Finally, Joey felt it was time to make his presence known. He walked up to Ted and loudly cleared his throat.
This seemed to shake Ted out of his reverie. "Joey," said Ted, "how much...how much did you hear?"
Joey took a deep breath and said, "Ted, is it true? I mean, how is Chuckles Unlimited doing?"
Ted spoke to the ground, seemingly in embarrassment. "It's been bad, Joey...so bad that I've had to cut staff - including Baab." Ted paused then locked eyes with Joey and said firmly, "But I didn't start that fire."
Joey chose his words cafefully. "Ted, you know that I'll help to find the culprit. I just want to make sure you know that in all of the suspicious fire cases involving businesses that I've solved - they were all instances of insurance fraud."
Surprisingly, Ted smiled and said gently, "Look, Joey. Let me give you your first clue. Check out Bill and his club. I know that Laughter Infinity has been doing fine on its own, but I just...I just can't believe that jerk Bill is totally innocent." As Ted turned to go back to his club, he offered some personal words for Joey: "By the way, Joey - what happened on that stage - please don't let it bring you down. Comedy is a tough beast to tame. It takes loads of practice, but mostly guts, to really make it. Please don't give up on your dream so easily."