Sal had put his phone on vibrate. It moved around inside his pocket, begging for him to answer only today, he was giving in.
'It has to be Jo" he thought, taking out the cell and flipping it open.
"Hey," a sweet, sing-songy voice said.
Sal smiled and knew that she was smiling too.
"Hey baby, what's up?"
"Oh, I just went to visit my family. I'm glad to be out of there. So, where do you want to meet at?"
He was just about to answer when he heard someone opened the door behind him and Rau, the butler, started walking towards him.
"Mr. Russo, your uncle would like to speak with you."
Rolling my eyes, Sal looked at the cellphone and then back at Rau.
"Tell him that I will be in."
Rau nodded and then walked away as Sal put his mouth back on the receiver.
"Sal, are you still there?"
"Yeah, yeah...look...Jo...I'm gonna have to bail out on you for a sec. My uncle wants to see me. You know how it is."
There was a pause and then Joah began to speak.
"I understand but can't you just say no. You're a grown man, not a slave to the Mafia."
"Babe, I'd rather be with you but the man raised me after my parents died. Please, forgive me."
"Okay, but don't be too long. Love you.
"Love you too."
***
The office smelled of expensive cigars and it was cloudy, making his eyes and nose burn with the sweet scent. Catarina was sitting in one of Adamo's Italian leather armchairs and the Don himself was posted at his desk, feet rested on top.
"Ah, it's good to see you nephew."
"It's good to see you Uncle."
"As you know, I want you and Cat to go on a mission together. This is one that is close to my heart and I will be glad if you two can take care of it without any complications."
The man stopped for a moment, letting his words sink in. Salvatore would do anything for his Uncle, the man who raised him but when he saw him get worked about something, he knew something was terribly wrong and that made him angry.
"What is it?" he growled.
"The man that killed your aunt, Cat's lovely mother and dear brother, still lives and breaths. I ordered for him to be sleeping with the fishes but he still lives and breathes!"
His blood was boiling and so was Adamo's.
"How is that possible?"
"I don't know."
"What do you want us to do?" Sal asked, firmly.
"I was just about to get to that."
True love, in all it’s celestial charm, and
star-crossed ways, only exist in a writer’s
mind, for humans have not yet learned
how to manifest it.
A knock was audible and the office door opened. Salvatore stepped in, slamming the door behind him. Gennaro autimatically got up,"Thank you for your time, Mr. Russo. Hopefully I should have more info for you by tomorrow." With that he left the room. After Adamo was finished explaining why Sal was here, Salvatore looked about ready to explode. He'd been best friends with Antonio, so they all understood.
"What do you want us to do?" Sal asked, firmly.
"I was just about to get to that." The Don replied,"First, you might want to take a seat."Sal did what he was told and was offered a cigar, which he politely declined.
"Uncle please."
Adamo sighed,"Alright. As you both know, four years ago a De Luca assassin was killed because he was thought to be the murderer of our family members. It was just the wrong one. Gennaro has provided me information on that much. I had research ran and the most likely culprit of the attack is a person that goes by 'Il Serpente'. I need you two to find this person. Supposedly even the cops have been on his trail for awhile, but have no leads to many other murders in this area that he might've comitted. He's very well trained and covers his tracks entirely."
"Father, tell us what you need us to do." Catarina's voice was pleading. Never before had she been so vulnerable and he could see it in her eyes. This mission struck home in both of them, bringing back unwanted memories."We know he's working with the De Lucas, but do you want us to kill him."
"Be patient, Cat. Yes, I do want you to kill him-"
"Then I've heard enough, Uncle. I'm gonna-"Salvatore was cut off. He had just rose from his chair.
"Sit your ass down!,"Salvatore obeyed."As of now I don't want you setting foot near De Luca territory. Right now we need information. See if you can find anything that could give us more clues to who this person really is. Cat, your in charge. Sal, follow her directions." Adamo got up from his chair and headed to the door."Now if you don't mind I have business elsewhere. I better not here about anything bad when I return."
