..:ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND CRIME:..

It was several years ago -- his memory was blurred from remembering specifics due to everything that had happened since they met. Sean was committed to his dream of being an actor at this time, exclusively performing in underseen, small live shows that were viewed by a thankless audience. He was torn by this desire and the basic need to live with the necessities. He was also a waiter, yet another unlauded occupation, and struggled to make ends meet with a lack of funds and recognition for his efforts. Tips were frequent at the bar, but not enough. Everything changed when the location gained a stout regular, and his shady cohorts that followed him.

The group sat at the table that was in the farthest corner of the small restaurant. Sean was well aware of the kind of neighborhood he lived, worked, and performed in, as the young man was wise enough to know criminal activity was frequent, if not expected, in the area. He knew at the very moment he first laid eyes on Narciso Gaspar that he was trouble -- an assortment of tough-looking chainsmokers, huddled around each other and speaking in hushed tones would make anyone question their character. Unbeknownst to him, Gaspar had noticed him as well, and sensed the man's financial problems. One night, Gaspar excused himself from his table and began a conversation with Sean, in which he was able to confirm his hunch: that the waiter was a starving, desperate artist. Gaspar, using his charm and subtle manipulation, offered Sean a generous one thousand dollars, cold, for one job. He emphasized that this was a 'simple' job -- one that required a good actor, no less. Sean's conscience tried to convince him to call the police, but his desire to live comfortably for a fleeting moment won in the end.

Now, what was that job? Gaspar was vague at first, but indirectly introduced Sean to an older woman named Magda Benvenuti. It was through getting to know her that he learned the checkered pasts of both his employer and his unconventional date. Gaspar was a fresh 'up-and-comer' regarding the selling and transportation of illegal drugs and substances, and despite the short time he had been in the business, he had already made a name for himself, alongside an enemy to boot. Benvenuti, at this time, was the top profiter of these products, alongside being an infamous extortionist who targetted restaurants, and was threatened by Gaspar's swift success. Benvenuti took over that side of the business after her husband -- who was a prolific drug smuggler -- died under mysterious circumstances. Gaspar was too frightened by the woman to personally take her on, and hired Sean to be his personal investigator under ill-defined pretenses.

Unaware to Sean, Benvenuti's biggest weakness was men, and since the passing of her husband Clemente, she had a new love every couple of months. The struggling actor soon became her new model. He quickly endeared himself to the older woman with his a-list good looks and personable nature, with her knowing nothing of Gaspar's puppeteering of her date. Through his coaching, Sean was able to convince Benvenuti to put his name in her will, who in return would receive a generous portion of her ill-gained fortune if she passed. The name was soon changed from Sean Gibson to Narciso Gaspar in secret, with that kicking off the start of her demise. Sean was never able to figure out what exactly happened to the woman in the end, thanks to Gaspar's masterful vagueness. All he knew was that she was now dead, Gaspar was unfathombly rich, and her blood was partially on Sean's hands.

Gaspar used this money to make his dream a reality: running a club known as the Moura Encantada. However, he was unsatisfied, and his interests in criminal activity persisted despite the success of his legal business. Sean, on the other hand, was lost and unsure how to go back to his career -- both being an actor and a waiter -- and pretend what he was involved with never happened. Gaspar found that the more he would infiltrate high society through the Moura Encantada, there were more women like Benvenuti than he ever expected. He tightened his psychological grip on the young man, promising him riches and fame through his pursuit of these women. Sean never saw the vast majority of these women's fortunes personally, it all went to his employer. He was officially trapped in a criminal empire, a never-ending cycle of deceit and despair.

A frown tugged at Sean's lips as he speedwalked, brooding over the fact that he had decided to walk away from this life at the worst possible time. He looked up, and joy overcame him, as he saw the stairs leading to the subway come closer into view. He hurried his steps in anticipation, with him forgetting to check his environment due to the budding excitement. Suddenly, something hit his head, making him shriek out in pain, and then his world was engulfed in darkness. He regained his consciousness sometime later, and found that his vision was still as black as the inside of a cave. He flinched the moment he realized there was a tight grip over his arms, preventing him from making any sudden movements.

"Great, he's awake." said the voice of a youthful-sounding man.

A response from a baritone followed shortly afterward. "Go ahead and take off the bag."

