Faye stepped over the newly fallen snow, half strolling and half hurrying towards a cafe very close the market streets. Having run out of money, Faye had signed up for a quest just a day before and early this morning, a reply laid strangely in front of her room although she remembered nothing of giving out any info on where she stayed. A letter specified all the details for their meeting, from the time of the day to the kind of attire to wear and where to show up. It was bad enough that this person knew where she stayed, and now with all these details, she was not sure what kind of creep she was going to meet. Moreover, she didn’t know if she was truly put off by this person or if she was actually more interested.

Nevertheless, she made her way to the coffee shop first with Hana resting on her right hand. She lifted her lifeless head every now and then to look at the passing people, then came to rest again, looking every bit like the wooden doll she is. Inside the coffee shop, Faye looked around at every corner of the small building. Despite the time of the day, the coffee shop was more or less empty with a couple of workers behind the counter looking strangely towards a corner of the building where it was considerably dark. She followed their line of sight and Hana covered her lips with her tiny hands. “Oh what a creepy picture; I love it,” she directly expressed Faye’s thoughts.

She dragged a chair out to sit opposite the black and white figure, unwittingly ignoring the slightly startled glance the figure gave her. He coughed into his fist and finally fixed his sights on her seriously. “Name,” he said with an all-important voice that Faye resisted an urge to raise her eyebrows at. Hana didn’t. She slapped her wooden fingers on the table and huffed, “How rude! You were the one who let us take this quest and now you’re giving us attitude?” She flailed her arms but after a pause still replied to him “I’m Hana, this is Faye. You must be Dex Miller. So, what are we supposed to do today?”

At her questioning, the taller man looked down curiously at Hana and as if realizing something, quickly switched to another set of questions. Once he had almost every bit of detail on Faye –of course just the official ones since Faye knew very well how to evade through the other more probing ones- he finally stood up leaving an empty coffee cup on the table. She followed him out as he left, listening to him as he gave her details of some murder. Faye nodded in understanding. She already had a fair bit of idea on what this guy was on. The details of a murder he gave sounded accurate but someone like Faye could easily pick apart the anomalies in it. It was safe to assume no such thing actually occurred. But she held back on calling him out on it since the false murder or the nonexistent clues were in no way any of her interest.

Faye wore her usual frigid expression throughout the investigation. Every time he pulled a random person off the streets and demanded his alibi, Faye stood behind the tall detective, her eyes focused on the man more than the other people involved or the so called murder. She nodded yes to everything he asked, Hana answered every question he had, but they flew over her head as immediately as they passed. She was instead taking pointers of this person’s personality.

He was definitely not right in the head. It wasn’t life threatening but it was definitely off on a few or more screws. For some reason he believes he is a detective but acts like the ones you see on typical old movies –completely illogical in reality if you ask Faye- and suspects anyone he sees on the sidewalk as the murderer. Hana managed to persuade him out of cross examining a six-year-old just in time before the kid’s mother rushed over.

Till the sun was almost setting, Faye followed the self-proclaimed detective around. She was sure she had almost every bit of his characteristics down until the gears in her head turned once more. It was her curiosity, but she decided to follow through it when Dex found another ‘culprit’.

This man, clearly drunk, had a difficult time staying still on his feet, and there was a dangerous glint in his eyes. “Whatthefuckareyou?” the man grabbed Dex’s collar and hollered. “At three in the evening day before yesterday, where were you? You met the victim a week ago and had a fight with him, didn’t you? You must have felt angry enough to murder him a day ago!” He fired accusatory claims one after another at the man until Faye was sure the drunkard couldn’t go any redder in the face. He looked nearly angry enough to murder Dex when Faye finally called it enough and dragged the man away.

He looked almost betrayed. “What…why did you stop me?” He seemed half angry and half concerned. Hana replied to him for Faye. “You know you are wrong, right? We have been listening to you the whole day and it is obvious the murder you are talking about did not even take place. For example, you said…,” She started explaining the holes behind his words and actions, listing them out as Faye’s eyes fixed on the declining mental state of Dex. He uncharacteristically broke down and turned very defensive. He kept denying the truth she listed to him and finally told Faye to stop. He decided they investigated enough for the day and handed over the money and other rewards. “You broke my heart at the end, darling. But I hope we meet again. Before, I actually had fun talking to you about everything. You even agreed with me! Haa, there is not much to say anymore. Leave! May we cross paths again if it’s destined”.

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