CH: 13 Let's get through the list
(Liam POV)
Okay, the first person on the list is the dealership guy, Raymond. The guy who couldn't take a hint that Faith wasn't interested. The same guy that would say that Faith was playing hard to get.
"Turn left on Jackson Street." The GPS said.
This guy works at a Ford Dealership; that's was when Faith was still alive; I'm hoping he still works there; I'm hoping they all can be found in the places I have on the list.
"Your destination is on your right." The GPS said; I pulled into the big Ford dealership and parked my car.
"I'm not really into Fords, but I'm not actually here to buy a car anyway," I say to myself as I get out of my car.
I walked towards the entrance of the Ford Dealership, looking at my surroundings.
"Hello, are you looking for someone a car, or do you have an appointment?" I turned around, and a black man who was six feet tall stood in front of me. He was wearing a collared shirt and black pants. He smiled at me and walked towards me.
"Oh, yes. I was interested in looking for a Ford car that would be convenient for road trips; it's my first time in a Ford Dealership; I'm not normally a fan of them." I said to him.
"Is there anyone that would be able to help me?" I asked him, looking around.
"I can; my name is Raymond." He said, bringing my attention back to him.
"Really? How long have you been with Ford?" I asked him.
"I've been working here for about five years now. So, I could show you cars that I'm sure you'll be interested in." He said, leading me towards the lot filled with cars.
This had to be the Raymond that Faith was talking about; I paid attention to him as he continued to speak about the different cars.
"Man, you're tall." He said, looking at me.
"Yeah, I get that a lot," I said, shrugging my shoulders.
"I bet the ladies flock at you." He said, laughing; I held the urge to roll my eyes at what he said.
Flock?
What the fuck?
"If I were your height, I would use it to my advantage." He said.
"What do you mean?" I asked him.
"A lot of women are attracted to the taller men," Raymond said, shrugging his shoulders.
"You're also tall, so I'm sure women are attracted to you," I said to him.
"Yeah, but there was only one woman I had found myself interested in, but she never gave me a chance; at first, I would pick on her and said she was just playing hard to get, but that wasn't it. She just wasn't interested in me, and me being me, didn't give up." Raymond said, causing my eyes to widen on the fact that he was openly talking about this.
"People don't like hearing that, especially if they tell someone that they're not interested," I said to him bluntly.
"Yeah, it took it happening to me for me to realize it," Raymond said.
"Are you new here?" He asked me.
"Yes? Why?" I asked.
"Well, you honestly don't look like someone who has lived here; people that live here are more familiar with this dealership, so they wouldn't need any help with where to go around the car lot, and I am assuming that the Cadillac over there is yours." He said.
I nodded my head.
"True. I moved out here to start a new life, and now I want to take a road trip, but I'm not going to take my Cadillac, that's for sure." I said to him.
"Yeah, I get that." He said.
"Did the person you rejected take the hint?" I asked.
"Ugh, eventually she did, man, but it made me reflect on how I was before, and when I was going to see the other person I was interested in to apologize, you know for being stupid and letting my ego go overboard, she wasn't there, and then the next day I heard that she was missing," Raymond said with a scowl on his face.
"It bothered me a lot because something didn't feel right, you know when someone is too nice? As in being nice to everyone? That's how she was, she was a good person, but you know some people take advantage of good people. She was even nice to me; I'm pretty sure I annoyed the hell out of that woman, but she was never rude to me; she would politely decline my request." Raymond said in a sincere voice.
"Are you saying she attracted creepy guys that might have took her niceness a little too far?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'm being real, even I noticed a few creepy guys watching her sometimes in the store. I've told her that she shouldn't be the only one in the store managing it by herself, but I think she took what I was trying to say the wrong way. Anyway, I even suggested those men that I was suspicious about to the police." Raymond said.
"I think this car you'll be interested in." He said, pointing towards it and leading me to it.
"What did the police say?" I asked him.
He turned to look at me, giving me a blunt look.
"We'll look into it, is what they said. Not even sure if they did or not, but considering that she's still missing and haven't been found, I don't know if she's alive, that girl was in love with that store, that was the love of her life, there's no way she would leave it. She was a woman of goals too, she was definitely killed, and the killer is walking around free right now." Raymond said, opening the car that he was in front of.
"Have a look and let me know." He said.
I went into the car and sat down.
"So there's been no update?" I asked him.
Raymond looked at me confused, but the realization came across his face when he realized that I was talking about Faith's case.
"Not that I am aware of; I hope that's she's okay and alive; if she is, she'll come back to her store, and maybe, she'll give me a chance, of course, I'll apologize for being pushy and explain myself," Raymond said.
I looked away from him and started the car.
What he said bothered me; there's no way Faith would be interested in him or want anything to do with him.
I looked at everything in and out of the car and even test drove it.
Let's be honest, I wasn't going to buy this car, but I needed to play the part.
I told him I needed to think more about the car, and he ended up giving me his card, letting me know that I should request him when I came back.
I took his car and left.
"Alright, next place. I don't know what to make of Raymond, but I don't. He's the guy, he didn't give out the creepy vibe, but that doesn't mean I'm going to cross him off my list." I said to myself out loud.
Next on the list was Carlton, the bakery guy.
