Xandrya

What Are You Listening To?

The Perfect Li[f]e (Rawk & Xandrya)

"Research, huh? Not sure whether you expect me to be impressed or not..."

She smirked, rubbing her leg against his under the table for a moment.

"But the job has its moments. Some of the other detectives see me as their little sister who needs to be constantly watched, others try to hook up with me without so much as buying me a drink first. Bottom line, that place is nothing but testosterone filled to the brim, so the girls and I stick together more often than not."

Clare then saw a busboy walk by and she waved him down, asking him for a glass of water. He politely agreed and took off again. "But like I was saying, it's a blessing and a curse. At least the pay is good," she shrugged with a little smile.

"So enough about me. What's new and exciting in your world? Were you stalking me for a bit before deciding to casually strike up a conversation? I bet that was your plan from the start; to ease yourself back into my life again... You're a sneaky one."

The Perfect Li[f]e (Rawk & Xandrya)

"It really does..." Clare responded sitting down half-distracted as she stared around the area. The decor she remembered remained the same for the most part, but there were some minor changes she noticed. Some hangings on the wall that weren't there before, and the lighting had been dimmed just a tad to make the seating space that much more intimate. That was her perception anyway, although it was quite possible that it was all in her head. Eiher way, she was glad to be back at the restaurant, especially with Ethan. And seeing Jyn's familiar face was a pleasant surprise as well. The girl had the same bubbly personality from before.

What in the world?

Clare shifted her attention from the surrounding scenery to the man that was seated a few tables away. Ethan had his back to him, and she looked over his shoulder at the familiar face. The longer she stared, the more the guy looked like Stefan Cortez, a subject in one of her investigations.

"Sorry, let me just handle this for a minute...it's work," Clare smiled reassuringly at Ethan before she reached into her purse to fetch her phone. She logged in to the New York Driver Information Database, typing up her username and password to gain access to his driver license photo. After the page loaded, her suspicion was confirmed. Cortez was seating not even 50 feet from her. But she wouldn't move in on him, not in those heels and dress. He also wasn't alone; there was another man there as well she didn't recognize, one who was dressed rather fashionably too. They were definitely talking business, the type of business she'd been investigating for some time now. What straight man would come to Nakazawa's with another man? No one knew their sexual preference, so as far as they were concerned the pair were simply another happy couple. But it was additional reassurance for Clare, as if the photo confirmation wasn't enough on its own.

Out of all places... Clare bit her bottom lip and sent a quick text to Lucy, giving her the details of the situation at hand. She knew Ethan hated how her job got in the way, but she couldn't help it. She wasn't some secretary sending an e-mail with meeting minutes. This was a wanted felon, and he was within dangerously close reach.

"No more phone, I promise." Clare put it away once more and reached for the menu, even though she already knew what she wanted to drink, but couldn't make up her mind as to what she wanted to eat. Just then, their waiter stopped by.

"Good evening, my name's Carlos and I'll be serving you today. Can I start you both off with something to drink? And perhaps you're ready to order as well."

Clare quickly flipped through the pages, to see whether she would change her mind last minute.

"I'll have a gin and tonic for now, thank you. Not sure what else I want just yet," she smiled up at Carlos as he scribbled away on his notepad, waiting to take Ethan's order as well.

The Perfect Li[f]e (Rawk & Xandrya)

The young woman smiled, wrapping her arm around Ethan's. He had managed to remember her favorite sushi restaurant, but maybe that was simply due to their frequent visits to the place when they were previously dating. Most employees, if not all, knew both of their names by heart. But that was then... and aside from the manager, Joe, the staff would more than likely be made up of new faces now. A bittersweet thought, really.

As the couple headed out into the hallway, Clare locked her apartment from within. She had just double-checked the door when Ethan pointed out some lady a few apartments down. Clare had never seen her before, but it did make her curious. For all she knew, she was being watched. It didn't happen often, but the department wasn't a stranger to past defendants coming after an officer. And it didn't matter the charge, whether a simple battery or a grand theft, the thirst for revenge could be fatal if the person was bold enough to go after a cop. But the idea didn't scare her, or much less change her attitude for the night. She would deal with that issue later when it presented itself.

