Broken Heart Corner

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dema_icon.gif s_lucille_icon.gif

Scene Title Broken Heart Corner
Synopsis Dames - if they aren't in trouble, the are trouble.
Date November 23, 2010

In the City of Long Shadows


It's night in the City, but that's how it always is. You don't live in a place called Long Shadows an expect to see much daylight. Easier on the hangover, which is a blessing because the ones you get from the cheap bathtub gin around here feel like a round to the head. Life is as cheap as the gin in Long Shadows, and if your hangover's the worst pain you feel, then consider yourself lucky.

But luck is no lady this evening. The rain is coming down in petulent sheets, languid waves that slump against the windows of the row after row of tenements. No stars in the sky. Only the deep dense cover of clouds, slashed bright in the occasional thin stripe by a searching spotlight.

He's waiting for her, her contact. Tall and broad shouldered, this guy doesn't look like much of a private eye - it'd take Mount Rushmore to make his craggy features blend in. But Lucille's knows he's the only one who can do it. He's the only one that can find her sister.

Standing by a lamppost, smoking an unfiltered cigarette under the shelter of his fedora, the contact waits, one hand slipped into the pocket of his long, grey raincoat. Lights in apartment windows above flicker off, eyelids shut against the grim reality of the street outside, the endless descent of the rain.

Heels can be heard slapping against the wet pavement as Lucille Ryans enters the scene and she spots the man and makes her way to him. Dressed in short dress, that glitters as she walks, she wears a thick, large peacoat over her dress. Simple, black heels. She's just getting done with a show. Her hair is long and dark brown, pulled back into a bun, though a few wet strands are matted to her face by the rain, light grey eyes study the man. She doesn't have a umbrella but it's fine. She can handle a little rain if it means finding her sister.

"You wanna tell me what you know?" she tilts her head and raises an eyebrow at the man as she comes within earshot. Hands in her pockets, she looks harmless. That's the best thing about Lucille Ryans.. she looks harmless.

"We could've met inside the club, Old Larry wouldn't have cared, the ladies would have had a fine time looking at you." She says dryly and she's taking a cigarette out from her coat pocket and leaning forward in the shelter of her coat to quickly light it, the first time she doesn't succeed but the second time she gets it. Ahh, there is is. "So?" she looks the man dead in the eye.

"Bad enough," the big man says, taking a beat to draw on his cigarette, so his next words come out in smokey curls, "that I got just one dame like you distracting me. Does your father know where you work?" This last isn't a real question, just a quip. His voice has a City lilt to it, insolent. Almost every voice in Long Shadows ends up one of two ways - insolent or resigned. Fight or fetal position.

His eyes gleam, pale blue, set deep in strong, stalwart features. Maybe he doesn't have to sneak and hide. Guy this big, probably pounds down the door and beats the answers out of a tough lead. Still, he isn't totally ungallant. When Lucille tries lighting her cigarette, he steps to one side, using his bulk to help shield her from the wind, gusty and blowing in sharp fits and bursts, like the flow (or lack thereof) of early morning traffic.

"Too little," he admits, ashing his cigarette into the gutter, letting the flecks of burned tobacco and paper be borne down into the sewers on a stream of rainwater. "Confusing case. Seems like she's in two places at once, don't know either location. And we gotta find her both places, or it won't do either no good. I want to start tracking down her associates. Friends, people who worked with her. And if you've got information, anything at all… I could use it."

"He knows all he needs to know honey."

A wink is thrown the man's way as well as a nod of gratitude at his bulk for helping her light her cancer stick. But you really cares about things like cancer? It's the time to live in the moment, right?

The young dancer takes a drag from her cigarette and blows it out while giving the man in a hat a hard look. "Really? Haven't we gone over this and aren't I paying you to be doing all of this?" She taps her heeled foot against the movement and stares at him through squinty eyes.

"Me and Del aren't as chummy as most sister, got it? All I know is she's got a man friend. Daddyo named Jaiden, caught them during back seat bingo." She chuckles with shake of her head at the memory. "So, that's Jaiden for ya. Nice fella, easy on the eyes. He could be a regular heartbreaker if he wanted to." She stops to take another drag from her cigarette.

"I know about the boyfriend," the private eye says, adjusting his hat to prevent the rainfall from creating a trickle right down his back. "Lady, you aren't wearing enough to be standing around in the rain. There's a diner, just that way," he motions down the street with his nearly-finished cigarette. "I'll walk you there, buy you a cup, just to prove I'm no cheapskate."

His bulk shifts up onto the curb and he motions for Lucille to follow, finger flicking the spent butt of the cigarette into the street, it's ember gleaming dimly there before a direct hit from a drop of rain snuffs it out. "And is part of what your daddy needs to know that his better behaved daughter is missing? Or am I being hired for being private as much as for my detection?"

"I wouldn't refuse that. But honey, remember something. I don't have to depend on no man for nothing, ya hear?" She says in that insolent tone of hers and then she saunters side by side of him. Free is free, honey. "Better behaved?" Lucille cracks out laughter and then she spots the diner and picks up the pace a little. While she doesn't mind being too wet, her dress might protest for sure.

"Well.. daddy deserves to know, exactly what's going on. So if you asked him for some info, that'd be nice." She's wagging her fingers towards the big man with a hint of a smirk. "Careful though honey, he's a little rough and can be a little scary to men. Don't take it personal though, hot shot. We're his world." She says and she stomps on the cigarette that she's just dropped.

"Let's get inside, okay? My shoes are yelling at me to take em off." You never disobey the shoes.

