The Legend of Ben Scooter

My friend’s name is Ben Scooter, Ben and I first met in 1947 before our deployment overseas. We were in the same platoon. Scooter, a U.S. Marine Lieutenant in the WWll, in which he witnessed many terrible events, such as several battles. He is one of the bravest people I’ve ever met and after everything he has seen, he is still one of the most kind hearted people you will ever meet. He was honourably discharged from the War, later receiving the prestigious Silver Star medal, and joining the New York City Police Department (NYPD) I followed him there and that’s when our journey started.

Everyone wants to be Ben. He is very intelligent and he always knows what the next step is. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He knows the city very well and was one of the reasons he moved back after his deployment. Another reason is wanted to be a cop was because he always liked helping people and making a difference in the community. He may only be 5 ft 11 in and 165 pounds, but he has the heart of a lion. Some people are a little spectacle of Ben because he is 24 years old, but they shouldn’t be. His knowledge is off the charts. His voice is powerful and can persuade anyone. His hair is darker than a winter night and his eyes can stare into your soul. His eyes and smile can attract any girl. But that doesn’t matter to him because he already has a wife. No matter what, Ben, always had a fresh cut, there was never a time he doesn’t look sharp. He cycles between a few suits. One of his suits is a grey suit with a white undershirt and a tanish vest. His belt and shoes match the vest. They always do. Ben is a very classy man.

Ben has many different strengths. His critical thinking and ability to  problem solve, has helped him become one of the best detectives in New York City. Ben has always had a very good attention to detail, he has a really good work ethic and works very hard for what he has. What makes him one of the best detectives in New York City is how he can handle himself in certain situations. He is always calm and collective. Another strength he has is his communication skills, weather its his written and oral Communication skills. When conducting an interview with a suspect, he asks the right questions and will make even the toughest guys talk. His choice of words helps him get whatever he wants out of them.

Even though he doesn’t have very many weaknesses, he has bad flashbacks from the war that haunt him and follow him where he goes. Although he doesn’t talk about his war days, he is always thinking about them. Being as young as he is too, everyone doesn’t listen to him.

With all these strengths and very little weaknesses, Ben is the perfect fit to be a Police Officer/Detective in New York City. He loves making a difference and helping people out. This is the story of Ben Scooter, NYPD.

It was a warm, but windy night in the city. Detective Scooter and Detective Marshall walk into the NYPD to get another case.

Lieutenant Joseph says “Alright gentlemen I just got this handed to me. A hit and run felony at Allen's Cafe 208 West New York. Got patrolman on site, the coroner’s on his way. Get down there and see if you can find any witnesses who can put a make on the car.”

Scooter and Marshall hop in the their car and make their way down to the site. It’s only 8 miles away. They arrive at the scene at 4:28 am.

“Detectives? Over here.” - Police Officer.

Scooter walks up and says “Ben Scooter, traffic. What have we got?” “Victim is a white male. Name of Lester Patterson. Walked out of the bar into the street, car hit over there, and he ended up here. Dead-on impact by the look of it.” - Police Officer.

Scooter replies “Have you canvassed the area?

The police officer responds to the question with “The only one with anything useful to contribute is the young lady over there, just outside the bar. She lives above the bar. Name of Cheyenne Perry. No, it's not a stage name. 24 years old. She left St Louis to follow the yellow brick road.”

“Is that so? Will take a formal statement later. Right now we're going to take a look around.” - Scooter.

Detective Scooter and Marshall start surveying the area. Scooter goes to the body.

Scooter says “Landed on his face and ended up here. Car must have struck him from behind.”

Scooter continues to look at the body and examine it. Scooter opens the victims coat and reaches in his pocket and pulls out of slip.

He reads the piece of paper and says “Patterson has life insurance.”

He notices a big number on the paper that says $16,000. He looks in the other pocket and finds the victim's wallet. He finds the victim's address. After finishing looking at the body, Scooter stands up and starts walking toward the officer.

Scooter says “What have you got on the victim?”

Lieutenant replies “From all reports he was intoxicated at the time of the accident. I'll know how intoxicated once I've done the autopsy. Looking him over now, I'd say he died on impact.”

Detective Scooter mentions “What about the chest wound? Isn't that inconsistent?”

Lieutenant replies “Very common in auto injuries. Look for a car with a prominent hood ornament. Those things are killers.”

Scooter continues to look around the area in comes across the blood streak, he notes that the victim is about 20 feet away from the start of the street so he knows that the victim was hit really hard on impact. He know it's another large amount of blood away from the body. Scooter also notes the car must have been going really, really, really, fast.

Scooter tells his partner “So the driver managed to break before impact.”

Detective Scooter begins to walk to the front door of the bar to talk to Miss. Perry.

“Mrs. Perry?”

“Yes.”

“I'm detective scooter. This is my partner Detective Marshall. can you tell us what happened?”

“Well… I came to the window, because I heard people arguing downstairs.”

“Then what happened.”

“ I saw a car hit that poor man and not coming down the street.”

“ What kind of car was it?”

“ A dark blue Lincoln Continental.”

“Did you see the license plate?”

