[Trevor Cane is driving a dolled-up dame to dinner at a fancy establishment, and it totally isn’t a date.] -03:45 Sep 22
[Jade is wearing her sister’s sexy dress, because you’re supposed to look the part when undercover, not because she wanted to impress a dopey detective.] -03:48 Sep 22
Trevor Cane: Trevor knew how to be a gentleman, when the occasion presented itself. It was easier to think of nosy newshound Jade Sparrow as a lady when she looked the part. He opened the car door for her, made sure she was seated and comfortable before starting the engine, all that jazz. It was only after he peeled away down the street that he returned to her questioning. So she had information about Caruso, huh? Well, he had a few leads, but Trevor liked to keep his cards close to his chest. "Impress me." -03:53 Sep 22
Jade: This was fun. Feeling like she was taking a staring role in a wicked play. …or feeling like she was on a date for the first time in ages. Or ever? High class wasn’t exactly the usual! But right, her info. Jade was grinning like the Chesire cat. "What do you think about copies of his entire police record. Every. single. bit." -03:58 Sep 22
Trevor Cane: Okay. That got his attention. "How in the bright blue blazes did you swing that?" His eyes momentarily left the road to narrow at his passenger. See, Trevor wasn’t precisely popular down at the precinct… -04:00 Sep 22
Jade: "I’m a woman with connections, Mister Cane. I know a lot of people in some very interesting places." ….meaning, she totally pouted until her Cop sister did her a favor. There was a huge benefit to being in a great big law-junkie family. "While I was at it, I learned some interesting things about you too, mister banned from the police station…" -04:03 Sep 22
Trevor Cane: "What, you didn’t already know?" That bit of info-digging was much less impressive. How could someone who was so well-connected not know about his dreadful rep as a P.I.? Maybe it was time Trevor did a background check of his own. Come to think of it, why hadn’t he? "Not that I’m not flattered by the attention. What else did you find out about me?" -04:08 Sep 22
Jade: "Nothing. I thought I might respect your privacy and ask you myself." she smirked. …Of course, the reality was that her sister flipped out at hearing the same and told her if she ever saw the guy to punch him in the ribs and keep walking. Jade wisely decided not to divulge the truth about her dinner plans. "So why is it every cop in the city hates your guts?" -04:11 Sep 22
Trevor Cane: "They can’t take the heat when I close all their cases, that’s why," he answered with a self-satisfied grin. Well, and they weren’t really fans of his methods, either. "I’ve never let a client down. What’s your story, anyway? Trying to make your big break?" He was taking a shot in the dark, but it would explain a lot if she were some kinda rookie. -04:18 Sep 22
Jade: Jade cast him a sly side-glance. It’s not like it was a -bad- thing to be fresh out of college and trying to make a break. But he kept hitting her pride button. "I’m just looking for a challenging story. Something bigger than sitting down in a nice little office having a chit-chat." There. Truth -and- vagueness. ! -04:24 Sep 22
Trevor Cane: "Well, you have good taste, then. Nailing Caruso is going to cause quite the splash." He spoke about it as a done deal because it was going to happen. That was the way Trevor worked; he got results, one way or another. "So what’s in his file? Not enough to get a conviction, or we wouldn’t be here." -04:27 Sep 22
Jade: "It’s always just shy of enough… He’s got some kinda legendary badass for a lawyer. It’s like no matter what he does or how much dirt they get, magic lawyer busts out some ‘new evidence’ that totally screws it all over." Drove her family nuts. Wouldn’t it be the most awesome thing to not only break out her career but also win the family recognition of being the one that got him? Jade was grinning wide. "I figure we get him and his lawyer… I mean, the guy can’t be that good without doing something illegal, right?" -04:33 Sep 22
Trevor Cane: "Stu Maloney." The guy was even less popular with law enforcement than Trevor was. "I’ve met the guy. I’m dead sure he’s dirty, somehow. You’re right; no one is that good." Yeah, Trevor wouldn’t mind taking that rat down along with Caruso. -04:38 Sep 22
