Crime Scene 20.5 A Night at the Club
Tuesday. 7:30 pm. Sirens’ Dream Lounge.

Everyone except Cliff (who had actually managed to miss most of the action, single-mindedly pouring over his notes instead) was too distracted to continue their studying. It didn’t help that all four Sinclairs had at some point shown up, apparently to gawk at the entirely normal college students. Shari was flipping through pages of notes, fascinated by the incomprehensible scribbles.

The Sinclairs patiently answered Sia’s questions about themselves and their business. Their answers were the polished, vague responses carefully prepared for the public. Nothing Ellie hadn’t heard before. Sia herself proved to be a skilled interviewer, however. Between the charisma of the Sinclairs and Sia’s conversational tactics, the observers got a first-hand view of high-quality entertainment. Ellie took mental notes on their responses to analyze later.

“How long have you been here?”

“We’ve been in business for almost two years now.”

“And before that?”

“Nothing spectacular. This is actually our first business endeavor. My sister and I always wanted to run a hotel.”

“What’s the hiring process here?”

“Are you interested in applying?”

“What kind of skills are you looking for?”

“We believe there’s a job for everyone.”

“You have an interesting accent. Where is it from?”

“Here and there. We traveled a lot.”

Eventually, the night got late enough that the nightclub started up. Orhan wandered off to handle something in the club. Despite the featured noise cancelling walls and the lobby not sharing a wall with the club (they were at opposite diagonals to each other), they could still sense the music and lightshow from the lobby seating.

Alandrea took a yawing Shari’s hand. “Come on, princess, bedtime.”

Angela and Sia tilted their heads, trying to make out what kind of music was playing at the club.

“It’s oldies night,” Kellinore said. “Early 20’s pop.”

True popular music died in the twenties. After that, there was greater fracturing of listeners into strict genres that rarely interacted. Music still became popular within their own circles, but remained otherwise unknown outside of it. Thus, early twenties music was the last of its kind that a large majority at least recognized and enjoyed and therefore drew the biggest crowds. And that also meant it was the most popular for venues that wanted crowds and profit.

Angie asked solemnly. “[Redacted]?”

Kellinore nodded back, causing Angie and Sia to squeal.

“The 20s was the best era!”

“By all means, have some pass tokens. They come with a free drink,” she distributed them with a few taps on her phone. “We could use the enthusiasm. It’s all nostalgia generations in there tonight. So many screens, not enough real dancing.” She was too polite to shudder, but her tone conveyed the idea nonetheless.

The two showed their enthusiasm by darting out, leaving their bags to the presumed safekeeping of their friends.

“Actually, I need to head home,” Cliff actually yawned. “My final midterm is tomorrow. See ya.” He collected his stuff and lumbered off much to the Sinclairs’ consternation.

“Is he always like that?” Alandrea asked.

“Yeah. He’s not built for anything outside of academia.”

“He takes great notes though,” Geoff added.

Bo got up as well. “I need to get to my late-night rounds. Some people depend on me to get a meal in before or after work. Thank you for everything.” And they left as well.

“What about you two? Going to stay in late at work on a school night?” Kellinore teased.

Ellie looked at her study plans. She had only covered about half of what she had planned to for that day. On the other hand, while mostly producing grandparent music these days, [Redacted] did have some great songs in the 20s.

Alandrea had come back, sinking gracefully back into the couch. “Are you sure your friends are normal people?” She mused aloud. “They were very calm about the fight. Didn’t even question it. Well, Sia, was it?—she did ask a lot of questions, but she didn’t seem concerned or confused at all.”

Ellie shrugged. “I wouldn’t have agreed to bring them here if I wasn’t sure about them.” More than sure, now. And she enjoyed their company. Despite the enormity of what she had to hide from them, it didn’t feel like she needed to hide anything at all. Angie and Sia because they were into crime and assumed her familiarity was because it was also an armchair hobby for her and Cliff because he was so on task, he never commented on or even noticed anything suspicious. As long as she and Geoff didn’t do anything overtly illegal, it was like they could be themselves. These friends were a break from the constant vigilance one had to maintain living a double—or triple—life. It would be nice to join Angie and Sia for a bit and continue pretending that her problems were nothing more than a normal college students’ for a bit longer. “Maybe just for a half an hour… You coming, Geoff?”

Geoff chewed and swallowed something before replying. “Still hungry. See you in a bit?” Unsurprisingly, he had a half-eaten plate of cannoli balanced on the arm of his seat. More surprisingly, he had one of their largest textbooks in his hands, apparently deep into the reading.

Ellie exchanged looks with Kellinore and Alandrea to see if they were able to keep an eye on Geoff for her. They nodded.

Trusting Geoff to his own devices for the moment, Ellie went into club Sirens’.

