SINS OF CORUSCANT

CHAPTER III : The Blue Purgill

- Where are we going? Porter asked Denik, as they climbed into a small, dark red speeder, early the next morning.

- To a night club on level 2042.

- What do we know about the place? Porter asked, bristling with apprehension.

- Not much. I only got an address when I checked the speeder's magnetic signature. Our database didn't have anything on the club.

- Do you think we will find the robbers there?

- I doubt it. But this is our only lead on yesterday's heist and Frank insists on us to check it out.

They plunged through an underworld portal. Thousands of airspeeders and cargo ships were emerging from the planet's misty abyss. Most people were commuting from the suburbs and lower levels to go to work. Denik and Porter, however, dove in the opposite direction of the ascending flow.

- Turn here, Denik ordered after a calm and placid descent.

The rodian's suctioning fingers steered their ride through an auxiliary shaft and hovered across a street of awakening shops. Multiple bars displayed flashing boards with the conceited claim: "Galaxy's best caff".

- There is it! Denik pointed at a façade with a bright luminescent sign. The Blue Purgill.

Their surroundings slowly came to a halt when Denik snapped: "Keep on driving! We don't want to arouse any suspicion." Porter quickly pressed the pedal and steered the vehicle in the next block, where he parked in a narrow alley adjacent to the night club.

- Do you have your blaster? Denik asked with apprehension.

His rodian colleague nodded. The question made him too anxious to utter a word.

They walked back up the quiet street on a littered sidewalk. Pieces of paper were being lifted away by the morning's cool draft. As they approached the blue neon front, a group of people dressed in evening gowns stumbled out of the club. They staggered heedlessly in bursts of unrhythmical jerks. When Denik passed the merry group, he could smell the awakening fragrance of alcohol. The last revelers were just leaving the place.

What first struck the officers when they entered the nigh club was the acid smell of sweat. A distinctive, musty scent that reminded Denik of the many nights of endless partying he used to partake in as a student. Other than a cleaning droid mopping the deck of the central dancefloor, the room was devoid of life. "Be careful where you walk", Denik warned his partner as he stepped over a slimy pool of an unknown orange liquid. Surrounding them, several polished stages cut through rows of scarlet sofas, with shiny silver poles in their middle.

- This looks like a strip club to me, Porter mumbled.

As Denik examined a colorful wall of liquors piled behind a metallic bar, he heard someone storm through a door at the back of the room. "We're closed!" shouted a skinny, half-dressed twilek at the sight of the two gentlemen.

- We are not here to party, Denik responded gravely, as if trying to convince himself that he was on some sort of meaningful mission. "I'm inspector Lawrence and this is officer Lotaz, we work for the Coruscant Police Department.

A shroud of panic covered the woman's face.

- You're cops? Am I in trouble?

- We just want to ask you some questions. Are you the owner of this club?

- No, I just work here. Look, I don't want any trouble.

- Who is harassing my dancer!? Shouted a voice from above. Bending over a cast iron railing of the club's second floor, stood a man with pale green skin. He was a Mirilian.