"Wait, Montez? As in like, Carter Montez? I ask as I remembered the notoriety that name held.
"As a matter of fact, Yes. We're related. Sort of. I'm not gonna get into it right now". He sighed.
"And you're friends with Ken? You expect me to believe you? I mean Margaret clearly hates him, don't tell me she's all, okay with you." I asked skeptically.
"Well, she isn't. Like I said our friendship is already strained enough." He sighs. "But we get along well, it's not very common to run into ghosts here. I can bet you a hundred bucks, not that I have them, that he was super excited when he met you." He smirked
"Well... " remembering our first encounter I have no choice but to agree. "...Yes! But he's a friendly guy. It's not hard to guess if you know them."
"If you don't believe me fine." he shrugged. "You can ask Ken yourself that. Just please don't tell him about the suicide part please" he begged.
"Alright, I'll do that." I nodded. "You know, you tell me all these things which makes me want to trust you, then you drop a bombshell which takes you back to square one."
"What's square one?" He asked.
"Well, the nicest way to phrase it would be, downright-suspicious-guy." I said it with a smirk. He laughed out loud after hearing that.
Since it was getting late, we decided to leave this place.As we exited I saw the main entrance was open. I wondered who might have walked in? Or maybe it was Oliver, since he thought I was human before. But then I suddenly remembered the body he was in was human. So I guess he did need to open to door to technically access the building. Where did he get the keys?
"Do you happen to have keys to this place?" I did not want to meet him here again so I hope he doesn't come here that frequently.
"Not really, but if you are curious how I got in, I broke the door." he laughs.
"I wasn't curious." again I uttered hurriedly, which was an obvious lie.
"Sure." he said without any further comments.
I told him to go on his own way but he said he had some business to attend to in the same direction I was headed for, so he stayed. After a while we ran into Ken.
"So, you got yourself a new friend I see." He looked at me suggestively. Suddenly I remembered the suicide thing. It's still hard to believe he did that. What could have possibly happened to this happy boy that he decided to do end his life himself. Not that I was going to ask him. It must have been a terrible experience, I don't want him to remember that unnecessarily. I wasn't trying to save Oliver's friendship with him though. Why would I care about him or his friendships.
"Well, he technically is your friend." I told him to which he looked at me suspiciously.
"I've never met this guy." he answered me as if I've gone crazy.
"But... He said... "I tried to justify myself.
"Hey! That hurt mate, how could you not recognize me?" Oliver, however was clearly offended, so he decided to weigh in.
"I'm sorry who are you?" Ken scrunched his eyebrows. "I've never seen you around."
"I'm Oliver? Your best friend?" He said desparately as if he was trying to convince him of his identity.
" You're not Oliver, at least not the one I know of. I do have a friend called Oliver but last time I checked he looked a lot younger." he joked. It was clear that he was teasing him... teasing both of us from the start.
"I'm obviously possessing someone!!" he took an accusatory tone. "Don't you recognize me from the way I talk?" he got offended it seemed. It made me chuckle.
"No, we're not that close." Ken continued to tease.
"..." Oliver doesn't reply but stared at him so if he was throwing daggers through his mind..
Even though Oliver looked middle aged, with Ken these two became real childlike. I had no idea how old he was but he must be younger than the guy he was possessing right now, but I'm still here is guessing older than Ken since he told me he worked undercover or something. It was quiet fun.
"As much as I would love to continue to see you guys bicker with each other like an old couple, I think we should go. I've got some digging to do" I said.
"Well, that reminds me, I kind of did find out something." Ken mentioned. "I don't know how helpful it is but, you see on my way back here I saw another Rinfresco Cafeteria. The same name as the one we went to this morning. Turns out, that guy owns like five Cafeterias here. And to expand his business he moved to Waterwest city, two years ago."
"All right, all we have to do is look for a guy in a whole city. That should take us less than a decade right? I suggested sarcastically.
"Hey, I've been really helpful. Unlike you who was out there making friends." he blamed me
"I wasn't making friends, I ran into him." I defended myself.
"Wait a second, What's going on here? Who are we looking for? And does this person have a name?" Oliver asked.
"Why do you want to know?" I asked him.
"Well, I'm a curious person. Plus I used to detective I can help you guys. I still have access to police files." he smirked
"Wow, you sound just like him." I said monotonously.
"Who?" Oliver asked.
"Carter." I told him.
"Oh yeah he does, must be genetic." Ken agreed with me.
"That sounds plausible, but anyways, who are you guys looking for? I'm seriously willing to help. I miss being an active detective." He tried to make puppy eyes, and we both rolled our eyes at it.
"Well, its a guy named Timothy Stanford, we think he might have a connection with her. But we don't know much about him. We tried chatting but that didn't help." Ken told him
"Of course it didn't. Why would someone discuss personal stuff with a stranger." he looked at us as we were idiots. "We need something else, something much more personal. Well... " he thought for a while. "I've got an idea." And his face lit up like a bulb.
"What?" I asked him.
"Follow me." he says and heads over to somewhere really fast. We follow him as we try to keep up with his speed. As we reach our destination I notice it was a computer center where one can borrow a computer for a while. He sat down and opened a site that looked so familiar. It had a blue background. It felt familiar as if I've used it millions of times. He typed the name 'Timothy Stanford' and showed me many profiles asking me if this was my guy. Everyone of them were someone else.
"This website, it seems really familiar." I told them.
"Everyone knows it, everyone from our generation at least." Oliver says nonchalantly.
"Damn it!! I totally forgot about this!!" Ken replies excited.
Then he decided to search for Rinfresco Cafeteria, a page turned out where his email address was given, and the addresses of all the places his cafeteria was located.
"For a guy who doesn't like coffee, he sure owns a lot of places that sells it. Anyways what does this tell us? Should we send him an email or what?" I asked
"We do.. " He smirked as if he had some sneaky idea or something.
"And...? " I asked him hoping to be included in his thoughts.
"And give me a day, I'll tell you exactly where he lives." Oliver smirked.
"Okay, then what?" Ken asked."It's not like we can just barge in his house. He lives like five miles away from here."
"Actually that's the best thing one can do. He's not going to say anything if you insist on talking, might as well as look through his place."
"And? How will we go there. Take what bus?" I asked him.
"I can take you there?" he suggested.
"No!" I shout. I'm really uncomfortable with this guy. Even though he is Ken's friend I barely know him. Sure I trusted Ken very easily, but what choice did I have back then. I was all by myself.
"Alright! Suit yourself" he rolls his eyes.
"How about I join you? All of us can go, right? Unless, you have something important on your plate" Ken offered sensing my discomfort as he looked at Oliver
"I don't mind" Oliver shrugs. "Chloe?" he asks me.
"Yeah, that works. In all this investigation, it'll be a like a fun road trip" I smile and nod. This time I was going to find out everything. I was not going to give up easily. Breach of privacy? So be it. I don't care anymore. I have been here for almost two months was there was hardly any progress. I was too desperate now.