So I'm reposting this sans all the oc's. I lost the orignal when my computer crashed forever and a day ago...but this particular fic has been an albatross around my neck for quite sometime. So now I'm coming back and not only re uploading what's already been written, I'm...drumroll please...finishing it! And mark my words finished it shall be! I'm going to put a disclaimer up one time and one time only. I do not own Newsies. If I did...the premier for the musical would have been in Texas where I live. All other characters (i.e. Erin, Hannah, Zoey, and Jace) belong to me...please don't steal them. Thank you. Reviews are welcome...flames will be extinguished promptly.


Jack Kelly was a private investigator in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The year was 1950, the war was over and he was back in his beloved city, well that's only half true, he really wanted to be in Santa Fe, New Mexico…but that's a different story altogether. He was sitting in his office, feet propped up on the desk. He'd just lit a cigarette and was thoroughly enjoying it when SHE walked in. The dame was crawling with that high class, hoity-toity attitude. He'd felt the change in the atmosphere the minute she stepped off the elevator. Her high heels clicked on the tile of the hallway as she moved to the office at the end. He didn't remember anything like this in the old Dick Tracy comics he read as a kid. A moment later a knock was heard on the door.

"Come in," a voice called from inside.

"Mr. Kelly?"

"I'm sorry to disappoint, Mr. Kelly is my employer, and I take it you would like to see him," Sarah Jacobs, Jack's secretary, said sitting right inside the door.

"Yes please," the first one said quietly.

"What's your name?" Sarah asked.

"Conlon, Erin Conlon."

"Mr. Kelly, an Erin Conlon to see you," she told her employer via the intercom sitting on her desk.

"Well, then send her in." Jack's disembodied voice replied over the speaker.

"Yes Jack," Sarah said with a sarcastic eye roll.

The knob turned just before the door opened to reveal a young woman of about 22 dressed in a black, form fitting dress. She had an apple blossom complexion that was partially covered by the veil from her hat and a pair of the reddest lips he'd ever seen.

"Mr. Kelly?" She asked innocently.

"Miss Conlon, I presume?"

"Yes sir. I am in dire need of your services."

"What can I do for you Miss Conlon?" He asked, not even sure that he wanted to take the case.

"Well, you see, my father passed away some time ago, leaving my brother and me in the care of our old butler. While he was just our butler, he was like family to us. I returned home early this afternoon to find him murdered," she explained.

"Murdered? Well now, that's interesting. How do you know it was murder?"

"When I arrived home, found my room completely ransacked and saw Kloppman on the floor in my brother's office with a knife in his chest," Erin continued, her eyes beginning to water profusely.

"There, there now don't cry," Jack said being a sucker for sob stories. He lent her his handkerchief, which she promptly used to dry her eyes.

"Then you'll help me?" she asked giving him the type of eyes one would associate with a puppy.

"I'll see what I can do," he smirked.

"Oh thank you Mr. Kelly, this means so much to me!"

"Would you mind if I took a look at things?" Jack asked wanting to get to the crime scene while it was still relatively new.

"That would be fine Mr. Kelly," Erin said sniffling a bit.

"Then right this way Miss Conlon," Jack grinned, grabbing his hat and trench coat from the rack by the door, which he then opened for her. He paused just before they turned into the hall to talk to Sarah. "I'll be out late, can you lock up tonight?" He asked.

"Yes Jack," Sarah sighed, this was often the story with Jack. Stay behind and hold down the fort while I take some other girl out. It annoyed her more when she first started to work for Jack since she'd had a not so small crush on him, but things changed when she saw that he wasn't interested.

Erin led the way down to the lobby where Jack was about to hail a taxi, but paused when Erin led him to a car that was idling at the curb.

"Home please, Gabriel," she said closing the door behind her.

"Yes ma'am," Gabriel, the Conlon's driver, replied putting the car into gear and pulling out into traffic.

"Thank you so much for helping my brother and I Mr. Kelly," Erin said softly once they were on their way.

"It's my pleasure Miss Conlon," he told her with a grin. "How could I say no to a pretty lady such as yourself?"

