Work Text:
The intro audio - a light cord being pulled, polices sirens, glass shattering - plays as the intro plays, as usual. The screen quickly changes to the usual logo on blood-splattered concrete.
Ryan's usual VO plays - "This week, we take a look at the mysterious case of the di Angelo family, a case involving one death, two vanishings, and more than a few mysterious characters." - as the accompanying text shows up on the screen.
Quick cut to Shane and Ryan, sitting in their office. Shane has his glasses on and his hair is dyed blond. He's either the weird, all-knowing kid in your lecture or the professor. Ryan looks like the kid who reminds the teacher about the homework - button-up shirt, neat hair, no self respect.
"Ooh, multiple crimes," Shane says. "Y'know, most criminals they have like- like a thing. And it gets kind of boring!" Ryan's face does something complicated.
"Wait, didn't you say you liked it when serial killers have a 'thing'?" Ryan asks, brow furrowing. He is tapping his fingernails on his manila folder anxiously, although the reason why isn't totally clear.
"Well, yeah, but at the same time, people need to spice things up a bit! Be, like, creative." Shane, by the usual contrast, is very enthusiastic. Ryan laughs, a little more shrill than usual.
"Yeah, I'm just gonna go spice things up by kidnapping two children and murdering their mother." Shane's face contorts, and it's clear he's going to comment, but he catches a glimpse of Ryan and pauses.
"Uh... you sure you're okay there, Ryan?" Ryan huffs, eyes flicking to the producers behind the camera for a second.
"Okay, so this a mostly unheard of case, but the last guy who talked about it was killed in a rockslide." Shane looks unimpressed. "He lived in Manhattan." Still, Shane is unmoved. "Don't you think that's a little suspicious? Last guy who talks about a cold case dies in an accident that is incredibly - incredibly - unlikely, especially in his area?"
"How does one go about organizing a rockslide in Manhattan?" Shane wonders. It's clear he's going to go on a tangent, but Ryan interrupts.
"That's what you're...! Ah, you know what, nevermind. Let's get into it!" He stares at the manila for a second, clearly contemplating his life decisions, but still makes the decision to open it.
The screen cuts to black quickly as Ryan's VO starts, sounding much less afraid than he was during the intro. "Maria Vittoria di Angelo was born on June 25th, 1902, in Venice, Italy. Her parents were Isabela and Dante di Angelo. Dante was a diplomat, meaning the di Angelo family was pretty well off."
As Ryan says this, a timeline shows up on the screen. A date - June 25th, 1902 - appears. Above it appears a black and white picture of a woman, maybe in her twenties. She has thick, dark hair and light eyes, as well as freckles. She's smiling, and the background looks like a bookshop.
"Not much is known about Maria's early life. She got a good education, abnormal for a woman back then, and became an opera singer at only 21 years old, starring in the 1923 production of Gluck's Orfeo ed Eurydice- or, Orpheus and Eurydice." An image of Maria di Angelo, about the same age as her previous photo, appears. She is dressed in pale pink, and is clutching onto the back of someone who is cropped out of the photo- Orpheus, presumably.
The screen cuts to black, and as Ryan and Shane talk, their corresponding text appears. "Ah," Shane says, "the opera. Love it."
"I- can you even name one opera?" Shane inhales. "Phantom of the Opera isn't a real opera."
"Dammit. Uh... Orfeo ed Eurydice?" Shane does a bad Italian accent as he says it. There's a couple beats of silence before Ryan sighs.
"Yeah, that one was on me. I set the bar too low." Shane laughs and again, a cut to black.
"Now, Maria never married, though she had a fair amount of suitors. In February of 1930, when Maria was 21 years old, she vanished for a week. When she reappeared, she was acting oddly. In March, it was discovered that she was pregnant."
"Good for her!" Shane exclaims enthusiastically as the words appear on the screen in navy blue. "You know, Maria sounds like a great woman! A cool opera singer."
"Well, she wasn't exactly a famous opera singer," Ryan points out. "She was good, and there's a recording, but she wasn't, like, fantastic or anything."
Shane seems to take great personal offense to this, as if Maria di Angelo herself can hear this slander.
