Right Hand On My Heart

Rumor Has It

Dave and Rob pull up to the club sometime later. Dave steps out of the car and looked at the building as Rob kills the engine and climbs out to join him on the curb. He doesn't know where to start; maybe he'll let Rob take the lead in this investigation. After all, that's what he's here for; to help. Dave hates to say it, but Rob might be able to intimidate someone into talking if they play their cards right. Dave doesn't doubt that some of the dancers might be keeping secrets. He knows James only spoke to a few people briefly initially, but Dave hadn't really given him ample time to investigate more.

Luckily Rob was here now and hopefully he'd be able to dig something useful up. All James managed in what little time he was given was the Kirk and Marty rumor he heard from Cliff, but that was a dead end. Dave knows the truth behind that now and he trusts that Kirk was being honest with him when he told him everything. Dave believes that Marty or Kirk could never hurt him like this. If he can't trust them, then he's screwed.

But the real question is who can't he trust? Who is capable of doing this? Jason? Gar? And who's to say it was just one person? It can be multiple people. What if it's an elaborate operation set in motion by Menza to sabotage him for some reason?

"You okay man?" Rob asks when he sees Dave brooding silently.

"Yeah, I'm good," Dave says as he shakes off the paranoia building up inside him once again. "Let's get to the bottom of this already."

They head inside and, like the day before, the place isn't too packed since it's the afternoon. Now was the best time to come in and talk to the dancers since come night time the place will be packed. Rob takes a look around to scope the place out. He takes note of the patrons, all the dancers out on the floor, the bartender, as well as the tall lanky man leaned up against one of the walls by the main stage. He nods over towards the young man curiously.

"Who's that?" Rob inquires.

"That's Cliff. He's our eyes on the floor," explains Dave.

"You speak to him yet?" Rob asks, glancing over at Dave.

"James did, but only briefly."

"Then let's start from there."

Dave follows Rob's lead as they approach Cliff. He has his arms crossed over his chest and scans the area to make sure everything is as it should be. In his trek the young man spots Dave and Rob from halfway across the room, smiles, then waves over at Dave. When they get closer, Cliff pushes himself off of the wall and unfolds his arms. He takes a few steps forward when Dave nearly reaches him and greets him.

"Hey Dave, what's up?" Cliff says, looking between his boss and the man standing beside him.

"You know, same old," Dave replies with a put on smile.

"Who's your friend?" Cliff asks as he nods over at Rob.

"This is Rob. He's an associate of James'," Dave tells him.

"Am I in some sort of trouble I'm not aware about?" Cliff chuckles nervously when he realizes what line of work Rob is in.

"We just wanna ask you a few questions," Dave assures.

"Okay. Shoot."

Cliff crosses his arms over his chest, plants his feet in the ground, and pivots his body towards Rob.

"You notice anything suspicious within the last week or so?" Rob questions as he casually observes the way Cliff holds himself.

"Nothing too out of the ordinary," says Cliff, shrugging and looking off to the side briefly.

Rob takes note of the way Cliff kind of looks away as he says this. It's nothing too incriminating by any means, but Cliff's eyes seem to shift a little as he speaks; never quite remaining solely on Rob as he's addressed. His gaze flicks over at Dave a few times as if he's trying to seek a way out of the conversation, but other than his eyes, Cliff seems pretty calm and laidback for the most part.