If I can impact one person, just one, with my writing before I die, then I've lived a great life
**Telina to the rescue=]**
***I was going to use the character Fi, but I ended up gutting that character and creating this one**
Name: Sienna Russo
Age: 18
Family: Father - Adamo Russo, Sister - Catarina Daniela Russo (Both brother and mom were murdered in a shooting a few years back.)
Personal Family: None
Fight Style: She goes to a private school where there is high security, so hand to hand is how she fights. She knows how to shoot a gun and prefers it over a knife, since it can be done from a distance and it’s easy to leave behind. Plus, she’d hate to get her shoes dirty.
Personality: She likes to be in control of her life, she hates that she lives under the constant supervision of her father. She is sneaky and can always get to a party, despite her fathers constant "No's". Natural aura of the "popular girl" in school. She is unrelenting and unmerciful. She is a major and sometimes inappropriate flirt. She is 100% loyal to her family but has a conscious and realizes there's a line that her family crosses more than anybody should. She also loves the luxury of her life.
History: Sienna mostly has a long string of boyfriends in her history. When her brother and mom were shot her older sister Catarina dropped out of school. So, now Sienna is forced to finish school and to stay out of the family business until she’s graduated. The thing is, in high school it’s a whole other world, with a whole different gang.
Other info: She loves her sister beyond anything. Her father doesn't like the boys she brings home - not that he can even remember all of their names.
She is very protected, her father always has somebody watching over her, she even gets driven to school and picked up.
She takes self defence classes, even though she doesn't need them.
**I shall edit this as we go along, also I shall make a post later, I have to catch up to what we already have.**
**I know this is super long, I'm sorry I got carried away when I edited it.**
Special Agent, Alexis Blake 3:40AM, Friday morning.
“I luuvv papa! I loove mama and chuuu!” Alexis watched her sister play with her dolls - singing songs that flowed out of her imagination. So sweet and innocent. Her hair so blond it almost passed as white. Her sweet baby curls flowing down with the light gravity in her room. “When I grow up, I want to be just like her,” she told her doll.
Buzzzz Buzzzz Buzzzz. Alexis woke to the reverberation of her cell phone vibrating on her nightstand.
3:40AM? Please be anything, anything but work!
“Blake,” she answered her phone groggily, while stretching out in her soft blankets.
“Special Agent Blake?”
“Mhmm,” she mumbled.
“We have a two-ten here on 101 Addison Drive. Captain Johansson is requesting your assistance. Do you need a car to pick you up?”
“No, I know how to drive, I’ll be there in thirty minutes,” with that she slammed her phone shut and threw it back on the nightstand.
A two-ten, eh? She looked at her clock again. It can wait; dead bodies don’t run away. She justified herself as she walked against the cold hardwood floor and made her way into her shower. She took a ten-minute shower in faith that the cold water would make her more alert. She got dressed, slipping on something casual: blue jeans, black riding boots, a tank-top and her leather jacket.
The sun was still hidden somewhere over the horizon when she slipped out of the parkade in her silver Nissan. Alexis turned on the heat and let it dry her hair, brushing it as she drove downtown to 101 Addison Drive.
Rounding a corner Alexis saw her destination, wrapped with yellow police tape and surrounded by police cars parked illegally, trying to make room for all their activities and an ambulance with it’s lights off. The usual crowed of reporters were pushing their luck as they attempted to drive the yellow tape back. Alexis put on her sunglasses and went down the back ally, knowing to avoid the reporters.
Before she had a chance to cut her engine Jake was at her door with her favourite Starbucks drink. One thing she loved about him, he wasn’t ashamed to go on a coffee run. Unlike the rest of the men who thought it was below them to do such a thing. He was down to earth like a normal police officer.
“Thanks Jake,” she smiled while grabbing for her tea.
