Keeping Busy (open)

Since Ali was on vacation, the majority of the bartender duties had fallen on her. Not that she minded; with Erik busy with work, it gave her something to do to fill the time. She could have likely just handed the work off to her other tenders, too, but that was almost like cheating. That's why she was there, unlocking the door to let herself into the empty bar. It was getting close to time to open and she still needed to make sure that she had the till set up and everything else.

She was dressed pretty conservatively, for all that. She even had a messenger bag thrown over one shoulder, across the body, and her hair was pulled back out of her face in a thick braid that hung over her right shoulder. She was humming a song under her breath -- a little sad tune, but she had heard it on the radio on the way here and as a result, even though she was in a great mood, the stupid song was stuck in her head now.

She froze, keys in hand. Cautiously, she turned her head first and then the rest of her body toward them, a slight frown crossing her face and wariness marring her pretty features. There were two of them, one of her -- and if it was going to go down, she had to figure out exactly how much was too much for Masquerade. This could end very poorly. So her mind raced to come up with Masquerade-friendly combat options as she answered them with a soft voice.

"Yes... Can I help you?"

She glanced down to see the badges, then relaxed, but only a bit. She still looked confused, but nodded.

"Of course, Officers. Would you like to come inside? I can make coffee."

She was painfully aware of their presence behind her as she turned and inserted the key into the lock of the door. Just because they said that they were detectives didn't mean that they actually were. But, inside, if she needed to kill them or anything, at least that was not in the middle of the parking lot and her own security cameras were the only eyes she would need to worry about.

She unlocked the door and held it open for them to enter the bar.

Once inside, she locked the door behind her. That was for a couple of reasons. One, she didn't want anyone to accidentally walk inside in the event that she might need a major blood cleanup and two, because it wasn't time for the bar doors to open yet. The staff hadn't arrived, so there was no point in having the doors open.

She made her way behind the bar unless they stopped her, starting first to brew coffee for herself and the two men inside.

"Now, what's this about?" she asked with a slight smile.

She took her time to look at the picture, then nodded.

"I have. His name is Ray, I think? He's one of our regulars."

She thought about that.

"Tuesday," she said with a nod, pouring three cups of coffee -- one for herself and one for each of the detectives. Placing creamer and sugar (and sugar substitute) choices on the counter for them, she blew on the hot liquid until she could sip it carefully without burning her mouth. "Some friends and I put on a dance performance here and he attended."

She shook her head.

"No, not that I can recall. I was busy; I didn't really talk to him all that much. I delivered a few drinks and answered him when he asked me why I didn't tell his friend Erik that I was dating someone. That's really it."

She nodded.

"Yes, I do."

Now her brows rose as she leaned back against the counter behind the bar, sipping at her coffee.

"I can get you those tapes, no problem. And I wasn't here on Saturday. I had a date. So I was on a boat, in the middle of the Atlantic, sharing a nice meal and a very good time with a gentleman on Saturday."

Her brow rose.

"Well, that's disturbing. Very well. The gentleman I was with is named Erik. Also, he is one who comes along with Mister Clawson here regularly. The two seemed very much night and day, so when I asked about his friendship with Ray, he explained that the four of them -- Erik, Dan, Ray and Matieu -- worked together."

She grinned and sipped her coffee.

"Oh, it's no trouble. I understand. Would one of you like to accompany me to the security room upstairs so that I can get you the tapes from Saturday?"

She laughed softly and sat down her cup of coffee.

"No trouble at all. If you'll follow me?"

She stepped around the bar and headed for the stairs to go upward and to the security room.

"I'm not sure how much help they will be. I'm sure my head of security -- Sean Black -- would have let me know if anything seemed out of place."