Chapter 4. Artless

The sea swayed and one could hear the crashing of waves. Two figures silently stared into each other's eyes. A lamp nearby provided more than enough light for the camera on it to observe the showdown.

As the tension rose, with no words, so did the stillness of the night. It was the girl who gave in first and took a step forward. She felt the heaviness of the cool air when the taxi driver didn't budge. Perhaps, he was just shocked silly, or it was one of his tricks, a trap that he learned with age.

"I am a police officer," she quickly took out her badge and pushed it forward for Lyle to see. Charm was her name, and the face in the picture was perfectly the same as the person showing it. "You are under arrest. If you act in a suspicious way, then it will force me to take action."

Lyle sighed and sat down with crossed legs. The moment was more like he fell. The jig was up and his survival instincts could not wake up, not this time. On top of it, he didn't wish for any awakening, not anymore since he had been mentally exhausted since yesterday.

"I said to not act suspiciously!" Charm raised her voice. An expert would have noticed partial panic. But Lyle pretty much ignored it, so she added. "Who was that man?"

"Cash?"

"So that's his name." Charm calmed herself. It had been a fruitless day, the night was worse. But she had finally caught this taxi driver who seemed to be involved in lots of stuff. One step at a time, she said to herself and questioned further. I suspect he was involved in the theft last night. Where did he go?"

"What do you think?"

"The way he was dressed, he probably had a date," Charm smugly said, and probed further. "Do you know where?"

"No." Lyle said. His head was down with hands clasped. At some point, he had closed his eyes after sitting down.

"You can ask him," Charm pointed to the obvious. "You know him for quite a while, don't you?"

"I can"

"Call him!" One could clearly hear the excitement in her voice.

"I lost my phone."

"Isn't this your phone?" Charm took out a phone from her jacket.

Lyle slowly lifted his head to look at the girl, who was still at the same spot. It looked like his phone, but the situation was a little odd. Wasn't this little sucker bluffing earlier about tempering his memories) "I need a lawyer," he changed his stance.

"What?"

"I won't talk to you unless you call my lawyer."

"You don't have one," Charm squinted her eyes. She had read the report on Lyle twice. His doctor might have one, but he surely did not.

"I have the right to request for one. Gimme my phone."

"No! You will call Cash and ask where the date is. Otherwise, otherwise… I will kill you."

Lyle showed no interest and wondered if he should just walk away. This whole thing might just have been a bad dream. No, what am I thinking? Do I want to live that desperately? His conscience struggled to make a decision.

"Kill me," he said as he got up, yet walked towards his taxi with his back turned towards Charm. The best scenario was to die right now. Next best was Cash helping him. The worst way to have his memories tempered.

Death at both ends, yet he was walking towards his taxi. The odd behavior of Charm pushed him to take a different approach.

"I can help you," he proposed. "But you need to promise something."

"What?" Charm's fists were clenched. She couldn't believe that a mere human pushed her to this point.

"Swear that you won't touch me."

"What!" Charm frowned. Doesn't it always go the other way? The young girl asks the old man to not touch her. What the hell is this person thinking, she thought.

"Swear that you won't touch me," Lyle turned back, and he looked dead serious.

"This is an impossible oath to make!"

"Then what do you suggest?"

"I swear to not touch you." Charm closed her eyes and held her hands together. "And will abide by my words until you present a threat or plot in any way that will put me under threat." She lowered her forehead and, after five seconds, opened her eyes.

"What next?" Lyle asked.

"Take me to Cash." Charm said. Resolution burned in her eyes. She threw the phone towards Lyle, but the latter didn't react and let it fall.

Lyle picked it up lazily and showed it to Charm. The screen had multiple cobweb cracks but apparently the phone was working fine. He noticed a hint of anger on the little officer's face. Her nose was slightly red and cheeks puffed.

"Let's go," he said and opened the door of his taxi. The process was smooth and quick. He pressed on a button as soon as he turned the key. The back door opened and Charm began her walk towards his vehicle.

He stared into her eyes and closed his own door. Careful he was to not let the lock mechanism kick in. All this while, his other hand had been on a lever. Stealthy, he dragged his butt forwards to shift the seat a little farther from the back seat. This time, he didn't even put on the seatbelt after starting the vehicle and lowered the window.

"Where are we going?" Charm curiously asked.

"To meet Cash," Lyle said as the taxi reversed and got on the road.

"Are you not going to call him?"

"If my phone had the number, then you could have called yourself." Lyle said while looking into the rear-view mirror.

"But it didn't," Charm said, but Lyle didn't respond. He surely took multiple glances at the mirror, but no words. "So I thought you didn't save the numbers and… there's nothing on your phone. Yuumi said, a colleague said, she asked me if it was my new work phone when she saw my phone. So this must be your work phone, but it might be your personal phone. In that case, you remember his phone number."

Lyle was looking into the mirror the entire time. The road was really lonely at this point and the window brought a certain chill to his face.

"So, where are we going? Exactly." Charm asked while looking away from the rear-view mirror. She was sitting diagonally to the diver with the window closed. It was comparatively warm on her side.

"Love Restaurant."

"What!" Charm exclaimed and a little drop of blood leaked down her nose