A new day brought with it new problems that needed solutions in Wonka's Chocolate Factory, problems that Charlie would have to resolve quickly if he wanted to make it to an appointment he had scheduled outside the fantastical structure. One of the Shipping trucks suffered a severe breakdown and would need a complete replacement of its internal parts, a couple of wild animals escaped their enclosures yet were luckily trapped in adjacent rooms and Oompa Loompas in the Inventing Room were still requesting more protective gear even after their head informed Charlie personally of the risk they put themselves in by working with unknown and dangerous substances. The heir had to address these issues the moment they came up, he was going to one day inherit the entire factory after all, so he had better start to get used to unforeseen events derailing his plans, but that didn't mean Charlie wasn't eyeing the clock for the queue to head out. Once all the problems were seemingly fixed, Charlie rushed outside to his car and fled the factory before something else occurred and he got recalled to address it. He seemed to have a particular strain of bad luck that day and he hoped would not spill over into his meeting. It took about an hour to reach the Central London district of Waterloo, just south of the River Thames and about a mile southwest of Veruca's penthouse at The Stourton Block, where Charlie found himself walking into a sprawling office building on the riverbank. The building was home to many businesses, but the last Golden Ticket winner was only interested in the one that was located on the fourth, and highest, floor, Gilliam Private Enquiry Agents and Surveillance.

This Private Investigation firm was the same on Wonka had done business with multiple times with in the past, primarily because it was founded by a close friend and associate of his of many years. Ronald Wilkinson was a former Secret Intelligence Service agent who, after retirement, monetized his spying skills and found his own PI firm, he also hired many of his fellow ex-MI6 agents, alongside many former secret agents from the Israeli Mossad, the German BND and countless other intelligence agencies from across the world, to staff up his new enterprise. Gilliam primarily focused on corporate crime, but as their relationship with Wonka proved, they were also the perfect people to hire if you wanted to locate people you had lost contact with, and that was exactly what Charlie aimed to do. With Veruca back in his life, all that was missing was for Augustus, Mike and Violet to join that list, but before that could happen, he would have to learn their current whereabouts. There was only one other person waiting to be seen in the reception area, a white-and-blue room where the walls were lined with cushioned chairs with the occasional coffee table on the edges. Charlie sat down in one of those chairs and waited for about ten minutes until the receptionist, a brunette styling a ponytail with bangs who wore a white and black-polka-dotted top and black skirt with a name tag proclaiming her name as Sarah, opened the door leading down a corridor and summoned the heir to follow her. As Charlie followed Sarah down the maze of offices, he noticed some of the doors were closed and others were opened, with the opened ones featuring a middle-aged former secret agent at their desk either typing away at their keyboard or reading a report. The secret works these people did captivated the Good Boy's mind, but instead of wandering what it was they did, he was more focused on the fact he was about to become a part of one of their investigations.

The two eventually reached the door to a corner office with a view of the River Thames and the rest of London that was north of it, and after Sarah turned around and closed the door behind her, Charlie turned to face the chief spy and greeted him, "Hello there, Mr. Wilkinson."

There he stood, an elderly, gaunt man with silver hair and glasses, dressed like the real-life James Bond he was. But, despite the scar rolling diagonally across his left cheek, something he gained on one of his many heroic missions as a spy, he was a very polite man, even extending his arm outwards to shake his guest's hand, and replying, "Greetings, Charlie, it's a pleasure to finally meet you in person. Wonka speaks very highly of you."

"I'm glad to hear that, I still have his confidence after all these years," the heir responded.

The Good Boy took a seat across Mr. Wilkinson's desk, just like the former spy did on the other side, where he asked, "So, Charlie, what can I do for you today?"

"Well, I know that you have done previous work for Mr. Wonka, correct?" Charlie asked, trying to get an exact clarification on the nature of his relationship with the master chocolatier.

Reminiscing about the past was the best thing a former secret agent could do, and in this case, it also applied to investigations he did during his private career, with a grin coming over his face, Wilkinson replied, "Indeed, I first helped him locate his childhood friends a couple of decades ago. I helped bring down some of those dreadful spies that snuck into his factory and stole his recipes, and I even located his father for him around the time he started speaking about you, in fact."

"Great, so my information is correct. I can see you have a very sophisticated operation here."

This firm, that Wilkinson named after one of the many aliases he used while undercover during his tenure at MI6, was single-handedly one of his proudest creations, and he made that know, stating, "Of course, we take pride in our private investigations here at Gilliam. Are you interested in doing business with us as well?"