Jade: Jade tapped her chin with a finger, just mentally running through a round of ideas on what to do about that guy. "Step one, figure out the details on Caruso’s latest scheme. Step two, let it leak out we have a juicy little tidbit and then stalk the lawyer to see what he does?" -04:46 Sep 22
Trevor Cane: "A dangerous plan, but yeah, that could do the trick." Trevor drummed his fingers on the steering wheel as they waited out a red light. "Of course first we have to actually get the scoop. You sure you can handle this?" -04:50 Sep 22
Jade: "Totally. It’s you I’m not so sure about." Detective with a bad rep? There was no way he had his shit together. At least she knew no one sane was gonna go after her. Call it smug over confidence, but Jade definitely didn’t fear some organized crime jerk and his goons. She leaned over in her seat towards him, giving him that wide grin. "Caaaan you?" -04:54 Sep 22
Trevor Cane: He nearly did a double-take. Jade looked way too good in that low-cut dress to be leaning over like that; he’d have to be blind not to notice. Thankfully the accusation riled him enough to keep him from being too affected. "Lady, I eat and breathe this kind of excitement. You don’t need to worry about me." -04:58 Sep 22
Jade: Jade grinned wider. Not only was he bristling from her barb, he definitely checked out her boobs. She made a good choice. "Good! And how are your acting skills? We’re snooping and spying and all, but getting caught before we even get anywhere would suck. You want to play the first date, the married couple, or lonely man and his expensive escort?" Now she was just hassling him just for the pleasure of it! -05:04 Sep 22
Trevor Cane: e nearly chose door number three just to see if Jade could actually stomach playing a high-class callgirl, but he just barely reeled it in. "Unless you brought a spare wedding band, dollface, I think married couple is out. It’s a date." Felt uncannily like one anyway, so they might as well work with that atmosphere. "Set up by mutual friends, that work for you?" -05:17 Sep 22
Jade: "Yep!" Why did calling it a date make her grin wider? That was so stupid! She wasn’t the kind of girl that met a guy once and got a crush, this weird little thing she had going was really distracting. "Do you do a lot of sneaky stuff like this as a detective?" There. Talk about what they were actually doing. -05:20 Sep 22
Trevor Cane: Like this? Taking girls out for dinner- no, make that undercover work? Not so much. "Tailing people and a bit of B&E is de rigueur in my line of work. So yeah, I guess you could say that. I take it you’re more the cappuccino and office space type?" -05:31 Sep 22
Jade: "I’m usually breaking in to offices, but, yeah this is kinda the first time I’d gotten in to something more elaborate than less-than-legal snooping." Jade was trying to piece him together from the little tidbits of info she had managed to get. Purely professional reasons. "And why are you a detective instead of a cop or something like that? Especially since you don’t seem to be keen on the typical cheating spouses and stalkering that’s the usual job descript." -05:40 Sep 22
Trevor Cane: "Cops have their hands tied by way too much legal red tape for my liking. This is much more my style." He’d done a few cases of cheating and stalking too, but Jade was right on the money; that stuff bored him to tears. Sure, Trevor mostly liked getting paid, but he also needed to feel some sense of victory now and then. "No mystery why you’re a repoorter. You love snooping, don’t you?" -05:47 Sep 22
Jade: Jade laughed! "Was it that obvious? Yeah… Crime fighting is great, but I’d probably get depressed if my whole career was about the dark side of humanity. At least with journalism I can mix it up. Tired of mobsters and newspapers? Write for a travel magazine! Sick of world tours? Dig up dirty gossip on royal families. Variety is nice." -05:54 Sep 22
Trevor Cane: Why did muckraking sound so much nicer when she was talking about it? Fortunately for Trevor, he had an excuse not to give a reply; they were pulling up to Panzavecchia, right on schedule. "Okay, showtime. Let’s make this look good." Trevor pasted on his most winning grin as he parked the Mercedes, again moving to open Jade’s door, even taking her hand to help her out of the car. "I hope you’re ready for a lovely evening, Miss Sparrow." -06:04 Sep 22
