R Finlay

Rhona / Ronald Finlay

Impatient beat cop involved with the investigation

Gender: Female Current Quality: Good

Played by Genni

In Game

Bluesheets:

Character Hint

You are Rhona Finlay, a blue-collar beat cop, but this might be your chance to make something better of yourself. This shooting today was horrible, but detective Caoilinn's partner went out sick this morning, and the Captain agreed to let you "audition" on this case. It's time to go in, ask questions, figure out exactly what happened (preferably before anybody else does), and show that it's time for you to get that promotion.

Note that, since you are playing fill-in detective for the day, you should dress as that part if possible: a plain suit would be appropriate.

Character Sheet

You are Rhona Finlay, and maybe today is your day to prove that you should be a detective.

Decameron Enterprises -- now that takes you back. One of your first big calls as a rookie, what?, fifteen years ago now?, was down at the Decameron warehouse by the docks. You were nearby, so you and your partner got called in to investigate reports of a fire. You got there, and hell yeah, there was a fire -- and when you got about thirty feet away, the goddamn doors blew off from an explosion so big it knocked you flat on your ass.

While you were still seeing stars, you were sure you saw a skinny little guy running away, on the far side of the building, but he was long gone by the time you were seeing clearly again. The whole thing was damned frustrating: you tried to convince the Captain that you'd seen somebody, but "skinny little guy" isn't exactly a full mug shot, and since neither your partner nor the firemen had seen anybody like that, they wrote it off as a concussion and told you to go home.

The hell of it is, the whole thing got written off as an "accident", due to the hot summer. You know that that's bullshit -- somebody set that thing deliberately -- but it's hard to prove arson in a building full of explosives. (Decameron's thing was making model rockets; no wonder the place blew sky-high like that.) In the end, you were told to knock it off and forget about the whole thing, but you never forgot Decameron, or that smarmy lawyer they brought in to ask questions about the fire.

On the bright side, at least you've got a friend there now. Jamie Rickie keeps their books or something like that. You met him five or six months ago, when somebody broke into him apartment. You were first on the scene, called in because you were nearby. He was frantic and a little paranoid, afraid that somebody was out to get him, but it was pretty clearly just a routine robbery -- somebody jimmied the lock (he apparently hadn't set the deadbolt properly), and stole the TV and the computer equipment. Nothing special, and nothing personal. You calmed him down, pointed out that it was just a little bit of tech, and probably cost less than a month's rent on the apartment (swish place -- makes you envy these business types), and wound up talking. You've wound up as occasional drinking buddies: it's kind of fun to hang out with somebody from such a different world every few weeks over a brew.

You've got a lot to show today. It's a rare break. You've been trying to make detective for years now, and keep getting put off. Best you can tell, it's mostly because you're caucasian -- in Mayor Ferdinand's ever-so-fucking-diverse city, the plum jobs nowadays have to get saved for the Latinos. (Everyone makes a big deal about how nepotism is a no-no in public office, but nobody calls the Mayor on the way she puts her tribe forward.) So you told the Captain months ago that, if a spot ever opens up, you want a chance to show what you can do.

(This incentive to start pushing came early this year, when you were seconded to an FBI task force for a few weeks. It was mostly scut-work -- the FBI goons treated you like a glorified secretary, looking up paperwork and fetching coffee for them. But you kept your eyes and ears open, and it was fascinating stuff. Best you can tell, they were digging into the Signoretti Mob, who control most of the organized crime in Violet City. They apparently have some clever new money-laundering scheme going on, and the Feds are trying to puzzle it out. Now that looks like a fun job.)

Of course, you didn't think your opportunity was going to be due to a bad piece of ham. Those idiots down at the coffee shop -- not 20 minutes after you brought the coffee and breakfast sandwiches in this morning, Detective Lacosta was throwing it all up, and went home sick. Truth is, you're feeling a little queasy yourself, but when the call came in about this shooting, you headed straight to the Captain's office and said this was your time. You know this beat well, and Maeve Caoilinn needed backup for the day, so you insisted you get the chance. He started to argue, but then sighed and gave you permission, so long as you could be ready fast. Which is why you've kept a suit neatly folded in your locker, for the day when you'd get this chance.

He did make clear, though, that you need to be on your best behavior. No insulting anybody, even those immigrant engineers they've got stealing peoples' jobs. Follow Detective Caoillin's lead, and for God's sake don't talk to the press. Which is a damned shame, because you see that Vasily Leonard is here. You've been a huge fan of him for years now -- it's great to see somebody on the news who respects the police and doesn't go all mealy-mouthed for the liberal public. You've burbled at him every time he has done a report down at the station house, which is probably why you got blamed a few months ago. There was a robbery at a tech firm near here; hush-hush, big deal of some sort. When Leonard found out about it and broke the news a few hours later, everyone stared at you, assuming you'd leaked it. Which you hadn't -- but fuck 'em, if they're going to assume everything is your fault anyway, you might just find an opportunity to quietly impress him with a tidbit.

So -- time to dig in, show them that you can do this job, and find out why this kid flipped out...

