The Story of Blood and Roses

The work had been cut out for me. After eight full hours of sleep (and I could sleep no more even though I didn't set an alarm or have any pressing matters to tend to as I was on vacation) I started doing background studies for each person that was mentioned in the conversation with Ethan. Ethan had been thorough with his stories and recounted most things that one would need to know. But I had to place the stories chronologically to know the importance of each man to the mob and to Anthony. Ethan's secret had also gotten me curious, and I wondered if I would be able to keep myself from checking the mail Jake had sent me the other day and invade the man's privacy. That would, I decided, depending on my mood, and the extent unbearable nature of my curiosity.

First, I put down each detail that I had heard from Ethan in a word document and separated them under different labels. These would serve as my guidelines for further studies and searching for weaknesses and strengths of the people who I was trying to do a background check on.

My primary resource would be checking criminal logs in the Organization's blogs and unlimited access to the government ports. They had information about every citizen and immigrant in the country. It wouldn't fetch much information, but it would be a beginning.

The first name in the list—Cienna, just because I wanted to know what she had gotten herself into in the beginning. I logged into the central network and fired up the search engine of the database. I typed in her name and got various options. Not knowing her full name, I tried to look at the pictures of the people until I found her. The picture of her was of her with her curly hair cut short. It looked like it had shriveled in the cold and recoiled into her scalp. Her eyes looked dilated and sunken, and her skin was translucent. The freckles on her nose didn't look cute in comparison to her skin tone in the picture. I looked at her name. 'Cienna McLaughlin,' it said. She was probably of Irish descent. I looked at the data provided then.

The records dated back to seventeen years ago, when she was nineteen. The dates confirmed that she was older than Anthony by two years. They stated her street name and the number of cases she had been tried for. She hadn't served any time because her pimp always got her out of trouble. The man apparently had some fondness for the woman.

Her street name had been Cee Doll, but everyone lovingly called her Cee, which reminded me that it was what Ethan referred to her as. It infuriated her, and now I understood why. She'd been found on several opportunities in compromising positions with her clients who had walked away scot-free, and she had spent the night in jail until her pimp was done snorting whatever he was snorting and come to fetch her. The pimp's name had been Joe Smith and he made a fortune out of her. She was his star whore and made him some good cash. Her pretty face had attracted some filthy rich clients who supposedly left when Cienna walked out.

I had this urge to start referring to her as Cee because it was just so much easier and in character and my heart was overflowing with love for her... not.

Going back to the topic at hand; indecent exposure and prostitution had been only some of her crimes. She had been charged with assaulting, grand theft auto, being caught possessing drugs, driving under influence and murder. I hadn't expected that one. According to what she had told the police, she had been on the streets looking for some new clients when a fellow prostitute tried to take the business. Things got heated up as days passed and she had gotten pissed when she lost some good fellow in a Mercedes who had chosen the competitor. She had barged into the room that the two had been lodged in and pulled the trigger on both of them. She had been extremely high at the time and hadn't expressed any guilt on killing a fellow prostitute and client. In her own words, "fucking bitch thought she could steal from me. I killed her. What's so difficult about that?" When asked about the man she simply said, "he put his dick in her." That had seemed like explanation enough for her. She had been twenty-seven at the time. She had been sentenced for that one but came out on bail. A gig had gone wrong or was intentionally made to be wrong and she had ended up beaten brutally, on the verge of an overdose when she was found by the cops. She was hospitalized immediately but was reported missing shortly after. Everyone had thought that she had run away. Any record after that had not been of her getting involved with prostitution, but with questioning or possession of drugs.

I imagined that Ethan had left the part about the meeting-gone-wrong out for some reason, but it painted the image that Cienna had needed protecting from someone who was after her. And the dates coincided perfectly with everything. These dates were only weeks after my mother's death and her rescue a few weeks later. Anthony had used that time period to build his empire and he had started with her.

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