The cover was removed without delay. Sean squinted his eyes as they adjusted to the light, as he found himself facing an all-too-familiar figure: Gaspar, whose short arms were tied. He recognized the location immediately as well, with it being his employer's private quarters of the club. Surrounding him and Sean were men armed with guns, who appeared starved for violence. Despite their weaponry, it was Gaspar who scared Sean the most, as he looked at the young man with hate burning in his eyes. "How did you not know she was a Capasso?" He asked bitterly.

Sean matched his intensity, and exploded as if he was unaware of the guns pointing at him. "This is not my fault!" He yelled back. "You're always pushing me into situations and then tell me nothing. You're the one that should've known her actual last name!"

The tallest of the mobsters pushed his gun further into Sean's back, with the man beside him finishing tying their captive's arms. Despite the rope, the partner kept his physical grip around him. With his anger blinding any rational thought, Sean squirmed in hopes of fighting his captors, but abruptly stopped as he saw a large figure approach. He spat nicotine carelessly onto the pristine marble floor, and then, with a growl, he spoke, "I should have known it was Narciso Gaspar that was involved with all of this."

The moment Sean locked eyes with the mysterious figure, he knew exactly who he was: Pauside Capasso, or, as he's better known in the criminal underworld, the Bear. He had never met the man before, but he had heard stories. He looked over at Gaspar, whose attention was completely on their captor. The Bear incuriously observed the frozen Sean, but quickly returned his gaze towards Gaspar. "You just had to keep putting your hand in the honeypot, eh?"

In a fit of cowardace, Gaspar responded as the words tumbled out of his gaping mouth at a dizzying speed. "If Sean knew that Kitty was your sister, he wouldn't have targeted her!" He then looked at his accomplice for approval, at which he only glared in return.

"Bullshit!" The Bear roared back. "You two have been pulling this scheme for years now. Any lucky lady with some cash catches your attention, regardless of her background." He then got closer to Gaspar, tapping his captive's plump chest intimidatingly with one of his large fingers. "You got lucky with Mrs. Benvenuti. That old bat was already digging her own grave without loverboy's help."

Sean's eyes zigzagged from Gaspar to the Bear, seemingly after every time one of the men exhaled. As the feeling of the fear overcame him, he meekly asked: "What are you going to do with us?"

The hired hand who kept Sean at bay grinned as he heard his fearful words. He leaned his head in his direction so he could look at his prey directly. "Take a wild guess how our boss got his name," he taunted. "He mauls people for a living, buddy."

Sean's blue eyes grew wide in terror, with Gaspar squirming madly in a desperate attempt to escape. Breathing heavily after his fit, he looked at the Bear, "Look, maybe we can cut a deal. I'm willing to share my resources," he pleaded.

The Bear's hairy eyebrows lowered as he looked upon his captives unimpressed. With a sneer, he growled, "Anyone who crosses a Capasso is going to get what they deserve."

Barnes found Zenigata's story hard to believe. In this line of business, you come to expect the unexpected -- especially if you're operating by Interpol standards -- but the idea that some kind of criminal gang was targeting one particular stud was difficult to wrap one's head around. Barnes was not completely sold on his partner's merits as a law enforcer, but his insistence on his hunch baited him to investigate further, if not just to prove him wrong. The two excused themselves from the scene of the potential crime to head back to the file storage of the 60th Precinct, only for the dubious ICPO agent to find that the inspector was right. Over the past month and a half, there has been a small collection of break-ins and suspicious behavior reported in an inundation of businesses, all of them in different locations and with varying levels of success. Aside from the crimes themselves, there was another factor that connected all of them: there was always a handsome young man tied to these businesses in some capacity, who shared the same coloring and similar appearence to the son of the butcher. This was too coincidental to ignore.

All of these men were found to have clean records, with no previous arrests or known issues. Regardless of their seemingly wholesome lifestyles, it appeared that someone, or some group, was trying to scare them. It was with this development that Inspector Zenigata began to fill in the details: that there was a young man that was rumored to be targeting well-off women for their money, and, for whatever reason, his identity was confused with the son. He then wondered if this all had a connection to the mysterious murders that tied both him and Barnes to this city, as the deaths appeared to be committed by and deeply connected to inner-criminal organizations. Perhaps that male gold digger's dubious side hustle had gotten out of hand, leading to something more than pickpocketing the fortunes of uninformed women. Barnes, as much as he hated to admit it, was intrigued by the Japanese cop's perspective, though his doubt lingered over one specific detail that his partner continued to skim over. Who was the source of this information?

