It has been a couple of weeks since you have heard from the Jims but the moment they called you headed right over. Any sort of lead is essential to a case like this, especially when you came up with nothing relating to the items you did manage to find. Whoever it is certainly is no criminal or anyone that has a record, which would be a good thing if they were not trying to be found. But the Jims have gotten a tip and you are not missing out on it.
Or, at least, you thought it was a tip.
"May I ask why we are at the store?"
The two make their way through the aisles hauling a basket around. "The Jims require groceries to fill their Jim bellies."
"...You called me out here because you needed help getting groceries?"
"Groceries, yes..."
You stare at him, waiting for the punch line of this obvious joke. None came. "You said you got a tip—"
"SHHH!" He practically rams you against the grocery aisle, pushing a finger to your lips as he gives passersby a smile and a little wave.
As soon as they pass by, you shove the Jim off, wiping down your outfit. "Was that really necessary?"
The Jim recovers relatively quickly, nodding. "Yes. You were about to talk about—" He looks around cautiously before saying into his mic, "the tip."
"...That's why we are here though, right?"
"..." He looks over to the other Jim for a moment before looking back at you. "Sure. Now come on, we've stalled in this aisle for too long—people can be watching."
You hold your head as you follow behind the two, already feeling the eyes of others on you all but not exactly for the reasons the Jims suspect. You are walking around the store with a pair of idiots.
"So, about the, er...not tip?, what was reported?"
The Jim motions you to come closer and refers to a loaf of bread in his hands, making it seem like he is looking at it and judging the quality. "Well, Detective, we did not actually receive any tip about a man walking out of the woods but..."
"But?"
He nods about the bread and sets it in the basket, continuing to make his way down and motioning you to follow him as he squats to the ground, hobbling forward. You follow him normally until you see him beckoning you down.
"For the love of..." You facepalm internally and squat down with him...hobbling after.
"But there has been a spotting of a strange man."
"What's so strange about this guy?"
"Well," he takes hold of a jar of pickles, tapping on the glass and looking at you through it. "They say he walks around with a letter 'G' on his chest."
"A 'G'?"
"Specifically a white G, yes." He hands you the jar of pickles and continues forward. You look over to the other Jim to see if he is any saner but find him zooming in on a peanut butter jar. You place the thing of pickles inside the basket, dismissing any chance of there being sanity near these two and continuing on your way.
He begins to pat things of spaghetti almost curiously, a couple only giving them light taps before promptly backing away. "So you called me because some dude has a letter on his shirt?"
"Not just any letter: 'G'. Now, why would he have that letter on his shirt? What sort of things start with the letter G?"
"I don't know, garage, grab, gargantuan—"
"Are you sure you're a detective?" he prompts, raising an eyebrow.
"Many things start with G and I'm not sure how this can have any relation to the case."
He pushes a thing of penne into your chest, leaning close: "Gas." He quickly stalks away, his partner following after quickly.
You blink. "I—wait up!" You quickly follow after. They really are your only lead in this and they have been known to associate odder things. If anything, it could be something of interest. It is odd thinking of someone walking around with a letter on their shirt. Unless it's a kid. But they did say man so, probably not.
As you catch up to them, they are stuffing the lower basket with waters. "Okay, so, you think there is a connection?"
"For what?" the Jim asks, feigning complete innocence. They really do believe they are being watched...
"Er...the number guy?"
The Jim with the mic smirks a little. "The number guy, that's perfect." He nods to the other Jim as they push to the next aisle, you following quickly after. "It would make perfect sense. A guy with the 'number', er...6 and the house with the, uh, y'know." He plucks out some cans of beans. "The guy is practically walking around with all of the signs. The '6', the white letter, ah ha, trying to hide away the fiery red and going the step further to wear it on a Blue shirt, no one would be the wiser! Except us. The Jims know..."
"..."
"...A-And the Detective knows now, too. Yes." He nods to himself.
"Where was the number guy spotted last?"
He pauses, turning to you and holding his mic up close to him. "In this very store." You see the other beginning to zoom in on your face to gauge some sort of reaction.
"...When?"
Jim breathes, slumping his shoulders and skittering on ahead of you and the other Jim, mostly appearing to just be a frazzle of limbs lunging away from you. If there was ever an actual spidery man, the Jim's walking would encapsulate its movements perfectly. You follow after.
"The Detective does not seem to be impressed with the findings of the Jims," Jim states to the Jim holding a camera.
"No no no, I am, I just, when you state a where, it's hard to tell if you're talking about a day ago or if you're talking about—..." You pause, looking past the two towards an individual wearing a blue shirt. "...Anything else you have on the guy's features?" you ask quietly.