"Hell, I'm a man and I can't say a one of us is dependable," the private eye admits, his own strides long enough to keep up with Lucille even as she increases speed. The warm, yellow glow of the diner is welcoming in the pressing dark of Long Shadows, and the chill of being soaked through certainly doesn't make the inside any less appealing. "Catching men playing at backseat bingo and cheap motel checkers outside their marital bonds is about ninety percent of my income. Nice to be trying to put a family back together, instead of blowing it apart, for once."

When they arrive at the diner, its name 'Broken Heart Corner' written in smeary pink neon, he opens the door for Lucille, in another fit of resurrected chivalry. Once inside, he leads her to a corner table. The waitress, a woman with blonde hair who demonstrates the remarkable talent of being able to both chew gum and smoke at the same time, strolls over and takes their order. Coffee for Lucille, the same but with a slice of blueberry pie for the detective. Cream and sugar on the side. The waitress marks this down and drifts back towards the kitchen, giving the two some temporary privacy.

"Your father's a hard man to find, but if I'm gonna get to the bottom of this," the detective admits, taking off his wet hat and setting it on the booth seat next to him, "I'll need to speak with him. Just a phone number would do fine, some way I can reach him."

After her order is taken and her coat removed, she retrieves a business card from one of the pockets. There is listed her father's business number. "He's a consultant and bodyguard. Don't mess with him, I'm telling you. He will make you wish you were still living at home with ya momma and sucking on bottles." She snaps her fingers and lets her wet but nice hair down, it spills across her shoulder and she drums her fingers on the diner table.

"Glad I could give you some more fulfilling business." She says sarcastically before she's lightning another cigarette and taking a deep drag off of them. "Now tell me what else you've found out. If she's in two different places, then you gotta get one piece of her, then the other," she brings her hands together in a loud clap. "And there you go right, presto. Back to together. Whose helping yous on this assignment?" she narrows her eyes as she takes another drag and exhales the smoke, dumping the ashses in the tray on the table.

A few of the men whistle and catcall towards the woman that they know from up the street. After one comment is made, the young woman rolls her eyes and turns her head towards them. "Excuse me Benny!" She says loudly, "But I think your wife is calling?" to which the comments all stop and some even laugh. This one's feisty, everyone knows that.

That such large hands can be capable of such delicacy is remarkable. His broad fingers catch the business card and slide it into his inner jacket pocket, giving it only the briefest of glances. He'll follow up that lead later. Right now he has a feisty broad to deal with, as everyone does well know. The detective smiles, however sardonically, as Lucille puts one of the whistlers in his place. "I'd offer to defend your honor," the detective suggests, "but it looks like you've got it handled."

The big man shifts his shoulders, rolling his rain coat off of them and letting it bunch behind him. Beneath he's wearing a suit that maybe was once nice - hard to tell now, considering how wrinkled and worn it is. He adjusts his tie, loosening it, as the waitress arrives with their coffee and his pie. He sets the payment, with what tip he can afford to give, on the edge of the counter and the woman smiles, teeth a little yellow between red-painted lips, taking the money and departing.

"I'm the only man in the field," the detective says, "but I have a few friends, looking for Jane Doe reports, seeing if anyone's shown up that's not quite there. That half of her isn't about to get up and wander off anywhere, though. The part I'm after, that's trickier. This is a big city, lady, easy for a girl to get lost. But she's leaving a trail. I just need to find it again."

"I told you so."

She says with a yawn and she's taking a quick sip of her coffee and another drag from her smoke stick. Smoke blown out through her nose. "You'll find her." For all the money that she's paying him. She's gonna have to work the double shift for a while.

"Look, just make sure she's in one piece okay? I only get one baby sister." She says with a direct look into his eyes. "As long as she's alive.. I'll be okay." She sips more of her coffee. Blinking up towards the lights. "This rain needs to let up, I need to get home soon. Got errands to run in the morning and that boy Tommy wanted to come over." She shrugs with a smirk.

At least Tommy doesn't try to beat her like that Rick use too. He had a fierce right hook. She kicks her shoes off one by one and crosses her legs. Hand ran through her wet mane of hair.

"Even if I find her, no guarantee she'll want to come with me," the detective warns, taking a rather dainty forkful of pie and slipping it into his mouth, chewing, then washing it down with black coffee. "Might help to have a message from her sister, one she'll listen to. Of course, maybe not. I don't know how un-chummy you two are. Chummy enough to want to find her isn't always chummy enough to want to talk."

Dames are always trouble, good looking ones doubly, and good looking ones who know they're good looking double that. Those deep set blue eyes divert to his food as Lucille rakes out her hair. He's in this for the money. He's learned the hard way what doing something for a woman as a woman, instead of as a client, gets you in the long run. A fat lot of nothing if you're lucky. Alimony if you're not.

"I'll just have to trust that she'll believe that you're bringing her to me, then huh?" Lucille says with a sigh and then she's putting her cigarette out. "I need to hit the road honey, don't wanna keep Tommy boy waiting, now do I?" Especially not in this rain.

Standing and putting her coat on she takes another quick sip of her coffee and winks at the men gawking at her in the next couple booths over. "Now.. you let me know if you hear anything else? Ya hear?"

She's quickly buttoning her coat before any of the men can get a glimpse of anything else. Her light grey eyes on the detective as she places the shoes on again, one foot at a time. Holding the table for support.

"And if some bastards got her.." she leans in and stares him straight in the eye. "You kill them dead.. you understand?" And if he doesn't kill them.. then Lucille will, from the look in her eye.


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