Charlie Cavenaugh kept himself busy by cleaning the grease stains that dotted the concrete floor of the Purple Car, as the sound of Didi's scissors echoed in the unusually quiet establishment. It was nearing closing time, and the garage found itself with very few customers yet again. Charlie figured it was best to keep himself active rather than play the waiting game, and began to look into the issues of one of the many old cars that were scattered around the area. Didi, on the other hand, had hardly thought about the family business that day, let alone any of the beater vehicles. She had learned of what happened to the butcher shop, which kick-started a mad passion. She returned in a hurry and grabbed all the newspapers the garage collected over time, pouring through every crime-related article trying to find a connection to the garage and what happened to the local butcher. She was convinced that this wasn't a coincidence. It couldn't be!

Charlie had put up the mop, then turned to look at his sister, finding her completely engrossed in the mundane task of cutting paper. She would rise from her seat occasionally to tape -- what she believed -- were the juiciest pieces of information onto the wall. He approached as he wiped his rough hands with a well-used towel, taking a moment to examine her work. He slowly returned his attention to her, and said, "The restoration of the old cutlass is going great. It's going to be a real beaut when it gets a new coat of paint." He then looked directly at her and then raised his hands in an act of faux excitement. "I'm thinkin' a nice hot tamale red, what do you think?" He asked, hoping to snap her out of her trance.

"Huh?" Didi fleetingly looked at her brother, then returned her attention to the piles of newspaper clippings. "That's great." She added distractedly.

Charlie frowned and shook his head, knowing all-too-well that nothing was going to break the stubborn woman's trance. "I'm going to get a snack and then head to bed," he replied, with his concerned eyes glued on her. "Don't stay up too late, okay?"

Didi waved her hand dismissively, hoping that the gesture would convince him to walk away. "I won't." She answered like a child responding to a worrywart parent.

Charlie then left, and taking his place was a sudden wave of doubt that washed over Didi. She leaned back in the well-used chair, with it creaking in age over the movement. She mulled over the details -- both what happened to her, the family business, and now the butcher -- and wondered if all of this truly was because of Nicky. He seemed so innocent when they first met, the kind of "boy-next-door" type you only see in movies. She then had to remind herself that she had never seen a guy like that in her neighborhood before. As she looked back, their 'chance' encounter felt a little too good to be true, especially for someone who longed for a romantic partner like herself.

She first encountered Nicky outside of Grayson's Market. She was heading back to the Purple Car after picking up a bag of burgers from Ollie's, with her mind stuck replacing the tires for one of her clients. Distracted by swirling thoughts, she and the man collided, which made her and her brother's food spill all over the outdoor produce. Her gut reaction was to fight the stranger that was responsible for making her fall, but the moment she locked eyes with the handsome figure, her rage cooled into a schoolgirl shyness. He helped her back onto her feet like a gentleman, apologizing profusely in the process. He even offered to buy her and her brother a replacement lunch, which made her fall even harder for him. She declined sheepishly, and stated that there was an urgent situation she needed to attend to at her job. This piqued Nicky's interest, and he promptly asked where she worked, in which she told him about the Cavenaugh family business. Suddenly, his polite demeanor changed into one of quiet excitement, with him stating that he had heard of the Purple Car before, and he knew of the siblings' excellent work. She was absolutely dazzled by his praise, to the extent she didn't ask any questions about how this non-customer was familiar with them. The Didi in the present wanted desperately to kick her past self as she held onto the belief that he wanted to rob her and Charlie blind.

Didi slouched in her seat, with her recollections now morphing into a fit of self-pity. She wondered why she even had her hopes up regarding Nicky, as no man ever stayed for long. She often asked herself what was wrong with her: was it her looks? Personality? Or was she just unlucky? The woman scratched the back of her head and let out a tired sigh, with her coming to the conclusion that she should give up her search for Mr. Right. It has led to nothing but heartbreak and -- if her hunch is correct -- financial problems in the garage her father loved so dearly. Her brown orbs then looked upwards, with her gaze meeting the paper trail of newspaper clippings on the wall. Despite her newfounded romantic despair, she still wanted to solve her curiosity about Nicky. Figuring she needed a break, she rose from her chair to take a moment to stretch and walk around.