"Yeah, well, they still had cocaine in their Coca-Cola back then. Obviously, they didn't have the best judgement."
"I actually think the cocaine was removed before that." It cuts to Shane and Ryan sitting down, and Shane throws up his hands.
"Well, I don't fucking know!" Ryan laughs, considerably less nervous than he was at the beginning. "Look- what are we doing here, Ryan?" Ryan laughs harder.
Another cut, this time to a generic image of a baby in a pink blanket, face blurred out. The date - November 15th, 1930. "Bianca Maria di Angelo was born on November 15th, 1930. No father ever appeared at the hospital, but an anonymous bunch of flowers was left for her."
"How much were they?"
"The- the flowers?"
"Uh-huh."
"I mean- I- don't know. Why does it matter?"
"All I'm saying is, if I were Maria, I would expect at least 200 dollars worth of flowers in exchange for missing the birth of our child." Ryan laughs.
"This was Italy before the Euro, so it'd actually be lira-" A quick cut, just in time to see Shane throws a pen at Ryan, who smacks it out of the air. "Why are you mad at me? I'm just the messenger here!"
Shane crosses his arms, sinking into his chair. Again, it is impossible to discern whether he is a student or professor. "Just read it." Ryan giggles.
"The same thing happened in late 1931, although the date of this disappearance is unknown. What is known is that Niccoló Ade di Angelo was born on January 28th, 1932." Timelines, picture, date. Again, a generic baby photo. "Another bunch of flowers was left for Maria. And, interestingly, Niccoló's middle name is the Italian term for Hades, the Greek God of the Underworld."
This time, it's Ryan distinctive yellow text that appears first. "So, uh, a big mythology connection, here."
"Is that important?" Shane asks.
"Um... Not really. Just thought I'd... throw it out there."
"Alright. Continue."
An image appears. It's two children standing in front of a house, dressed up in their Sunday best. The girl is holding a floppy hat, and the boy looks to be holding some sort of figurine. Both resemble their Mother, although Bianca has significantly less freckles and Niccoló has significantly more.
"By all accounts, the di Angelo children had a happy childhood. Bianca was well-liked and had a lot of friends, even though she was described as being, quote, 'very thoughtful, only speaking after deliberation' end quote, by a friend. Niccoló - nicknamed Nico - was very enthusiastic but seemed to keep to himself more. Both were brought up Christian conservative, and attended church regularly."
"Too much church," Shane mutters, tone a little bit haunted. Ryan ignores him.
An image of a tank in the middle of a Venetian street appears. "World War II started on September 1, 1939. Maria was 37 at the time, Bianca was 12, and Nico was 10. Now, the di Angelo family wasn't in a whole lot of danger- obviously, the war, but they weren't Jewish, disabled, etc. Still, Maria moved to New York City with Bianca and Nico in the summer of 1942.
"While there, they stayed at numerous high-end hotels. Sometimes, they were reported as having a man with them. Tall, about 6'2", with dark hair and eyes. Most witnesses said that he looked like the children's father, and Maria is reported as having referred to him as, quote, 'mio amato', end quote, which means 'my beloved' in Italian.
"On December 3rd, 1942, the family booked the Presidential Penthouse Suite of the Waldorf-Astoria New York, a luxury hotel on Park Avenue." A building is shown. Tall, elegant, Art Deco. "The man is reported as having been with them."
"Oh, that sounds like a nice ass hotel room!" Shane says. Ryan exhales sharply, and his yellow text says the same. "Can we stay there?"
"No! How much money do you think we have?"
"Sounds like we need to get into opera then," Shane says. It cuts to them sitting next to each other. Shane is upright, waving his hands around. Ryan looks completely done, head resting on his hand. "It can't be that hard."
Ryan sighs as Shane tries to sing opera. He looks like he's contemplating slamming his head into the desk and ending it all. A cut to black- probably for the best.
