Play@YSDC

"I can go too," Clarence says. "Distract them. If I tell them I'll do what they want, it'll keep their eyes off you. We shouldn't arrive together though."

"Wait a moment" says Colin. "What do you expect me to do? Just let me get a look at the place before you start anything."

"I'm sorry," Clarence says, looking abashed. "Of course."

Cole Lane is in Collinsport, although the similarity of name is just a coincidence. It's a working class neighbourhood, but more boisterous than rough - the locals ignore Colin rather than hassling him. The street is mostly slum housing, though there is a newsagent a few doors away from the Reillys' cafe.

The cafe itself is called Pete's, although Clarence mentions that he's never heard hide or hair of any actual Pete involved with it. Its frontage takes up three doorways, and the interior is crammed with tables - it looks like it's doing good business.

Colin enters and looks around for somewhere to sit.

There are a few empty tables. There are three doors in the back, one next to a counter, whose sounds and smells clearly mark it as leading to the kitchen - the second has the shabby air that characterises doors leading to toilets - the third is in an alcove. As you suspected, there is a radio, currently tuned to the broadcast of a horse race. The clientele show a mixture of classes from working to a shade above middle.

A harried looking waitress - seemingly the only one on duty - comes over and asks if you're ready to order. From what you can see and smell from nearby tables, the operative word about the place's cuisine is "fried."

Colin places an order, and looks with interest at the door in the alcove.

It's sturdy-looking, with a grilled peephole and a lock - though there's no way to tell from here whether it's locked.

When your order arrives, everything on the plate is indeed fried - bacon, sausage, eggs, toast, tomatoes, mushrooms - but turns out to be quite good. And fortifying in view of your present mission.

Satisfied, Colin leaves the cafe.

Clarence is waiting in a nearby alley. "I've been looking around too," he says. "The alley turns back there, and I think I know which of the back doors is theirs."

He shows you the door, which looks similar to the one from the alcove, if a bit more dirty. Before you can try it, he asks, "What if they're in there?"

Colin looks around, exasperated.

"What exactly do you want me to do?" he asks. "I don't even know what we're doing here! Are we supposed to be looking for something?"

"I'm sorry," Clarence says, leaning against the wall. "I know we're asking a lot of you. I want to do what Lucy said. The police won't care about them beating up an Aboriginal girl, or running sporting bets. But if we look in their office, maybe we can find something the cops will care about. Something so I won't have to worry about them killing her next time they want to 'warn' me."

"Then if there's someone in there, we'll just have to beat the crap out of them. Come on."

Colin tries the door handle.

Perhaps surprisingly, perhaps not, it opens.

The hallway beyond is stuffily hot, possibly because of the couple of doors along its left side that clearly lead into the kitchen - from which you can hear voices and clattering. At the far end, there is a turn to the right.

Clarence doesn't hesitate, and goes to enter the hallway.

Colin follows.

The hallway is mostly bare, though its floor is quite mucky. There are a couple of crates by the wall, marked with brands of beer. It sounds like there are three people in the kitchen, but their voices and the sounds of cooking are enough to cover the sounds of your footsteps.

However it also covers the sound of theirs. When you're halway down the hall, past one of the kitchen doors, it opens behind you, making your heart skip a beat.

OOC,Luck 75,Rolled 1D100 69.

However, the kitchen hand is carrying a large sack of garbage and turns straight to the back door without looking in your direction - but he will see you as soon as he comes back in, so your only recourse is to head for the corner ahead.

Round the corner is a small area: stairs up on your new right (making them parallel to the hallway), a door on your new left and another door opposite. You're pretty sure the door on the left is the other side of the alcove-door you saw in the cafe.