Triple espresso caramel macchiato in hand, Levi took a seat in one of the window booths of the Starbucks. Somehow, the cute blonde barista at the cash register had convinced him to get this ridiculous, frothy drink. He told her he needed something to wake him up, so this is what she pitched. It was good, he’d admit, but it also tasted like pure sugar. The drink was a stark difference from the typical black coffee he would drink at the Reese’s diner. He had waited in line for nearly 30 minutes and paid about triple what he would have paid at the diner too.
Sipping his macchiato, he watched as people passed by outside. A couple walking up to the diner across the street, only to be as disappointed as he was. It truly was a shame, but a well deserved day off. He began to wonder if any of the people passing by knew anything about the disappearances. Had anyone seen anything? Heard anything? Someone had to know something. Someone always did.
Levi plucked his phone out of his pocket as it vibrated, indicating an incoming text message.
“
It’s been two hours”
A message from Campbell, who was expecting him at the office by this time to hear about the so-called lead. It would have to wait a little longer. Levi wasn’t in the right frame of mind to be in the office. He was still half asleep. Luckily being a detective meant he could make his own flexible hours. In reality, that typically meant that he worked 24/7.
He wrote back, “
Be there soon. Need coffee.”
Putting his phone away and looking up, he watched as a car parked out in front of Oasi Pizza. When the door opened up, a familiar face exited the car. One of the waitresses at the Reese diner. What was her name again? Ich... Icha? Ichy? He really should have remembered her name simply by how many times he had seen her in the restaurant.
Considering that she was on his list of people to interview, he stood up and left the Starbucks. Just as she was about to enter the restaurant, Levi called out to her, “
Miss!” Remembering her name really would have come in handy right about now. “
Err, excuse me, miss…” He slowed his pace as he approached her, hoping she would recognize him so he didn’t appear to be some weird stalker.
Ichiro was looking at her phone checking facebook while stepping out of her car, she kind of fixed her hair and then starting walking towards the pizzeria, she had her favourite outfit on which consisted of black boots, light black leggings, a white top and a teal dress that has bands over her shoulders she had her red headphones on her head and listening to her feel good mix on Spotify.
From the corner of her eye, she sees someone kind of jogging towards her so she takes off her headphones to see if they wanted something “
Err, excuse me, miss…” the man said as he approached her, she looked at his face and noticed that it was that cop who always ate at the diner, what was his name now again? Something with L, Leon? Leo? Le? Lev… Levi, right. “
Hi, Levi was it right? You are that one cop who always comes for breakfast every morning, what can I help you with sir?” he seems like he is in a hurry, I wonder what he wants.
Well, now he just felt like an asshole. A detective ought to be better at remembering people's names, especially ones he saw almost daily.
“
That's me!” He flashed her a friendly grin, happy and a bit ashamed that she remembered his name. “
I know this is a bit informal, but we are interviewing people close to the Reese family right now. I figured since you're here…. Would you mind answering some questions for me?”
“
Of course, you don't have to. You're not under arrest or anything like that.” He chuckled a bit, hoping to ease the mood. People usually weren't fond of getting interviewed by the police and often became very defensive, or even aggressive.
“
How about I buy us lunch and we can discuss inside?” He gestured towards the pizza establishment she had been heading into and pulled open the door with his free hand, hoping she would take up his offer. Who didn't like free pizza?
She hesitated for a moment as he gave her the offer of free pizza in exchange for an interview, it's not really like she is hiding anything so she decided to follow him in “
I will do the interview on one condition, Ashley also gets a free pizza she said with a smug smile on her face, of course, she would use this situation, and Ashley was already waiting for her so giving her free pizza would make sure she does not get annoyed that they can't hang out for now, she thought as she ducked under his arm that is holding the door and walked into the establishment.
The girl wasn’t dumb, she certainly knew how to use a situation to her advantage. Two whole pizzas? This interview, which he was almost sure would prove useless, was going to cost him 40 bucks. He didn’t exactly peg this petite, blue-haired girl as a kidnapper… or a murderer. Possible, sure, but highly unlikely. Nonetheless, he was supposed to do interviews, so he followed her inside and noted to keep his mouth shut about offering free stuff next time.
“
Hi there!” He greeted the young blonde girl at the counter
@Lasrever, “
We’d like two medium pizzas please, one for here and one to go. Anything that miss, uh… miss… I’m sorry, what was your name again?” He gave her a sheepish smile, hoping she didn’t take too much offence to it.
”I feel offended that you don't know my name officer. Aren't you supposed to be a detective or something?” she said with a smile on her lips in a joking tone.
”Anyways my name is Ichiro and I would like olives on my pizza if that is okay with Mr. Detective.” she says as she puts the puppy eyes and the innocent voice to work to try to convince him.
“
Ichiro! Of course!” He smiled and looked to the girl at the counter, “
Two pizzas, anything that miss Ichiro’s heart desires.”
Now sitting in a booth at the restaurant, with a few slices of pizza in his stomach and the to-go pizza in a box on the table, Levi settled back into the cushions and let out a satisfied sigh. “
Alright… let’s see… ” He reached into his coat pocket and took out a tiny notepad and pen, just in case anything of interest came up. “
When and where was the last time you saw Mr. Reese?”
”Last time I saw Mr. Reese? That was probably at the end of the Thursday before he disappeared, it was like May 24th? Yea it was, right? That was probably the last time I saw him. I was finishing my shift at the diner, I believe I was cleaning the tables when he came up to me and gave me my paycheck as I really wanted to buy something and he agreed to giving me the paycheck a week early.” She said trying to think back to the night.
“
I see. How close would you say you were to him?”
”They were like a second family to me so I would say that we were very close.” She said while kind of tearing up thinking about the man that she saw as a second Father.
”I really just… I'm sorry for crying… he was like a second father to me you know...” She wipes her tears and tries to calm down.
“
It’s okay, I know this is a tough subject….” He frowned, pausing for a brief moment so that she could collect herself, “
Would you say Mr. Reese was a likeable man? Did he have any enemies that you might have been aware of?”
”Yea definitely he was one of the nicest people I ever met, I don’t understand who would not like him.”“
Did he seem on edge at all when you saw him last? Nervous, worried, that sort of thing?”
”I wouldn't say that he was specifically on edge that night, nothing more than he used to be at the end of the month.”“
Where were you the morning of May 25th? It was a Friday.”
”I was still in bed I believe, I woke up at 10:00 AM.”“
Okay, I think that’s it for now Miss Ichiro. Thank you for your cooperation. You’re free to go.” He gave her a sly little wink, accompanied with a playful smirk.
”Thank you for the free pizza Mr. Detective!” She says with a playful tone as she puts up her hand to her ear in a call me gesture then jokingly winks at him as she stands up and walks out to talk to her friend Ashley that has been waiting at her car.
Levi raised his brows, slightly taken aback at her flirty gesture. He made a mental note to find out how old this girl was. Surely not underage, but perhaps still too young for his tastes. It had been awhile since he had been in “the game”, but……. His train of thought drifted as he watched her leave the restaurant, specifically watching the way her hips swayed back and forth underneath her dress.
Once she was out the door, he snapped back into reality and shook his head. Now was not the time!!