NAME: Olivia Tate
AGE: 34
BIRTHDAY: November 24th, 1986
GENDER/PRONOUNS: Female/she/her
BIRTHPLACE: Westerly, Rhode Island
OCCUPATION: Private Investigator / Cocktail Waitress at The 401
FACE CLAIM: Janet Montgomery
Trigger Warnings: abduction, fire, crime
We all grow up listening to bedtime stories — fantasies about princesses in far off places and horse-drawn carriages that turn into pumpkins at the stroke of midnight. For Olivia Tate, however, this wasn’t the case. Her bookshelves had been filled with the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Carolyn Keene. Much like her father, a journalist for the local newspaper, Olivia had a bright and curious mind. She loved digging through facts and clues, and solving every case long before the author had finally revealed the culprit. But while she was always up for a more puzzling mystery, the young girl had never imagined that her life would turn into one.
At the age of eleven, Olivia’s neighbour and childhood best friend, Samantha Connelly, was abducted from her own front yard. There were no witnesses and not a single clue had been left behind. To most outsiders, the only sign that Samantha had even been there was the pink and purple jump rope she left laying in the grass. For the police station of a small, beachside town, cases like this were rather few and far between. And whether they wanted to admit it or not, they were in over their heads. After three long years of searching, Samantha’s story was cast aside and the once popular case was put on the back burner. Although there had been many tips over the years, none of them had ever gone anywhere and all suspects had been released after questioning. For Olivia, the news was heartbreaking, but what frustrated her the absolute most was that this was the one case she hadn’t been able to solve. While she had loved immersing herself in the stories of Nancy Drew, this time there was a real life on the line. A family was involved, and she was determined to give them the closure they needed, no matter the conclusion.
As high school came to a close, many of her friends were still undecided about what they wanted to do. But for Olivia, it was a no-brainer. She had always dreamed of obtaining a license in private investigation. The only question was where and how. Although she had always been close with her parents and twin brother, Alex, Olivia longed for her first taste of freedom. That curious mind had an agenda, and there was only so much that Rhode Island could offer her, much to her family’s disapproval. Andrew and Elizabeth had always supported their daughter, wholeheartedly believing that she was capable of whatever she set her mind to. Their hesitation only came after finding out that her dream school was located in none other than the notoriously dangerous, New York City.
Stubborn as she was, Olivia held out hope, declaring to her helicopter parents that she wouldn’t be continuing with any post-secondary education until they gave in. While it wasn’t a decision she had wanted to make, Olivia found other ways to spend her time, working as a journalist at her father’s newspaper and exploring the darker side of her small town. For as long as she could possibly remember, she had shared an indescribable bond with her twin. They were two halves of a perfect whole — yin and yang, peanut butter and jelly. On the outside, incredibly similar, but on the inside, there were many differences. For one, Olivia’s aura had always been rather bright, allowing her passion and drive to push her to see things more positively. Her brother, on the other hand, remained at war with his inner demons, surrendering to the darkness within him and the satisfaction that followed. While she dreamed of a future in law enforcement, Alex found himself wrapped up in the world of crime. And there was only so much time before he had taken her along for the ride.
For someone who longed for thrill and adventure, writing for the town newspaper felt rather bleak. The wannabe-detective longed for bigger stories and interesting articles that would leave readers on the edge of their seat. With Alex’s help and insider information, it wasn’t long before Olivia was using his connections to her advantage, manipulating the system to get the answers she sought. In her eyes, there wasn’t a problem so long as she was fighting for the greater good. A modern day Robin Hood, if you will, fighting for those who could not fight for themselves. No matter the consequences.
It wasn’t until Olivia turned twenty-three that her parents finally gave in, allowing her to finally leave the nest and study criminology in New York City. Making a vow to herself and her future career, the student decided to put the past behind her, playing by the rules and absorbing all of her professors’ knowledge like a sponge. In addition to the plethora of new information, something or rather, someone else caught her attention. His name was Liam Hawthorne, and he was not only the most handsome man she had ever seen, but the most intelligent. It wasn’t long before the two were engaged, and she returned to Westerly with not only a degree, but a ring on her finger. On paper, everything was perfect, but below the surface, there was something missing. For Liam, an aspiring chef, Olivia was obsessive. And not in the ways he wanted her to be. She was always doing research, but never for their wedding. She would never talk to him, but rather talk at him instead. It was almost as if she had become an encyclopedia of information, rather than the woman he’d once fallen in love with.
After only eight months of trying to make things work, they broke off the engagement and Olivia was left to face the truth about not only her relationship, but her career as well. In the grand scheme of things, she was proud of herself. Long gone were the days of solving mysteries from her bed. She was a real detective now. The only problem was that it wasn’t quite as thrilling as she’d imagined. Fresh out of school, she’d managed to catch a thief, who had been smuggling money from a local restaurant. She had also assisted a sixty-year-old woman in finding her long lost friend. But those just weren’t the tasks she’d had in mind. Olivia longed for the excitement, the adventure, the uncrackable cases she’d read about as a child. She wanted people to take her seriously, and she would need some real practice if she was ever going to solve Samantha’s disappearance. Which was exactly how she ended up a little less than an hour away from Westerly, in the town of Mystic, Connecticut.
With seemingly nowhere to go but home, Alex was nice enough to take her in, offering Olivia a place to stay as well as a job as a cocktail waitress at his club, The 401. While it was no hard-hitting case, it was a way to pass the time in a place like Mystic. Much like her hometown, the private investigator had only assumed that there would be nothing of interest for her there. But, boy, was she wrong. Four shifts into her new job, Olivia couldn’t help but eavesdrop on a conversation about the infamous fire and all of the unknown details surrounding the event. Similar to Samantha’s story, the police hadn’t done a thing and she felt a sudden determination to change that outcome. This time, the case wouldn’t go another decade unsolved. She would find answers. No matter the cost.
+ ambitious, curious, level-headed.
- obsessive, stubborn, over-analytical.
