The Supernatural Private Detective

The present:

After leaving Uche's house and walking for a bit, Rob's favorite restaurant, 'Mama Tinuke's Mama Put,' came into view. Mama Tinuke's is the only restaurant in Birchwood that serves African food. Many Africans, non-Africans, and tourists interested in the food come here to dine on various African delicacies. The street was somewhat bustling as they walked towards the restaurant; this was because it was located in Birchwood's main town. A little girl who was holding a balloon rushed out of the restaurant doors and headed in their direction.

"Aww, what a cute doggy," says the girl as she pets Shaggy on the head.

"Hey there, little girl, what are you doing on the street all by yourself?" Rob asks.

"I'm not all by myself; Mommy is still inside Mama Tinuke's," she says, pointing towards the restaurant.

"Wanna see a magic trick?" Rob asks.

"Sure, Mr."

"Can you hand me your balloon?"

"Here you go." Rob collects the balloon from the girl and shoves it in his mouth, and his head expands as he does so, taking on the shape of the balloon. The girl lets out a boisterous laughter at the sight of Rob's comedically oversized head. Rob then lets out all the air, and his head deflates as he does. He opens his mouth while shrugging his shoulders, and the deflated remnant of the balloon is nowhere to be found.

"Where could the balloon be?" asks the girl, playing along.

Now Rob's attention turns to Shaggy, who was watching all that was unfolding attentively. He puts his hand behind the dog's ear and pulls out an exact replica of the balloon. Shaggy makes a surprised expression and begins to run around in circles, trying to see behind her ear. The dog's reaction makes the girl laugh once again. This was the kind of thing she had only seen in cartoons, and seeing it in real life was pleasing for her.

At the same moment the girl was laughing, her mother emerged from the restaurant with a look of dismay on her face. As soon as she spotted her daughter laughing next to a strange man, she rushed over and held her daughter's hand.

"Olivia! How many times have I told you not to wander off like that? I was worried."

"Mommy, this man is a magic man."

"I'm terribly sorry for the trouble, sir."

"No need to apologize, ma'am," says Rob as he pulls a bouquet of flowers seemingly out of nowhere and hands it to the lady.

"See, Mommy, I told you he was a magic man."

"Oh dear, these are pretty. You're a street magician, right? Here, let me help you out with a little something." Says the mother as she reaches inside her handbag.

"Oh, no need for that, ma'am."

"No, I insist."

"I don't require a reward. Thank you for your time, and have a nice day."

"Bye-bye, Mr. Magic Man," little Olivia greets as he begins to walk away with his dog.

"How many times have I told you not to talk to strangers? He could..." The mother's reprimand trails off as Rob walks away.

'I'm starting to act more and more like a certain old geezer that I know,' Rob thinks.

"You wait outside, Shaggy; I'll come get you when I'm done." The dog barked a response and sat respectfully next to the entrance of the door. Rob walked into the restaurant, and from the door, he could see a familiar face. It was Nora, one of Rob's childhood friends. Her eyes flickered with a brief moment of excitement before she quickly composed herself. She wore a black and red waiter outfit, as she was the waiter serving food for the day. She had long blonde hair, a beautiful face with freckles along the bridge of her nose, and a slender but curvy shape. As the door opened, she turned and saw Rob walk in, a hint of a smile playing on her lips.

"Hey, Rob," Nora said casually, trying to sound nonchalant despite the sparkle in her eyes. "It's been a while."

"Hey Nora, I didn't think I'd see you here."

Nora's smile grew slightly wider, but she quickly looked away, pretending to focus on her work. "I decided to take a break from school to come and visit Mama for a few days and help her out with chores and the restaurant."

"Oh, you go to Birchwood University, right?"

"Yeah, I study fashion and design."

"That's nice; glad to hear it."

"Yeah."

"Where's the guy who normally works here today, though? He goes to BU too, Edward? Erwin, was it?"

"You mean Edmond?"

"Was that his name?"

"He said he got some important family issues to take care of."

"Oh, I see."

"Why?"

"Well, you see, I'm a private detective now, and I wanted to ask him a few questions for this case I'm working on that have something to do with BU."

"Oh wow, what's with the men in your family? All of you want to do something to do with law enforcement."

"Hehe, I guess it's in our blood." Rob gave an awkward giggle.

"You can ask me the questions."

"Yeah, I guess I can."

"Hey waiter! Can I get more soup over here?" A customer calls out.