"To be blunt, Mr. Wilkinson, yes. I am interested in hiring you for a private investigation."

"Interesting, is there something going on at the factory, more espionage? Wonka hasn't brought any of this up in our recent correspondences," Wilkinson mentioned in a distressed tone, sounding worried for his friend and his ever-successful business.

Charlie made sure to clarify that Wonka was not in any trouble by putting his opened palms up to his chest, waiving them, and assuring the spy, "No, no, this has nothing to do with the factory. Well, it does, per se, but this is more of a personal matter. Do you remember the craze to find five of Willy Wonka's Golden Tickets?"

"I do, my granddaughter must've purchased about 200 Wonka Bars during the hunt."

"Well, it should come as no surprise to you that that's how I first met Mr. Wonka, but also, that's how four other children got to meet him as well."

"So, you want me to track down the other four?"

"No, not four, I actually found one of the other winners by complete accident. I'd like you to locate the other three."

"Alright, I guess that's easier on me. Now, while I would typically pass a missing persons case off to another investigator, because Wonka is a dear friend, I will personally see to it that the whereabouts of your fellow winners are discovered."

"Tell me, Charlie, who am I looking for?" Wilkinson asked as he pulled out a notepad and a pen from the drawer in front of him.

An obsessive Charlie had spent years reading every news and magazine article about the Golden Ticket winners he could get his hands on, as well as scouring every corner of the internet for any additional information to the point he could rehearse every fact he knew about the other winners on command, like he did when he responded, "You'll be looking for two Americans and a German. Augustus Gloop of Düsseldorf, Mike Teavee of Denver and Violet Beauregarde of Atlanta. Well, at least that's where they lived at the time of finding one of Wonka's Golden Tickets, I don't know if they moved as kids or where they live now as adults."

"Oh, and the surnames are spelled T-E-A-V-E-E and B-E-A-U-R-E-G-A-R-D-E. I've seen too many publications get the spelling wrong," Charlie interjected, causing Wilkinson to annotate his spelling of their names.

With this basic information written down, Wilkinson put the pen and pad down to look over at his new client, and asked, "Is there any other information you could provide me right now?"

"Not really, everything else I know I learned by surfing the web, such as the fact Mike played basketball at university, so you should have no problem finding additional information like that all that."

"Well, from the look of it, I don't think this investigation should take that long, the United States has easily accessible public records to base an investigation off of."

"Indeed, and it shouldn't be that hard to find Mike, the bloke is 10 feet tall," Charlie commenting, almost sounding like he was joking even though he knew what he saw leaving the factory from above in the Glass Elevator all those years ago.

"It might take a bit longer to locate Augustus, but don't fret, I'll be able to disguise myself as a local on my scouting missions of possible leads. I learned German before being stationed in East Germany back in the 70s while I was at MI6 and people said I developed an impeccable German accent."

"That's great! It looks like we have a deal," Charlie proclaimed, celebrating by extending his arms out to the side with his palms wide open.

However, there was still an issue that Charlie needed assurances on before choosing to hire Gilliam for this assignment, which is why he emphasized, "Also, I have some additional requests, please make sure Mr. Wonka never finds out that you're doing this for me."

This took Wilkinson by surprise, he didn't expect that he's be working behind Wonka's back, and he made his concerns known, stating, "Now, that is difficult for me, at that point you're asking me to occult something from a long-time friend."

"But I'm pretty sure we can come to terms on the right deal where that won't be an issue, given the right price, of course," Wilkinson added, turning the emotional tide at the end like a true businessman focused on his bottom-line.

"I don't think that should be a problem, just find them. And while we're on the topic, the payment issue. Is it possible to pay in cash only? I'd like to leave as little of a paper trail on my end as possible," Charlie added, wishing for as much secrecy in this endeavor as humanly possible.

Fortunately, Wilkinson was completely on board with this agreement, clarifying, "As long as you pay on time every month and sign off on the right paperwork, I don't think that should be a problem."

That was all good news for Charlie, and with the deal seemingly sealed, he stretched his right hand out to shake his new business partner's hand, and declared, "Then, thank you so much for meeting with me, Mr. Wilkinson. I believe you have my phone number, just have your office dial me when it's time to finalize the initiation."

"Of course, take care Charlie," Wilkinson responded before the heir walked back to the door, left the main office and returned to the rest of the world, the same world where, somewhere out there, the three fellow Golden Ticket winners whom he had not seen since that fateful day were going about their daily lives, waiting to be located so that the Good Boy may have a chance at bonding with them too.