Why is this day so hot, Ryan's drenched in sweat from head to toe. He had to look at least decent for Vincent Alfredo's dinner. He can't go looking like some homeless idiot, which...He is.

Ryan followed the old drill, penny to pen, pen to a dollar, dollar to peppermints, Peppermints to candies, candies to more candies!

This time it was a breeze doing all the work, almost everyone opened their wallets and bought Ryan's goodies, he initially thought he was a master vendor, but it was obviously clear that they recognised him from the news and wanted to help him out, and get some juicy gossip.

"You're from the news right?" A bald man of strong build asked him.

"I guess," Ryan said re-arranging the candies in his near-empty basket to make it look more full.

"Awesome," He said taking out his wallet, "Gimme some of that," He said pointing to a specific candy.

"Here," Ryan said giving it to him.

"Thank you," He said handing him a 5-dollar bill.

"Thank you, dude, Have a good day," Ryan said joyfully.

"No problemo, By the way," He said lingering, "How did they look like?"

"Who?"

"The kidnapper,"

"Oh, Why do you ask?" Ryan asked. He could be a mafia member, he looks like one. What if he was checking if I could recognise one of his gang member? He would kill him and Ryan would lose all the money he had gathered now.

"Partially because I'm interested," He paused. "And partially because I'm deployed to investigate on this case," He said showing his badge.

"Texas state police?" Ryan read out. "You're a man of the law?" Ryan confirmed.

"I guess," The officer said. "I would like you to drop by the station to answer a few questions," He concluded.

"Am I in trouble?" Ryan asked concerned.

"No, We're just gonna ask you a few questions," He clarified.

"Okay," Ryan nodded. "Now?"

"Yes,"

***

Ryan entered the station, he was led to a room and was asked to wait for a few minutes.

The room looked boring and bland, there was only a table and two chairs opposite to each other. Ryan sat there restlessly. Apart from that, there was a mirror. Ryan was extremely bored so he made some funny faces at it, not knowing it would piss some officers on the other side of it out.

"The fuck is he doing?" He heard a low voice.

Ryan was now aware that it was a two-way mirror.

"Hey,"  He waved.

Suddenly the door opens revealing two officers.

"Mr Trahan," One officer greeted as they sat down on the opposite chair, "I'm detective Richards," He said extending an arm.

"Hello," Ryan shook his arm.

"Officer Daniel," He introduced himself.

"Was surprised you guys didn't show up sooner," Ryan said.

"We got held back by another case," Richards said.

"A murder one, Potentially caused by the same person you encountered,"  Daniel said.

"Nah, That's not possible," Ryan said, it was always a different person, right? He was told it was.

"Why is that," Daniel asked leaning forward.

"I planted a dagger in her leg," Ryan said. Slightly proud.

"Her?" Richard said whipping out a diary and a pen. "A woman?"

"Yea,"

Richards noted something down. "Can you describe her appearance?"

"She was blond," That's surprisingly the only thing Ryan noticed.

"That's it?" Daniel asked. "She's blond?" Daniel said with a tint of frustration. "Do you have any idea how little that narrows down?"

"She looked terrifying," Ryan flinched as he imagined her. Her pale lips, wandering eyes and her awesome set of knives.

"She had cool knives," Ryan added.

Daniel massaged his temples. "We only had one witness so far, and little to no clue on how they look,"

"Is that all?" Richards asked.

"I'm afraid so,"

"Where did you find the girl?" Richards asked.

"By th-the lake, inside the woods, where the hedge is, the big," Ryan moved his hands trying to describe it.

"Okay," Richards notes it down.

"Well, We had tried doing some background search on you," Daniel started, "We found nothing, Zip, Zero,"

"Yes, you have no social media, No records, nothing?" Richards asked.

"That's because..." Ryan hung on to his words trying to stall time. "I...Don't like having social media,"

"It's not just about social media, Mr Trahan, you have no records of buying property, records of not having jobs, and I can't seem to find you on our database," Daniel stated

"I'm new to this country and...I'm unemployed,"

"That--" Daniel started.

"That doesn't matter right now," Richards said. "Does the kidnapper have any special traits?"

Ryan took in a deep breath, "look, guys, I really want to help, but I can't answer to questions that I don't know the answers to, I was too focused on the kid,"

Richards sighed, "you're free to go, please drop by if we ask you to,"

"Sure," Ryan said standing up. "Nice to see ya guys, good day," Ryan walked out.

"Something's wrong about him," He could hear Daniel.

"Yea," Richards said.

He couldn't just tell them he's from another universe and shit. They'll try to do some shit on him and it'll just complicate things.

***

Ryan dropped by a clothing store to blow his money on a black shirt and some decent pants. He couldn't just meet a Rich dude wearing a hoodie and sweaty Track pants.

Ryan looked sharp, but the bike didn't match well with his formal attire, but you gotta use what you have. He rode his bile for about an hour to reach Alfredo's residence. It was on the outskirts of town, quiet and peaceful with farmlands covering either side of the broad black road. Tall yellow flowers were scattered across on one side while Brown-wheat decorated the other.

After a while, A Brown brick wall started leading to a huge metal gate. Ryan put on the brakes.

"Hey," Ryan said ringing the cycle bell.

"Yes?" A deep voice answered.

"I'm Ryan,"

"So?" A tall, huge man in a suit appeared.

"I-uh, Was invited, Ryan Trahan,"

"Oh, you, Mr Alfredo said you'll come," He said pushing a button.

The tall gates made a clinging sound and opened, Ryan pushed his bike in, holy smokes Ryan thought if he was this guy he could finish this challenge in like 3 hours.

"You can leave your...Bike here," The man said.

"Take care of it,"

"Me Alfredo will be home in a few minutes, Mr Thomas would show you around, you'll find him somewhere," He said parking the bike behind a small building near the gate.

"Okay," Ryan nodded as he walked through the pebbled pavement. Ryan's jaw dropped. The 'house' was massive, Huge, enormous --

"Me Trahan?" He heard a voice behind him.

"Yes?" He turned around, "Mr Tomas?"

"Yes, Nice to meet you," Tomas said extending his arm which Rhan shook.

"Nice to meet you too,"

"This way, please," He said leading Ryan. "I'll give you a tour till sir comes,"

"Okay, That would be awesome," Ryan beamed.