"Wow, the bakery is just 11 minutes away, perfect," I said, driving towards the bakery; it was a nice-looking bakery from the outside.
I parked my car, got out, and headed into the bakery.
"Welcome, I'll be right there." A man said.
He was helping a customer with a cake.
"Ah, thank you so much, Carlton; your baked goods are the best." The woman said, taking the cake from him.
My ears perked up at the name Carlton.
"Anytime, Linda, thanks for being a loyal customer. Tell your son I said Happy Birthday." Carlton said.
"Will do; thank you again," Linda said; as she walked towards the front door, she glanced at me, and her face turned a light pink.
"Hi, thank you for waiting for me sir, how can I help you?" Carlton asked, coming in front of me, behind the stand.
He was around 5'9 and looked to be mixed, Black and Asian, maybe?
"Hi, I'm new in the area, and someone recommended this bakery to me, so I decided to come here for some baked goods," I said, smiling at him.
He smiled at me shyly, causing me to raise a brow.
Uh, okay? Wasn't expecting that.
"Of course, do you have anything in mind?" He asked me.
"Hmm, I could take your most like favorite batch of cookies and a slice of cake," I said to him.
"Coming right up, so you're new here. How do you like the area?" He asked me as he got to work.
"It's nice; I think I'll like living here. Do you like the area?" I asked him.
"I do, it's nice like you said, and the people here are friendly; I have a good number of customers that are regulars." He said.
"I haven't met that many people, just a few," I said.
He brought his attention to me and smiled.
I tilted my head and watched his eyes widened.
"Sorry, but you're a handsome man." He said, causing my eyes to widen.
"I don't mean to make you uncomfortable, but I have a habit of just letting attractive people know they are attractive," Carlton said as he continued to put the baked goods in their container.
"I hope you don't find that strange." He said.
I let out a laugh.
"No, you're fine," I said.
"Wow, thanks; some people would think I was hitting on them." He said as he placed more cookies in a box.
"Are you?" I asked, raising my brow.
"Hm, something tells me you're straight, and you have someone else in your life that you're interested in," Carlton said.
"Is that so, well. You're right about that, and something tells me that you're bi?" I asked him.
"Yes, for sure. You know the cookies I'm giving you is a batch of cookies I would bring to the Antique shop owner; she was gorgeous. Something was alluring about her; I thought if I gave her enough sweets, she would be interested in me; I'm bad at flirting; I'm more of an observing person and hoping for the best." Carlton said, laughing.
"What happened? Was she not interested?" I asked.
"No, I knew she wasn't, but I still came by and spoke to her and brought her cookies with other baked goods," Carlton said.
"Why?" I asked.
"I don't have that many friends, and I wanted to be friends with her; she was charming and always spoke to me kindly, she even made me laugh a few times, and I didn't like her being in that store by herself like that, sometimes her friend would be there, but her friend had things to do as well, so Faith would be at the store by herself, so I made sure I stopped by every day and chatted with her, bringing her some baked goods. I think she was lonely like me." Carlton said.
He brought me the cake and cookies in a cute bag that had cartoon pictures of delicious baked goods on it.
"I hate how no one knows what happened to her; I told the police that something must have happened to her because when I went to the store, she wasn't there, and she usually's there at that time. I had something new on the menu that I wanted her to try, but she wasn't there." Carlton said, ringing up the baked goods and telling me the price.
He handed me a slice of cheesecake in a container.
"This is on the house." He said.
"Thank you; I keep hearing about this Faith person," I said to him.
He gave me a sad smile.
"You probably will; she had no idea that a lot of people in the area liked her or wanted to be her friend; as I said, something was alluring about her, even knowing that there was no way she would be interested in me, I still wanted to be her friend, and I think she allowed that, because she took her time to talk to me and taste what I made, and would give me her honest opinion. She even gave me a gift once." He said, pointing to a nice-looking cookie jar; it was well made.
"Oh wow," I said.
"I know, it's stunning. I was taken off guard when she gifts it to me, but she told me that it was a gift because I had given her many gifts." Carlton said.
"What do you think happened to her?" I asked.
A deeply concerned look appeared on his face.
"I don't know, but deep inside, I think something terrible happened because there's no way a woman like that would walk away without a trace, someone had to have done something to her, I think Faith ended up being polite to someone that didn't deserve it," Carlton said.
"Hmm, it was nice meeting you Carlton, I'm Liam, by the way," I said, putting my hand out.
Carlton smiled at me.
"Nice to meet you, Liam; I hope to see you around." He said.
"You will. Thanks for the goods, have a good day." I said, giving him a wave and walking away.
When I entered my car, I let out a sigh.
"Yeah, that guy didn't do it. I can honestly say he didn't; I just have a feeling it's not him." I said, pulling out of the parking lot of the bakery.
One thing that the two I have met have already said about Faith is that she was too nice. To everyone and one of the people she was too nice to, had taken advantage of that and saw something that wasn't there.
"Gosh, Faith, what the fuck happened to you?"
(*Kassandra Speaks*)
Yes, Faith, what the hell happened to you, girl? Because what the hell.
Do you guys think Carlton or Raymond have anything to do with Faith? Comment your answer below.
Give this chapter a VOTE & COMMENT!!
-Kassandra Vivu