"my phone!" Anne's face was filled with joy as she collected her phone from Treasure. The stress of her getting back her contacts immediately left her chest.
"let me go!!" the little thief yelled trying to break free from Treasure's grip.
"just let him go, what matters right now is that I have my phone," Anne said.
Treasure let go of the child and the little thief ran away from the scene.
"Thank you, thank you so much" Anne expressed her gratitude and she suddenly hugged Treasure. Treasure hugged her back, smiling. She felt good inside of her to have helped this lady in getting back her phone.
"I'm really glad I could help," Treasure said to Anne as they both disengaged from the hug.
"How did you manage to catch that kid?" Anne asked because it looked quite impossible since the kid was running so fast.
"I saw you chasing after him and I took a shortcut to catch him. Most people here know that kid. He goes about stealing people's stuff" Treasure said.
"I'm really grateful you helped me. I was scared I'll lose all my contacts" Anne said.
"hmm… I think it'll be best if you back up your contact in the cloud just in case. That way you won't be scared of losing your contacts" Treasure said.
"Thanks. I'll do that" Anne replied.
"Umm… excuse me ma'am, but are you a model or an actress?" Treasure seriously asked Anne. She noticed Anne to be a very beautiful young woman with a nice figure and she felt that Anne was one of those celebrities she accidentally met.
Anne laughed "No, actually I'm not, why are you asking?"
"Wow, it's because you look really really pretty that's why," Treasure said.
"Awww thanks, and you look really beautiful too" Anne also complimented her. After all, Treasure has an outstanding beauty too.
"thank you" Treasure smiled.
"…and I prefer you call me Anne instead of ma'am please" Anne chuckled softly.
"Oh, I'm so sorry Anne..."
"No no.. It's okay, no need to apologize" Anne said.
"Alright, …I'm Treasure by the way," she said, stretching forth her hand to shake Anne and Anne returned the handshake with a smile.
"It's nice meeting you Treasure," Anne said.
"the pleasure is mine" Treasure replied.
The two beautiful ladies were already fond of themselves, whereas they just met.
"Here's my contact card, in case you wanna reach me. I'd love to see you some other time" Anne said giving Treasure her card.
"Sure. me too" Treasure took the card and left.
"Treasure? Treasure? Where have I heard that name?" Anne said to herself.
........
Later that evening,
Noah could be seen entering a small boutique known as G. T clothing. Inside the boutique had a lot of men's wear such as T-shirts, jeans, jackets, tracksuits, and so on, and based on the outfits, anyone could easily tell that it was a men's boutique. Most of the clothes had the 'G. T' brand name, written on it, and because of the brand name, Noah believed that it was the same shop where the strange man must've bought one of his hoodies from.
Noah walked straight to the counter where he met the shopkeeper and looking closely at the shopkeeper, he recognized him to be one of his old-time friends.
"Andre?" Noah called the shopkeeper's name in confirmation. Meanwhile, the shopkeeper was busy writing something down on a jotter, and hearing his name made him raise his head and he saw Noah in front of him.
"Noah??" the shopkeeper called Noah's name with surprise. He was very surprised and happy to see his old time friend.
"What a pleasant surprise," The shopkeeper said to Noah with a broad grin on his face.
"Wow it's been a long time my friend," Noah said to the shopkeeper also feeling very happy to see him. The shopkeeper used to be one of his closest friends during his high school days.
"I know right, it's also good to see you… what brings you here to my shop." the shopkeeper said.
"Your shop? Whoa! I had no idea you were the owner of this boutique. Good thing you're finally living your dream of becoming your own boss. You know I've always wanted to like you when I grow up" Noah said and the shopkeeper laughed.
"Oh, Noah… you're still the same funny guy everyone once knew at school," he said and they both laughed.
"Well, I'm happy that business is doing great as you can see," The shopkeeper said looking around.
"What about you, are you still a cop? I've been hearing some rumors that you now work as a detective at the New York police department" He said.
