Michael Anderson is a former homicide detective and now a private investigator. But he doesn't investigate cheating wives or crooked business partners. He investigates things that go bump into the night, or at least likes to think so. It's a tough racket, looking into dark and creeping cases. Most people wouldn't even consult a private detective about it and just go to the cops. The police system can be flawed and corrupt though, which is one of the reasons Michael left. Perhaps it is the fact that they never got to find his wife's murderer, or that some of his former colleagues to this day believe that it was Anderson who killed her. It's true that he does have a dark side to him, yet he loved Vivienne too much to do such a thing. Besides, who wouldn’t have a dark side to them after so many years in this line of work? Anyway, Michael does work for himself now, which means most months the bills go unpaid. Maybe he’d look into cheating wives or crooked business partners, after all? At least if the client is some slick willing to dig deep in their pockets.
Anderson is already past forty and far out of his physical prime. He is a man of fragile ego, who loves the ladies and prefers not to take guff from anyone if he can avoid it. Michael has close to no ambition whatsoever these days, and on top of it all - his hygiene and habits could also be questioned. He sure likes his alcohol, pain killers and a hour worth of pleasure if he can afford it. The once idealistic and bright young stud is now one grumpy old cynic. One could go as far as describing the private investigator as a pathetic shell of his former self. Out of shape, out of money with no friends and no direction is just a casual weekday. Despite all of his flaws though, Michael remains one tough-as-nails detective. Where he lacks stamina, strength or agility he makes up for with experience, skill and wits. By all accounts a brilliant investigator, but apparently a troublemaker too. Promoted to Lieutenant, only to be quickly demoted back to Sergeant afterwards. Gets to Lieutenant again and then just resigns. Notorious for his willingness to break the law in order to enforce it as well as his sometimes near complete disregard and even disgust of authority.
The only real question that likely remains is who would even hire such a man? The majority of his clients are just as “guilty” and dirty as the people they hire him to look into, if not more. Then there are these who lost faith in the police, or simply never had any. Maybe it is the manner of which cases are worked in. There are certain benefits of hiring a private eye after all. Discretion is a thing. Some people just don’t want their problems known by the entire police force and blown all over the news. Others can’t exactly call 911 about their missing dope. Results could be relatively quicker too, since a bold P.I. could threaten someone with a gun to their head for the sake of obtaining the information necessary, whereas a police detective would have to resort to more subtle approaches, at least if they don’t want to deal with a bunch of fornicated paperwork, lying to internal affairs and potentially losing both their jobs and pensions. Production of blackmail material? Why try to bribe a cop when you can just hire a private detective to get you what you need. There certainly are plenty of good ways to make use of Michael, should you of course be paying.
