CH: 16 At it again
(Liam POV)
The man stared at me with a customer service smile.
"Sure, sir. How can I help?" He asked.
"Do you have anyone here that wants to give away any Antique items?" I asked him.
A confused expression appeared on his face.
"Um, not that I know of right now, but if we do, we usually bring all the items in a common Antique store," Nate said.
"Oh, so I've heard, but I heard the owner is no longer running the store, so I don't think she would mind," I said to Nate, shrugging my shoulders.
Nate narrowed his eyes at me.
"That doesn't mean that the store isn't still being run, the owner has a friend running the store, and I am sure she will return to run the store, so I think she would mind, especially if you're a competitor," Nate said in a harsh voice.
"I'm just trying to do business," I said.
"Well, we only do business with Faiths Antique, and if you're not Faith, then no, just because she's missing doesn't mean we just turn our backs on an agreement the nursing home had made with her," Nate said.
I turned my attention to a sign on the wall near the nursing home reception desk; it was a picture of Faith that said, 'Please help us find Faith.' It was on the wall big and bright.
"What do you think happened to her? I've heard a lot of different stories." I said to Nate.
"Listen, you must be new here," Nate said.
"Do I look new?" I asked him.
"Yes, you look like you're supposed to either be living in Bel Air, New York, or Los Angeles. Whether you know it or not, you stand out. I don't know what your issue is or what you want to do, but I don't have time for it right now; I'm working." He said.
"Well, let's see. I just want to find Faith." I said, shrugging my shoulders; Nate's eyes widened.
I wasn't going to tippy-toe around this guy that much.
"And I want to know if anyone who has spoken to Faith suspects someone of having to do with her being missing," I said to Nate.
"Do you suspect someone? Nate?" I asked him.
"Nate? It's time for your break." A brunette came over and said.
She smiled at me.
"Oh, hello, sir. I can help you with whatever it is that you need." She said, batting her eyes at me.
Uh, how about no.
"Actually, he came to see me personally. So, I'll go out with him for the break." Nate said to the woman.
The woman turned to look at me.
"Oh, okay. We'll have a nice break." She said, watching Nate get away from the desk.
Nate walked out of the nursing home, and I followed him.
He let out a sigh.
"I know she's going to start spreading rumors about this, probably that I'm gay or something, anyway. I think you came to see me here, right?" Nate said.
"Yes. I would like to talk to" I started to say but stopped when I realized the woman was standing in front of the glass window staring at Nate and me.
"She's staring at us, isn't she?" Nate asked.
"Uh, yeah," I said.
He let out another sigh.
"Ignore her; let's go somewhere else; she's noisy," Nate said, walking away.
I followed him, and we walked towards this picnic area; Nate sat down and looked around.
"I wouldn't be surprised if she were hiding behind the bushes somewhere, so we'll have to be on the lookout," Nate said.
He looked back at me with a serious look.
"I'm so serious; she is the type that would do that," Nate said, shaking his head.
"That's annoying," I said to him.
"Oh, trust me. You have no idea, so you want to talk to me about Faith. Are you an officer? Private investigator?" Nate asked me.
Hmm, I guess I could say I'm a Private Investigator, so I told him that.
He nodded his head; a relieved facial expression appeared on his face.
"Good, because Faith's case needs one. That woman did not just leave her store like that; something definitely happened to her. She was a genuinely nice person; she never judged, always smiled, was super friendly, and spoke to everyone like they were her equal; no matter what, I caught this woman approaching a homeless person the way she met the mayor of the area and the governor of the state, and she's met both." Nate said.
"So, when she went missing, the whole area knew and was talking about, of course, they gave the coverage they could, but it wasn't enough, everyone knew that she didn't just up and left," Nate said.
"Someone took her or killed her," Nate said; he turned his attention back on me.
"You need to find out who did it; I can't do much, I just work at a nursing home, but I'm sure you could. A lot of people like visiting Faith's store, so I think the person who did it is one of the visitors that I would see visit her store; he was always observing her but in a creepy way." Nate said.
I took out my phone, walked closer towards him, and showed him the picture that Richard had sent me.
"Is he in the picture?" I asked Nate.
"Yes, that's him right there. I don't know his name; I know nothing about him, but whenever I would antiques from the residents from the nursing home to Faith, he was always there, and I don't know if Faith was comfortable with him or not." Nate said, pointing to the same guy Richard told me about.
"The other guys in the picture are regulars, and there's another regular who would come to the store, but he isn't in the picture," Nate said, nodding his head.
He most likely was referring to Richard; Richard was the one who took the pic after all.
"It's him; I saw him ever since Faith disappeared; it has to be him. Shit." Nate said, putting his hands to his head.
"Fuck, I just got goosebumps; I should have told her about him if I did then-" Nate started to say but shook his head.
