Chapter 4: Forming

2 days had gone by and nothing had changed. In fact, not a single clue could even be found or hint towards any.potential suspects. As expected, this didn't comfort the civilians of Brighton or Nash-Lake. While they might have calmed down since then, it left a bad taste in their mouths. The organizers of the event and the town mayors were feeling the worst about it though.

Despite destruction being present, no fingerprints could be found at the scene of the crime. It's believed that whoever is responsable purposely made destruction for reasons not known, because there was seemingly no reason as to why destruction had to occur in the first place. It's also strongly believed that gloves were used to make sure no fingerprints would be marked. So for now, it didn't look like they were close to finding anyone or any clues.

At Tammy's house, she and Duckie had been hanging out in her room. They already knew of what was going on and were not happy about it. "I get it's only been 2 days, but with the crime scene and how destructive it was, you think they'd have an idea of who caused it," said Tammy. "Kind of like this one idea I have," said Duckie, still holding onto his Waterman theory. "Come on dude, the Waterman theory is getting old." "But it's still possible Tammy." "Duckie, please let it go."

Just then, someone knocked on Tammy's door. She went to see who it was, it was Sammy. "Oh, hey Sammy," said Tammy. "Hey big sis," replied Sammy, "I want you two to come with me. There's some friends I want you to meet." Tammy and Duckie already knew where this was going. "Let me guess, your friends so we can form a team?" Tammy assumed. Sammy nodded yes. "Well we could get Johnny and Jessie instead," said Duckie, but then remembering something, "Oh wait, they both aren't around for half of spring break because of a trip they are taking. Hmm, how about our other 3 friends? No wait, they aren't going to be around either. Uhh, I guess Sammy's friends it is?"

Tammy sighed in frustration, "Okay, fine. We'll go meet your friends. Where are we going exactly?" "The soccer field just outside of your school," said Sammy.

Jay, Dino, Paco, and Ralph were kicking around a soccer ball. Jay and Dino were on the left side, while Paco and Ralph were on the right. Dino kicked the ball and Ralph couldn't defend the goal in time. "Another goal!" said Jay. "Goal!" also said Dino. "This is a joke!" said Ralph, "Why should I be defending?" "Because last time you didn't defend the goal, you hurt yourself trying to get the ball from the other team," said Paco.

Sammy then arrived with Duckie and Tammy. "Guys," she announced, as the group stopped playing, "This is my sister Tammy and her..."friend" Duckie. Duckie, Tammy, these are Jay, Dino, Paco, and Ralph." "Pleasure to meet all of you," Tammy said. "Yes, it's nice to meet you too," said Jay. "So, we meet again!" said Paco. "Oh yeah, I remember you!" said Duckie. "Remember!" Dino said. Ralph wasn't too sure about Duckie and Tammy. "You realize they are 3 or 4 years older than us, right?" asked Ralph. "Thanks for heads up," Sammy said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.

The game started up again, this time it was Duckie, Sammy, and Paco vs Jay, Dino, and Ralph. During this, Tammy and Jay talked with one another on the matter of what had been going on. They were also very surprised they had revealed to each other that they attended the same event within the same amount of hours.

"I knew what Duckie said was a joke, but me and him didn't know how much that statement was going to mean later on," said Tammy. "Talk about foreshadowing," Jay laughed, "You seem like a good teen to be around. Same with your friend over there." "And you seem like a good kid. Same could also be said about your friends over there. That one kid in the flannel seems kinda rude though." "Oh don't mind Ralph, he has his moments. He's grumpy, but not bad." "Right. Either way, you seem to have a good group of friends. Perhaps you and your friends could help us?" "With what?" "You like risk taking and I like risk taking, so how about we go pay the Waterman home a visit tonight."

Jay looked at Tammy as if she were immediately on board. "I've wanted to visit the Waterman home for a long time!" said Jay, "But why there?" "Duckie believes that the couple may have returned to stage another crime," Tammy explained, "I for one don't believe this theory, since they were locked up many miles from here before they somehow escaped. So I guess you could say this is for Duckie's sake, but we also want to find out who is responsible for what happened during the fundraiser event. Police can't find any real suspects and it almost looks like they are about to call it quits due to a real lack of leads."

Jay gave this some thought. "Something risky, huh?" she said, finally making up her mind, "Count me in!" She and Tammy shook hands. "Alrightie then," Tammy said, "We'll go back to my house later do discuss what to do."

They went back to Tammy's house to discuss what they should do as the newly formed team. Jay and her friends got along with Tammy and Duckie pretty well. That on it's own showed that forming of a group could do good. Perhaps they could even be good friends in the future, but they had just met, so that couldn't be fully certain yet.

Tammy layed out a map. "So we are right here," she said, pointing to somewhere on the map, "The walk to the Waterman residence in Nash-Lake should be a 25 minute walk. Anyone who lives in Nash-Lake will surely get there quicker than Duckie and me." "Is it straight forward? Or is there a hill to climb?" asked Duckie, "Also, I didn't hear the part where they moved to Nash-Lake." "It's a bit of a hill," said Jay, "So it might wear you out a little." "Mister and Misses Waterman moved to Nash-Lake around the same time of their questioning," said Sammy, "I don't know why, but maybe it was to cover up their tracks and start new?" "Weird motivations for a weird couple," said Paco. "Weird!" added Dino.

Ralph who had been quiet up until this very moment finally had something to say. "One problem," he said, "This is a roadmap of San Francisco." "Just go along with it dude," said Paco, "It's cooler that way." "Just saying, accuracy is crucial," Ralph stated. "Crucial!" Dino said, obviously just repeating his friend.

"Anyway," said Tammy, "Since Duckie had a part in wanting to go to the Waterman home, when do you think we should go?" Duckie wasn't too sure when would be a good time. He shrugged, "I don't know, umm...later tonight?" Everyone then talked with each other about the idea, in which (mostly) everyone agreed. Ralph being Ralph, rejected the idea. "We don't need to do this," he said, "How about we-" "No, we're doing it," Jay said bluntly.

And so it was. The group would visit the old Waterman residence in Nash-Lake. The original house in Brighton had burned down years ago, so that was out of the question. All they had to do was wait for the sun to go down...

To be continued in the next chapter...

(Chapter 4 published 1/19/25)