From across the table, Siren picked apart every twitch in Ashley's face. Siren was no stranger to being lied to no thanks in large to her day light profession. However, she failed to pick up on anything but sincerity and genuine worry about her friend... maybe a little guilt for letting it happen too perhaps.
As Siren went over the details of the show, she recalled The Skeleton being a popular club in Redmond, especially for local artists. Getting the main gig on a Saturday night there actually meant something if you were an artist. The flyers she had seen around town and local advertisements cemented Nabo's rising star status. She couldn't recall ever actually hearing any of his music, but being that she's on the local music scene herself, she can safely say she's heard his name mentioned enough times to say he's a big deal in his music genre's scene.
As Siren interjects Ashely's monologue, Siren successfully shows off to the team how she's able to calm the girl down, paving the way for more questions.
It pays off.
Calming down the girl, she remembers, "Hey! When I walked outside, the bouncers told me they saw Maria walking out with some guy! They must know what he looked like!"
Siren took a breath before asking her next question. "I also need to know if Maria was mixed up in anything bad. Any bad habits, even little ones? Drugs or BTLs or anything? We're not here to judge you or her, Ashley, but we need to know this sort of thing. Any angry ex-boyfriends, anything she seemed worried or stressed out about?"
Ashley starts back, "No, no, nothing like that trust me I woulda known. She was always a lot more outgoing and trusting of people than I ever was I guess, but unless..." she drops the volume of her voice again, "...unless it had something to do with her dad's business, forget it. That creep picked her out then and there on the spot."
Concrete, who had a pause in his conversation with Massimo to listen to Ashley, turns to him for his take on Ashley's possible alternate theory about this being an attack on The Don. "No fuckin' way" he conveys with an exagerrated facial expression. His reaction to the ork's onslaught of questions must have been exaggerated as well, meaning nothing by it.
The troll, making enough noise with his presence without saying anything, starts to recall anything he can about The Skeleton. That's an anti troll bar! Trog's anger begins to build as he mistakenly begins to associate the girls with bigots and other metahuman racism. He rushes over to Massimo, putting everyone on the defensive and asks, "10,000 Nuyen for each of us is what I assume the Don Meant?" failing to hold back a snarl.
"Keep your damned voice down!" Massimo "shouts" in a hushed voice. "The Don is in the other room and you're gonna piss him off by asking for MORE money at a time like this! The man's daughter is missing!"
Unfortunately, Siren's advice to not mention money comes too late for Trog. The situation isn't helped by Needle's abrupt exit either.