“No problem,” he smiled back. “Did you catch the game last night?” Alexis nodded no, while digging in her car for her hat, “23-10, SWEEET VICTORY BABY!” Jake’s shout was followed by a few cheers and the odd cop bickering about losing money.
Ah, there it is, Alexis reached in the back of her car and grabbed her Chicago Bears hat.
“Ah, man. I need to buy you a new hat,” he looked at the faded blue and orange hat that he bought her last year after she won a bet.
“So what do we have?” Alexis asked while Jake led the way up some red brick stairs. They stopped at the closed door and finished their drinks while Jake gave her an update.
“There’s more than one body. There’s also one of ours, except he was found carrying a weapon not registered to him. Ballistics came back - nothing. No traces where left. No foot prints - no prints of any kind - not a fibre out of place. The local police have nothing, that’s why we are here.”
“Who’s the cop?”
“Dom Santorini,” Jake answered.
“Oh come on, we all know he was dirty. That’s why he never made it into the FBI.”
They both put on gloves and opened the door to the house. The smell of fresh blood flooded out. It was enough to make anybody gag but when you've worked enough homicides you eventually learn to block the smell out. Emotionally though, it still takes a toll - this was violent and filthy, nobody should have to go this way.
“Who found them?” Alexis asked.
“Mr. Sanders,” he was a repairman. Apparently, he was given a key the other day and was told to let himself in. When he tried to open the door he said it was stiff and that’s when the hand of the first body fell, he called the police right away.”
“A repairman at twelve o’clock? Bull, somebody take him in and question him.” Alexis walked around to the front door, examining everything carefully, taking in every book and every blood splatter.
“It looks like this man was shot first, the assailant probably knocked on the door and the Vic answered it - taking the first shot to the head. The second guard looks like he tried to put up more of a fight, I’m assuming he didn’t die right away; he looks like he coughed up a lot of blood. Then Mr. Santorini was killed last. Execution style.”
She crouched down to look at the bullet wound of Mr. Santorini.
The Captain came in the back door, “Bloody circus out front! Agent Martin, push that media back!”
“So Alexis, my girl - what do you got for me? I’m getting rocks thrown at me from every angle, I need you to solve this and fast. Everything stays under the radar, you hear? Everybody knew he was dirty, the locals just want this swept under the rug.”
Alexis turned away nodding, looking back at the snake pattern drawn on Mr. Santorini’s forehead with his own blood - a pattern she’d seen so many times before.
“So it’s the snake killer?” Jake asked, as if reading her thoughts.
“You bet your butt kid,” Captain answered.
“Whoever drew that snake used their finger, we can get a print. “ Jake offered, eager to get the job done.
Alexis stood up, “You won’t find anything he uses gloves.”
Where have you been Il Serpente? Where are you now?
Nico crossed his feet over as he rested them on his desk. Unlike most of the cops, he kept his sleeves rolled down at all times during the day. He didn't want anyone seeing the tattoo on his wrist and linking him to "Il Serpente".
Drawing that little red mark on his kills was one of the few pleasures left in this world for him. It proved that he was smarter than the police, than the FBI, even. His gloves, with their little little pads that went over his fingertips, meant that there was no chance of being fingerprinted, and they probably thought he'd only just resurfaced.
After all, his last several kills had been dumped in the lake, with his mark washing off, or otherwise disposed of in such a way that he wouldn't get caught. He knew it had nothing to do with his father protecting his son, it was just his father protecting his most valuable asset.
Most assassins were at least somewhat known in the underworld. There was some way they could be contacted. But not Il Serpente. People had tried, some had even got through to a representative of the family. But he was even harder to get to than assassins such as Irish Jack, who the family kept on retainer anyway.
"So what now?" His partner asked, looking glum.
Nico knew the type - they thought the mafia was all action, that by signing up, they were guaranteed some kind of interesting mission every day. No such luck. They might draw a job collecting protection money, or they might luck out and have to set up a good, old-fashioned, week-long stakeout.