"Except that isn't a rumor my friend, and that reminds me why I came to your shop in the first place. I wanted to ask you if you by any chance know this man?" Noah said bringing out a printed picture of Treasure's stalker. It was the same picture Dexter took but he cropped out Dexter's face showing only the strange man.
The shopkeeper took the picture from Noah and had a close look at it.
"Please take your time… I believe he's one of your customers who must've bought something here in this place" Noah said.
"hmm…. His face is not that clear but he still looks very familiar" the shopkeeper muttered staring at the picture. Since the strange man was wearing a fez cap and was looking down, it was hard for the shopkeeper to recognize the person in the picture.
"Uh… I was told he normally wears an eye patch on his left eye. Does that ring a bell?" Noah said to the shopkeeper to jerk his memory. Noah hasn't met the strange man yet but Dexter had described what he looked like to Noah.
"Oh this guy!" the shopkeeper chimed.
"You recognize him?" Noah's face beamed.
"Of course! He comes here often to buy hoodies, sweatpants, and sometimes a nose mask. And I guess he wears that eye patch to cover his left blind eye" He said and Noah was certain that the shopkeeper was talking about the strange man.
"Do you happen to know his name or his address or anything about this guy?" Noah asked curiously.
"hum… I don't really know much about him since he's kind of a loner but I do know his name" The shopkeeper said.
"So what's his name Andre," Noah asked.
"Shawn Colbert"
"hmm… Shawn Colbert" Noah muttered. He was sure that he was one step closer to catching the strange man.
"yeah, that's the name" The shopkeeper responded.
"Thanks a lot, man," Noah said.
"Anytime old friend, but why are you interested in this man?"
"Because this Colbert guy is a psychopath and is probably capable of killing. And as your friend I'll have to advise you to avoid him in any way you can" Noah said and the shopkeeper nodded his head without any questions. He knew that Noah is one hell of a smart detective so anything he says is a hundred percent true.
****
Dexter was on his way home after work. His phone rang and he saw that it was Treasure calling him.
He smiled before answering it "What's up Treasure" Dexter said on the phone.
Unknowingly to him, Treasure was a few feet behind him and that was why she called him.
"I'm great, how are you doing Dexter?" Treasure said on the phone, slowly walking towards him from behind.
"I'm good now that you called. Hearing your voice just made my day" Dexter said as he was slowly walking on the street.
"oh yeah?"
"I'm serious… I wish I could see you right now" he said.
"Sure you can just turn around," Treasure said and Dexter laughed thinking she was just messing with him.
"Trust me, just look behind you," Treasure said.
"Okay, ma'am," Dexter said without arguing and he turned his back.
To his surprise, he saw Treasure standing opposite him, not too far from him though. She looked really beautiful like the morning sun.
"Am I dreaming?" Dexter said still on the phone.
"umm… I think you might want to hang up" Treasure said and he hung up.
Dexter walked towards Treasure and he gave her a warm hug "You look so beautiful" he said.
"Thank you, Dexter, …wow I've been complimented twice today. It seems I'm really pretty" Treasure said as they withdrew from the hug.
"Of course, you are, no doubt… And who's the other guy that complimented you??" Dexter asked with a lot of concern like he was a little jealous.
Treasure chuckled softly at how Dexter became curious all of a sudden. "It wasn't a guy," she said and Dexter mentally had a sigh of relief.
"It was actually a very beautiful young lady. She's pretty tall, she has pale clear skin just like you ...and she has beautiful silver eyes. She looked so unreal that I had to think she was a celebrity" Treasure said.
Hearing Treasure's description of the beautiful young lady made Dexter think about his sister all of a sudden. He thought about how Anne had warned him to stay away from Treasure.
'what if that psychopath is watching me again?' Dexter thought to himself. It would be catastrophic if the strange man should attack him when he was with Treasure.
"…could you believe a kid stole her phone?" said Treasure who was still talking.
"oh really?" Dexter answered.
He wasn't really paying attention to what Treasure was saying. His mind was on the strange man who might show up and attack him or Treasure anytime soon.
Dexter brought out his phone and texted Noah to come and see him as soon as possible, in case the strange man might be stalking him.