Didi paced for a minute by the work desk, then increased the length of her walk by approaching the door of the garage. However, her trek stopped suddenly, as she heard the soft murmur of male voices outside. Fearing the worst, she rashily grabbed her baseball bat and swung the door open. She expected those two strange, mobster-appearing types, but was greeted by Inspector Zenigata and an unknown partner instead, who were mutually looking at the mechanic like a deer in the headlights.

The woman mirrored their look of surprise before blurting out, "Hey, Inspector! What the heck are you doing here?" She then lowered her baseball bat and welcomed the two in.

As Zenigata stepped in, he began to answer Didi's question, but she interrupted him before he had the opportunity to complete his thoughts. "Check this out!" She said excitedly as she scampered towards her desk. "I've started an investigation of my own!"

"That's why I'm here," he replied while he approached her, pausing to take a moment to look at her salad of newspaper clippings and photos. Barnes followed shortly as he looked around the garage with the upmost curiosity, as the cop had never been in a location like this before, criminal investigations notwithstanding.

Excitedly, Didi grabbed the newspapers that were still intact, and turned to face the inspector. Similar to her visitor, she also paused, but for her, it was because of Barnes' presence. "Who's this?" Her eyes traveled from the very top of his head down to the heels of his shoes. The man looked at her in disbelief, with him whispering to Zenigata: "This is your source?"

The inspector, feeling a touch overwhelmed due to the pair of questioning eyes that were on him, cleared his throat awkwardly and readjusted his red tie. "This is Maxwell Barnes, a cop I've been working with." Barnes then flashed a look at his partner, but kept his composure. Zenigata then said to the man, "Er, yes, this is Deidre Cavenaugh."

Didi dropped the papers to free her hands, with the paper crashing and then scattering across the concrete floor of the garage. She grabbed Barnes' hand and gave it a firm shake. "It's nice to meet you!" She grinned.

The forceful nature of the handshake rattled Barnes, with him relieved after she let go. The woman looked down at the mess of papers, then began to pick them up one-by-one happily. Barnes' neutral expression twitched into an unsure frown as he witnessed this. "I don't know about this, inspector," he whispered again. "She seems... spasmodic."

Zenigata blinked unknowingly, and, despite his unfamiliarity with the word, he deduced that it was likely an insult. "I know, I know," he said defensively, but there was a hint of hope in his voice. "But the butcher's son looked exactly like the man she told me about."

Barnes' frown deepened following his partner's words. The older of the two men approached the mechanic, grabbing one of the pages and handing it to her. He glimpsed at the article, which was about a flower store that was closing after fifty years of business. "Are you familiar with any of these locations, Ms. Cavenaugh?"

"Not all of them," she answered as she grabbed the paper away from him with a tug. "But I did visit that butcher shop a couple of times."

One of Zenigata's eyebrows rose curiously. "I met with the family that ran the-" But before he was able to finish, Didi quickly turned to face him. She clapped her hands and pointed at the inspector, "Duffy's son is the splitting image of Nicky, right?!"

As the two became engrossed in conversation, Barnes curiously began to look at her evidence wall. He hoped this would make him better understand this woman, but then one particular clipping caught his attention. There was a page torn from the most recent edition of the newspaper, under the local interests section. He promptly removed it from the wall, and began quickly reading the content: Local club "The Moura Encantada" will be celebrating its 10th anniversary on May 3rd. Free refreshments and food will be avaliable at the bar as a part of the celebration. Barnes' eyes narrowed, then grew wide as a glimmer of a recollection began to form in his mind. The mysterious murder of a well-known criminal, and the rumors that were tied to it...

Barnes tapped Zenigata's closest shoulder urgently, which immeditately stopped the conversation. "Hey, can we talk for a minute?" He asked, his voice gravely serious. The inspector noticed the change in his demeanor, which piqued his curiosity greatly, and promptly excused himself from talking to the mechanic. Didi watched the two men huddle around each other, conversing quietly. However, the rumble of Zenigata's naturally gruff voice pierced any attempt to be quiet, leading Didi to hear some alarming words. A nightclub? Murder? Conspiracy? A decade-long unsolved case? She had to learn more!

The woman squeezed herself between the two tall men, making the duo stumble over their words before the discussion stopped all together. Her attention zigzagged from Barnes to Zenigata, looking at the two police with beaming curiosity. "Are the three of us going clubbing tonight?" She asked excitedly, whereas Zenigata and Barnes exchanged unusual looks, composed of uncertainty and surprise.