said that she saw these two in the uh…what do you call it? 'The Kid's Cove?'" The officer pointed to a photo of twins.
"Oh, Sally? Yeah, she was working in the Kid's Cove Friday. We got to have someone to watch the kids and make sure they don't try to take any pieces of the Mangle…"
"The what?"
"Oh, that's what we call the new Foxy ever since it got taken apart." Joel laughed nervously. "You know these kids; they can't keep their hand to themsel…"
"You sure you didn't see any of these kids?" The officer interrupted annoyed.
"Well…I don't know! I usually work back here…"
The officer pointed to the tablet with the camera images. "That's why I'm asking you. Are you seriously telling me that with all of these cameras, you didn't see any of these kids?"
Joel looked to the cameras and back to the officer.
"Well maybe, but I told you, it was busy. I can't watch all of the cameras at once."
"Well, what do you remember about that night?"
"Uh…I worked back here all day until 11:30 pm. Around 9, Eric, one of the other day guards, told me that some parents had lost their kids. But that happens all the time in a place like this, you know? I just got a description of the kids and tried to find them on the cameras, but I didn't see anyone that matched their description. They weren't in the store, as far as I could tell."
The officer wrote down what Joel said on a note pad.
"Did you see anything suspicious or anyone acting unusual that night?"
"Not that I could remember. You don't think that someone actually hurt…"
Suddenly Mr. Faz barged in.
"That's enough. You can get back to work, Joel. I'll answer any other questions you might have, officer." He said this with the air of a politician.
A few moments later while Joel was working in the Main Office, Faz came at him like an angry hippo.
"Look Graham, I don't want to hear anything else about those kids, got it?"
"Yes sir."
Faz moved as if to walk away, but then reconsidered.
"The day guard didn't notice anything, right?"
"No, he hasn't reported anything, anyway."
That cheered Faz up.
"Good! See what I mean? What's going on with those kids is none of our business." Faz shrugged. "Don't get me wrong, my heart goes out to those kids and their families, but it's really none of our business. I just need you to be sure that Fazbear Entertainment denies any wrongdoing, got it?"
"Uh…yes sir."
Faz started to walk away, but called back over his shoulder.
"And make sure the night guard knows that, alright? We can't afford to get him more whiny or paranoid than he already is."
"No sir." While Joel wasn't entirely convinced that there was nothing to worry about, he did at least agree that this wasn't something that the new night guard needed to worry himself with. The guy had already started to get as paranoid as Nate and had been asking for a transfer.
When Mr. Faz left, Joel tried to get his mind off of the police by going over the things to do this week. The only big event coming up was a birthday party on Sunday. With nothing else to do, Joel went back to the cameras. By chance, he ended up at the Prize Corner.
The Puppet was standing up from its box, staring at the camera. Joel sighed and put the tablet down, putting his hands over his face and groaning. He wasn't a whiner, but he hated the Puppet. It was the most God-awful creepy thing here. Tired and thirsty, Joel moved to the right side of the desk to get his water. He took a drink and looked at the camera again. The Puppet was still watching, but Joel realized something was off. It wasn't looking at the camera in the same way. It was angled slightly. Joel moved back to the center of the desk, and the Puppet's head moved, its gaze even with Joel's through the camera. He backed up, and the Puppet tilted to look directly at Joel. The Puppet wasn't looking at the camera, it was looking at Joel.
Joel turned the tablet off. He shook his head. His nerves were on end, that's all. He picked the tablet up again, ignoring the Prize Corner and flipped to the Show Stage. The Toy animatronics were all singing to a group of smiling children, but they weren't looking at the children or at each other. While they were facing the Dining Area, their eyes were all pointed at the cameras. Joel almost threw the tablet down. He had had suspicions that something was wrong with the animatronics, but this was just not right. They weren't supposed to act this way.
Joel went for a walk. Anything to calm himself down. Once the investigation ended, everything would go back to normal. Everything was going to sort itself out.
