Mac was watching the news about the death of Robert Thomasina on her computer screen. She clucked her tongue and shook her head. She hated the man but still – being murdered by a car bomb wasn't fair. Mac knew there must be something fishy if someone killed him. No normal person would get killed like that. This was a revenge killing. Mac might not be a detective, but even she knew something was going on. Also, she was a former fan of his show. His show was good back then until it wasn't, and that man fucked it up.

She glanced at the kitchen where her boss, Keith Mars, was getting his morning coffee. She could hear Keith was whistling a tune from an old TV show. And then she heard him yelled from the kitchen, "Do you want some coffee, Cindy?"

"No, thanks, Mr. Mars. I already bought one from Java the Hut."

"I don't understand why young people nowadays preferred to buy coffee in the morning."

"They have Caramel Macchiato."

Keith Mars rolled his eyes and muttered, "Caramel Macchiato. Maaaaaacchiiiiiatooooo." He sniffed the coffee he just brewed and sighed. "This is better."

He heard the reception door was opened and didn't turn around but he did wonder who came early in the morning. He then heard Mac said, "Dick?"

"Hey, Macaroni. How you've been? Wait, you work here?" Dick Casablancas' voice was heard.

"I have been working here for almost four years, duh." She saw Keith emerged from the kitchen. "Mr. Mars, we have an unexpected guest. You remember Little Richard."

Dick grinned, "Nice." Mac just shrugged and sipped her drink. Keith Mars nodded and looked at the tall blond man in front of him. His dirty blond hair seemed longer than he remembered and he had it tied into a man-bun. Gosh, he hated men who wear their hair like that.

"Richard. How are you?" They shook hands. "This is a surprise. If you're looking for Veronica or Logan, they are not here yet."

"Oh, no. I'm here to see you. Do you accept a walk-in?"

"Okay, how I can help you?"

Dick grimaced and glanced at Mac who was pretending to type something on her computer. "Err, yeah. You see, this morning I went to see that daughter of yours who is shacking up with my buddy, the Naval Lt, but she kinda rudely kicked me out and her boy toy said I should see you instead. He said you might be able to help me find my boss' killer and cleared my name."

Mac stopped typing and looked at Dick in shock while Keith stared at him with a poker face. If he was surprised, he'd rather not show it. He had been in this business for a while, so nothing usually surprises him anymore. But this was rather unusual especially the fact that he had known this man for a long time. He had known Dick and his family since he was still in elementary school with Veronica. And then when they were in high school, his little brother blew up an airplane full of people. Sometimes he thanked his lucky stars, and possibly Don Lamb, that he wasn't on that plane. Dick's comment from three seconds ago for some reason didn't rattle him.

Keith inhaled and then exhaled. "You are being accused of murder?"

"No, not really. I'm not a suspect, but I might be a person of interest." Dick grimaced. "I mean, I didn't do it – I swear. Your beloved daughter asked me that, so I thought I'm just gonna let it all out."

Mac looked at him with wide eyes. "Dick, it's only 9 a.m. You can't just drop a bomb like that."

"Ha! Funny you mentioned that." Dick chuckled nervously. "Can you help me, dude?" He asked Keith.

Keith narrowed his eyes at him. "First of all, you don't call me dude." Dick nodded sheepishly. "Second of all, you need to tell me everything before I decide." He pointed at the sofa in front of Mac's desk. Dick obliged and sat down. Keith sighed, sat on Mac's desk, and signaled him to talk.

"Okay, you know that I'm an actor, right?" Both Keith and Mac looked at him in confusion. "Oh, I'm gonna be on TV and movie now. I just joined this television show called 'Cupid Party and The Zombies…"

"What?!" Mac yelled. "You're gonna be on CPATZ?"

Dick nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah! You watch the show?"

"I used to."

"Right, so my boss was the showrunner: Robert Thomasina." He explained to Keith. "Someone blew him up with a car bomb. It's all over the news."

Keith nodded. "I'm familiar with the case."

"So my lawyer said that they might wanna talk to me because, well –" Dick glanced at Mac. "Errr, I dunno whether you remember my little brother, Cassidy…"

Keith nodded slowly. "I do remember, Richard." Mac looked pale when Dick mentioned Cassidy. "I think I know where this going, but please continue."

"My lawyer, Tom, said because of my family history, the cops and the ATF wanna talk to me. 'Cause of the bomb and explosive stuff. Look, I have no clue what happened or who killed the dude. But I figure it's better to take premediate action, don'tcha think? I don't want what happened to Logan happened to me – with the whole news and paparazzi, so it's better to hire a private detective to back me up with stuff about how I have nothing to do with this."

Mac stared at him in disbelief while Keith only scratched his bald head. He puffed his cheek and then exhaled. "Richard, do you have an alibi or something?"

"Uh, yeah. I was with someone the night where they blew up Robert. I was with - " He paused and then said, "Okay, I was with a woman."