In many ways, the family was like the FBI. Just on the other side of the law.
Nico sipped at his coffee and kept his eyes on the newspaper. A 23-10 win to the Chicago Bears. Good. He'd put money on them. Of course, there had probably been a hand in that victory, but Nico preferred to think that it was his favourite team's ability that had decided the outcome, rather than some deal behind the scenes.
"If you're really that bored," he said, reading the match report, "Why don't you go down to filing and find something to read. Old history or something?"
His partner sighed, taking the hint. Another hour of shredding old files on family members. What fun.
He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt. - Yossarian, Catch-22
Wide-eyed stupid.
If you're gonna rule the world, you've gotta get up early! - Joel S. Dickens
He didn't know what to feel. The person who killed his aunt and cousin were still alive and now he had to follow Cat's rules. Though he loved her like a sister, he was older and wiser and knew the ropes far better than she did. It just didn't make sense. He left the room with a slam of the door, and fumbled around in his pocket for a cigarette but came up short. The door creaked open behind him, making him turn around.
"You okay?"
"Sheesh Cat, do I look ok?" he spat, running a hand through his hair.
"Look, I don't make the rules. I just..."
"I know, you just follow the rules. But it's easy for you because you always get put in charge."
There was a deafening silence between the two of them and then Cat opened her mouth to speak, only she was cut off by Sal who held up his hand.
"I don't want to hear anything you've got to say. Just answer me this. Are you going to be able to handle this case? Your father may think that you're strong but I see you. You're tired and scared. You dream about your mother and brother...a lot. And you're scared. Me, on the other hand, I can handle this because I'm stronger than you and your father for that matter, think. I've got no one in this world but..."
"You've got some nerve talking to me like that. I'm not scared."
"Yeah, well, I'm going out, be ready to talk business when I come back."
Sal hurried and left the mansion, tired of always having to prove himself.
True love, in all it’s celestial charm, and
star-crossed ways, only exist in a writer’s
mind, for humans have not yet learned
how to manifest it.
The black sedan continued to hum as Sienna's driver stayed parked in the front drive, waiting for her to safely make it inside the house. Her new heels clicked as she danced up the stairs to the front door. She reached out with her recently manicured hand and began to turn the knob, only to be caught of balance as it flew open.
Mother of pearl! She thought as she looked down at her broken nail. Great.
“Hey Sal, in a hurry?” She asked, slightly outraged. Normally Sienna was happy to see her cousin who was like her big brother, but considering her broken nail, she didn’t feel as warm and fuzzy towards him. Sal continued on to his car, pulling at his hair and mumbling angrily as he went.
Sienna shut the door behind her and kicked off her shoes, “Jeez, what’s up with him?” She pointed her thumb behind her back and raised her eyebrows as she asked her sister. “Cat?” She started to walk towards her sister who was looking blankly at the closed door. “Caaat?” She tried once more. Catarina shook her head and walked up the stairs.
What is up with everybody today?
Catarina made her way upstairs, fuming.What Bullshit!I've gone through so much more shit in these past four years than Salvatore could even imagine.
If the Don had heard any of their conversation Sal, his own nephew, might be found days later seen floating in a nearby lake. Catarina grimaced. Her father would probably even have her do the honors. Sal had thought himself better that the Don, it was beyond rude.
Sienna called after her, but she just continued to her room. It was painted light blue. Her mom had done it just days before the shooting. There were two windows that lined one wall and a comfy queen sized bed in the center with a white comforter. Cold wood floors greeted her feet. It was a nice room, but it didn't even look like anyone slept in it. There were no posters, pictures, or anything that would show a girl had any use for it. It was a bad memory that Cat couldn't escape and yet her father ordered Rau to always put her belongings in it. She took her navy blue trench coat from the rack on the other side of her dresser and ran from the room.