"Mr. Kelly, you flatter me."

"I only speak the truth."

"Thank you," she blushed.

"You are most welcome."

Sometime later they arrived in front of a large mansion in the heart of Brooklyn. He let out a low whistle at the sight of the place. It took up half the block with its impressive red brick walls that were dotted with multiple windows.

"Wow," Jack murmured, staring in awe.

"It is rather large, but it is useful at times."

"I'm sure it is, Miss Conlon," he told her following her into an opulent entryway.

"Right this way Mr. Kelly," Erin said leading him up a flight of stairs. They walked up the stairs into the office, which looked like London after the Blitzkrieg. And true to her word, the old butler was laying in the middle of the floor with a knife in his chest and a pool of blood gathering on the floor.

"Have you called the police?" Jack asked Erin.

"Yes Mr. Kelly, they were the ones who recommended you to me."

"Then did they say to call them to clean this up?"

"Yes they did."

"Then go ahead and call them. I'll take a look before they get here," Jack said looking at the room.

"Erin, is that you?" A voice asked from the hallway.

"Yes, I'm in the study," Erin replied. A short young man with dirty blonde hair and ice blue eyes stood in the doorway leaning against the frame.

"If you'll excuse me I'm going to call the police to get this cleaned up."

"Aight Erin, I'm Sean Conlon, though everyone calls me Spot," he said shaking Jack's hand as Erin left the room.

"Jack Kelly."

"Pleased to meet you Mr. Kelly."

"Please, call me Jack."

"Well, I'm sure Erin told you what happened," Spot said.

"She did yes; do you have any idea of who might want to kill Mr. Kloppman?" Jack asked getting a notepad out of his pocket.

"I know of people who want to kill me. I can't imagine anyone wanting to kill Kloppy."

"Would any of those who want to kill perhaps have killed him to get to you?"

"Maybe, I don't know I suppose they could," Spot answered as Erin came back.

"The police are on their way," she announced entering the room.

"Good, Miss Conlon, do you know anyone who would want to kill Mr. Kloppman?" Jack asked.

"Well, that's the funny thing about it Mr. Kelly, I know several," she said and continued when Jack raised an eyebrow. "You see, Kloppman had a way of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and he knew things about people, things that they wouldn't want others to know. He'd never say anything about it, that's just the type of person he was. But if someone thought that Kloppman would expose them, they'd probably have reason to murder him."

"Really now?" Jack asked.

"Yes sir."

"How would I find these people?"

"He has an address book, look through it," Spot shrugged. "Hey Erin, I've gotta go meet someone, I'll be back late, don't wait up."

"Spot not now," Erin said a look of pleading on her face.

"I'll see ya later, aight?"

"No it's not all right," Erin retorted.

"We'll talk about this later," he said a dark look crossing his face. Erin knew that look and gave him a dark look of her own before nodding.

"And if you'll excuse me Miss Conlon, I need to go as well," Jack apologized.

"It's quite all right Mr. Kelly. Can I get Gabriel to drive you home?" She asked.

"No, ma'am, I much prefer to walk, it helps me think."

"You'll be in contact then?"

"Yes Miss Conlon. I'm going to do some snooping around the house tomorrow if it's agreeable."

"Do you know approximately what time you'll be here Mr. Kelly?" Erin asked walking him to the door.

"What time is best for you?"

"Does 10 tomorrow morning sound good?"

"It does indeed. I will see you then." Jack said kissing her hand before leaving. Erin closed the door after him and heaved a sigh before making her way to her room and taking off her hat. She sat in front of her vanity and gazed at her reflection in the mirror before she washed her face and changed into her dressing gown. Even though Spot had said not to wait up for him, she couldn't sleep and so she ended up reading a book in front of the fire.

As soon as Spot left he went to Tibby's diner and sat in a booth, waiting for his girlfriend to show up. They'd been secretly dating for some time now, though it had been hard keeping the secret especially from her family. He knew that they had no real love for him, but as the saying goes, "the course of true love never did run smooth." As he sat deep in thought, his mind turned toward his business…that had been the primary part of why they each agreed to meet in Manhattan since the fewer people who knew where he was the better. He hadn't been there long when a girl of 5'6" with long brown hair and brown eyes entered the restaurant. She smiled and made her way over to him.

