Yes to the whiskey

"Damn it, why the hell are you here?" Tanya was surprised to see Zinbad right before her, which contradicted her statement that nothing would surprise her. The onlooker Chuck was pretty satisfied seeing her expectation being thwarted like that.

"I did say that I'd swing by," Zinbad replied as calmly as he could.

"Then why the hell didn't you call?" Tanya asked.

"We've not reached that level of friendship, haven't we? Moreover, it'd be weird too." Zinbad gave out a very familiar reply, with that weird smile of his dawned, as if to mock her yet again. Tanya absolutely despised that smile of his.

"Did this guy hear me talking to Chuck?" She thought to herself. But, she was at a juncture where she could care less about what he heard, so she decided to change the subject. "Well, whatever. Did you go through that book? What did you find?" She asked.

"Well, I kinda understand why Stu was reluctant to give us the book. There were all sorts of top-class people on that list. However, on the day of the incident, one name stood out." Tanya interrupted whilst Zinbad explained.

"Ben Hills, son of the mayoral candidate Tom Hills, right?" She asked.

"Yea, how did you know?" Zinbad looked astonished.

"I checked up on the footage from that day. He was there with Meghan—easy to recognize a rich boy who loves showing off his money." Tanya replied as she looked far away.

"Hey, that's stereotyping rich people! You shouldn't do that." Zinbad gave out a quirky reply of his own. Seeing that no reply came from the other side, he decided to continue on with the explanation. "Anyway, if you knew about that, then you might also know that they have the entire city in their hands, right?"

"Yea, they made Billy delete the footage and clean the evidence so that we wouldn't find shit." Tanya clenched her fists as she uttered Billy's name. "So, we got our lead. Let's go, shall we?" Tanya headed to the car.

However, Zinbad suggested something else. "Wait, it'd be better if we wait for a bit."

"Why?" Tanya didn't get what his thought process was.

So, Zinbad chose to explain his decision. "In an hour or so, the night watchman will leave his post—and according to what I've heard, the next one takes an hour or two to get there. We'll get through in that time. If they were so keen on wiping out their son's involvement with this case, then I don't think they'd let us in, right? Just to be on the safe side."

"You're right. Then what're we to do now?" Tanya seemed to agree with his explanation.

"I didn't have breakfast. So, I was expecting to do that." Zinbad gave out a reply.

"In the meantime, I'll go do some shopping." Tanya and Zinbad got themselves into the car and drove away.

#

"I didn't expect this when you said shopping. I expected ten pairs of clothes, not ten cans of beer." Zinbad looked impressed and weirded out at the same time as Tanya took a sip out of one can.

"Well, this could be considered shopping too, you know?" Tanya chose to explain her antics.

"What's up with you and beer? It's early morning and the first thing you do is cracking one open. Do you think it makes you look cool or something?" Zinbad had the unfortunate opportunity to watch people make weird videos and post themselves on tick-tock to make themselves look cool. So, even though Tanya's drinking wasn't that weird, it was a thing to ponder upon.

"Addiction makes people do certain things, Zinbad. I can't help it." Tanya sounded distant as she uttered those words.

"Yea, I'll personally make you go through rehab then." A certain hopefulness resounded off of his voice.

"Sure thing. But right now, I'd like you to focus on what's before us. There's the hill mansion. And you're right—no watchman; gate wide open; it's the right time to get in." Zinbad's information looked solid as they were in front of the mansion. She felt a little excited as she stepped off the car. "Okay, let's do this!"

"Whoa, you reek of beer! You see, we're in front of the mansion of one of the most influential people around here. Not just that, we're here to question his son as a suspect of this missing case. That means, either he's a crucial witness or a major felon himself. And I don't think they'll take a drunkard's words seriously. So, I'll do the questioning—you could just stand and observe." Zinbad explained.

"Fine, I get it!" Tanya sort of agreed with what Zinbad said. She didn't want to look stupid before a suspect and his family as well.

"Okay, now that we're clear on that-" Zinbad knocked on the door. A middle-aged man opened the door and took a glance at them.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"Hello, Mr. Hill. I'm Zinbad and this is my—partner Tanya; we are private investigators. We're here to ask some questions." Zinbad introduced themselves to Tom Hills.

"What is it about?" Tom asked.

"About a missing incident that happened a few days ago," Zinbad replied.

"Okay, get in." He showed them into their mansion. "Make yourselves comfortable. Do you need anything to drink? Tea? Coffee? Wine? Whiskey?" The choice of beverage was very random, although his hands were already on the whiskey.

"Oh no, sir—I don't drink on duty!" Zinbad chose to look diligent around Tom, even though he's the sort of person who wore a Hawaiian shirt to meet up with the future mayor. Hell, he even had chips in the car.

"I'm sure that your partner here wouldn't mind one." Tom glanced at Tanya. He could sense a fine drunkard from a mile away.

"Sure, I'll take whiskey." Tanya chose not to disappoint Tom's expectations.

"Good choice." Tom smiled as he prepped the whiskey. A weird sense of comradery was formed between Tanya and Tom at that moment—a unique one seen between fellow alcohol enthusiasts.

#