"For the first two days they stayed in the hotel, everything was normal. And on December 5th, everything seemed normal. At first. A maid, Riley Campwell, stopped by their suite at 6:00PM to collect dirty dishes from the room service they had ordered before. She reported that Maria and the man were sitting on the couch, Bianca was on the floor with a book, and Nico was playing the piano. Campwell said that she couldn't ever recall the room having a piano, but she couldn't see how the di Angelos would get a piano into the room by themselves."
"Okay, the only ghost I will accept- ghost piano."
"You know, I'll take what I can get, at this point. But still, don't you think it's a little weird? A whole piano appearing out of nowhere?"
"Ghost pianos are like that, sometimes." Ryan wheezed.
"Uh- anyway..."
"Yeah, go on."
"Now, again, everything was normal for another 5 hours. A couple who ended up on the wrong floor, Crystal and Richard Plummer-Hewitt, reported hearing children laughing from the room at approximately 11:05PM.
"At 11:15PM, a heavy, unforecasted storm rolled into New York. At 11:17PM exactly, a lightning bolt struck the Waldorf-Astoria New York, triggering a power outage in the whole building. There was no fire, and strangely, the hotel remained largely undamaged. There was one broken window in the Presidential Penthouse Suite, and faint scorch marks in the room and surrounding the window.
"Authorities arrived promptly, at 11:19PM. They took the stairs to the Presidential Penthouse Suite. And they found... a very strange scene. Maria di Angelo was on the floor in the middle of the room, dead. She was covered in lichtenberg scars- or, what happens after you're struck by lightning. The unknown man, Bianca, and Nico were nowhere to be found. The only object identified as belonging to any of them was a drawing of a pirate ship, signed by Nico."
Images of the hotel room appear on the screen. One shows a female body in a dark purple dress lying face down on the floor. Another shows the aforementioned scorch marks. The last is Nico's drawing, in crayon. The 'c' in his name is backwards.
Cuts to Shane and Ryan. Ryan flips over a page in his manila. Shane is staring at the desk. "I don't- I don't like hearing about children, Ryan," he says, what he meant to say at the top of the episode. Ryan shakes his head.
"Well, you're too late for that one. About...80 years too late."
"81 years," Shane corrects. Then, he slams his hands on the desk, making Ryan jump. "Ah, see! I can be a know-it-all asshole, too!" Ryan blinks slowly.
"Is this about the cocaine?" Shane shrugs, crossing his arms again. Ryan hesitantly returns back to his folder. "Anyway-
"Maria di Angelo was transported back to Italy to be buried. Law enforcement agencies looked into Bianca and Nico's whereabouts, but no evidence was found, and the case was closed. Now, onto the theories."
The text 'Theory One' appears on screen, followed by a picture of a man. The text underneath reads 'Glen Muller, NYPD Detective'. "The first theory was proposed by New York detective Glen Muller, and is the generally agreed upon theory. That the man was Bianca and Nico's father, and after Maria's death, he feared that he wouldn't get custody, and kidnapped the children. They then lived a normal life under assumed names. There's not much physical evidence to this theory, however."
Another cut to black, and this time, the text reads 'Theory Two'. "This theory- hoo, boy. I don't know if I believe this, but there's so much evidence... Theory two is that Bianca and Nico are immortal, and are still living today."
Shane spat out whatever he was drinking from his mug (coffee, tea, whiskey, who knows, take your pick). "No. No! No, no, no! I don't- no. This is stupider than aliens."
"I'm not saying I believe this either," Ryan said, "but there's a lot of evidence, and-"
"No!"
"I'm just gonna to keep going." Ryan cleared his throat.
"This theory does seem ridiculous upon first hearing, but a significant amount of unexplainable evidence has surfaced in the past couple years. On August 22nd, 2007, Westover Hall Military Academy in Bar Harbor, Maine opened for the year. Under the list of students for the year was Bianca and Nico di Angelo. This is a photo of them in the yearbook for that year."
An image shows up, the first one of the di Angelos in color. Bianca is wearing her hat this time, and a uniform. Nico stands next to her, also in uniform. Both look nearly exactly how they looked in the earlier photo. They have their arms around each other, and look like they're on a soccer field. Cut to Ryan and Shane, where Shane is peering at Ryan's phone.
"They could just be doppelgängers," Shane reasons. "Have you ever seen 'Us'?"