“Only the first two letters, I'm afraid. 6TN.”

“Tell me more about the argument you heard.”

“ Well, there were two voices.  A man and a woman. That's all.”

Detective scooter senses something in the woman's voice and believes she is not telling the full truth.

Scooter says “Why are you holding out on us, Miss Perry.”

“I'm sorry…I was hoping to tell my story to the newspapers. I like to  get my picture in the paper. I'm trying to find work as an actress and things are pretty rough.”

Detective Marshall replies “coughed it up, sister. we don't have all night.”

“ People arguing Tama they are husband and wife. I could tell by what she was yelling about, intimate things.  Very embarrassing for the man.”

“Thank you, Miss Perry. Your information has been very helpful you can go now.”

“You really think so. I'll be confined that driver and put them away.”

Walking away from the lady Detective Marshall tells Detective Scooter “You certainly have a way with the ladies, Scooter.”

“Give it a rest, Marshall.”

“Haha, simmer down,  let's see what the patrons have to say.”

Detective scooter still believes that there is more to this case than anything. He kept thinking about the big gash on the victim's chest. He was really thinking about how far the victim went, that the car is either going really fast or if the victim was pushed out into the street. Detective scooter approaches the alleyway and starts searching. After a couple minutes of finding nothing he ends up finding three garbage cans. He approaches the garbage cans and starts going through them. He looks in the first garbage can and finds nothing. Starts searching the second one he gets the same result. But when he's looking in the third one he notices a big long knife that is bloody.

Detective Marshall says “It could be a steak knife, Scooter. This is a hit and run case.  Anyone could have thrown away a kitchen knife.”

“In any case we would want text services to scrub the alleyway before they bag it.”

Detective Scooter and Detective Marshall walk out of the alleyway and walk into the cafe.

Detective Scooter says “I'll talk to the bartender, you work your way around the room.”

Detective scooter steps up to the bar and says “I'm Detective scooter of the NYPD.”

 “How can I help, Detective?”

“Your name would be a good start.”

“Brad Lynch. Hired help. I run the place when the owner ain't around.”

“Where is the owner?”

“He stepped out. Somebody had it to take Laura.. Mrs. Patterson home.”

Detective scooter begins his questioning over the bartender.

“What can you tell me about the accident?”

“Not a lot. It was busy in here and all I heard was the impact.”

With a quick response Detective Scooter says “So what was he doing outside? It's against licensing registration to drink on the sidewalk.”

“Lester and Laura we're having a fight. The owner made them take it outside. It was pretty ugly.”

“ Do you know the victim?”

“Yeah, Lester Patterson. He's a regular here, or he was.”

“ Not one of your favorite customers?”

“ Lester was special, but not my kind of special.”

“Was Lester drinking alone?”

“No  he came here with his wife.  she didn't seem too interested in the booze, though.”

“A witness overheard an argument.”

“Hmmm. Lester and Laura. There's nothing like airing your dirty laundry in public, is there?”

“Why Was Laura Patterson in such a hurry to leave? What is going on here?”

“ Laura was pretty upset, so Kevin took her home. Kevin is the owner and her and Kevin are pretty close. They've been talking about opening a new bar.”

“Kevin?”

“Kevin Sabo, the owner.”

“How long have Laura and Kevin been talking about this new bar?

The bartender speaks and begins to sound nervous.

He says “Who knows?  I just serve the drinks.”

“ bartenders hear all sorts of things. Are you going to tell me or do we have to start playing rough?”

“Ughhhh. When Lester was drinking he treated Laura like dirt. He gambled away all their money.  Laura pitched Kevin about the bar, I don't know how interested he is.”

“Is Kevin doing well?”

“Heck no.  the only thing keeping this place afloat are the poker games.”

“Well thanks  for your help, Lynch. I'm going to need  you to sign a statement with the patrolman.”

“Sure, no problem.”

Detective scooter and Detective Marshall meet up and scooter says “ you get anything out of the regulars?”

“They weren't giving too much away.  They liked watching Lester and Laura go a few rounds every other day.  And Lester was a fan of the love tap.”

Detective Scooter ended up getting a call from the office and said “They got a hit on the car. Address is 784 Johnson Rd.”

Detective Scooter and Detective Marshall drive to the residence’s apartment and as they're pulling up they see the suspect loading the car with his bags.

Scooter shouts out “Hey Nico! Stop right there, we have a few questions to ask you. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Where do you think your going?”

“Uhhhh, I have a business trip, so I uhh need to leave town.”

Nico throws the suitcase at detective Marshall and starts running. Detective scooter in detecting Marshall start running towards the suspect. They end up chasing him down and Detective Scooter ends up tackling him.

Marshall asks “Why were you running Mr. Walters.”

“I didn’t mean to. I was just driving and he came out of nowhere. It all happened so fast, I didn’t mean to hit anyone. I swear to god.”

Mid sentence Scooter’s cell phone rings, Marshall starts talking to the suspect while Scooter answers the call. “You need to get down to the lab, you’re not going to believe this.” A police officer ends up taking Nico to the police station for more questioning. Scooter and Marshall head to the Patterson’s residence before they go to the lab to see what's up. They arrive at the residence and knock on the door.