Her feet clunked down the stairs."Cat, where are you going?"Sienna asked, worry clear on her face, as she blocked the end of the stairs.
"Out."Cat answered as she shoved past her little sister. She made her way out the mansion doors and got into her silver Audi Coupe. The gates opened automatically as she drew near. She was going to find the killer no matter what. With or without Salvatore.
She drove downtown. Store after store passed by until she came to a 101 Addison Drive. Catarina's foot slammed on the break and she stared at the scene. Yellow tape, two police cars, and a cleanup crew. Her feet led her out of the car before she knew what she was doing, and then she sprinting.
"Miss, you can't go in there!"The cops called after her as she tore through the tape and ran. She didn't know why but something told her that this was the place to start...
Adamo Russo~1:30PM
Adamo heaved a sigh. After having that conversation with Sal and Cat it had left him in a foul mood. The chauffeur opened his door and he stepped out of the bullet proof Mercedes. A cigar permanently locked in his lips.
"Don, your daughter is home she was dropped off earlier today. Supposedly her school had a half day."The maid, Samantha, prattled on. Adamo snapped his fingers and the maid was quickly told to be quiet and the front doors were opened for him. The door slammed behind him.
"Father?"Called a female voice. He knew that voice anywhere and at any other time he would've been thrilled to know Sienna was home. He was dreading that sooner or later he'd have to tell her about her mother and brother's murderer, but by doing so she'd be involved in the family business. It would be easier if he just told her now. Could she handle it?
"Yes, Sweetheart, I'm home,"He shooed away his remaining body guards,"and I have some information you might need to hear..."He turned the corner into the dining room and Sienna sat in Bettina's old rocking chair. She glanced at him as he entered, taking the seat on the couch across from her.
If I can impact one person, just one, with my writing before I die, then I've lived a great life
**Well, I asked jok101 to change his last post a little some time ago, but he hasn't said anything to me either way or posted anything since then, so I'm going to go ahead and force it now.**
Giancarlo de Luca 1:00 pm
Lucio burst into Giancarlo's private office, a look of fury on his heavily bruised face. He looked like he had bed hair, and his nose was broken. His arm was in a sling. A silent bodyguard accompanied him, and two of Giancarlo's stood with guns aimed at Lucio and his bodyguard.
Lucio held a pistol of his own in his left hand. "Bastardo!" He spat at Giancarlo, slipping back into Italian when he swore in the same way that most de Lucas did.
The Don looked taken aback, “Lucio…”
“Don’t lie to me, old man! You sent that filthy Irishman after me! I spent last night in hospital because of you!”
“You’re overreacting, Lucio.” Giancarlo sighed. “What I did, I did for your own good.”
“Vaffanculo!” Lucio swore, raising his pistol. His hand was shaking, but it was with rage, rather than the cowardice he’d displayed the night before.
“Look at yourself.” Giancarlo said. “Last night you were trying to stop yourself from throwing up at the sight of a finger on the floor. Now you’re ready to kill your own father for crossing you. You’re stronger now, strong enough to take the throne and hold it.” He stood up, “But you’ve still got much to learn. For one, if you kill me now, you’ll die here too. Secondly, even if you didn’t, you don’t have the business knowledge to hold the empire together, especially with the Russos in the picture. Put down the gun, Lucio.”
Lucio lowered the weapon, although hatred still burned in his eyes.
“You.” Giancarlo said, pointing to Lucio’s bodyguard, “Come here.” The man did so, with one of Giancarlo’s men targeting his back, he didn’t have a whole lot of choice. “Hand over your gun.” Giancarlo held out one hand for it. The bodyguard gave it to him. Giancarlo stepped well away from the man, then looked at Lucio, “Kill him.”
“What?!”
“You heard me.” Giancarlo said, “Prove that you’re a stronger man than you were twelve hours ago.” He smiled, “If for nothing else, then just to spite me.”
Lucio’s face twisted into a snarl and he raised the gun again, this time at his own bodyguard.