"Those poor hamsters," Clare joked, squeezing Ethan's arm just the slightest. She loved his sense of humor, which to her, didn't necessarily match his striking looks. Someone who looked like him, in New York out of all places, would more than likely have the personality of a wet mop. But she liked that about him; a great body and even better character traits to go with it. It's as if she'd struck gold when they first met, and now they were going out again, and she was loving it.

Once they were outside her apartment building, Clare was clearly impressed by his new vehicle. She was speechless for a moment, especially after he held the door for her and she climbed in, putting on the seatbelt as Ethan went around to the driver's side. He knew she was impressed, and she knew he loved her reaction. He was a man, after all, so who could blame him.

"It seems her and I have quite a bit in common," Clare smirked, crossing her left leg over the right one as she shifted her weight. The dress rode up a little bit higher along her thigh, giving Ethan more of an eyeful if he so happened to look in that direction. She had deliberately positioned herself as such since she knew it would drive him a little crazy on the way to the restaurant. That was one of the things they both had in common: they loved messing with each other in more ways than one. You just didn't come across that type of chemistry too often, and they enjoyed that about each other.

"But honestly, you haven't lost your taste for the finer things in life," she went on with a smile, reaching for his hand before she turned to stare out the window. Clare loved anything and everything about the city life. There were the lights, the people, the million and one things to do. She couldn't get enough of it, and it was her type of environment, one that she could never see herself being pulled away from. Even well into old age, once she retired from the Police Department, Clare planned to stick around the Capital of the World.

"Speaking of the finer things in life, and by fine I mean truly a piece of work, how's Jack?"

Clare turned back to Ethan, legitimately curious about his friend. He was an oddball, to put it lightly, yet somehow him and Ethan tolerated each other enough to remain friends after all those years. But that relationship was similar to what she and Lucy had, except they also happened to work together. Clare knew the idea was always floating around their heads, for Lucy and Jack to hook up, but realistically speaking, that would never happen, not with their clashing personalities. "I believe the last time we spoke, you had to hold me back after what he said."

The Perfect Li[f]e (Rawk & Xandrya)

When she was back in front of the mirror, Clare lowered the music a little bit before she continued doing her make-up. Unlike a lot of women in New York, and just about anywhere else in the world, Clare hated pounding on a thick layer of foundation on her face. She always believed her skin should be able to breathe, and adding a bit of power to give her face a glow as well as hiding whatever problem areas she had, if any, was the way to go. But she did like her eyeshadow, especially her black one. Clare went for a smoky eye look, as she usually did on her nights out. She started with a black eyeliner, tracing the edge of both her upper and bottom eyelids. She then grabbed her dark palette and expertly started blending different shades of eyeshadow to achieve the desired look, which she finalized by putting on some mascara at the end. Simple, but effective. Clare then went on to add a matte, dark-brown shade to her lips when her phone went off. She picked it up and noticed she had a voicemail. The phone hadn't rang, but sometimes she went through dead zones in her apartment. After Clare dialed for her message, Lucy's voice came to life.

"Clare bear, I've got some news for you regarding our latest case. I know you're probably already out with your hunk, but if you're not partying it up until 3 in the morning, give me a call when you get home. No rush. Love you, and make sure he doesn't sneak anything into your drink."

The line then went dead and Clare hung up. She couldn't help but smile and shake her head. Lucy and Ethan's relationship was a complicated one, but nonetheless, it was amusing...to her at least.

Clare put the phone down and went into the bedroom. She walked to the closet to pull out a garment bag with a few dresses inside, although she already knew what she was going to wear. Without bothering to close the bedroom door, Clare undressed and then slipped on the strapless dress, both hands reaching up behind her back to zip up the garment. The rich, vibrant red color played well against her skin, and the hem went only as far down as her mid thigh, showing off a lot of leg. Clare also put on strappy black heels to match the three-quarter sleeve leather jacket she was taking with her. She would also accesorize with a black clutch and silver earrings and necklace.

A few moments later, Clare emerged from her bedroom. She had just spritzed a Calvin Klein perfume and walked towards the foyer to meet Ethan before the couple headed out.

"Sorry for the wait, babe. May I just say you look dashing as always," she smiled, not the least bit discreet as she looked him up and down.

