City After Dark

Chapter 2

I spent Thursday sifting through all the articles I could find about Renaissance and the De Vita family. My house--a shitty two-room apartment I struggled to afford since my roommate Kennedy moved out, was cold despite the three space heaters I kept running. I was sitting in the living room bundled in a blanket, my laptop balancing on my lap as I sipped a warm coffee. The information was what I expected: news about who had recently visited, new items that had been added to the menu.

Bored, I looked up Josephine's name. That yielded more interesting results: I found a brief interview that had run in the late 2000s about their family. There was a photo of the three of them: Josephine with her dark, rich hair and her clever eyes, and her husband Carson beside her, blonde, handsome and stoic.  Between them was their son, Collin: he had brought his father's looks, with his shoulder length hair blonde and wavy. They leaned on one another in the photo, smiling broadly in a way that looked earnest. I studied the photo for a few more moments she scrolled on to read the article.

I was surprised to find that although Josephine was the face of Renaissance, it wasn't actually her family business. She had married into it—she was Josephine Morelli before she was Josephine De Vita. I had always thought that Carson had married into the money and power and not the other way around, considering the passive role he seemed to play in public proceedings regarding his family business.

Clearing the search bar once more, I hesitated slightly before typing Josephine De Vita controversy. I scrolled through the page. Nothing interesting, just joke articles and a few critiques on class. I clicked on the second page of results and gasped. The first headline read Collin De Vita Under Hot Water Again, Josephine Pays To Cover It Up. I clicked the link, but when the page loaded, I received an error message. The article had been deleted.

"Fuck," I exclaimed. After two hours of reading about the De Vitas, this was the most interesting thing I had found, and I couldn't read it. In another world I could contact the publisher and see if I could get my hands on the deleted article, but a quick glimpse revealed the article was published by The New Heralds, Solar Tribune's direct competitor. No way in hell Stephen Andrews, the chief publisher, would allow me access to any of his articles.

I pursed my lips, wondering if I should bring up Collin's criminal records during the interview, when I heard my phone ringing in the kitchen. My joints creaking, I stood and jogged to my phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey Dede," came the cheerful reply. I couldn't help the smile that tugged at my lips. It was my brother, Nathan. He was four years older than me, having celebrated his thirty second birthday just a few weeks prior. Although we lived only forty-five minutes away from each other, hearing from Nathan was always a treat. He had a wife and two children, and lived in the suburbs outside of the city where he worked as a financial advisor. Of the two of us, I never expected Nathan would be the one to settle down and become a family man, but there we were.

"Hey Nate. What's up?" I climbed up on the countertop and leaned against the cabinets. I could hear rustling in the background, as if Nate were moving about. He was probably at work, considering it was Thursday afternoon.

"Not much," he said. "How's life treating my little sis?" I sighed.

"Not great. Scott refused to give me the promotion yesterday."

"Again?" Nate sounded outraged. My smile broadened, feeling pleased that at least someone understood my plight.

"Yup," I said. "I'm stuck doing food reviews for the next God-knows-how-long."

"Scott's always been a self-righteous prick," Nate said, "Don't worry Dede. I'm sure something better will come your way." I worried my lips with my teeth. I wasn't convinced, but I didn't want to push the issue.