Crime Scene 20.6
Tuesday. 7:40 pm.  Club Sirens’

Despite the oldies theme night, the usual line outside was still a considerable size. As Kellinore said, it was mostly an older crowd, out to recapture their lost youth. Some of them recorded weird, stilted dances, mouthing along to music that wasn’t there. They recorded with their actual phones instead of using mini drones. They didn’t seem to even notice time passing, their gazes glued to their phones as they alternately waited and shuffled forward. Among them were several “nostalgia hunters.” Recognizable by the real vintage clothes that made them look older than they needed to be, these millennials made it a hustle to buy, sell, and trade in vintage items and recordings from their youth. They made an appearance whenever something early 2000s themed came up to reminisce and share or trade memorabilia, both digital and physical. They didn’t talk to each other or on their phones, though, just typed, absorbed into a world that barely existed anymore.

That was why Darla stood out. Ellie’s neck cracked from the double take as she spotted the familiar profile in the lineup. This time, she was dressed in a sharp, black and white striped outfit that almost blended with the neutral color palette of the crowd, but she was staring straight ahead at the club entrance with a look of determination that practically glowed. Ellie's skin prickled at the sight.

Not good. But Ellie couldn’t make a fuss about it there. She could go around and take the club entrance through the second building, but she would rather warn the bouncer here and hopefully not allow Darla a chance to do whatever it was she was trying to do. Ellie didn’t know what her plan was, but she didn’t want to give Darla more opportunities to snoop. She pulled up her hood and scarf to cover her face and slipped past the crowd, who didn’t notice the lone person cutting the line.

The bouncer, Gin was about the same size and age as Tedros, but smiled more, revealing black obsidian teeth in his lower jaw. He raised an eyebrow at Ellie cutting the line, but let her in when she showed the pass. “Finally letting loose, Ellie? Go ahead, your friends are already inside.”

She motioned for him to lean over before she went in. “There’s someone in line. Blonde, black and white pinstripes. Goes by Debbie or Darla, but not sure what her ID says. Don’t let her in. She’s been lurking around here before. She’s up to something.”

Gin raised an eyebrow, but didn’t question the request. This was a professional workplace. No one would make a request like that for no reason.

Since the Sirens’ nightclub was open air and only had walls on the sides with adjoining buildings, the upper levels were only on the two inner sides. Those were the VIP sections which actually were extended balconies connected to their rooms on the second floors of the hotel. Those rooms were fully soundproofed with the doors closed. If the occupants wanted their sleep or privacy, the triple layered glass doors and windows were also polarized, able to turn fully opaque at the push of a button. One could party all night and then retreat straight from the club to their rooms. Their most popular package featured one of the party suites and passes to the nightclub and was usually booked by large groups, often as a bachelor or bachelorette party. They were also the rooms most in need of cleaning, as Ellie was coming to learn. The upper balconies, for several reasons, remained unlit by the club’s lights.

The light was instead centered on the floor below where the shallow, half inch water dance floor glowed with blue and magenta light. Columns made of bright light broke up the floor into two sections: center, where the water was, and outside, where most of the people were bouncing and shuffling in shadow with only the occasional flash of light to illuminate them. Ellie knew there were two bars serving guests, but she couldn’t see them other than the occasional flourish of flame for their specialty cocktails.

Angie and Sia were easy to spot. They were in the center of the water covered floor, splashing and stomping along with the beat. They were holding up their end of the bargain, bringing enthusiasm to the club of people more entranced with their past than the present. Ellie hopped in and joined them for the chorus. The songs were about youth and life and the romance of having everything at their fingertips. It was a nice dream. If only everything were that simple.

They eventually took a break to take advantage of the free (unfortunately non-alcoholic) drinks that came with their passes. Ash, who was taking a shift bartending, refused to bend the rules for them.

As the three of them waited on their lemonades, Sia blindsided Ellie with a sudden interrogation. “You’re used to this, aren’t you?”

“This is my first time at the club, actually. I usually just clean it the next morning,” Ellie pretended not to know where Sia was going. So much for not prying.

“I mean about the fight outside. Everyone moved on really quickly about it, including you. And you really threw that knife into the guy.”

Angie passed down their drinks, though she kept her eyes on the conversation.

Hard to wiggle her way out of that, but she had to try. “I had some advanced self-defense classes at prep school.” Ellie tried to hide behind a sip of her drink.

Sia wasn’t buying it. “Have you ever…killed anyone?”

The music wasn’t loud, but it wasn’t quiet either. They were far away enough from the guests that they wouldn’t overhear. But Ellie could see Ash watching from the corner of his eye as he worked. She looked back at Angie and Sia. They must have figured out at least some of what went on here, yet looked so non-judgmental, their faces only showed curiosity. She could empathize with the feeling.

“No, never,” she lied.

When a stream of fire burst upward near the other bar, Ellie was more than happy to run towards the distraction.