The Perfect Li[f]e (Rawk & Xandrya)

After rescue took Mrs. Dunsworth to the hospital, Clare went ahead and radioed dispatch that she would be clearing the call. They had Mrs. Dunsworth steady and breathing, so she didn't need to stick around anymore. As she got into her car, Clare placed a phone call to Lucy. The phone rang until it went to voicemail.

"Hi, it's Lucy. Leave a message."

Clare then spoke after the tone. "Hey, it's me. Mrs. Dunsworth didn't take the news too well so I called rescue, but she's stabilized and on the way to the hospital. I'm all done here so I'm going home to get ready. Talk later and I'll let you know how it went."

After hanging up, Clare started heading home to her cozy Williamsburg apartment. Traffic wasn't too bad in the Upper East Side, although it only went downhill from there. Nothing she wasn't already used to, of course, but she had a good reason to be home on time. The Clare from a few years ago would have slapped her silly if she knew the plans for that evening, especially since Ethan was picking her up and all. Though Clare couldn't help but smile at the thought. It had been a while since they had last seen each other prior to their quick morning greet, but the anticipation was getting to her. To such an extent, in fact, that she raced through a fresh red light without noticing until she was midway through the intersection. No harm came from her recklessness, aside from the lights and sirens appearing behind her a few moments later. Clare looked at the squad car through the rearview mirror, cursing to herself for being such an idiot as she was already pushing it with time. She signaled her turn into a smaller side street and pulled over onto a vacant space. Clare lowered the windos and waited for the officer to approach her unmarked vehicle.

"License, registration, and proof of insurance."

Clare rolled her eyes, reaching for the documents in the glove compartment but also including her badge in the stack, placing in underneath her driver's license. The moment the officer took her documents and noticed she was also a cop, his expression changed. He no longer appeared to be the hard-ass he was portraying.

"Oh, I'm sorry ma'am, I didn't notice," he apologized, handing her back her documents.

"That's alright, you be a little bit more careful next time and run the tag, alright?"

"Yes, ma'am." The young officer started making his way back to his vehicle without saying another word. Clare found it amusing that she was telling him to be careful. But the kid had a lot to learn still.

---

Back in her apartment, Clare had already showered and was in a denim button-down and black shorts. She was just about done with her diffuser to maximize the look of her natural waves. Her playlist was going off in the background, the music alternating between a mix of Spanish trap and pop. Clare liked to sing along as that was one of the many perks of living alone; no one to tell you what to do or judge you.

A little while later, while she had already applied some powder, her doorbell rang.

"Crap..."

Clare looked up at the time displayed on her phone before she went to greet Ethan. She already knew it was him as for the most part, no one showed up unannounced. When Clare opened the door, she couldn't help but smile. Somehow, her date looked even more handsome than before. Was that even possible?

"Hey, come on in." She went with a simple hug, nothing more, nothing less. "I have to finish my make-up and get dressed, is it okay if I leave you out here for like 5 or 10 minutes?

The Perfect Li[f]e (Rawk & Xandrya)

The detective knocked on the door at 170 East End Avenue. She waited for a moment hoping the widow was home; not that she was in a hurry to deliver the news to Mrs. Dunsworth. But that was the case for every death notification, and she had done more than fair share of it. It was mostly always shock, denial, and finally grief. In all her years of running through he same routine, Clare had cried only once. The surviving family that time included children; the mother was locked away and their father had been killed by some thug on the streets. Nice guy apparently, from the few interviews she conducted. But once the children found out and she witnessed their reactions, Clare had to bite her tongue. She eventually went back to her vehicle to cry. The whole thing was extremely sad, and she hadn't had an easy day to begin with prior to meeting them.

Eventually, Mrs. Dunsworth opened the door. The woman appeared to be in her late 40s, possibly early 50s. She wore a black dress with high heels and expensive-looking jewelry. Her hair, an ashy brown, was pulled up into a bun. Clare then introduced herself, displaying her badge.

"Mary Dunsworth? Hi there, I'm Detective Clarissa Lopez. May I come inside?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. Is everything okay?" The woman suddenly became concerned, her face giving it away but she nonetheless stepped aside to let the detective into the apartment.

