The air was thick with cigar smoke that billowed from the open crack of the door. Some one was enjoying his time at the club tonight. From where I stood on the empty street I could only see tinted windows and a chain preventing the door to be opened any further. I wasn't one to roam this part of town at night so it was all new to me, but as the saying goes, it was now or never.

"I haven't seen you before, kid." I shoved my hands in my pocket and nodded peacefully. I figured that my best bet would be to stay quiet and let him do most of the talking. If I kept my gums flapping he would know too much about me and he was already suspicious about my reasons for showing up at the place. "Now tell me, what's a nice and square looking kid doing here? Lost?" The smirk on his face was enough to make me sick to my stomach. A guy like that didn't deserve to be so smug.

"As lost as the rest of you," I said, keeping my cool. "Amy sent me. Said that if I needed a break from things I should come here. I need a break and I've got the scratch to get me by. Is that a problem?" The man kept his silence as he gave me the once over. I myself was sweating so bad that I had to pull my hands out and wipe them on my pant leg. After what felt like an eternity the chain was undone and the door was pulled open for me. "Not a problem at all. Enjoy."

Stepping into that joint was just how I imagined going comatose to be. Surreal. On arrival there was a bar on the left with a few patrons sitting on stools and a bored-looking woman with long, dark hair standing behind it in a well fitting dress. Right next to the bar was a small stage area, a record playing as a pretty brunette sang like she was auditioning for Hollywood. What was she doing in a place like this? What were any of them doing in a place like this?

All of the other space was filled with tables occupied by the local hoods, laughing that venomous laugh of theirs as they played a game of cards. Each one had a woman hanging on their arm. I almost questioned the humanity of such a woman until I remembered that Amy was still somewhere in the building. "Hey, doll," a pretty blonde said, flashing her pearly whites in my direction. That had to be her.

"What…Cat got your tongue?" The woman teased as I snapped back into the state of awareness that I should have been in the whole time. "No…Sorry." I gave the woman my own quick evaluation. She seemed to be a nice woman, genuine smile, but women tend to lie, don't they? "Your face doesn't ring any bells," the blonde said quite warily. I could tell by the way she looked me over once, twice, three times that she was trying to figure out why I was there.

"If you don't need anything then I'm going to take care of whoever needs me. If you decide that you need me later, the name is Trish. Okay?" Trish couldn't have brushed me off any quicker with the way that she turned, obviously intending to get as far away from me as possible. "Trish, wait." I said as I grabbed a hold of her arm. Her hazel eyes were wide as they stared, startled. Fear was settling in quickly.

"Calm down. Amy said that you could help me. All I want is the truth and I swear I won't cause any trouble. You won't see me again once this whole thing is over." Trish hardly looked relieved by anything I had said. She was holding her breath. I could tell by the frozen stance that she took and the fact that she remained completely still as if she had been petrified. "Brian Kendrick," I began once I had determined that she wasn't ready to talk. "He was here and he got shot upstairs. He's dead and I need to know who did it and why. I hope you can be the one to tell me."

"Look, I don't know anything about it!" Trish screamed. The elevated voice had drawn some stares into our direction causing me to let go of her before anyone came to see what was happening. "I'm sorry your friend died but he shouldn't have been snooping. He got what was coming to him and so will you if you don't get out of here right now. Don't be a hero. You're going to end up just like him and I'm not letting you get me or Amy dragged into this."

For the first time, I pondered my own selfishness in this 'heroic' act of defending my friend and everything I believe in. Was I being selfless or foolish? It was highly possible and plausible that rushing into this was only going to be the demise of my life and anyone who came in contact with me. An allegedly innocent stranger and a woman that was my closest living friend could both be in danger.

Was I going to stop? No. I was only going to push harder.