Ray's Karate Kid Journey Part III

Chapter 6: The Nike Store

Bon Dieu's face was left confused. In Ray's eyes, he can tell he didn't know the reason why he could be a big help for him and Diona. The next thing to do for Bon Dieu was to reply to him,"Me? Help you? What for?"

"Not just your help," said Ray as his eyes turned to both Bon Dieu and the woman. "I need both of your help."

"What?!" they asked him in disbelief.

Ray can feel Diona's hand on his right shoulder, "Why would we need their help, Ray?"

"I agree with Diona. Why would you need our help?" the woman asked him, "I mean, we just met."

"Because we experienced the same incident in different shops and restaurants. I feel as if you two need information on who the real culprit is. Right now, we need to get to the Nike store. It's the place where we should go to find any leads and perhaps, the keys to figuring out the real culprit."

"Well, we really wanna know information about it," Bon Dieu shrugged, then his expression turned into a determined one. "Let's do it."

"Hold on. Before we go, I suppose you're going to tell us your name?" Diona told the woman questionably.

"Oh, I'm glad you asked. My name... is Bonnie Ross."

"Nice to meet you, Bonnie," said Ray, then he asked the others. "Should we get going?"

"Yeah, we should," said Bonnie.

With that being said, the quartet walked towards the Nike store. Along the way, Ray felt a bad feeling about the real culprit. He wished he could explain to the others especially Diona, but since a force is pulling him into deep thought, he couldn't. That's because his head started spinning with thoughts.

Soon, they had arrived at the entrance of the Nike store. Between Penshoppe and Vans. Inside were various clothing and shoes made from Nike. Shirts, jerseys, jersey shorts, rubber shoes, running shoes, etc.

Ray looked around to see if there are any white rubber shoes. Well, not just any kind of rubber shoes, but rather the shoes that were the same as the ones he heard from officer Luke. Once he turned around and saw an employee monitoring the store, his feet moved to approach him.

"Hello, sir. Is there anything you need?" the employee asked him.

"Actually, my friends and I were looking for a guy who bought white Nike rubber shoes. Have you seen where he went after he paid for it?" Ray asked him.

"Who's this man you were talking about?"

"I think he's a bit taller than five feet. He wears a black cap coming from American Boulevard, his black leather jacket, dark green shirt and dark blue jeans. And there came his white Nike rubber shoes. You can see the Nike symbol on one side."

The employee's index finger and thumb moved to his chin and gently pinched it. His elbow was landed on his other hand. "Hmm..."

Seems like he's thinking of something. What is this all about? Has he seen a thief who stole coffee beans from Starbucks and the House of Pancakes? Or perhaps he's thinking of the shoes I told him about? Ray thought.

"Follow me," said the employee as he led Ray to the shoe section.

Along the way, both men can hear a few footsteps from behind. It took less than a moment for Ray to realize that Diona, Bonnie and Bon Dieu were following them. Just to grab information. When they arrived at the shoe section, the employee's hands moved to grab the first white shoe he saw.

"Is this the one you're asking about?" he asked Ray.

"Yes," Ray suddenly heard himself, Diona, Bonnie and Bon Dieu saying in unison.

"When that man came here, he asked if he should buy the shoes no one else recognized. Then, I asked him what he means. He answered something about another man who actually recognized him. That's why he came here to buy shoes that can make everyone think he's from here. The Philippines. And so, I showed him this white rubber shoe. Then, he payed for it.

"After that, he went out of the store. I know there's something suspicious going on, so I went to the exit just to see where he's going."

"Where's he going then?" asked Bon Dieu.

"He went somewhere in a place where it should be open soon. Whatever it is, it seemed like he's burrowing it or even worse, using it. I saw him going left after he exited the store. Then he went straight. After a few blocks away from here, that's the place. You might wanna follow the directions I've told you about. Then, you'll find him. Now, I have one question to ask. Why are you looking for that man?"

"Diona and I were eating breakfast at the House of Pancakes when we discovered that the coffee beans there were stolen," answered Ray.

"The officers tried their best to handle things up. Then, they discussed things in a private place along with me, Ray and the business company", said Diona.

"But we managed to settle this plan and now, we're looking for a thief behind all this," said Ray.

"Not only the man stole coffee beans in the House of Pancakes, but they're also stolen in Starbucks," said Bon Dieu.

"If we can't figure out who the real culprit is in time, we'll never be able to drink kinds of coffee in the morning," said Bonnie.

"Which is why we're joining forces to look for the thief. I've only covered a few traits about the real culprit," said Ray.

In Ray's eyes, he could tell that the employee was astonished to hear about the same man he knew was the thief. His eyes widened and his mouth opened. You can see his teeth gently bared together.

A few moments later, he looked down and replied,"That man must be put in the police truck to have a talk with the policemen. We need to know the reason why he would do such a thing." You can hear his sigh as he continued, "I don't have anything else to say, but..." He looked back up to the quartet. "Good luck on finding the culprit and keep looking for clues and keep finding evidence and leads."

"Thank you, sir. I promise you won't regret it," said Ray.

They both nodded at each other before the quartet exited the Nike store. Then, they followed the directions the employee told them about as they went left and kept walking straight.

After a few blocks, exclamations like "Aits!" and "Hiyah!" suddenly ring in Ray's ears.