The Jim stands up, rubbing his finger against his chin. "Our sources told us he's just under the height of the average white rhino with a pair of glasses, hair darker than Caveman Jim's room, and the face of a natural born killer."
"Glass—wait, killer?"
You find Jim pouncing on you and knocking you down to the ground faster than lightning, attempting to shush you. "You're gonna get us found out!"
"I think our guy is getting away though!" you hiss back, pointing over to the individual beginning to walk off.
The Jims pause, looking to each other for only a moment before acting. The Jim with the mic jumps into the basket and the other begins pushing him, both barreling towards the suspect. "WAIT! WE HAVE QUESTIONS FOR YOU, LETTER MAN!"
So much for being quiet about all of this. You follow quickly after, curiosity guiding you and...something else nudging you away.
Google stares at the thing of eggs. Or, at least, that is what it seems like is happening. In reality, he is going through dozens of websites connected to the eggs, seeing what the companies do with the chickens. He is not usually one for morals but since he is particularly bored, he decided to see the extent of a search. What he did not expect to find is a site that led to actual live feed of the inside of one of the companies. "How the heck...?"
He hears something crash and he looks up, noticing two people falling to the ground rather quickly, someone near them holding up a camera with 'Jim News' plastered on the side, zooming in on the people on the ground.
"Google, are you done egg gazing yet?"
"I wasn't egg gazing, I was doing research."
"Which led you to stand and stare at eggs for fifteen minutes."
"...Oh." He shrugs, taking one of the cheaper things of eggs and placing them in his carry basket. As he makes his way out of the aisle, there's a shout and quick approaching wheels. Before he can even think about what he is doing, he gently drops his basket to the ground and squats, his hands moving towards the basket about to collide with him and promptly pushing it back at full force, sending the Jims flying backwards from whence they came. He blinks, looking to his hands and then to the basket. "What was that?"
"Just some precautions so that the merchandise would not get injured like last time."
"..." He shakes his head, moving to pick up the basket only to see the two once again running straight at him. "Er...The Jims are running at me."
"The who?"
"Y'know, the news people? Or, at least, one of the pairs. They are really weird."
"LETTER MAN!"
He blinks, looking at his shirt before looking back to the pair. "...Should, Should I be running?"
With no direct answer given, he abandons the basket and dashes towards the exit. He is not standing around for an answer this time—last time it nearly earned him getting run over by an elephant. These reporters were not elephants but Google doubted he could figure out how to protect himself from an oncoming basket again.
"LETTER MAN, WAIT! WE HAVE QUESTIONS!"
He shakes his head, turning down a couple of aisles and pushing past people, hearing those wheels being ever persistent. He sees the exit in sight and feels his legs lengthening to throw him forward faster. As he reaches the exit, an individual runs in front of his path. He has no time to dodge them and runs straight into them, both crashing to the ground. As his head fills with minor ringing, he looks to the face of the other. As their eyes meet, he feels there is almost an uneasy familiarity to them.
A moment of silence is held between the two before the sound of wheels is heard once more. Before he can think, he takes hold of them and rolls off to the side, using them to propel both of them out of the way of the incoming basket. He quickly gets up as cars honk and people from the store run after the two. He only gets one more quick glance at the stranger on the ground who he attempts to take a picture of before running off around the store.
You watch as the seemingly more suspicious suspect gets away, your chest still trying to get back the air knocked out of you. He could have been running because the two are seemingly insane trying to mow everyone down with a heavy basket but it did not help that he is still running, at an alarming speed as well...
You see the Jims being dragged back into the store by the workers and you facepalm. You're going to have to clear up the mess for those two.
As you head back inside, you try to picture the face of the individual in your head. If anything, you can try to see if anyone back at the office happened to know him or something.
The first encounter with the Detective. Not exactly what the Author had in mind when picturing the meeting but not exactly dissatisfying either. No, the 'Jims' certainly made the event more open but it appears this is some normal occurrence around the two. Google does, in fact, stand out with his choice of clothes but, surprisingly, those two were the only ones to grow suspicious. But was it for the right factors?
The Author muses to himself, attempting to spare the Jims more than a travelling thought or two before shrugging them off, choosing to try and figure them out at a later time. The Detective though was a bit naive standing in front of what could have been the equivalent of a bulldozer. Getting the air knocked out of them was merely a courtesy. He wouldn't be so kind next time.
"Next time..." The Author chuckles to himself knowingly. They have no idea what is in store for them.