Chapter 11: Records

Nash-Lake Police Department

Officer M and Officer G are in a room, waiting for somebody. This was clearly serious, judging by the looks on both officers. What they were waiting for would be look to be small, but it would be one of the most significant pieces of evidence for law enforcement to finally get their suspects.

The door to the room opened and in came two of the Brighton police detectives. The first one was Detective Jerry Lowell, a human who worked as one out of a few of the detectives Brighton had. He was an older gentleman who had an appearence that could easily identify him as a detective. His partner was a grey cat of a similar appearence named Detective William Barrington.

"Pleasure to meet you Officers M and G," he greeted, "Name's Detective Lowell of Brighton. This is my partner, Detective Barrington. I'm sure you knew that already though." "I mean hey, a little introduction doesn't hurt," said Officer G. "So what brought you guys here?" asked Officer M. "We have reason to believe that Lorenzo and Rachel Waterman were behind the fundraiser money being stolen during the event that was held last Friday," explained Barrington, "We also have reason to believe that we have found out who their boss is. We have gotten recent evidence that proves our points."

Detectives Lowell and Barrington sat down at the same table with Officers M and G. "Should we get Detective Peter for this?" asked Officer G. "Don't worry, we informed him of this earlier in the day," replied Lowell, "A majority of those in both Brighton and here in Nash-Lake know what's going on. We came to talk to you two personally since you both have been heavily involved in maintaining high security since then. Plus, with you guys being one of Nash-Lake's best, you deserve to know."

Barrington took a book and flipped to the page he wanted to get to. "As I'm sure you know, Lorenzo and Rachel Waterman were walking parasites that killed whatever they touched," he explained, "From robberies, to massive heists, to home invasions. Victims of all ages with varying fates. Some lived, some didn't. Of course, we know they broke out of their prisons, but this is why we think it's them." Barrington then showed them the book with the page they were on, which showed pictures of the crime scene. "The damage shown is very resemblant of the couple's crimes back in their heyday," explained Detective Lowell, "Their prisons may have been 40 miles away, but that doesn't mean a thing to them. They always had that type of mindset if they had the chance to get out, at least according to those who were in the prison with them."

"But how do you know it's the Waterman's who did this?" asked Officer G, "What if some lunatics just so happen to do some damage for the sake of it before they ran off with the money?" Detective Lowell then flipped the page, showing similarities as the current crime and the pictures of the Waterman's previous crimes were side by side. "The damage caused is FAR too similiar to be someone else," said Lowell, "Anyone with a mind would just take the money and go. With such damage caused and the knowledge of the Watermans having broken out just days prior to the incident, we think it's safe to assume that they are involved in this." "And that's just the tip of the iceberg," added Barrington, "We haven't even gotten to who we believe the boss is."

"Who do you believe is the boss of this and the Watermans?" asked Officer M. "A man filled with anger, and controversies that soon followed in recent years," Barrington replied, "Ebenezer Boozoo Sr." "Sounds like a crazy theory, but we talked with a former employee of Boozoo's and it paints him in a much stranger and darker image," Lowell explained, "Boozoo opened up his toy store in 1964. The funding and how he got it to open up was fishy, as all he said was he got friends to help him with something new he wanted to do. Nobody questioned Boozoo since he came off and appeared as a trusting old man. Even with that in mind, after hiring other people to work for him, he was barely around according to the former employee. It made management look bad behind the scenes, but nobody had any real complaints about Boozoo's toy store beyond that. The public, mostly the kids, loved going there. And even though Boozoo wasn't around much, he always paid his employees and treated them surprisingly well."

"The Waterman couple then get arrested in 1973," Barrington explained, "Boozoo suddenly becomes a lot more available from that point forward. However, his attitude is a lot meaner and starts to take out his anger on his employees. According to the former employee, many start to quit because of the employee abuse. One woman left because the verbal abuse she experienced from Boozoo was so bad, it made her mental health decline. One man left because Boozoo slammed him against the wall because of a disagreement he had about him cutting his pay. Boozoo might have been an older guy, but he was strong and straight up intimidating when angered enough. Starting to sense a disturbing truth here?"

Officer G was quite shocked hearing that Boozoo had such disturbing behavior behind the scenes. Officer M though looked disturbed, as he knew Boozoo Sr to some extent. He and Boozoo Jr were in the same graduating class, and while they weren't friends per se, Boozoo Jr was moreso a friend of a friend that Officer M had back then. At the time, he and his friend would occasionly hang out with Boozoo Jr at his place. He remembers Boozoo Sr being a strange man who seemingly had marital problems with his wife. Of course, Officer M had no idea how many demons the old man had until now.

"Without his friends that he could have been doing crimes with for years, the old man seemingly starts to lose his touch with reality and perhaps even his sanity," said Officer G. "Charles Brook, now a teacher in teaching technology at one of Brighton's public schools, was that former employee," said Detective Lowell, "Looking into the operational records of Boozoo's toy store after Boozoo got arrested twice and the evidence we got from Charles, it suffice to say that what we heard is true. After many more incidents and more employees leaving, he decided to leave before he got caught up in the crossfire sometime in the beginning of 1974. The last employee that ever worked with him was Banny that year and she would quit shortly after Charles quit, officially joining The Showstoppers with Boozoo Sr's son. Looking back now, they both made the right call leaving that toy store of horrors."

"Are there any more incidents we should know about?" asked Officer M. "Before Boozoo got arrested twice, there were indeed more things that happened prior to that," Detective Barrington explained, "His attitude started to get nasty towards his customers when he had to work on his own. His reputation started to plummet and his toy stock started to get smaller and smaller with time. Sometime before Christmas in 1978, Boozoo stole charity money from some girl, until the police visited and he gave it back with no hesitation. Then come his two arrests last year. The first incident, some kids he got annoyed with from the playground across the street. He rented a bulldozer to smash the structure so they wouldn't play there anymore. The second incident would be the final nail in the coffin for Boozoo and his toy store. He put toy robots that were ment to be recalled on a kid's bike wagon for him to bring to church, just for the sake of profit. After that, Ebenezer bailed himself out of jail, but lost his home in the process of it. Earlier this year, the old man declared bankruptcy and the toy store would officially shut down before Spring. Boozoo would live in the closed toy store until his license was up, and would move out a couple days later."

"Boozoo's gone?!" exclaimed Officer M. "I'm afraid so Officer M," replied Lowell. "Well where is he? Let's get that man!" said Officer G. "Well that's the thing," replied Detective Barrington, "The problem is we don't know where he went. We only found all this evidence out just hours ago, so it's not like we can find him when he's likely not in Brighton anymore. As for Lorenzo and Rachel, only God knows where they are at. Despite this, we are doing everything possible to track down where the 3 might be at right now. I'm sure you guys will follow suit if your police chief gives you the call."

To be continued in the next chapter...

(Chapter 11 published 2/21/25)