“Woah, wait!” The guy said, his eyes widening in the split second before Lucio pulled the trigger. The gunshot tore through the air of the room, but it would go no further than that. Giancarlo had had his office soundproofed with instances like this in mind.
The burly guard collapsed against the don’s desk, sweeping pens and papers off it as he slumped down, coughing and spluttering. Lucio had never been a great shot, and had punctured one of the man’s lungs instead of hitting his heart.
One of Giancarlo’s bodyguards lifted the dying man off the ground. The body would be incinerated or dumped into the lake or something equally unpleasant later that night.
He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt. - Yossarian, Catch-22
Wide-eyed stupid.
If you're gonna rule the world, you've gotta get up early! - Joel S. Dickens
“So what are we going to do?” Jake unbuttoned his suit as he sat down in the passenger seat.
“Well, like the Captain said: the locals want this swept under the rug, so you’re going to do a little PR. Write up something and give a speech to the media. Sling them some BS to shut them out and keep this under the radar. Make this case seem trivial, don’t mention a cop and don’t release his name. It wasn’t his house so there is no connection that can be made.”
“OK, so you want me to silence the media." Jake made a mental check in his mind. "What about the case though?”
“What case? We have nothing!" She through off her hat and ran her hands through her long hair. "We’re walking into an investigation with are feet cut off. We’re not going to get anywhere. Unfortunately we’ll just have to wait for him to slip up, everybody makes mistakes,” Alexis smoothly shifted her car into the third gear while looking over to Jake, “and that my friend, is the sad truth.”
Jake was voiceless, he hated being useless in a case - every agent did. This case just happened to be a dead end, blocked with a thick brick wall.
In the back of Alexis’s mind, she always thought her snake killer wasn’t just somebody who killed for kicks. No, she though her killer was a hired assassin, albeit that no solid evidence pointed to that thought. It was just some gut wrenching woman instinct that always screamed at her. It was the way he killed people that made her feel like that, it was quick - no wasting time. Clean cut and extremely thorough. Alexis had spent her time learning about psychology and she never found any signs of pleasure in his work, he never took trophies, he never tried to get attention, he just left the one mark, which in her mind felt like a warning. A warning for what though? To stay away, to not mess with him? Moreover, who, who was the warning directed to? More cops like Dom?
“You going for your run today?” Jake’s voice added to the purr of her engine as she accelerated on the freeway. Alexis usually went jogging in the morning and whenever she did, she took Jake's dog. Mostly to humour him - he hated the thought of a ‘chick’ running around Chicago’s bike paths in the morning all alone. That was probably just one of the effects he had from growing up in a house with four sisters.
“Yeah, I think I will. I suppose you don’t want to come?”
“Ha, you kidding me? Max loves his runs with you; he’d probably bite my leg off if I tried to join.” They both laughed.
Alexis grabbed her gym bag that she always kept in the trunk of her car and made her way up to Jake's condo. His place lacked a much-needed female touch, but other than that, it was nice and surprisingly tidy. You could definitely tell he was a bachelor though.
“Maaax boy," Jake yelled as he held the door for Alexis, "guess who’s here!”
You could hear the frantic paws of Max immediately after Jake said her name. Darting around the corner was the black slender Labrador, waging his tail as he went in circles around Alexis - completely ignoring his owner. He brushed up against her legs, happy to see her.
“Yeah, yeah, nice to see you too bud,” Jake laughed at his lack of greeting, which was only normal when Alexis came over. He threw his keys into a dish and went into his kitchen. Alexis followed. “Want a glass?” Jake held up the orange juice before pouring his own glass.
“Why not,” Alexis took the glass and drank it. “I better get going and you better get to sleep, you look dreadful,” Alexis smiled as she made her way to the bathroom to change. “I‘ll leave Max in the backyard and I’ll see you at work later,” she yelled over her shoulder.
