For the fic summary meme: 'We Get The Job Done', Lams.
This is a sort of detective noir pastiche, but since I know me and my obsessive need to research, if I were to write it, it would lean heavy on the pastiche. It would have a sort of 1940s/50s flair and the vague trappings of that time period, but there would be a long author’s note at the beginning about how this was supposed to be half-farcical and not necessarily period accurate.
Alexander Hamilton is a private eye trying to establish himself in a city that seems to be full of equal thirds lowlifes, aspiring good guys, and people who want nothing to do with any of it. He was a promising young patrol officer under the old Police Commissioner, George Washington, but after Washington retired unexpectedly, his successor made it clear that he was no great fan of Alex’s. After two months of desk duty, he got sick of the inactivity and corruption and quit. He thought he could get more done on his own then by working under Commissioner Adams, who was barely hiding the fact that he was taking bribes from half the crime bosses in town.
He set up his own office with the help of John Laurens, his partner in every sense of the word (yes, this is established relationship, because it’s my bread and butter), a former public defender who now spends most of his time and his father’s money working with Alex after quitting his own job for similar reasons. (Though not necessarily in a similar manner–John’s exit from civic employment involved his fist and Assistant District Attorney Lee’s face.)
So, that’s all in the past. At the real start of our story, it’s been about a year since they started this venture and business has been…okay. They have a steady stream of clients, mostly the ignored and underserved, people turned away by the more expensive PIs. Alex is a sucker for a sweet face and a sob story and is willing to take on clients who can’t exactly pay them their day rate. Plus, John’s not hurting as far as money goes, and while Alex might have spurned his gifts and help at the start of their courtship, he’s pretty much living in John’s penthouse when he’s not sleeping at the office at this point, so money’s not necessarily a huge issue. They have a good reputation for working tirelessly until the investigation is complete, getting results for their clients and then helping them with their next steps. (John swore up and down when Alex bailed him out of lock-up after he punched Lee that he was never setting foot in a courtroom again, but it turns out he’s a soft touch for a sweet face and a sob story too–he’s usually quick to offer legal advice and representation to their clients who need it.)
They’re doing okay, is the point, getting by, but Alex is sure they’re just one high profile case away from notoriety, from a steady stream of actually profitable cases, more high-profile legitimacy, and maybe the ability to hire someone to do the paperwork they both hate so much. That case walks into their office in the form of George Washington, Alex’s former boss. Alex is sure it’s a social call, at first, until Washington admits that he’s there on business: his ward has been kidnapped.
Alex and John are both shocked–they knew Washington’s ward, an orphaned French aristocrat who went cheerfully by his surname, Lafayette, and passed more than one boring police charity ball drinking in the corner with Alex and John. Washington tells them that he’s been missing for a week, now, and the ransom came yesterday–he’s to bring a sizable amount of money to a particular warehouse in three days’ time. He’s sure that someone from the force is involved, so he’s hesitant to go to the police, but he trusts Alex and John. He’s willing to pay well, too–half the ransom demanded by Lafayette’s captors if they bring him home unharmed.
Once Washington leaves, they get to work. Alexander is positive that Thomas Jefferson, his one-time fellow officer who’s been promoted to Head Detective under Adams, is behind it. He’s always been a little too interested in Lafayette and discussing his French heritage. John reminds Alex that he blames Jefferson for everything, from corruption in the police force to his expired milk.
“That doesn’t mean he’s not guilty,” Alex mutters, but rips out that page of his notebook and starts fresh anyway.
Their first stop is Mulligan’s, a bar downtown known for its scandalous clientele. It’s just seedy enough to attract the upper echelons of the crime world, but just legitimate enough to be safe for uptown trustfund rebels looking for a thrill. The owner, Mulligan, knows everything about everyone’s business and is always willing to throw Alex and John a bone, thanks to a few personal cases they’ve solved for him. Mulligan admits he hasn’t heard much, but Jefferson, Adams, Deputy Mayor James Madison, and a few other suspicious parties were in last week in a private room. He sends them to talk to Maria Reynolds, the waitress who was working that room that night, for some more information.
From here, the rest of the story is them hunting down leads. Maria tells the that the men assembled that night kept talking about the “package” being delivered to the warehouse district in three days’ time, but they think she’s acting suspicious, so they add her to a list of possible accomplices. They talk to Lafayette’s girlfriend, who doesn’t remember much about the night he was taken, except that one of the men had a silver-tipped cane. Jefferson sometimes uses a cane as an affectation, so Alex is fucking over the moon and John tries to reign him in, but things keep making him look bad.
Blah blah blah, a bunch of other leads that I would put a lot of thought and careful plotting into that would make it look more and more like Jefferson was the one who did it, but he’s obviously the red herring here. Along the way, they keep crossing paths with Angelica Schuyler, another PI who’s on a different case that keeps intersecting with theirs. Eventually, at the urging of Angelica’s sister and secretary, the three of them sit down to talk about their different purposes and suspects and such.
It’s during this meeting that things start to become clear. Angelica is working on behalf of Maria Reynolds, who thinks that her abusive husband is cheating on her. She wants evidence, which would give her grounds for divorce. But James Reynolds seems to be involved with something deeper (although he’s also totes cheating on her), which is what Angelica has been digging into. He’s been having a lot of meetings with people at town hall after hours. Town hall is where the police headquarters is located, which is why she’s been looking into Jefferson and Adams, since they seem shady as fuck.
Eventually they put enough pieces together that they are SURE that Jefferson and Adams must be behind this. Alex has Washington set up a fake ransom drop and he, John, and Angelica go to the warehouse early to try and intercept the delivery of Lafayette.
Except that “package” they intercept isn’t Lafayette. Jefferson and Adams are there, sure, but it’s drugs that they’re smuggling in, not Lafayette. They tie Jefferson and Adams up and confront them, but they claim to have no evidence as to where Lafayette is. Alex throws the cane thing and a few other seemingly obvious “it’s Jefferson!” bits of evidence at them, but Jefferson refutes them–his cane isn’t silver tipped and he has a passing familiarity with whatever other evidence, but the only reason he does is because his best friend, Deputy Mayor James Madison, likes them. He also uses a silver-tipped cane when his various illnesses are flaring up and making it difficult for him to move about easily.
So, then it’s a race for the three of them to get to Madison before he figures out the ransom drop was fake and does something to Lafayette. They get there just in time and save him and Madison does some “and I would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for you meddling kids!” monologuing at them, explaining that the whole thing was a ploy to discredit Adams and Jefferson, while also seeking revenge on Washington, who wronged him for plot reasons. Something something, bringing them down would disgrace the current mayor, Madison would come out strongly against him and become mayor in his place, blah blah blah power, whatever. Also, James Reynolds was working for him, thus going to Town Hall, etc.
So, case solved, Lafayette returned to the Washingtons, Alex only slightly annoyed that he wasn’t right about Jefferson being behind everything (but mostly overjoyed that he was being arrested for something else), etc. The boys are flush and hire Angelica’s other sister, Eliza, as their secretary, leaving everything open for a sequel where something something the boys get kidnapped and Eliza does the sleuthing, everyone lives happily ever after.
