Private Finished Finding an In

Nat's smile spread, she leaned in further to match Vivienne. Looks like she had her attention, now it was time to get to business.

"If detectives and journalists have one thing in common, its that we work much better when we have reliable sources of information." She continued, a sharp nail idly circling the rim of her coffee cup as she spoke. "I propose that you and I establish a, let's call it a mutually beneficial working relationship. I hear a lot of things in my line of work, from a lot of people, and some of those could be particularly interesting to a police detective."

She sipped her drink again, eyes full of confidence as she spoke.

"The DCA case is enough to prove I'm capable, but I have no intention of stopping there. I'm gonna be digging for more stories, and when I find anything that's relevant to your work, you'll be the first person to know, even before my editor."

"In return, all I want from you is to repay me in kind." She rested back in her seat, thinking it was best to be upfront about what she wanted to gain here. "If you find something I can write about. I want to be the first person you talk to. Before the print, before the TV channels, before anyone else. Even if it's just a tip-off that get's me to a situation first, I'll take anything."

She grabbed her laptop and slid it to the centre of the table.

"And just to sweeten the deal, I'll give you a sneak-peek on my next big scoop." She winked. "Just to show you that I'm not all talk right now."

Nat simply leaned back, raising her hands and shoulders with a sly shake of her head.

"Please, detective," The title rolled off her tongue playfully. "You almost make it sound like I'm using you. But, you aren't wrong, I did pick you for a reason and I have plenty to gain from this."

She flashed her teeth. She'd been prepared to upsell her offer much more, but if Viviane was already on board, well, there was no need to be coy.

"It seems I don't have to explain much further, though, I think you've broken down all the important details."

She rose briefly from her seat and offered a hand.

"I'm looking forward to working with you, detective. Still interested in that sneak peek?"

With a wide grin, Nat sat back down, leg crossed in front of the other again.

"Have you ever visited the House of Volkov? It's a nice place, very classy atmosphere and the drinks are well worth the price alone."

She spun her laptop around to face Viviane and flipped it open, revealing the screen to her.

"Not a lot of people realise this, but the owners of that particular restaurant allegedly have their fingers in a bunch of less-than-legitimate business off the island. No one's been able to pin them down for anything yet, but now that they're here on the island...well, I'm willing to bet they're peddling more than just vodka."

The laptop had most of her research open for her to look at, mostly rumours she'd written down, but also a few articles gathered from sources off the island itself. There wasn't anything in there that was fully concrete, seems like they've managed to avoid getting caught red-handed so far, but the list of potential crimes ranged from drug trafficking to things much worse.

"I haven't managed to dig up anything yet," She continued, "But I know there's gotta be some dirt they're up to on the island, and I'm gonna find out."

"Why yes, actually."

Nat reached over to flick to another page, showing a picture of a man.

"Malakias Volkov. Apparently he's the son of the big man in charge of the whole family. Quite charming in person, it turns out."

Nat leaned back in her chair again, letting Viviane look over everything at her own pace.

"With as big as the Volkov family seems to be off-island, I think it's pretty unlikely the head of the family would send his own son all the way here just to run a restaurant. There's gotta be something more to it."

"There's a few other's I've met personally."

She flicked to another pair of pictures, one of a young woman, and the other of an older man.

"The girl is Rada, Malkias' sister. She works in the kitchens. The other is his uncle Cazimir, he handles the accounting."

She frowns briefly.

"I was looking into the both of them to try and get dirt on the main family, but unfortunately both those trails ran cold. Still, if other members of the family are here we can assume Malakias is still linked somehow."