Ryan

Age: 28

Birthday: October 5th

Physical Description: Jacquie is five foot nine, one hundred forty pounds, with a sturdy, muscular build, coffee brown skin, and black curly hair cut very short. While she’d have trouble winning a beauty contest, she is attractive.

Clothing Preferences: She likes bright colours, being in style but not faddish, tweeds with taupe, navy, gray, long jackets and pants for work, low-heeled shoes, no makeup, small silver studs in her ears. can be very attractive when she dresses dramatically but she doesn’t do it often.

Car: A bright red Toyota Corolla.

Eating Habits: She is into healthy foods, likes salads, fish, curry, fruit, bread, pasts, pizza, occasional chocolate fudge sundae, milkshakes.

Medical History: She has been healthy except for a few sports injuries.

Education: BA in Psychology, MA in Criminology, numerous academic awards.

Occupation: She has been working in vice but is a newly-promoted detective in homicide.

History & Home Life: Jacquie was born in Jamaica and moved to Canada when she was 5. Her cab-driver father was killed when she was 12. When she was 15, her mother married a white man who was abusive. She left him a year later, and divorced him. Jacquie has been influenced a lot by her grandmother and other extended family. Her grandmother is strong, dominant, and loving. Jacquie’s father was a quiet, intelligent, gentle man. She takes after him mostly. Her mother is an executive secretary who makes decent money. They live in a small row house in downtown Toronto.

Friendships: She has a number of good friends from university and police training and work, all women. She seems to scare black men away and won’t consider any others.

Marital Status: Single

Family: Ryan lives with her mother, grandmother, Aunt Vida, and a female cousin, Precious.

Favorite Books, etc.: She listens to news programs, reads newspapers, and likes to keep on top of what is happening. She doesn’t read much, loves to debate with people, and usually wins.

Hobbies or Activities: Jacquie is very active in sports. She plays racquetball, badminton, basketball, volleyball, works out at the gym (weights), etc.

Future Plans: To become a mainstay of the homicide department.

Summary: Jacqueline Ryan is an eager young cop who knows she has been promoted primarily because she is a black woman and therefore a double minority. However, she doesn’t hesitate to grasp the opportunity with both hands. She is determined to prove not only that she deserved the promotion but also that she can be as good as any cop in the department—including Manziuk.

Ryan is intelligent, rather fearless, extroverted, creative, and determined. She tends to hide her fears or uncertainty under a veneer of humor. But her tongue can be sharp as a needle if her crusading spirit is touched.

Ryan has fought hard for her education and her position, and she finds it very difficult to relax her defenses. Her life revolves around her career. Keeping her mind sharp, her hand steady, eating healthy, exercising regularly—everything is focused on her success as a policewoman. She sees men as rivals and has little interest in dating. Just another distraction. As for a home and family—maybe—in ten years or so, but only if she changes a lot.

Paul Manziuk