“I also… I have something I’d like to discuss with you.”
PI Deverson’s eyebrows scrunched together, his dark gaze roaming Aiden’s face. “I think it’s best we met in person for this,” he said, glancing away from his phone. “I…” he hesitated, looking a little spooked. It was the first timeAiden was seeing PI Deverson show a reaction of this sort, and it worried him. “I heard back from my contact, and they gave me a few threads to follow up on.” He paused again, eyes darting left and right as if scanning the surroundings. “I stayed up late doing that and… I’ve got some things for you, Mr. Kesley, but I really would rather not discuss them over the phone.”
A nasty swirl of nerves knotted Aiden’s stomach. “Is everything okay?”
The man nodded, offering a weak smile. “Yes, Mr. Kesley. It’s just that this case is a lot bigger than I suspected. And… I think we need to exert caution from now on.”
Aiden’s quickening pulse drowned out the noise around him for a few moments. He’d wanted to catch PI Deverson up on Darren’s confession—while withholding how he’d gotten it—but the PI’s warning made him reconsider that. Whatever PI Deverson had stumbled upon had to be major, maybe even the breakthrough Aiden had been hoping for.
“I’m… actually away from Europa for a few days, following up on a lead of my own,” Aiden said, wondering if he should go back and speak to PI Deverson before continuing this silly quest Darren had sent him on. But he was already on Mars and didn’t feel like another fifteen-hour long flight before he’d had a chance to stretch his legs. “It’s why I called you, actually. But I’ll leave this for when we meet up. Unless what you found out is urgent, then I can head back now.”
PI Deverson shook his head, holding up the phone as he walked away from his desk. “No. It can wait until you’re back. Especially if you are onto something yourself. There are a few gaps in my findings, and I have a feeling that you might be able to shed some light on those missing pieces.”
“Okay,” Aiden agreed, part of him still pondering if he should go back anyway. “Then I’ll stop by as soon as I can once I’m back.”
“Be careful, Mr. Kesley. I’ll see you soon.”
“You, too. See you in a few days.”
Aiden hung up and slumped in his seat, not sure what to think of the PI’s warning. But at least things were moving, even if at times it felt like they were doing so too quickly. Still, it beat being stuck and not making progress, so he wasn’t about to complain.
Aiden spent the rest of the trip to the magtrain station trying to look up the Moonshine Ravine. Nothing came up. He kept at it as a shuttle taxi took him to the Meridian Hotel, but he still couldn’t find a venue with that name. Once he’d checked in, he asked the staff at the hotel for help. When the braided young woman at the reception had no idea either, disappointment bubbled up, adding to his already budding irritation that Darren had sent him on a hunt for dragons and unicorns.
“Uh, maybe the name has changed?” the receptionist suggested after a glance at what must’ve been a rather exasperated expression on Aiden’s face.
Aiden squinted at her. “That’s… a good point.”
Darren had been behind bars for two years and that was a long time, especially given the rate of turnaround for private businesses. In most cases, they lasted a year or two, then either declared bankruptcy or were assimilated into one of the bigger players.
Phone in hand, Aiden claimed a table at the café on the ground floor and started scanning the list of establishments across Atlan. Again, he found no match, however, his attention was caught by the logo of a specialty club going by the name Luna’s Nymphs. It sort of offered analternative take on the Ravine’s logo he’d found online, depicting a crescent encased between two obelisks, so he deemed it a good enough place to start looking.
Finishing his coffee, Aiden called for another shuttle and provided the address. The driver snickered, but Aiden didn’t bother to ask why and let the man giggle away, flipping through the database of other establishments in case this one ended up being a bust.
When he arrived at his destination, he immediately knew why the driver had been giving him funny looks. Luna’s Nymphs was a sex club. Two massive gray doors halved the front of the venue, their frames decorated with two naked nymphs who held a full moon above their heads. The rest of the façade was metal, and a dozen or so silver neon signs of crescents peeked out from holes haphazardly drilled in it.
Aiden spent a few more moments appreciating the exterior of the club, but didn’t let his thoughts wander too far. He didn’t have time for that, or for a hookup, as the driver had likely assumed.
Hands in his coat’s pockets, he walked in. The inside of the club was dimly lit, littered with replicas of marble pillars and arches in ancient Roman style. Soft jazz music played from speakers mounted across the ceiling and, in the middle, two women in mermaid costumes swung their slim bodies around two poles. The scales painted over their chests sparkled in iridescent hues every time they moved, creating a mesmerizing effect that had the majority of patrons enthralled like flies to a fly trap.
Ambling past the spectacle, Aiden picked a spot at the edge of the long bar, away from the noisy conversations. He fumbled with his phone for about ten minutes before one of the bartenders noticed him.
“Hey there. What can I getcha, sweetheart?” a skimpy dressed redhead said in a heavy Martian accent. Her dark skin shimmered with silver glitter under the bar’s purple lights, and a tiara secured her fiery curls on both sides of her round face.
“Whiskey. On the rocks.”
She arched an eyebrow, a grin teasing her lips. “Just that?”
Aiden laced his hands together atop the bar counter, leaning in slightly. “Make that two, along with five minutes of your time?”
“Coming right up!” she chirped and got busy pouring drinks. Two minutes later, she joined him, propping herself on her elbows on her side of the counter. “First time here, I take it?”
Aiden winced internally. He wasn’t the type that went to such places, sure, but he’d hoped he wouldn’t stand out too much. “Is it that obvious?”
“Nah. I just know all the regulars.”
That made it somewhat better, though he still wished he’d done a better job of blending in. But the noise and the sweat and the blinking lights were getting to him already, making him wish he’d stopped by his room at the hotel for a nap before coming here. He reallyreallyneeded some sleep, but he didn’t think he’d be getting any soon.
“You’ve been tending the bar for a while, then?” Aiden said, meeting the woman’s brown gaze.