"Okay, but they're registered under the same names and look exactly the same," Ryan snaps. "Does that not raise any red flags?"
"Maybe they're just little pranksters! I would've done the same, probably, when I was a kid." Ryan shook his head.
A cut to black again. "Nico and Bianca disappeared from Westover Hall in December of that same year. Despite search parties, the two were never found. Now, there are more suspicious photos. One was found on r/photocritque in the summer of 2007. The poster, a user called 'lemurlove224', claimed to not remember when the photo was taken, only that it happened in June, in Washington D.C. It appears to show the di Angelos in the background of a photo taken by an American University building with an unidentified older woman.
"And even more evidence of the di Angelos being alive has surfaced over time. One is a brochure, found dusty and abandoned in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in December 2007, advertised the Hunters of Artemis, what appears to be a girls-only summer camp. In one of the photos, Bianca di Angelo is shown along with another unidentified girl.
"A woman in Little Italy, New York, named Lucia Donizetti, claimed to meet a boy who called himself Nico do Angelo in March of 2008. However, her physical description of him doesn't match all other descriptions. She said he was, quote, 'terribly thin and terribly pale, and so sick-looking it broke my heart', end quote."
Ryan is showing Shane the photo by 'lemurlove224' and the brochure. Shane deliberates, adjusting his glasses. "Uh... what if they're vampires."
"Vampires don't exist," Ryan immediately dismisses.
"So, what's your explanation for their immortality?"
"I don't really have one...? I mean, I don't necessarily believe this, even with all the evidence. I just, I find it hard to see how this happened. Unless what people are seeing are their ghosts. Also, what about the man? There's no explanation for him with this one."
"Right... did Lucia say what them two talked about?' Ryan leans forward, scanning his notes.
"I couldn't find what she said, like, word for word, but I have the basic points. Apparently, Nico said that all his family was dead and he was homeless. He also seemed confused about what year it was, reacting with shock when she mentioned it being 2008. Other than that, there was no other personal information shared, at least as far as I could find."
"Okay," Shane says slowly. "Hear me out here. What if... the piano-"
"Stop!"
The text 'Theory Three' appears on screen. "The third and final theory is that the man with Maria di Angelo was her boyfriend and not Bianca and Nico's father. He electrocuted her and then murdered both children. Again, little physical evidence, especially not that of an assault. The motives for the man are widely speculated here- the most common theory is that he was jealous Maria had slept with someone before him and flew into a rage.
"Personally, I'm not too inclined to believe this theory, because the guy was seen with Maria several times before this, and probably could have killed her before this. Additionally, at least one person was by all doors starting at 11:17, meaning someone would have seen him leave, especially with the kids."
Cut to Shane and Ryan, the latter of whom is closing the envelope. It takes Shane a moment to register what Ryan is doing. "Wait, is that it?"
"I mean, yeah... The thing is, with this case, is that there's no good theory. Usually, there's at least one theory that I can say 'oh, that makes pretty good sense', but... not so with this case."
"I don't like it." Shane frowns before shaking his head. "Personally, I'd like to believe the first theory, because the kids sound like they'd be happy, then."
"I'd have to agree with you."
The screen cuts to multiple images - Maria, Bianca and Nico, the hotel, the yearbook. "Whatever happened to the di Angelo family all those years ago? For now - and forever, most likely - the case remains...
Unsolved." Matching red text appears, stamped over Bianca and Nico di Angelos smiling faces.
A black screen appears, shortly followed by text, "What unsolved mystery do you want to see next?"
Ryan and Shane return, both looking mildly put out. Shane definitely looks like a hungover professor who just graded a paper in which a student stated that Saudi Arabia was in Central America. Ryan looks like he wrote the paper.
"This was... a bit of a bummer," Shane says.
"Yeah," Ryan said. "A bit. Just- be on the lookout for rockslides." Shane scoffs.
"Yeah, right. A rockslide. Sure, Ryan. Sure." Ryan huffs, still looking nervous. As if he alone knows something that, maybe, Shane does not. He rubs his right forearm.
And the screen dips to black.