"Sure thing." Nora replied to the customer before she continued, "Let me finish my shift today; we'll talk. Edmond agreed to come back and take the rest of the afternoon from twelve." 

Rob looked at his watch, and it was thirty minutes past eleven. "I guess I have time; I was going to eat lunch here anyway."

"Another Round of Ewedu Soup!" Nora yelled for the chefs in the kitchen behind counter to hear.

"What's your order?"

"Ekpang."

"I thought you hated ekpang."

"As a kid, yeah, but it grew on me." 

Nora smirked. "Alright, one plate of ekpang, coming up." She said as she headed towards the kitchen door.

"Hey Nora, wait." Rob called out, she paused and turned.

"Are dogs allowed in here?" He asked

She made a confused face before she realized who Rob was talking about. A large smile appeared on her face.

* * *

"Who's the best dog ever? You are, you are Shaggy." Nora teased, playfully ruffling Shaggy's fur around her neck. About thirty-five minutes had passed, and Edmond had taken over as the waiter, so Nora had changed out of her uniform and into a casual T-shirt, jeans, and jean jacket. By this time, Rob had finished his meal.

"So, Nora, did you hear about that lecturer from BU who died? Benjamin Lawson?" Rob asked. Edmond, passing by with a customer's order, caught Rob's eye as he passed a glance at them and nodded slightly. He was tall and lean, with an undercut, dressed in the waiters uniform, with sneakers at his feet.

"I think I read about him on the school blog," Nora replied, still petting Shaggy. "Didn't he die of a heart attack or something?"

"What about you, Edmond?" Rob asked, turning to Edmond as he passed by again.

"Yeah, I knew him," Edmond said. "He taught me math in my first year."

Rob raised an eyebrow. "What's your major again?"

"Computer engineering," Edmond replied.

"Were you close to him?" Rob asked.

Edmond shook his head. "No, I wasn't close to him at all; in fact, apart from answering questions in class, we never spoke. But honestly, I kind of looked up to him. He had this philosophy of getting things done efficiently with as little work as possible; work smart, not hard, he would say. He called it brain work."

Just then, a customer called out for the waiter, and Edmond excused himself to attend to them.

"Sounds like he was a great teacher," Nora said, turning back to Rob.

"Yeah, it's a shame he died," Rob agreed. "So, about that school blog... how often do they update it?"

"It's pretty up-to-date, but if you want the real scoop, there's a student-only Exposuregram page."

"Oh? Can you send me a link?"

Nora nodded. "Yeah, of course, I'll send it to you later."

"One more question: do you know anything about a guy named Vincent Ramiraz?"

Nora's face scrunched up in thought. "Nope, never heard of him."

Rob turned to Edmond, who was watching them from across the room. "How about you, Edmond? Ring any bells?"

Edmond shook his head. "No idea who that is."

Rob nodded thoughtfully. "Figures."

Nora's expression turned curious. "Who is he anyway?"

Rob's eyes clouded over. "Just some suspect to the case."

The conversation trailed off, and an awkward silence fell over the table. Nora broke the silence. 

"Hey, Rob…"

"Yeah?"

"Where did you go after you left Birchwood? You just disappeared." She said, her voice tinged with a hint of sadness.

Rob's eyes dropped, and he fidgeted with his hands. 

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." She said.

"No, it's fine; I... uh... I stayed with this old magician for a while."

"A magician? What was that like?"

Rob's face broke into a small smile. "It was... interesting. I learned a lot from him."

As he spoke, Rob's hands began to move, and a flower appeared out of thin air. Nora gasped in delight, and Edmond's eyes widened in surprise.

"Wow, Rob, that was amazing," Nora said in excitement.

Rob chuckled, his face flushing slightly. "Nah, it's just a trick."

Nora's eyes sparkled with amusement. "Well, you're definitely a ladies' man, Rob." She said as she sniffed the flowers.

Edmond, watching from across the room, couldn't help but smirk at Rob's embarrassed expression.

Just then, Nora glanced at her watch. "Say, have you seen Mama since you came back to Birchwood?"

"No actually."

"Well, you're going to see her today; follow me and do some shopping for her, then we go to the house." Rob looks at his watch, and it's twelve fifty-six. He nodded, standing up. 

"Yeah, I'd like that."

As they were about to leave the restaurant, Nora turned and asked. "Hey, Edmond, can I get some water to go?"

Edmond smiled, handing her a bottle of water. "Sure thing."