Last edited by Telina on Mon Mar 23, 2009 5:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
Catarina had always wanted revenge for their mother and brother’s death, but Sienna preferred to distance herself from the whole event. When her father told her that he dealt with the situation Sienna knew he really meant that he had the person killed for taking away two most precious people in their lives. Inside, she was satisfied with that, she hadn’t asked for it, but nonetheless she was happy. She didn’t think anybody who could kill somebody as sweet as her mother and as innocent as her brother should live.
Sienna sat motionless as her father looked out the window and confessed to her his failure. The very man that stole family from them was still walking around this very city, breathing fresh air! She looked at him as he kept his eyes from her. He was a strong man, no doubt, but this was killing him.
A small part of her wanted to get up, walk across the dinning room and slap him. She wanted to scream at him. To ask him how he could of failed her, on all things, why this?
Sienna found herself staring out the window as well, trying to gain her composure before she said anything she would regret. She stood up and put her hands on the table, not sure if her legs could hold her weight. Slowly she made her way out towards the stairs, stopping at her father and placing her hand on his shoulder. “Papa?” Her voice was soft but he still did not look at her - he could not. “You will deal with this, you deal with this or I will,” he voice was still soft but carried a cold undercurrent.
"Jesus H. Christ." His partner said as he parked the patrol car, "That was some work you put me through."
Nico shrugged, "Someone's got to do the filing. You drew the short straw this time, Sam."
"Hah! The only short straw I ever drew was the one that partnered me with you." Sam said, lighting a cigarette as the two of them stepped out of the car.
"Those're going to kill you one day." Nico muttered, "God-damned cancer sticks."
"Hey, Nico, Sam!" Someone yelled out from the door of the house, "Get your asses over here!"
Camera shutters clicked, and bursts of light lit up the area a little as the media mob turned his way. "Oh, it's just another cop." Someone said after a moment, apparently dejected. Even if Nico had a reputation as a moral absolutist in the police department, he was a non-story for the media. Someone who didn't even seem to hear a sensationalist remark wasn't worth reporting on.
Of course, if they knew the truth about the fourth child of the de Luca family, he would be very much a story. But Nico had always been kept hidden from the press. At first, much in the same manner as Valeria. Later, because he was too important. The press only knew Nico as Nico Satriale. Just another cop, who happened to have been brought up on charges of police brutality once or twice.
The cop who'd called them over showed Nico through the door, "You just missed the Feds, man. They came in here in the middle of the night, and then again about an hour ago. They're on their lunch break now."
"I won't stay long, then. Don't like spooks." Nico said, "Really just came to see what all the fuss is about, I hear half the precinct's checked this murder." Plus, spooks have that sixth sense. I don't think they'd be able to get evidence on me, but I could do without a tail.
"We do have something they weren't here to deal with, though." The cop said as they descended the stairs to the basement. Nico had seen them before, but he noticed them properly only now. Empty beer cans, a spilled Chinese takeaway container. Graffiti covered the walls, and the railings looked to be slick with some substance. Nico would rather not find out what.
The officer pushed open the rusted, metal blue door to reveal the room Nico had so recently been in. The bodies still hadn't been moved, forensics was probably waiting for an opening in the media to move them out. A woman who wasn't in uniform stood above the body of Dom Santorini, glaring down at the serpent pattern traced on his head.
"We can't move her." The cop said, "She's just been staring at the prick's calling card for ten minutes now."
Nico rolled his shoulders and crossed to the black-haired, blue-eyed woman. It wasn't the first time he'd been forced to remove someone from one of his own scenes. He put a hand on her shoulder, sounding almost bored. "Miss, I'm going to have to ask you to leave, you're really not meant to be here. The others might not want to move a civilian along, but believe me, if you don't, I will take you into custody. You're disrupting a crime scene."
He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt. - Yossarian, Catch-22
Wide-eyed stupid.
If you're gonna rule the world, you've gotta get up early! - Joel S. Dickens
