On the News

"Tonight on the eleven o'clock news, a horrible car crash leaves the beach littered with burning debris and leaves a man dead."

This was playing on the television when Mia and Brian sat down on the couch with a bowl of popcorn. "Come on Brian put in the movie." Mia said handing the video to her ex-cop boyfriend.

"Let's watch this first. Just the part about the crash." Brian responded turning the volume on the television up a bit louder.

"Not watching the movie?" Dom asked relaxing in his big leather chair.

"Shh, it's back on."

"Tonight, just a half an hour ago, a blue Mustang was reported to have skid off the road, and over the side of the rocky cliffs that line the beaches of LA. Hello, This is Ana Sawyer reporting on this tragic event. As you look behind me you'll see what's left of the Mustang convertible that crashed moments ago. All that remains is a charred, crumpled hunk of metal, and scattered debris from when the tank of Nitrous Oxide, a gas used by street racers, blew up. The man found at the scene, seemingly thrown from his car as it tumbled down the jagged cliff, was impaled with a large piece of metal shrapnel and dead on arrival. Detective Morris, may I have a word with you, please?"

"Certainly ma'am."

"What do you think of this terrible event? Do you know who the man is?"

"I think that this wasn't an accident, Miss Sawyer. Up on the road, my men and I found two sets of skid marks. They were in a position that says to me the Mustang was forced over the edge. Even if the one car had been capable of creating both marks, the tires from the skid marks don't match up. Which proves someone forced the Mustang over the edge."

"So you think it was a murder?"

"Yes I do, and an obviously successful one I'm sad to say."

"What a terrible thing to happen. Who was the man? Why would anyone want him dead?"

"We got lucky this time, the man had his wallet in his pocket. We identified the body as Romeo Donovan, the owner of the local Italian restaurant. His body is being taken down to the city morgue for any family to come claim his body."

"Well, there you have it folks. Popular restaurant owner involved in a crash that cost him his life. Who would do such a terrible thing? Why kill a man so renowned as Romeo Donovan? What's to become of the local's favorite restaurant Romeo's? We may never know the answers to any of theses questions. This is Ana Sawyer, signing off."

Mia was crying and Brian turned off the TV, "Oh fuck. How could that have happened Dominic? I can't believe he's dead." Brian remained calm somehow, but he was only outwardly calm. He had to be, he had to comfort the woman sobbing in his arms.

For a moment Dominic was silent, his mid absorbing the news he'd just received and trying to make sense of it all. Then it clicked Aidan was after Tianna. He'd known about her working at the restaurant. He had to have been behind it. Dominic growled in rage and knocked the coffee table into the TV, breaking the screen. "I'm going down to the morgue." Dominic snatched his coat off the hanger, and flung the door open.

"Dominic," Mia turned to meet her brother's furious gaze, "Dominic, they didn't mention Tia."

"It that him, sir?" the man in the morgue asked as he and Dominic looked in on Romeo's lifeless body through a pane of glass.

"Yeah," Dominic said starring down at the vision before him, "yeah that's Ro."

"Were you related to Romeo Donovan?"

"No, we were close friends."

"Does he have any family you can contact?"

"Only his surrogate sister, Tianna."

"And where is she, Mister Toretto?"

"That's a good question. Wish I had an answer. All I know is they were at my house not twenty minutes before the accident, and she left with him in that car. If they found him on the beach they should've found her."

"Well, we only found one body," Detective Morris had arrived, and was the one who spoke.

"I see that. What do you suppose that says about you?"

"Now Mister Toretto, don't get hostile."

Dominic's fist slammed into the glass, making it shake in it's frame, and he turned to glare at the detective, "One of my closest friends is dead, his sister, the woman I was planning on marrying is missing, and could very well be dead for all I know, and your telling me to not get hostile?" Dominic grabbed the detective by the lapels of his brown trench coat, "Why don't you tell me what you going to do about it?"

"They're were patches of blood in the sand, found leading away from scene of the accident."

"And Tianna?"

"No we didn't find anyone else," the detective sounded ashamed, felt like he could've done more. Especially since Tianna was a rare name, and back when he was still just a rookie man in blue he'd taken dark haired girl named Tianna to a mental hospital after being paid off by the owner of O'Brien and company. He liked to believe he'd risen above that though. "I'm terribly sorry for your loss, sir, and I can assure you we are going to do everything in our power to find Tianna for you."

"Yeah, right," Dominic scoffed and walked away from the detective. Before he left the morgue though he turned and looked the man straight in his eyes, "Why don't you start with her step father, Adian O'Brien. I'm sure you've worked with him before. I hear he's real popular with the cops, practically has them in his pocket."

The detective stood in shock. It was the same girl as before. Which meant that the detective wouldn't be able to do anything for the poor creature. Toretto had been right, there were almost zero cops not on O'Brien's payroll. He shook his head and sighed, the girl was dead. If she wasn't, he believed with all his mind, because he never did anything with his heart, that Adian would find a way to change that.