The Man at the Restaurant

Alfred was all dressed up, but something felt missing that he could not quite figure out. It was early morning, and work at the restaurant is not until 3 pm, so he had plenty of time to go with Ingrid to the police station. The police had subpoenaed the two, and their attendance is required for further questioning on the theft of a hard drive, which is crucial evidence, and to inquire on the mysterious visit of Henry De La Vega. Alfred looked in the wash area, living room, bathroom, and again to his room to check under the bed, but there's nothing there. He stood for a moment in a really awkward way until Ingrid saw him in that position.

"Is there something bothering you?"

Alfred was at the entrance of the door. He grabbed his head and opened his mouth as if he was about to shout. "Lost something, and I couldn't quite know what it was." He again dropped to his knees to look under the crevices.

"Whatever it is, I hope it's not in the dryer," Ingrid said with her mouth full from the sandwich she was eating.

Alfred went to the dryer, but it wasn't there either. He went to the garbage can and spread its contents on the floor. He unfolded pieces of paper, packaging, plastic bags until he got hold of a receipt. He read it and saw that it was a receipt for a hard drive. At first, he threw it back in the bin, but when he was about to get up, it piqued his curiosity about what it is all about t, so he took it inside his pocket.

"Alfred, if it's about the watch, Mama has it." Ingrid hinted.

Alfred sighed. Yes, it was the watch he was thinking about!

"Where is Mama anyway?"

Ingrid was busy tidying up the kitchen sink.

"She was feeling something in her breast, so she went to the doctor."

Alfred came to the side of Ingrid then curiously asked,

"How long is she feeling it?"

Ingrid wiped with dried cloth her wet arms. Everything in the kitchen was already clean. "Three months. She said the lump is getting bigger."

"She could have waited a little bit longer so we can bring her to the doctor."

"You act like you don't know her. That's Mama. She could not wait for anything that's bugging her."

"Just like Dad."

Ingrid looked at him on purpose. Quizzical.

"What you saying 'just like Dad? ' You never met your Daddy. Ever." Making sure she had emphasized the last word.

Alfred realized he thought of it wrong. Everything that happened with the murder of Edgar Mayce had created a paradoxical nightmare of branching along in his mother's timeline and rendering his Dad as the one that died in his childhood.

"I am referring to dad... of a friend of mine."

Ingrid quizzed him. "You have to tell me something about why Mama 's case suddenly feels important to you?"

"Of course, it is important to me," he rebutted.

"That's BS, Alfred, and you know that. You despise Mama, and all of a sudden, you have the audacity to bring her to the doctor."

Alfred felt his knees weakened. He sat on the stool beside him. He realized he went home with a difficult narrative.

"Oh, what have I done? I am sorry...I don't know what I said. Forgive me."

Ingrid calmed down. She sat beside Alfred. She combed his hair with her finger then slowly massaged his nape a bit.

"Whatever this is.. we have gone through a lot, and we can get this over with."

Alfred tried to cover his face with his palm. Then sighed a couple of times.

"I got a bad deja vu on this," he vacillated.

Ingrid got even more perplexed.

"What do you mean?"

"It's like I have seen this before. She would come back, but at the back of my mind...it was Dad coming back and…it was too late." Ingrid breathed deeply. She was on the verge of hyperventilating as she touched her chest.

"Why Alfred...you make me nervous? "

"I am sorry. This isn't very clear. I am not ready to bring you into this mess. My mind is still spinning, and I still couldn't figure out why this went like this."

Ingrid wiped her tears.

"Come, Alfred; we got to be at the precinct. We can probably talk about this when Mama comes back."

At the precinct, Lyca Menendez was going through the evidence when she received a call from Gerald, the manager of A__Restaurant, and he said he found the harddrive inside the stockroom. He said to have tried inserting it back at the system, but everything in it was wiped out and could not be read by the computer. She asked Gerald to bring it just the same, so they can have it deciphered by the IT department.

Moments later, Ingrid and Alfred arrived at the precinct and were ushered towards the interrogation room. They patiently waited until Jorge went in, followed by Lyca. The two sat in front of the couple.

"Thank you for coming, Ingrid and Alfred. To start, the missing hard drive is partly solved. Gerald found it yesterday, but we can't quite figure out why... it was sanitized... . My fear...um... something is messing it up on purpose to hide the evidence."

Alfred inserted his hand inside his pocket, and he could grasp the receipt of the hard drive. He looked at Ingrid, who is just as nervous as he is, and it dawned on him that she probably tampered with the evidence by buying a hard drive and placing it inside the restaurant's stock room. He just had to figure out how she did it.

"Alfred, can you describe the two men?" Alfred looked at Lyca. Then replied,

"I can't quite recall the man's face. I am sorry."

Jorge was not expecting any credible answer. He tapped his pen a bit, sensing this won't get anywhere.

"Ingrid, can you come with Lyca outside. I want to talk with Alfred alone."

Ingrid stood up and followed Lyca out of the room. Alfred assured Ingrid he was just fine without her and gently closed the door behind her. Lyca asked Ingrid to wait at the lounge until she was called back again.

Jorge looked at Alfred, but he tried to avoid looking at his eye.

Jorge heaved a couple of sighs.

He then took out a picture and laid it on the table. Lyca was in cross arm position as she leans outside from the see-through mirror.

"Have you seen this man come into the restaurant on the 13th?" Jorge asked. It was the photo of Henry De La Vega. Alfred calculated his response, but he nodded his head.

"Thank you, Alfred. That is easy, right?"

"Yes, he is the one the man is waiting for inside the restaurant."

"Now, can you identify the man he met?"

"Do you have a picture? I can remember if I saw his face."

Jorge went out of the room and came back with the folio of criminals on file.

"This would help you. If not, I can call a sketch guy so you can describe it for him."

Alfred flipped through the criminal files, but not one of them matched their faces.

He was focused on at least a close match. After 5 minutes, he closed the book after reaching the last page.

" I am sorry. He is not here. "

Jorge removed the criminal file from the table.

"Then we have no choice but to call the sketch guy."

Jorge signaled at the two-way mirror. Lyca went inside the room.

She was ready with her reply, "Jorge, the sketch guy is ready for Alfred in the other room."

Alfred stood up. "Can I first go to the toilet?"

Jorge replied, "Sure."

Alfred went out of the room and went in the direction where the toilet is located.

Inside, after relieving himself, he washed his face thoroughly with cold water. He did not feel good from the pressure the inquiry weighed on his back. As he went back to the interrogation room, he noticed the rows of photos in the bulletin board and stopped at the sight of a very familiar face. The photos belong to the directory of police officers.

Jorge went out of the sketch room to check Alfred's whereabouts and signaled him to come back. "Alfred, in here!" he called.

Alfred raised his left hand, pointed at the photo, then looked in Jorge's direction. Jorge looked worried as he came to Alfred's side.

"He is the one!"

Jorge looked surprised when he saw the photo.

"But that is Colonel Lancelot Riva!"

Alfred looked at Jorge's eyes. Sure of himself. "He is the man at the restaurant!"