I lowered my gaze to his arms and saw that his arm hair was sticking up; goosebumps were starting to form.
"I have a little sister, she is around Faith's age, and I just can't imagine someone doing anything to my sister; it bothered me that no one knew what happened to Faith because if it was my sister. I would be going bat shit crazy." Nate said.
"Pam, the woman that's Faith's best friend, went bat shit crazy; I'm talking about she was at the police station every day yelling, with signs, her and her husband, people join, but those two showed up every day," Nate said.
"Yeah, I heard she did a lot," I said.
"She still does; she hasn't stopped," Nate said in a soft voice.
"I know you as an investigator suspected everyone who was regulars and in the picture, including me. Which you have every right to, but I swear on my whole family that I did nothing to Faith, but that man, that man in the picture who disappeared the same day Faith did, the same man who would come every day but stopped going when Faith disappeared." Nate said, shaking his head with an angry expression.
"He's definitely someone you need to find out about and look into, and be careful, because if Faith is dead, he'll most likely kill again or, he's killed before," Nate said in a low voice.
"If he killed Faith and the body hasn't been found, that's no work of an immature," Nate said.
"I'll give you my phone number; let me know if you need anything, and I'll do it; I want this woman's case to have closure; she doesn't deserve this," Nate said.
He gave me his number, and I took it.
Something got my attention, and I glanced to see the same woman further back hiding behind a bush.
She wasn't in any way able to hear us, but she was still freaking noisy.
"She's back there, huh?" Nate asked.
"Yeah, what's her issue?" I asked.
"She's freaking noisy; she's the type of person that loves to gossip, lives in a good nice looking neighborhood, and just likes knowing everyone's business; she doesn't care if the story is true or not, as long as it's juicy," Nate told me as he stood up.
"Don't be surprised if you hear tomorrow that you and I are in a relationship and that you're are going to leave your wife and kids for me," Nate said.
"Are you even gay?" I asked him.
"No, I am not, but she doesn't care; she'll make whatever story she can." He said.
"I'm going to go back to work; you have my number, definitely continuing going to meet the other regulars if that's what you're doing. I couldn't have been the only one who felt that way towards the guy. Oh, the pharmacist you won't be able to meet." Nate said.
"Huh, why?" I asked.
He scratched his head.
"Well, he died; he went sky diving with some twenty-three-year-old, and his parachute didn't go off." He said, causing my eyes to widen.
"Woah, that's sad," I said, being honest.
"It was, trust me, he wasn't a bad guy, but he liked the younger woman and did over the head things just to be with any of them; I'm pretty sure the sky diving thing wasn't even his idea, but it happened. His funeral was a year ago. I just thought I should save you the trouble." Nate said.
"Thank you," I said.
We said our goodbyes, and I went towards my car, pulling out of the parking lot of the nursing home, and headed home.
I was able to talk to everyone that was on the list, except the last person, and sadly he's dead, but for some reason, I have a feeling he had nothing to do with Faith being a ghost.
It has to be the guy in the picture that no one knew about.
I pulled into my driveway, parked my car, and worked my way on, taking everything out of the car, putting it into my house shopping cart that I keep in the back of my car.
It was a gift from my parents, and it is super convenient as well. I walked towards my house with the cart, unlocked the door, opened it, and pushed it in.
I looked around but didn't see Faith; when I turned to lock the door and tried to turn back around again, my whole body instantly was against the wall.
Faith was staring at me with a concerned expression.
"Liam, what the fuck?" She said, touching my face.
"I was so worried; I didn't know if you were okay or not; you've been gone for half of the day. I was so freaking scared while waiting for you to come home." Faith said grabbing my face.
"No one's hurt you right?" She asked me.
My heart was slamming against my chest.
"Faith, sorry. I didn't know you would be worried, and I didn't mean to make you this worried; I just had to talk to a lot of people, but I got some information." I said to her, giving her a soft smile.
She let out a deep breath, pulled herself back, and let go of her hands from my face.
"Liam, all that matters is that you're home safe. Honestly, I was really worried." She said softly.
"What if something happened to you?" She said, looking at me.
"I'm fine, and I know, but I promise that I will always come home safe to you, okay?" I said to her.
She looked at me with a severe expression and nodded her head.
"Okay." She said.
"Okay, good. Don't worry, Beautiful; I'm not going to leave you." I said, smiling at her.
"Now, would you be a Doll and help me with the groceries as I tell you what I found out?" I asked her.
She smiled at me softly.
She let out a little laugh.
"Okay." She said.
(*Kassandra Speaks*)
The next POV will be in Faiths, and boy was she worried. Does anyone know why?
Give this chapter a VOTE & COMMENT!
P.S I know of an older man who died the same way the pharmacist died, so I thought why not base him on that person.
-Kassandra Vivu