"Hey there handsome, what's a guy like you doin alone in a place like this?" She asked sitting down.

"I'm waitin for my beautiful clandestine girlfriend to get here," Spot smiled.

"Really? What's her name?"

"Sarah. She looks a lot like you."

"Well, that's funny because my name just happens to be Sarah," she grinned.

"How are you?" Spot asked taking a sip of coffee.

"Good, we had a slow day. This might be a strange question, but do you have a sister?"

"Yeah, Erin. Why?"

"Well she came by the office today, looking for Jack."

"We've met," Spot said with a roll of his eyes.

"I can see that. Most males have that reaction to Jack, some females too," Sarah chuckled. They enjoyed their dinner together but all too soon it was time for them to part ways. They walked outside hand-in-hand.

"Thank you for dinner, Spot," Sarah said turning to face him.

"You are most welcome. Are you sure you don't want me to walk you home?" he asked.

"I'll be fine. Besides, David will be waiting for me," she said her brown eyes showing that she wished she could be with him for a little while longer. Though David had introduced them, he was the main reason for the secret relationship. He was well aware of Spot's line of work and he didn't want his sister to have a thing to do with it, not that he'd tell her what it was.

"Okay, bye then, be safe," he said kissing her lightly.

"You too," Sarah smiled. Spot's business dealings were less than pleasant and Sarah knew it, though she didn't know exactly what he did since he told her not to ask. Some of the people he dealt with were either mafia hit men or members of the underground and at times had threatened to kill him. He didn't want them knowing anything about her, which was another reason he kept their relationship secret, as well as every other relationship he had. He hadn't told Erin simply because if anyone tried to get it out of her, she'd be able to answer honestly that she knew nothing of it. Spot watched Sarah walk off toward her apartment in Manhattan while he turned the other way back to Brooklyn.

Once he had gotten there he entered as quietly as he could trying not to wake the entire house. He was creeping toward the stairs when he heard a soft "ahem" from behind.

"Sir, you should know your sister is still awake so trying to get past her unnoticed is impossible," Zoey the head maid for the household said from the dining room.

"Thank you for the notice," Spot said turning around.

"Also if you happen to see Hannah before you go to bed will you tell her to see me please?"

"Yes I will," Spot laughed. Zoey had grown up working for the Conlon family; in fact she was almost as close to them as Kloppman had been. As he ascended the stairs he thought of the old man's murder. He sincerely hoped it hadn't been an underground member who was trying to get to him. He'd done a good job so far of keeping the underground from his family, but that could change in the blink of an eye. He hoped that he'd be ready for it. He walked by Erin's door to find the light on and the door open. She was sitting in a wing back chair staring into the fire.

"Erin?" He asked leaning on the doorframe. Apparently he startled her because she jumped at the sound of his voice.

"Oh, Spot, come in," she said turning to face him.

"What's going on?" he asked sitting in an opposite chair.

"Just thinking."

"What were you thinking about?"

"Today, I can't believe he's gone," she cried, tears spilling down her cheeks.

"Yeah, me either," Spot agreed the shock finally starting to set in.

"Who would kill him? He was such a sweet old man, he'd never even hurt a fly

"I don't know Erin, I really don't know."

"Ugh, I'm blubbering like an infant," Erin said drying her eyes.

"I wouldn't say infant," Spot teased. Erin ignored his comment with a roll of her eyes.

"Where did you go tonight?"

"Erin," Spot sighed. "We've been over this."

"Spot, I don't see the harm in you telling me where you're going."

"I do, if I tell you where I'm going then you would have to lie if someone asked you where I was, I don't want you lying for me," Spot said with finality.

"And you think that whoever it is that would be asking me where you were wouldn't get a kick out of beating it out of me for the heck of it?" She asked raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"Erin"

"Spot"

"You've had a long day, get some rest," Spot said kissing the top of her head.

"You too," Erin replied standing and closing the door after he left.