It's been nearly three months since I started chasing Xranstran, a notorious con artist and thief who has been evading the law for years, with even the best detectives and agencies unable to even discover his identity. I have spent more time than anyone tracking this guy down, as I have a more urgent motivation.

The bounty for catching this guy is massive, and being a homeless 17-year old who works as a private detective, money is not something I have much of. Xranstran is tricky, though, and at every corner, he has managed to evade me and never leave behind a single clue to his identity. If I had that, I could catch him easily. Xranstran may be a criminal, but I have to admit he is crafty.

The last time I was chasing after him, he tried to pull a major con that nearly scammed 100 people out of hundreds of dollars. I was able to foil that plan only barely, and he was able to escape while I was dealing with a problem he set up.

Despite my failure to catch him last time I managed to follow his trail to Royal Woods, Michigan, I have no doubt that he will perform some more scams. Royal Woods isn't the largest town in the US and has a pretty low crime rate, so tracking his crimes should be pretty easy.

I used the same strategy I have used often. I use my phone that I bought some time ago with the little money I had to track the current crimes. I sat down on a bench for hours, occasionally checking my phone to see if there were any reported crimes that matched Xranstran's usual M.O. After some time, I got one that was coming from the Royal Woods Mall, which makes sense. Xranstran has sometimes liked to operate in those places.

I went over to the Royal Woods Mall. I needed to keep out of sight as I knew Xranstran would run if he spotted me. Xranstran always disguised his face and wore a black coat, so I needed to keep an eye out for that, but not in a way that made me suspicious, as Xranstran knew me and would instantly recognize if someone was acting suspiciously.

I went from store to store pretending to look at the various items until I spotted some sort of scam. I eventually did, and it was some sort of booth that claimed that it would give free clothes if you put a coin in it. This was right next to a few clothing stores, so he was trying to target the people who would actually fall for this.

I walked up to the booth, taking out a coin to make it look like I was about to place it in. However, I hesitated, worrying about my money situation. At that moment, I saw a man fleeing. I looked over and knew right away that it was Xranstran. He must have noticed my odd behaviour and knew right away who I was. This is exactly what I was fearing. He knew me super well.

I chased after him, but Xranstran was able to keep up with me in speed, and he turned into a clothing store called Reininger's. I went after him inside, but I had lost him now. It seemed Xranstran had removed his disguise and blended in with the other customers.

I was very angry that Xranstran had once again gotten away from me. I sat on a bench in Reininger's brooding over my failure. A girl noticed me and approached me, asking.

"Hey, are you like okay"

The girl had long blonde hair, sunglasses on her forehead, some sort of red earrings, a green dress, and sandals.

"I'm fine. I'm just a bit upset."

"If you are upset, that is a problem. I don't want people to be upset."

It was a weird feeling, this girl who didn't even know me was trying to cheer me up from my sadness. Why exactly was she trying to do this? Nobody had ever been this nice to me before.

"Thanks, sorry I didn't get your name. My name is Nicholas McCoy, though I prefer being called Nick."

"Hey Nick, My name is Leni Loud. I work at this place, and I love fashion. What are you upset about?"

"I was looking for someone but I lost them."

I needed to be vague in what I was revealing, as as of now, I didn't know much about the deal with this girl.

"I totes understand. I often lose my stuff. Luckily, my siblings are there to help me."

"I wouldn't know that, I don't have any siblings."

"Do you have anything you want to buy, Nick?"

"I don't really have the money to buy the clothes from this place."

Leni's phone started ringing, and she picked it up only to realize that it was another glitch.

"Is there a problem, Leni?" I asked.

"I have been having a problem where my phone will start ringing randomly on occasion. I haven't been able to fix it."

"Let me take a look."

Leni's phone was fixed. Her settings had been messed up, which was what was causing the problem.

"That should do it."

"Thanks for your help, Nick."

"Well, it's the least I could do. Your words have managed to cheer me up. I need to get going now though."

"My shift is over soon as well, perhaps we could walk out together."

I did accept the idea. Leni was nice, and it was nice to finally have someone to hang out with. We went out into the hallway of the mall, and Leni quickly noticed the same scam booth that Xranstran had placed.

"Oh free clothes, how amazing," Leni said.

"Leni, don't place your coin in that; it's a scam," I said.

"How did you know that?"

"It is my deduction."

"Wow, you are like, totes so smart."

This did make me realize that Leni was not very smart, though I didn't really care that much as she had been the person who treated me with the greatest amount of kindness. I actually wanted to hang out with her more and be friends with her.

"Hey Leni, before I go, I would like to ask: would you be willing to hang out some more? I don't really have any friends."

"Of course, I would. I have always loved making new friends. Let's exchange numbers."

I now had Leni as a contact on my phone, the only one besides the FBI, who I had been keeping in contact with related to my mission to catch Xranstran.

I started walking around in the streets, thinking about Leni. She was so nice, the kind of nice person I had never really met before, and she was the first person who I truly wanted to befriend. She didn't even comment on my baggy appearance with the torn-up and dirty clothes that I always wear due to my lack of money to buy new clothes.

I had begun to worry, Leni seemed to be rather vain, obsessed with fashion and not very smart, and she seemed to like me for my intelligence, and I wondered how she would react if she knew that I was not only a private detective but also homeless and completely broke. For now, I was going to keep who I was a secret from her.

I still had a job to do, Xranstran was still at large and I was fully prepared to do everything I could to catch him.

"So Leni, how did things go at Reininger's?" Lincoln asked.

"It went like, really good. I also meet this nice and smart guy named Nick, and we are already friends."

"That is Leni, alright, always the one that can make instant friends with anyone."