Who You Know

Maeve Caoilinn: Your "partner" for the day, she has been a detective since before you joined the force. She sometimes has that whole "detectives' shit doesn't smell" thing going on, thinking they're better than the beat cops, but at least she's never been a total douchebag like some of them.
Bjorn Ari: The lead CSI on today's team. Special. Oh, he's competent enough, but you're almost sure he's on the take. During the last Senate campaign, there was this whole brouhaha over a break-in at the Democratic headquarters. You were one of the cops, Ari was one of the CSIs. You are sure you saw him stuff something into him pocket from the crime scene, but he stonewalled about it, claiming you were seeing things. (Everyone always doubts the beat cop, even the other cops.) You've mentioned it to a couple of other people since, but nobody believes you.
Jamie Rickie: Your beer buddy over the past year, who keeps the books here. He's a good person, even if those rich sorts can't really understand what it's like for a working stiff.
Vasily Leonard: Ooooh -- he's covering the case! Yeah, everything thinks you're a little weird, being all fanboy over a reporter, but you love knowing that somebody on TV has the cops' backs, and isn't making excuses for the crooks. Another reason to show off a little.
Regan Archie: The sleazy shyster who convinced everyone that the warehouse fire was an "accident". And based on your eavesdropping at that FBI task force, they suspect her of having something to do with Don Signoretti. Huh -- might be someone to keep an eye on.
Tagh O'Malley: Huh -- now there's somebody you haven't seen in a long time. When you were just starting out as a rookie, he was Caoilinn's partner, but he got busted out of the force -- something about being in the IRA before he came to the US. You were never close, but Caoilinn's always made clear that she thinks he got a raw deal, and shouldn't have had to leave. And a cop's a cop.
Robert Gervasio: Now wait a sec -- what's the bum doing in the building? And you recognize this particular bum. He's been living in the park for ages now -- you get occasional complaints about him sleeping on a park bench, and have to roust him.
More than that, though, you saw him with a known drug dealer last week; you're pretty sure they were exchanging cash, but they both ran off before you could nab them. There's no direct proof (story of your life), but maybe if you apply some pressure you can get him to admit the connection.
Fred Ronit: Your local State Rep -- he's struck you as one of the good ones, a straight talking Conservative who doesn't compromise with all the usual liberal bullshit. He's been really tight with the cops, supporting you all the way, even while Mayor Ferdinand is all mealy-mouthed about "appropriate policing" and crap like that. Ronit is running for Senate, which is great: the country needs people with real principles at the top.
Nika Stanimir: Used to be the local NRA rep, always coming to police functions and making a big show of how the NRA backs policemen, and that any cop who needs help should come to him for it. You used to think it was all hot air until last year, when you found yourself short on cash, so you decided to call him bluff. You were blown away by his response -- that they had a Police Benevolent Fund for just such things, and he gave you a lot of dough -- most of two grand -- to get you past the problem, not even asking to get it back. You were really impressed, but you do kind of owe him a favor now.
Aidan O'Malley: The priest down at Lady of Redemption. Nice young guy, if a little soft for a priest -- you grew up with the fire-and-brimstone, ruler-on-your-knuckles sort, but he's, what, kinda gentle? Not that you're complaining, but it's still a little weird.

GM Notes

Kate suggests: big crush on one newscaster, and has permission to sleep with hir. Has possibly been feeding hir hot stories, and one of the other cops is suspicious? Make that V Leonard. Don't overplay the crush, but keep it in there a bit, and she just plain likes to talk.

Has always slightly resented M Caoilinn -- there is no love lost there. Would not mind one-upping hir.

Maybe drop the "lazy" angle, which is probably bad from a roleplay perspective. Better if we can get an active rivalry going between the detectives.

Big fan of F Ronit, and has been actively trying to get the police union to back hir. Strong believer that guns are needed to keep the bad guys in line, and is taking this as an example: the rampage was stopped by someone who actually grabbed a weapon and dealt with it.

Knew Tagh O'Malley when he was on the force, but had always felt that he was a little too eager to ingratiate himself with the higher-ups, and probably was hiding something. So when Tadg fell from grace, sie shed no tears: shows what comes to a brown-noser.

Was one of the cops on the spot after The Accident, back in the day, and never much liked Roger Cameron; always suspected that he set his own warehouse on fire.

Passionately anti-immigrant, in the classic blue-collar "they're going to take all our jobs!" kind of way.

Is getting pretty resentful about not having made detective yet, and is beginning to decide that this is a reverse discrimination thing: that everyone is so focused on pushing minorities (and possibly women) forward that a white person (white male, maybe) can't get a leg up any more. Has come to think that Mayor Ferdinand has been pushing the hispanic community and ignoring everyone else. (Possibly make the detective half-Hispanic, to feed into this?) Has gotten pretty vocal about this over the past few years, to the point where the Captain recently had to insist that sie stay away from the news media. Possible additional plot: someone recently leaked details of a case to the press, and Finlay got blamed; it was actually the CSI who did it.

Sie has been demanding that the Captain give hir a chance to show what sie can do. So today, when Caoilinn's partner went down sick with some kind of stomach bug, sie went straight to his office and asked to be assigned to the case. The Captain, boxed into a corner, reluctantly agreed, but made clear that this is a high-profile case, and sie had better not fuck it up. (Note that sie did not actually poison the partner's coffee, and is actually feeling just a tad queasy around the edges hirself, but will be damned before sie will show any weakness in front of Caoilinn.)

Found herself short of cash early last year, and N Stanimir, who was still the local NRA connection at the time, had made clear that there was an NRA fund to help out cops in need. It wasn't huge -- a couple thousand dollars -- but she owes Stanimir a favor.

Was called in on a break-in about five months ago, at Jamie Rickie's apartment. Was impressed at what a swish place it was, and is a little envious of the life of these business people. Police decided it was a routine robbery -- far as they could tell, the thieves stole the TV and computer, which is pretty ordinary. But wound up hitting it off with Rickie, and they've become occasionally drinking buddies, each of them enjoying having someone from a very different world to hang out with.

IMPORTANT: being played by a new player, so need to add some strong positive connections!

Starting Items: Glock 22

Member of: Police