The mysterious detective

The next day, the first rays of sunlight chased away the shadows of night that had settled in the sky. The city, once a dark mystery, was now illuminated by the flickering neon lights of the streets and pavements. It was at this moment that Alex Thornfield and Liam Callahan walked side by side through the streets, buzzing with life and light.

Both were walking in silence, as if busy with the business in their own minds. Although they work for the same detective agency, their jobs are very different. If Liam takes care of all cases involving people, Alex is the opposite. He deals with all matters relating to invisible beings.

Perhaps because of their contrasting fields of work, their appearances are also contrasting. As always, Alex looks mysterious with his long black coat draped over his legs. The fedora hat he wears adds to his enigmatic aura, making him look like a character from a classic film noir. The amber light from the street lamps bounces off the surface of his coat, creating shadows that move around him.

Liam, on the other hand, has always been more relaxed, but still neat, in the typical style of private detectives of his time. To give a casual feel, Liam often wears a dark brown leather jacket with a stand-up collar, paired with a plain t-shirt and jeans to give his look a modern touch. His friendly face reflects his outgoing nature.

The two detectives walk at a steady pace, complementing each other in an odd yet harmonious way. As they make their way through the neon-lit streets, Alex and Liam don't realise that an unexpected case is about to start their day.

As they walk, Liam's eyes stumble upon a deserted restaurant. Whether it was his keen detective instincts or his curiosity, the restaurant definitely caught his attention.

But who would have thought that Liam's gaze would instead be greeted by the restaurant owner who, as soon as his eyes met Liam's, immediately approached Liam with hurried steps.

"Detective Callahan, I need your help!" he shouted in an agitated tone. "My restaurant is in big trouble."

Liam raised an eyebrow, curiosity settling in his eyes. "What's going on?" he asked like a professional detective.

The restaurant owner looked around before saying in a lower voice, "I have a problem with money being stolen from the till. Lately, money has been disappearing from the cash drawer at a rapid pace. I suspect that one of my employees is cheating.

Liam pondered the restaurant owner's words for a moment. But before he could utter any more words, the sound of laughter could be heard from inside the restaurant. Liam, Alex and the restaurant owner all looked in the direction of the sound and there was a waiter trying to sort out a messy looking table, laughing incoherently by himself.

"Do you see him?" the owner looked at the waiter with a worried expression. "He's the suspect. I'm pretty sure he stole the money!"

Liam looked at the person the owner was referring to. But when he saw that person, his detective instincts told him nothing. He turned to Alex who was standing next to him.

"Do you see anything I can't see, A?" asked Liam, who liked to call Alex by the first letter of his name, A.

"I see nothing. But there is a different energy here," Alex whispered, his eyes scanning the surroundings. "This energy doesn't belong to humans," he whispered to Liam again.

"Can we come in?" Liam asked the restaurant owner.

"Yes, let's go." The restaurant owner didn't mind at all, instead he wanted to take Liam and Alex into the restaurant.

"No need. You just wait here. Let me and Liam go in." Alex interjected.

Even though he didn't understand the sense of Alex forbidding the owner to go in, Liam just followed what Alex said. His instinct told him that this was not a case for him, but for Alex.

Alex and Liam went inside and approached the waiter.

The waiter, with an expression as if he knew they were talking about them, turned and gave them a smile. "Are you looking for me?"

Liam walked over to the waiter, his eyes studying his expression. "Do you know about the theft of money here?" he asked inquisitively.

The waiter laughed out loud, but there was a hint of mystery in his laugh. "Oh, the theft of money? So you came for that petty theft?"

With a stride that didn't resemble a waiter's at all, the waiter stepped closer to Alex and Liam. There was a distinct air of fear about him as he walked. And it was Alex who felt the change in atmosphere the most. An atmosphere of a powerful being.

"Did you know that the owner of this restaurant... hmmm- has a rather unpleasant personality," the waiter said to Alex and Liam and then looked at Alex for a long time.

Alex, who was increasingly convinced that the waiter was possessed by a powerful entity, felt that this was not the time to play detective. The only thing Alex needed to do now was to get the entity out of this restaurant. As for the problem with the missing money, Alex could tell from the entity's words that it was all the entity's doing.

Alex also gave the restaurant owner the code to enter the restaurant and also to close the restaurant door.

"How did it go? He stole my money, didn't he?" The restaurant owner accused the waiter as soon as he joined Alex and Liam.

"You see? Did you see for yourself what this miserly man is like? Not only is he miserly, but he has a venomous mouth and he likes to put people down. He deserves what he's getting right now". The waiter interjected.

Alex, seeing the tension creeping into the air around him, immediately did what he always did when he wanted to exorcise an entity.

Alex grabbed both Liam's and the restaurant owner's shoulders at the same time and said, "You haven't seen anything and you haven't heard anything. You'll fall asleep on your feet while I chase the creature away. And you won't wake up until I tap you on the shoulder again. Do you understand?" Alex's eyes instantly turned red, hypnotising Liam and the restaurant owner instantly.

The waiter smiled mischievously. "Who the hell are you? How could you do such a thing?"

"Get out of here while I'm here to give you that chance!" Alex said with eyes that were still red, far from normal human eyes.

"Leave? I don't want to! No matter who you are, you shouldn't interfere in my affairs. I just want to teach him a little lesson. I have witnessed his stinginess for a long time. What I'm doing is worthy of a miser like him, who would rather give leftovers to a dog than to a starving child out there!

"You are not the one to take revenge on him. So leave." He shooed away Alex, who was still trying to be friendly with this stubborn creature.

"Hahaha, don't think I'm going to fall for you, half-human, just because you can hypnotise them! With a flick of my finger, I can bring them to their senses!" The waiter, who was being invaded by the creature, also flicked his finger and in the blink of an eye Liam and the restaurant owner regained consciousness.

Liam, feeling confused, finally sidled up to Alex and whispered. "A, who is he really? Why is he grinning like that?"

Although Liam had lost consciousness for a moment, as Alex's hypnotic effect wore off, Liam continued with what he had originally thought. Where he felt that the person in front of him was not a person. He physically looks like a person, but he is definitely not a person.

Alex was surprised when his hypnosis on Liam and the restaurant owner disappeared. For decades, his hypnosis on humans had always worked and could not be broken by any creature. But this time . . .