Mrs. Patterson answers the door and says “Yes? Hello?”

Scooter in a concerning voice says “Mrs. Patterson.”

“Is this about my husband.”

“We're investigating the incident, ma'am.”

“I see, come in.”

“Can you tell me what happened.”

“What's there to tell, he got hit by a car and now he’s dead.”

“You don't appear to be too upset about the fact.”

“Lester and I met on a furlough in 44, we got married that weekend. People don't understand it now, but it happened a lot back then.”

“I see so you probably did well to stick it out this long.”

“What's that supposed to mean mister. I think it's about time you left, I have someone here.”

Marshall interrupts and says “I beg your pardon you're going to have to run that one by us, sister.”

Another voice comes in the background and says “That's alright, Laura. I'm Kevin Walters.”

“Scooters says “Well, well. Nice to see you're comforting the grieving widow, Mr. Walters.”

“Alight wise guy. Do you have any intelligent questions you would like me to answer.”

“You can confirm this is Patterson’s story.”

“Lester lost in cards. He was kind of hard to control when he lost his temper. He turned without looking and walked right out in front of the car. It wasn't good”

“What's your relationship with Mrs. Patterson?”

“We are friends, good friends.”

“You expect me to believe that?”

Mrs. Patterson cuts in “Look, I was filing for divorce. Mental cruelty. Lester could be a mean son of a gun.”

“Did Lester know about this.”

“No, I hadn’t told him.”

Marshall responds fast “Well, hasn't this worked out well for the two of you? I feel almost bad for busting in on this little rendezvous.”

Scooter asks another question “How did the car come to hit him.”

“He walked straight into the path of an oncoming car.”

“You expect me to believe that, Laura? It's all very kind  convenient.”

“ Gambling for Lester was like the needle for hophead. He was yelling at me. He was yelling at the whole world. Kind of felt sorry for the driver, he had no chance.”

“You were arguing in the barn and on the sidewalk?”

“We were always arguing.”

“Alright admit it, you were pushing his buttons. We usually get the full story from the regulars in the bar.”

“Alright Lester was playing cards outback. He lost of course and wanted back in. He suggested I earn the money on my back to get a stake. That was proposition he was putting to his so-called buddies so, maybe I was a little angrier than usual. Let’s just say I took exception to his idea.”

“The bartender said that you and Kevin were planning to go into business together. Can you explain how you'll get the money for that?”

“I have a little money saved away.”

“You're being economical with the truth, Laura.”

“You want to back that up little man.”

“You increase the premium on Lester's life insurance. GI insurance policies have a $10,000 payout.”

“It was Kevin's idea. Lester lived on the edge. He was always getting into fights, crap games, etc. It turns out it was good advice.”

“It speaks to motive and premeditation, Laura.”

“You're forgetting the hit-and-run, Detective.”

Marshall says “You and Mr. Walters have an interesting day.”

“I'm sure we will, officer. Now if you could both just leave.”

Scooter replies “We're leaving ma'am, sorry for your loss. I could see what a tough time you're having with this.”

Scooter and Marshall leave the living room and start towards the door. They walk to their car. The coroner calls them. Scooter asks the coroner lady “ What was so urgent.”

“You're not going to believe this. We ran tests on the knife you found at the scene and the blood on the blade was Mr. Patterson's.”

“So he was stabbed?”

“Yes, The autopsy shows he was dead before impact. The knife hit a major organ and he was bleeding out, but this is the catch, the DNA that came back from the knife was Kevin Walters.”

“Kevin Walters?? The owner?”

“Yes”

Scooter and Marshall turn straight around and head right back to the Patterson’s residence. They knock on the door again. Mrs. Patterson opens the door again.

Scooters says “We spoken to the coroner Mrs. Patterson, he confirmed your husband's cause of death. We'd like you to come downtown and answer the some questions.”

“It wasn't me. Iit was Kevin's idea. Kevin stabbed him. I had nothing to do with it.”

“Where is Kevin now?”

“He's in the bedroom.”

“You're very good, Laura.”

“Put the gun down Kevin, if you do something stupid now you don't stand a chance in front of the grand jury.”

“Nice of you to give me up, sweetheart. All that whispering in my ear, telling me how we had to get rid of him, how good it could be, all the money we could claim. All that planning how to get him into the street and how to make it look like an accident.”

“For God's sake Kevin, shut up.”

“You had all the bases covered, baby.”

“I had nothing to do with it.”

“You think I'm going to fry for you, Laura.”

“He's a crazy man, shoot him, shoot him for God's sake.”

Kevin shoots Laura and she drop straight to the floor, bullet straight to the chest.  Kevin takes off and runs to the back door, Detective Scooter chases after him while Detective Marshall checks on Laura. Scooter chases Kevin down the road and follows him into the alleyway.

Kevin is holding a gun to an innocent bystander. “I’m not going back to jail.”

After arguing with the suspect, Scooter is left with no choice and shoots Kevin Walters to protect the young lady he was holding. Scooter runs to Kevin, checks his pulse. He was dead.