Outside the Mirage

#24: Evanston

Evanston was a miserable looking place, Vanessa thought. Like the small towns in movies, it had basically one major street where everything of note seemed to exist; a small post office, two different banks, a realtor's office, a cinema smaller than any Vanessa had seen, and a small cafe. Sighing as she walked through the one road wonder, Merlyn seemed to enjoy the small village.

"What's got you in a good mood?"

Merlyn shrugged. "It's a nice little place."

The two of them walked over to the post office. Walking in confidently, Merlyn seemed to startle the overweight man standing at the desk. "Good afternoon, sir."

"Good afternoon," the man bumbled. "How can I help ya?"

"We're looking for one Mr. Bennett," Merlyn said. "He lives somewhere in this town."

"Bennett?" the man asked. After a moment, he shrugged.

"You don't know a Bennett?" Merlyn questioned, frowning. "We read an article pointing him to this town."

"Musta been the wrong Evanston. There's a few in the United States."

"And there's a few Alaskas too, I imagine," Merlyn replied coolly. "Come now, don't try and pretend there's not a Bennett that lives here."

Vanessa rolled her eyes as they argued. As the two bickered, she walked past them both, slid over the counter to get behind the desk, and walked into the backroom. Looking around, she saw a series of totes, each filled with envelopes and packages. Grabbing the nearest one, she looked through it for a few minutes, grabbing a couple postcards and checking the names with no success. Moving on to the next one, she repeated the process, sifting through the envelopes for a minute before moving on once again. This process repeated itself about three more times before she finally found a long, thick envelope addressed to one "T. Bennett of 442 Wishmore Road". Stuffing the envelope in her back pocket, she returned to the lobby of the post office, where Merlyn and the postman were still arguing.

"I just don't understand how you don't know if a man named Tobias Bennett lives in this town you deliver mail to!" Merlyn hissed, his face red.

"The Third Amendment is the right to privacy," the mailman replied. "Wouldn't expect you to understand that, limey."

"That's actually the Fourth Amendment," Vanessa said. "I think we've gotten everything from here that we can, Sheffield."

Merlyn gave her a strange look. "Why?"

"Because this man will clearly not give up his rigid code of honor just so that we can visit your old friend," Vanessa replied sternly.

"Okay," Merlyn said slowly. "Let's just go then."

The two made their way out of the post office, Vanessa waving at the postman as they exited the building. As their feet hit the sidewalk, Vanessa pulled out the envelope and handed it to Merlyn.

"442 Whismore Road?" Merlyn read. "How did you get this?"

"I looked for it while you and Mr. Postman were debating the finer points of the Bill of Rights."

"What you snuck to the back and went through everyone's mail?"

Vanessa looked at him very seriously. "Yes."

Merlyn gave her a baffled expression. "That's sneaky."

"It's effective."

"Spoken like a true ninja fan," Merlyn muttered. "So what now? We find Wishmore Road? How long will that take?"

"How long would it take us?" Vanessa asked, taking out her phone. "On our own, I imagine it would take the better part of a day. On the bright side, though, we have the internet." Typing the address into her phone, it took only a moment for the address to pop up. "It's a thirty minute drive from here. Really on the outskirts of town."