all you know about me is my name

(maxence danet-fauvel, nonbinary, they/he/she) Welcome to Lakeview, AMBROSE “ROSE” PRINCE! We hear that you are 28 years old. You’ve been in town 10 YEARS? You should get to your job as a DEALER/WAITER at LA SCOGLIO. I hear that it fits your LOYAL and SELF SABOTAGING personality. Don’t be out on Route 9 alone!

Franklin sat in his office, filling out some paperwork. Sure, he wasn’t part of the police force, but town PR was his specialty. He leaned back in the leather chair, taking a deep breath. He didn’t know Jack or Mary Beth that well, but what he was particularly worried about was the leak of the police interviews. That had gone viral, the entire world knew about it. He heard a knock at his door, and he lifted his head. “Come in.”

You don’t get to basically be outed for Rose’s line of work and keep going without some strings to pull. The one issue, of course, being that some of those strings have very identical doors when you’re trying to walk with purpose, and sometimes you’ll be off by a couple doors. Opening the door to see not the person they were looking for made Rose glad they’d only come by for a discussion. “Um...” Not wanting to just announce they’d been looking for someone else outright, they caught sight of paperwork --for what, Rose wasn’t entirely sure, but could make a guess-- and played off of that. “So I take it that report was real, then? Or...are you allowed to tell me that? I feel like you don’t get a bunch of paperwork for a fabricated report. Either way. Sucks for you guys, getting one pulled over on you like that.”

“i do not sound like that, that’s not even funny. you’re an ass.” riley rolled their eyes, a small smile still on their lips as they placed the joint back between them. “they can try, but i would put up a fight. i can’t be out here having no one supplying. that’s just cruel.” riley sat up slightly and leaned back on their elbows. “if they do though – i’ll come visit. y’know, that way i can catch up with steph and trevor while i’m at it.” they mumbled past the smoke. not that rose would care. not that riley cared if they did.

“Uh, first of all, I’m hilarious. It’s part of my charm.” They picked the point up and took a drag from it, clearing their throat on the exhale. “I’m touched, truly. For what it’s worth, though, if I wasn’t supplying, some weird greaseball would take my place. It’s, like...environmentalism or some shit. Gotta fill the empty niches.” They raised an eyebrow at Riley’s little aside, not sure what to make of it. They didn’t make a habit out of sharing life details, and most people did the same. Not wanting to risk prying, or, worse still, feeling obligated to share their own tragic backstory, they just rolled their eyes. “Just make sure you bring me a nail file, yeah? If I do that kinda time there’s no way you should just let me sit there.”

“could you imagine if it was me? how sneaky would that be?” riley chuckled, sitting up as they rolled their eyes at rose’s stupid suggestion. “they’re only on your ass about it ‘cause they know you deal and you were an ass in your interview. don’t worry too much about it. you know as well as i do they don’t need any murder charges to lock you up the second they want to.” a sigh left riley as they laid back down on the couch. “that doesn’t mean you’re allowed to go get locked up on me though.” there weren’t too many people around lakeview riley was close with – not that they were close with rose – at least not as far as anyone knew. the last thing riley needed was to have someone else they – cared about – dragged away for a long time.

Ellie had been sitting outside of the police station, hoping to catch a local to ask more questions. She jumped when she heard a voice, listening to the exchange and chuckling. When the person approached she walked up to them. “Oh, yeah, totally.” She said. “So…” She looked them up and down. “you weren’t there as a suspect, right?”

Rose paused, considering her for a moment. She obviously hadn’t been here long, and her sitting outside the police station either meant she was lost or nosey. Awesome. “I mean...sort of? The whole town’s suspect. That’s kinda how it works when the town’s this small. Preliminary interview to narrow the suspect pool.” Not that Rose thought they did a particularly good job, but eh. If the cops tried to pin this on them then they’d really be incompetent. “They’re not gonna solve it, anyway.”

__

“Yeah, they did. They asked all of the typical questions, but I didn’t know either of them, so I couldn’t help them at all. Sad I’m not useful, right?” A dark joke, for sure, but Rose could take it. “What, did you try to sell to them, and they refused, so you spit in their faces? If all the crap in the true crime genre is true, these cops aren’t going to solve anything.”

“Dude is doing their JOB like we do at work?”   Georgia is used to the customer always being RIGHT.    “So the real question is do you really fuck wives or do you just like to say that you do?”  Curiosity gets the BEST of her these days.  A chuckle coming from her as she works to quickly pull up her hair into a messy bun.   “Because if you do?  WOW.  Can’t judge though.”   Not that she has slept with a married man that she has known of.

___

“Isn’t that the truth,” Isaac said, snickering. “But, you know what, I’m glad you’re okay Rosie. Being in a police station is never an easy time. If you wanna chat about what they think you did, I’d be happy to hear you out.” Momentarily, Isaac had thought to ask to buy something from him, but he paused his thought. Selling was, well, a job, if a not honorable one, and no one wanted to go to work right after getting out of custody.

Patrick had dragged pretty much every piece of clothing he owned down to the laundromat. There was nothing he hated more than laundry day. Which was exactly why laundry day only came when he really needed it. As he sat around outside waiting for his clothes in the dryer with a smoke in one hand, his brain quickly drifted off to thoughts of David. It still felt so far out that he was gone, and Pat couldn’t really seem to make it sink in just yet, wondering what would happen if he did. Hearing a voice in front of him, the man jumped slightly, quickly pulled out of his own thoughts. “Shit, sorry – I – didn’t see you there. What was that?”

“Are you trying to get your ass handed to you?”   Georgia asks her coworker with a hint of a smile threatening to show through her otherwise annoyed expression.  “Poking the police seems like a very BAD idea.”   But it is very interesting and bold to do.  Georgia might be BOLD in other ways but getting involved with law enforcement like that wouldn’t be one of them.    “You really aren’t phased by the cops,  are you?”    TO her it was nerve wrecking to be drug down to the station and questioned. 

Rose was no stranger to police stations. This situation, though. A bit new. Novel. Didn’t stop them from waving to some of the more familiar faces. Pulling the chair and spinning it to sit backwards in it, leaning against the table, the interrogating detectives didn’t seem all that amused. Oh, well. 

“I’m Officer Johnson, this is Officer Yates. We’ll be the ones conducting your interview today.” Were they allowed to use “Officer” as an honorific without actually being a cop? It sounded badass. Something to think about. Oh, oh shit, introductions.

“Charmed. You can call me Rose.”