Jade: "I am eager to see if you can impress me, Mister Cane." The game was on! For the sake of appearances and making sure if -their- conversation was over heard, that meant no more work talk. This was going to get really interesting. Jade adjusted the skirt of her dress once she was standing, then she was taking his arm. Giving that flirty grin again. Maybe if she was busy driving him nuts, she wouldn’t act stupid. -06:13 Sep 22
Trevor Cane: Okay, it had been a little bit (alright, a good while) since Trevor had been in the dating game, but he was pretty sure Jade was being a tease. But then, wasn’t that the idea? Their cover story was that this was a date, after all. Thank god it wasn’t working on him. No sir, not even a little. Trevor wasn’t attracted to snoopy gossipmonger reporters. "I got us a great table. Perfect view. I happen to be friendly with the owner." By which he meant the owner had been a client; Trevor had helped the man zero in on which of the managers had been cooking the books just last year. Nasty business, since all of the managers were the owner’s kids. -06:25 Sep 22
Jade: Perfect view meant exactly the right spot to spy on their target and hear snippets of conversation. Jade linked her hand with his, not even having to fake that eager almost excited smile. "Oh? I’ve always liked men who had connections. You’re full of surprises." -06:30 Sep 22
Trevor Cane: "You haven’t seen anything yet." Trevor didn’t have to fake his smile, either; her enthusiasm was infectious. "Reservation for Cane, party of two," he told the host who had materialized to greet them the second they stepped through the doors. They were seated promptly. Trevor pulled out Jade’s chair for her, taking advantage of the moment to glance at the empty table sporting a reservation card not far from their own. So Caruso hadn’t shown just yet. "I think we’d like to start off with a nice wine." Plucking up the wine list, he pointed out his selection to the waiter and tried not to wince when he thought about what this was costing him. The things he did for the job… -06:40 Sep 22
Jade: If there was one thing she was good at, it was being observant. Even while slipping in to her seat, Jade had a quick glance at the room. The place was -gorgeous-. It’d be a lie to say she wasn’t used to a little ritz and glam, but Panzavecchia was so high up in grandeur, even she was a little mesmerized. Their target wasn’t there yet, which wasn’t too much of a downer. She was now busy casting her ‘date’ a glance ever so often as she grinned at the wine list. Jade doubted he could afford half the stuff on the wine list, let alone the rest of dinner. "That sounds divine. Are you familiar with wines, Mr. Cane?" -06:47 Sep 22
Trevor Cane: "Of course." He’d memorized the label, price, and top five reviews of every wine sold in the city; that sort of thing came in handy. Not that he’d ever tasted most of them himself. "If you’ll trust me to surprise you, Miss Sparrow?" -06:53 Sep 22
Jade: Jade rest her elbow on the table and her chin in her hands, casting him one hell of a wicked grin! Breaking and entering might have been his element, but fancy crap was totally hers! "I don’t know about trusting… but I’d love to see how you can surprise me! I don’t think I’ve gotten a good surprise in awhile." -06:56 Sep 22
Trevor Cane: That sounded like a challenge. Trevor was a total sucker for challenges. "Right then, we’ll be having…" he pointed out a name from the wine list to their waiter, making certain that Jade couldn’t see what he was pointing to. He had it on good authority that while it wasn’t the most expensive item on the menu, it was more than good enough to impress a girl who knew a thing or two about her vino. "That’ll be all for now. Give the lady and I some time to select our appetizers." No way he could skimp and just do entrees, not for a "date" at a place like this. Besides, who knew how long they’d be here. -07:07 Sep 22
Jade: "You have a very expressive face." she announced, deliberately not explaining what she meant as she opened up the menu for browsing. Should she go for hurting his wallet or go for what actually looked tasty? She was starving! She was back to grinning at him though. Damnit, she was doing too much of that. -07:12 Sep 22