Clare bit her lip instinctively, her back to Mrs. Dunsworth before she turned to face her as the woman closed the door. "I'm afraid not. Please, have a seat," Clare motioned towards the loveseat positioned beside her and after a moment, she circled around and took a seat across from the widow. "Mrs. Dunsworth, we found your husband in a warehouse--"

"Oh, that cheating bastard! I knew he was up to no good!" She was suddenly worked up, her fist clenched up on the armrest. "Maybe he'll behave now that he's in jail, unless he's gonna fuck those men too...I'm sorry dear," she suddenly apologized with a softer expression on her face, "it's just that it isn't the first time he's caught doing things he shouldn't be doing. He never came home yesterday evening and he's ignoring my calls."

"Mrs. Dunsworth...we found his body. I'm afraid he's dead."

That was all Clare said before Mrs. Dunsworth went pale in the face, her hands starting to tremble. It seemed as though she was trying to get some words out, but she could only make little gasping sounds.

"Please, can I get you something? Maybe some water?" Clare suddenly stood up, rushing to her side. Mrs. Dunsworth looked up at her for a moment before her eyes rolled to the back of her head and her body slumped to one side.

"Shit!" Clare grabbed the radio that was clipped to her belt. "Dispatch, this is Delta-13. I need fire-rescue on a 3 to my location."

"10-4 Delta-13. Fire-rescue on a 3 to your location." the female voice verified.

Clare put the radio down and turned to the unconscious woman. She was the only first responder on scene so she had to take immediate action.

The Perfect Li[f]e (Rawk & Xandrya)

"And there she is! Hey, you've got that CI you've been trying to get a hold of leaving you multiple messages. It's like you two are playing phone tag or something." Lillianne, the young secretary for the squad, trailed Clare as she walked into the office, coffee in hand and a smile that quickly disappeared.

"Thanks, Lilly, I'll make sure to call him back."

Clare made her way over to her desk, plopping down on the chair as a stack of unfinished reports and a beachy screensaver greeted her. She was behind on her work, no doubt, but it seemed that as of late, crime was increasing at a higher rate than most within their precinct. Her sergeant, Chris Reynolds, knew this, and he did his best to relieve the workload for his crew. But there was only so much he could do, specially with a squad that was constantly short-staffed.

Her shift had just started, but to Clare, it might as well have been noon. She pulled herself forward on the chair and leaned to one side to put her stuff away in a drawer, the coffee still in hand as she took one last sip before placing it on her desk, the red lipstick stain on the cup marking it as her own. Clare then typed up the password and logged in. She had left her Outlook open and she noticed she had a lot more e-mails than before. Messages from a few of her co-workers as well as those mass e-mails meant for the entire department. Even though it took a bit of commitment, Clare liked to declutter her inbox on the regular. She could leave the important messages behind so she knew what she had to do next, sort of like a to-do list. As she started the process of deleting e-mails, her phone rang.

***

"If these people were trying to make it look like a suicide, then they certainly failed," Detective Lucy Harrison knelt down next to the body, one gloved hand pulling back the victim's sleeve to check out the expensive watch on his wrist. "He's hot for being older, too bad he's dead or I would have invited him over to play with my handcuffs." Clare and Lucy where well out of earshot, the boys in blue mostly keeping to the taped perimeter as the two women did their job inside the abandoned warehouse.

"You're desperate," Clare laughed, kneeling down opposite her partner and closest friend. She bit her lip for a second before deciding to tell Lucy the news. "So, I may need you to take this one alone tonight...I'm going out with Ethan this evening. I know, you don't have to say it, but hear me out. We talked this morning at the Starbucks and it went really well. Besides, it's just one date; it's not like we're running off like two crazed lovers."

"But there's something about him..."

"No, you're wrong. Besides, I'm the one that's going out with him. Just because you never liked him doesn't mean I have to deprive myself of that beautiful man meat of his."

Lucy suppressed her laughter, shaking her head. "Now who's the desperate one?. Let's get to work then, if I'm doing this shit alone tonight you're going to bust your ass until the last minute."

"You're the boss," Clare replied, reaching for a pair of gloves in her back pocket.

The Perfect Li[f]e (Rawk & Xandrya)

Clarissa Lopez, aka Clare
31
NYPD Detective
Cuban/Puerto Rican

"The only easy day was yesterday"

Murder Worlds: Death is Certain (Happy Halloween)

WIP

Name: Lucie McAllister

Age: 31

Occupation: Photographer

Height: 5'4

Weight: 115 lbs

Backstory: WIP

Fear: TBD