It was week one in Destiny City and already he was standing in a bloody – literally, bloody – bathroom in the abandoned part of the district with two dead bodies in hanging over the tub, both with severe facial traumas. One appeared to have its head pounded against the tile wall until it smashed, and the other was beaten by the bathtub safety handle.

“Do you know what you’re looking at here, Brit?” his partner, Detective Rob Carter, asked. “It’s a goddamn mess.”

“Brilliant,” he scoffed. Detective Malcolm Fox, newly licensed officer of the Destiny City Police Department, fresh off the boat from London. “I didn’t realize that to be a detective in America you just needed to be a captain of the obvious.”

He winked at his partner. Their first week together had been going smoothly, already building a friendly rapport and back and forth: Rob would ride on Malcolm for being an uptight and honorable British man, and Malcolm would poke at Rob for being a ******** idiot American. Straight out of a buddy cop film.

“I know that one,” Carter nodded to the more identifiable, less-head-smashed-in body. “Emilio…I wanna say Cruz? He’s part of the de Luza family of crime. Usually associated with a Jorge Rodriguez, which must be the other guy.”

“The de Luza family?” Fox asked.

“Rich crime family, usually wrapped up in drug trade but not usually violent crimes,” Carter explained. “They’ve been quiet lately. They had some close ties with the Vicenzo family til the head croaked a few months back. Ruled a suicide.”

“You don’t believe that ruling?”

“Don’t have a choice,” he shrugged. “I didn’t work the case. But apparently the de Luza’s made a new enemy, or the same one.”

Fox lowered down to the tub and examined the scene closely. “My guess is an abduction gone awry.” Carter paused, no response but a thoughtful stare and a blink. “It means took a turn for the worse.”

“I know what it means, jackass,” Carter scoffed. “We’ll run a check to any recent ties to other local members of the de Luza family in Destiny City. See if there’s anyone they would have wanted to kidnap.”

“It sounds like we should pay the de Luza family a visit soon,” Fox suggested. “Any prominent members to start with?”

“Yeah, there’s this woman Maité St. Cloud,” Carter suggested. “Not a ringleader, but she’s probably the best access point to the family and their secrets. She’s the widow to the old head of the Vicenzo family. She’s easy on the eyes, too. She’ll probably love you, ya smooth British b*****d.”

“Good, because I always hope to sleep with my suspects before I arrest them,” Fox quipped with words tinged in sarcasm.

“I usually like to handcuff them first.” They shrugged and nodded in agreement.

“Let’s get forensics to run some tests and figure out what we’re dealing with, see if we can find any prints on the site for who are mysterious captive might be,” Fox suggested. “Then it will be time to pay Miss St. Cloud a visit.”