Explanations

"I'm not going to ask you for anything sexual if that's what you're thinking. At least not at this point." Richard assured when he felt that Juliet was suspecting some sort of underlying reason for the dinner. "In fact, we reach have our own cars so we can head their separately. If you agree that is."

"Agree to what?" Juliet asked, she didn't like hidden agendas. He held up his hand.

"Patience, we'll get to that after you answer my questions about what you were doing yesterday and I determine if I believe you." Richard broke up his conversation with eating. He didn't want to let his dinner grow cold as he knew it wouldn't taste quite as good.

"How about I ask the questions first?"

"I see. You wish to profile me. Very well. But I won't answer anything that wouldn't be accessible common knowledge." He replied obliging to her request. "I would prefer if you'd keep eating rather than just staring at me. There are other things to be done after this dinner." Juliet huffed quietly but didn't vocalize her offense. This man apparently didn't understand that it was hard to eat when one felt stressed out. But she tried anyways if it meant he'd answer her questions.

"Name?"

"Richard King."

"Age?"

"30. I don't mind younger or older partners." Juliet internally grimaced but ignored the comment.

"Occupation?"

"I'm an accountant who may be taking on a night job soon as well."

"No wonder you're such a stiff." even though Juliet had said it under her breath, she knew the other had heard her by the way his eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

"My occupation has nothing to do with my behavior and manners. I prefer not to mix work and pleasure. I find those who do never end up well in life." She cold tone in voice as he replied "Now, if you're done with your questions I expect you to start answering mine which you already know."

"I will, but one more question first. What is your relationship with the owner of Roses and Whips?" Richard stared at her for some seconds as though he seemed to be considering how to answer the question.

"We're friends. Possible business partners in the future, but as of right now we only interact on my off-time." was the response he gave. "Now your turn." He looked at her expectantly as he said this.

"I don't have much to say right because thanks to you, I missed my contact on Saturday." Juliet replied with a shrug.

"What are you snooping around for exactly?"

"It's not snooping!" she replied clearly offended "It's an honest job. As to what I'm investigating, something drug related from what I understand. We were hired by a third party who didn't handout a name or anything, just offered to pay well if this issue was looked into." Richard looked very thoughtful as he processed this information. He doubted Daniel would have done this, he was already dealing with another issue so he saw no reason to not inform him if he had hired someone to investigate another issue.

"And you're sure it's not someone leading you on?"

"That's what I was supposed to find out Saturday. Now that I've told you, you can leave me alone to do my work and I won't bother you."

"Actually I'm not done with you. We still haven't discussed my other proposal."

"What proposal."

"Work with me as part of your cover. I'd be at the club. Nothing sexual related unless you determined later to change the terms. I won't go into all the little details right now because it'd be troublesome."

"And what would you get out of this if you're not interested in anything sexual?" Juliet asked, not quite believing his claim.

"A partner I can work with and not worry about falling in love of being troublesome. Someone I can rely on to be professional and quick to read a situation and won't ask for more outside of a few hours of the week we'd be working together." Richard explained.

"That sounds like a poor attempt to get me to agree to something more than what you're asking for." Juliet replied "How am I supposed to trust that a stranger isn't trying to set me up?"

"I just told you, I don't mix pleasure and work. Anything that happens between us will be strictly work related interactions. Outside of that, we wouldn't be in touch and I wouldn't bother. If you don't believe me, we can go to the club where a number of people can vouch for what I say."

Juliet stared at him uncertainly. He seemed genuine but at the same time, she felt it was wrong to trust him.