“See, here’s the deal.”
The slightly built man’s eyes darted left and right, while his heel, encased in narrow black shoes, the dressy kind you only wear to a wedding or a funeral, bounced phrenetically, tapping a staccato tattoo against the bare, hardwood floor. He was sitting in the guest chair in the inner sanctum of Mars’s office.
Although when the man first entered, Mars thought he was on too many or not enough meds, he now resolved that it was just a case of the nerves. He determined that silence was the only encouragement the high-strung man would need to spill the beans.
The wispy beard waggled up and down as Nervy chewed his thoughts without speaking. The stray chin hair contrasted considerably with the thick, bushy thatch Brylcreemed back off his high forehead. Untamable chunks escaped this greasy confinement.
“Here’s the truth. No lies. Just the plain, honest facts.” He shook his head. “I don’t think this is going to work.”
Mars leaned back in his armed swivel chair. He waited.
In one big blurt, the story washed over the dam. “Should he do it? Work with these people? This is big. Really big. This would get the word out! I mean, The World of Tomorrow! You ain’t never seen anything like this. But I guarantee you: you and everyone you know will be first in line to get yours.” He cackled gleefully and his hollow eyes lit up as they shared in these high hopes.
Mars stated, as if it were obvious, “And you need me to check these people out.”
Nervy leaned bony elbows onto knobby knees and tilted his head forward so he could look over his long, narrow nose. “We need to know who’s for real here. The boss has had problems before. People don’t deliver what they promise.” He leaned back, eyelids at half mast and face gloomy as he spit out this last pronouncement. “They need an answer soon because April’s coming up fast.”
Mars got to the point. “What are they promising this time?”
“The New York City World Fair!” Nervy sputtered, as if Mars hadn’t heard a thing. “They want to introduce our technology to the world on opening day. But see, the boss, he wants total control. And he doesn’t like to share the spotlight. We need to know if they’re talking with anyone else right now. They said exclusive, and promised a bundle of money, but people have stolen from us before. The boss put half his life into this. He deserves success. Are they for real?”
Mars pulled out a pencil and pad. “Names?”
“Sonny and Diana Lyons.” He provided an address and phone number in Manhattan. “But they ain’t there.”
Mars raised his eyebrows quizzically, pencil hovering.
“They’re in Baton Rouge till the end of the month.”
“Travel increases the per diem considerably,” Mars warned.
“Oh, right. The boss wanted me to give you this.” Nervy placed a thick envelope on the desk.
Mars looked at his watch. “I can still catch the Silver Meteor from the 30th Street Station. I’ll update you in two days from Baton Rouge.”
Our character “Nervy” is Mercury, the messenger, sent by the big boss to hire Mars (Scorpio Mars? Mars Scorpio? What should his name be?). Mars is of course both the planet, which at the time of writing was in Scorpio, and the private investigator. The big boss is Uranus; we’ll meet more of him later. I wrote this back at the beginning of the month, but didn’t have time to follow up on it. But at the time, Mercury was opposite Uranus. Do you notice any Mercury qualities in Nervy? Let me know in the comments! If you’d like to know more about Mercury, William Lilly had a lot to say.
Do you like this? I had several posts planned and didn’t have time to write them. But maybe if you’re interested, I’ll keep working at it. Leave a comment to let me know if you’d like to see the rest of this series! Thank you!
