Ted Dugan

The Detective

36

Transgender man (he/him)

Edward Michael Dugan

Ted, Teddy, Detective Dugan, Dugan

Whoever Pays the Most

Eddie Dylan, Theo Vale (names used to avoid giving out his real one during investigations)

Edward (Ted, Teddy)

Wealthy Guardian

Ed-ward

Michael

Who Is Like God?

My-cull

Dugan

Swarthy

Doo-gan

Human (white, specifically half Irish and half Italian)

Tall and heavyset, broad-shouldered, stocky

A bit above average

Light with olive undertones

5'10"

Dark brown

Brown

Thick, a bit unkempt, often rumpled by his hat

Some stubble

Ted Dugan is tall and broad-shouldered with a stocky build covered by a thick, long coat. He has a soft oval face (with a chin and jaw often darkened by some stubble) and dark brown eyes framed by thick, dark eyebrows. His hair is dark brown and thick, often unkempt beneath his hat, though he'll try to run his hand through it and tame it. He's very particular about the way he dresses and presents himself, mainly because he knows that if he's outed it could put him in danger and because he wants to secure as many jobs as possible by putting on a put-together facade.

Low, rough, and gravelly--your stereotypical noir detective's voice.

Black slacks, black shoes, a dress shirt, suspenders, and a tie, all obscured by a trench coat. He also wears a fedora (sorry)

First and foremost, Ted Dugan wants to get paid--the motivating factor in taking on the Whitman case is Whitman's sheer mass of wealth. But his mercenary motivations aren't selfish--his partner (neither of them will make the move to say "boyfriend" or "girlfriend" and so they're floating in will-they-won't-they limbo for the time being) Ruth Faye's well-being is his priority and in a time period that isn't accepting of trans people in general but is particularly unaccepting of transfeminine people, his goal is to keep her safe and out of harm's way. Ted is gruff, grumpy, and has a dry, snide narration, but even he can't hide his awe at the amount of celebrities embroiled in the Whitman case, whether they're actresses, novelists, activists, or playwrights. He's particularly interested in Augusta Martin , who he saw perform in a musical when he was a teenager, but turns down her advances (admittedly made with no interest by Augusta and out of the belief that her sex appeal is all she has to offer) out of loyalty to Ruthie. Despite his hard shell, he also shows a lot of sympathy for Annie "Honey" Pryce and Ricky Whitman , the two youngest suspects in the case, Annie due to her being taken advantage of so many times in the past and Ricky due to his estranged father being the corpse. Even someone as jaded as Ted can't shake off how upsetting their stories are, and he goes out of his way to offer them kindness when he can--not that he'd admit it if someone brought it up. He only really shows his soft side around Ruthie, who he's lived with since moving across the country since he knows she won't out him and vice versa. He finds it easier to laugh and smile around her, and she's the only one who can get away with calling him Teddy.

Ted was the youngest of three, born to Michael and Helen (born Elena) Dugan in New York City in the early 1940s. The younger brother to Edgar "Eddy" Dugan and Theodore "Theo" Dugan, he got along with his brothers very well, especially since his parents worked long hours. They had lost a lot during the Depression and were trying to make it back, with Eddy often working odd jobs as Theo watched Ted until he was old enough to be on his own. At six years younger than Eddy and three years younger than Theo, Ted was initially seen as the tagalong kid sister who followed them on their time away from home as the older boys tried to start up a little detective agency. They soon realized that having a little girl around lowered suspicion and that Ted could use that to get into places more easily, eventually becoming a valuable member of the Dugan Bros. Detective Agency, which had yet to get off the ground. When Ted was in his early teens, illness struck. His father, mother, and Theo all fell ill and only Theo survived. It was then that Eddy took the position of the family patriarch and protector and thrust the DBDA into full gear outside of his shifts at the local deli. Theo desperately wanted to go to college but they couldn't afford to send him--Eddy put a chunk of the money he got from each detective job into Theo's college fund to compensate. Ted, now in his late teens, also searched for more odd jobs and ended up auditioning for a few gigs as a chorus girl, having grown up surrounded by theater but never being too invested in it. He auditioned for a small show by Richard Whitman and Jonny Quinn but wasn't cast, although Bob Robertson gave him a gig as an extra. To celebrate, Eddy and Theo took him to a follies show wherein he saw Augusta Martin perform a short skit wherein she played a boy named Gus who bamboozled the townsmen by seducing their wives and being overall more successful than them despite being clearly played by a woman in slacks and a hat before being "revealed" as a woman in the final scene and marrying one of her male antagonists. Although the crossdressing was played for laughs, to a seventeen year old Ted, it was an epiphany. In other words, it made him realize that he was transgender. He didn't tell Eddy or Theo right away, instead opting to sneak what few spare clothes they had and wear them in secret while still outwardly presenting as a woman until his brothers began to question where their stuff was going. Ted came clean about the stealing out of guilt and then came out to his brothers, and to his relief they accepted him. He began to go by Ted and to present more masculine in public.
The DBDA continued to putter along for years with some successful cases--and one severe bullet wound for Eddy that nearly drained the savings fund. With Eddy's arm recovering in a sling and Theo's health acting up, Ted got desperate. He took a job involving the latest brewing story--Richard Whitman and Augusta Martin's affair, which was highly suspected but not yet confirmed. It wasn't the sort of job he'd normally take, but times were hard. He needed money and fast, and the job had good pay. So he trailed the two of them and caught them together, snapping some scandalous pictures that wound up being plastered all across the city's papers the next day for all to see, including Richard's wife Elizabeth Marie and his son Ricky Whitman , along with Augusta's husband, the aforementioned Bob Robertson. The man who hired him wasn't some sort of celebrity agent as he'd claimed but a tabloid reporter looking to make a dime, not to inform the respective spouses of their significant other's infidelity. But Ted got the money and his brothers recovered, and the guilt could wait.
With the DBDA now on the map, things were looking up--until they weren't. Theo, tired of scraping together pennies for his education, ended up enlisting to fight in the Vietnam War to gain money towards college, lying about his health and vision to be admitted. He was killed in action shortly after. Eddy, always the protector and always brash and quick to fight, was wracked with guilt and began to throw himself into more and more dangerous situations, resulting in a fatal bullet wound to the chest only two years after Theo was killed.
Thoroughly disillusioned and with nothing left to tie him to the city, Ted fled NYC both to escape the memories of his late brothers and to make a new start for himself, trying to settle down in various states before inevitably being reminded of what he'd lost and fleeing again. He eventually wound up in Los Angeles, CA, where he met Ruth Faye, a waitress at a local diner who he soon learned was also transgender. Relieved to find someone he was comfortable being himself around without a risk of being outed, the two moved in together as platonic roommates, though they both harbored feelings that they tried to hide. Ted picked the PI work back up, this time out of a desire to provide for Ruthie, and kept his head down for a few years before he gets an alarming phone call: Richard Whitman has been murdered, and his estate is asking for Ted to investigate it.