"Okay." Mac and Keith waited for Dick to finish. "Can you... elaborate?"

Dick fiddled with his fingers and grimaced, "Ah, you see... We were doing... some stuff."

Mac rolled her eyes. "You both were boinking. So?"

"Not just boinking. We were sliming the banana." Dick grinned. "You know; riding the pork bus into the tuna town. Spear the bearded clam. Burping the worm in the mole hole." He watched both Mac and Keith, expecting them to smile or something. "We fucked."

"You're disgusting, you know that?" Mac said to Dick. "Get out."

"Okay, okay, okay, sorry - just listen to me. Papa Mars... I mean, Mr. Mars. So, yeah. I was with a woman."

Keith bit his upper lip, tried not to smack the man. Dick was no longer a boy or even a young man, but his behavior was like he peaked during high school. "I don't see the problem here, Dick. You have an alibi. Why do you need me or Veronica?"

"My lawyer is good but Tom can be... how do I say it - a pain in the ass. Not to mention that he hates my guts. So my dad said that he might do a half-assed job representing me. He said that I need a new lawyer, but in the meantime, better hire a detective to provide with any kind of evidence because he said that I'd get distracted easily." Dick shrugged. "By the way, do you know any good lawyer?"

Keith pondered a bit. "I know a lawyer."

"Great. Just gimme his numbers."

Keith cleared his throat, "Richard, son... You haven't answered my question; you have an alibi, why do you need me?"

"Oh, because my alibi refuses to say that she was with me. Her husband wouldn't like it."

Both Keith and Dick could hear Mac's head hit the desk as she groaned. "For crying out loud, Dick!"

"Well, I can't help it if women want me!" Dick said in a defensive tone.

Keith held the bridge of his nose. No wonder Veronica flatly denied him, because Dick was really difficult to work with. His mind wanders, he was incoherent most of the time, his testimonial would be thrown out immediately, and he was rubbing people the wrong way. Which made Keith realized that he might not involved with the murder of that showrunner. He'd watch the news and the victim was blown up by a powerful explosive. This needed meticulous planning and Dick was not a planner it seemed. Although appearance could be deceiving. Who knew that his late little brother was a sociopath mass murderer who planned to kill the mayor and other people? His father was also a Ponzi scheme scammer who ran off with other people's money. He'd done his time in prison, but it wasn't a long time.

"Can you give us a name, at least?" Keith asked.

"Are you gonna handle my case?"

"You don't need me, Richard. As long that you give the woman's name to the police, you'll be fine."

"That's not gonna happen. She made me swear, or she would cut my balls off." Dick grimaced. "Or her husband will."

Mac threw a pen at him, which made him yelp. "You came in here asking for help!"

"Look, I'm trying to avoid a scandal here. Also, I'm protecting the woman from any kind of bad publicity and dishonor. I'm a feminist, you know."

"Mr. Mars!" Mac couldn't stand it. "I beg you not to take his case!"

Keith shook his head. "I haven't even had my coffee yet."

"If I tell you her name, promise me that you won't freak out," Dick told Keith and Mac. "And please, I will pay. Also, if you solved whoever killed Robert Thomasina, I can guarantee you more rich clients will wanna hire you."

Keith was going to say something but Mac cut him off. "We will take your case if you pay us twenty-five grand a day, Casablancas."

Dick widened his eyes. "Oh, shit."

"Cindy..."

Mac shook her head. "Mr. Mars, we might as well get rid of the headache. I suggest we don't take the case, but if we're going to plunge into this mess, I'd rather get paid a lot."

Dick made a face. "That's rather a steep price."

"With a client like you?!" Mac said tersely. Dick nodded quickly. "So what's it gonna be?" For a moment he scrunched his face, thinking, and then agreed. "Alright. Sign here, here, and here." Mac produced a piece of contract. "This is our Mars Investigations Contract." Dick sighed and signed the dotted lines. Keith looked upward and rolled his eyes. Mac was usually a very quiet woman, but recently she had been a bit restless. This might have something to do with their recent lack of clients.

Dick made a face when he finished, and then reluctantly shook Mac's hand. Keith offered his hand too. "I guess you're our client now. We'll do our best, Richard. If the woman won't provide you with an alibi, we'll... help you so you won't get accused." Dick shook his hand. "But know this, Richard: if we find out that you're guilty, we are allowed to terminate the contract and I wouldn't be your private investigator anymore."

"Duly noted, Mr. Mars."

Keith nodded and glanced at Mac who was inspecting the contract. "Okay, Richard. So who is this mysterious woman who is also your alibi?"

Dick hissed and grimaced at the same time. "She's..." His eyes moved back and forth between Keith and Mac. "I supposed you've heard of Celeste Kane?"

Once again, Keith put his poker face on, but he couldn't help rubbing his face with his hand while Mac stood up from her chair and threw her notebook at Dick's head.