Beauty And Her Beast

39 - Epilouge

Today marks the one year anniversary of what became known as one of the most tragic days in modern Chicago history. Much like today, last year on November 12th, the sun was up and the air was warm, giving Chicago a nice little surprise as Chicagoans who'd been bundled up to their necks got to loose a couple layers and enjoy the weather. The day was nice, the city was thriving, and smiles and laughter filled the air. No one could have expected the fire that blazed for nearly five blocks, killing at least fifty people in it's path and leaving twenty injured. Reports show that the fire started in a hotel owned by possible Chicago Outfit boss Sammy Vino. It was his thirty fourth birthday party and to celebrate he hosted a galla that held over a hundred guest, a vast majority of them being either suspected criminals or already proven to be in some sort of illegal business. To this day it is still not clear, but evidence has proven that there was some sort of altercation involving a mass shooting before the fire began. Those who were able to escape reported seeing Vincent Vino, a man who is now apparently being referred to as Daniel Vino's illegitimate son, murder his father before proceeding to start a riot in which the entire room got involved and bullets went flying. Daniela Grant, a college student who'd simply attended the party by invitation of her boyfriend, was the only survivor of the chaos and admits that she did in fact see Vincent start the fire, but not until after most everyone in the room was already presumed dead. While the incident could be accredited to a random burst of rage or spur of the moment attack, the files leaked and bodies found after the incident proved it to be a pre-determined and planned mass killing. Files leaked revealed that Sammy was in fact a key player in the Chicago Outfit and responsible for many murders that the police department had come across as dead ends. He'd also been embezzling money from his company for years and in turn had gotten himself into a bit of debt with the Russian mafia who came to town to settle the score obviously. A car containing bodies of Sammy's closest men was found just blocks away from the hotel and DNA evidence from the Russians was on each of the bodies. The 37.2 million Sammy embezzled however simply disappeared. It seems this whole incident was a feud that simply boiled over it's pot and spilled, staining the streets of Chicago in the process. Both Sammy Vino and Russian mob leader Boris Veniamin were found burned in the fire but autopsies proved that they died by bullet wounds, Sammy having been shot straight in the head and Boris multiple times in his chest. Another prominent name among the bodies was notorious hitman Charlie Brown who was also found killed by multiple gunshots wounds to his body as well as the flames of the fire. Charlie Brown had been a mark on the FBI's list as one of the most wanted men in America but, besides the known facts that he was a young caucasian male who did most of his known work in Chicago, the hitman always wore a diamond studded mask which made it very hard to properly identify him. When his body was found, the mask had been melted to his face by the intense heat of the fire. Police reports-

"What are you doing?"

Danny felt her entire body flinch at the new presence in the room and she spun around quickly, clenching her fist around the article and shielding it behind her back like a child caught snooping. And she was really. She'd pulled this from his desk anyway. 

"I um......well this was written a year ago and it's the two year anniversary today, but no one seems to care about it anymore. I guess I was just feeling nostalgic," Danny blushed embarrassingly, dropping the article to the side and putting it back on the desk where she'd found it. She didn't know why she felt the need to read it so much. The nightmares had stopped, she no longer cried over the one she lost, and it had officially been two full years. She'd like to say she'd been able to move on, but for some reason she could never stop reading that article. 

"Do you think they'll ever find him?" she asked, spinning back around to face the man she shared her new apartment with. He'd recently gotten a job as a personal bodyguard for this big time tycoon in the city and Danny was proud of him for it. It was odd seeing him in a suit everyday after two years of struggling to find work at all, but he looked good. Hell he looked great. And had Danny not been so caught up on this article, she probably would have been helping him out of it by now.