Chapter Text
"Abuelita!"
"What in the hell are you shouting about?" Abuelita appears from the kitchen, face mask heavily applied and her roller slipping out of her hair. Jamal grins and pulls out a notebook.
"I had the craziest idea. You. Me. Detectives."
"Detectives? Where are you going with this?"
"We solved the case of Rollerworld. Now I have more money than I can spend. If we can solve a cold case from the 1980s, just imagine what other mysteries we could solve and how much cash we could rake in. Fifty-fifty. You and me."
"Mijo, that was all you."
"As well as you. You gave me the motivation to seek it through and look," Jamal digs into his backpack to pull out a stack of money.
"All of this. Because of you. Come on. You and me. Detectives."
Abuelita eyes the money and eyes him with pursed lips.
"Okay. But you better be lucky I have nothing better to do and my telenovelas are pre-recorded."
Jamal pumps his fist in the air.
"Good. Because we got a client."
"What?"
~~~
Jazz music softly plays. Black in white screen shows Jamal and Abuelita dressed in trench-coats and hats that cover their face. Jamal lifts his head to reveal his eye-patch.
"We've started this detective agency six hours ago, and we already have a client." Jamal narrates.
"Mijo, why are you talking like that?"
"Just...just me do my thing."
"But you sound weird."
"...Woman, I'm supposed to sound like Ace. From Hollywood Shuffle."
"The hell is a Hollywoo-"
Jamal shushes her.
"This is my partner Detective Martinez. She's got a lot of sass but she can make the best damn chocolate chip cookies from here to Amsterdam."
"Again, why are you talking like that?"
"Just let me have this!"
"You really mean that about my cookies?"
"Of course! You have the right chocolate chip to walnut ratio and the texture is so soft and it melts in your mouth..." Jamal shakes his head.
"We have to focus." He tells himself.
"Our client won't be here in a couple of hours. So, in the meantime, I'll make a fresh batch of cookies and we could have cafe with it." Abuelita offers.
"Coffee and cookies? That's a weird mix."
"Mijo, when you get my age, all the weird mixes make sense. Now take off that eye-patch and trench-coat. You look ridiculous."
"...okay." Jamal grumbles, taking off his eye-patch.
~~~
Our first client came in, two hours later. She was scared, alone, and confused. Detective Martinez and I asked what did she need help with.
"Have you seen Cesar?"
"Not as much as you and Ruby have seen him." Jamal says.
"I've been calling and calling him and no answer. I'm starting to think he went off the grid."
"Or...he just ghosted you." Jamal replies, but immediately regrets it when Monse stares into his soul with those angry brown eyes.
"Rest your worried head. We'll get down to the bottom of where Cesar is. We're the best of the best."
"You're the only people that will do it for free."
"Who said anything about it being free?"
"You are seriously not charging your friend to help find your other friend."
"Well...that friend...almost caused my other friend's death and is the reason my other friend needs therapy, so...that's all you at this point."
"I can't believe you're blaming-"
"Latrelle was aiming for Cesar. If Ruby hadn't tried to do what he did, there's a high chance that bullet would've hit Cesar and he'd be dead right now. I don't like taking sides, but Ruby has a point. Cesar brought that gangland violence to his house. And it's because of that, Olivia's...gone and...Ruby...Ruby isn't talking to you right now."
"I don't have time for this." Monse snatches her bag to leave, but Jamal grabs her hand.
"We'll find Cesar and keep you in the know of what's going on. But you need to..."
"I need to what? Keep being the one that's loyal to Cesar since you two stayed turning your backs on him?"
Jamal looks at her, his thoughts on the tip of his tongue.
"You need to let go." he blurts out. Monse's face gives a look he can't pinpoint, but he feels it's the look that he said what needed to be said but she won't listen.
"One dollar." Monse says. "I'll pay you one dollar."
She holds up a dollar bill in his face, and he takes it.
"Deal. Consider us hired."