After Gustav left, Marvin and Susie headed to the bar to talk to Poppy. Just then, a large, multi-spiked creature entered the bar, taking the seat right next to Poppy in a shockingly coordinated way for a sea urchin.
“Gotta go, Manny,” Poppy said, “I have this rational fear of spines. If you see my bow, come find me!” Poppy flopped off her stool and made her way out. Marvin and Susie chose to hang back in the shadows, especially because Marvin’s skin was at full stretch mimicking Gren’s spines, which always made him feel vulnerable.
“Gren!” Manny addressed the urchin from behind the bar, “You’re looking good today! What are those things on some of your spines?”
Gren shook his spines excitedly. “They’re pearls, Manny! Genuine treasures of the sea! Look how they shine!” He waved some of the pearls in the sunlight filtering down from above.
“Gren, where did you get those?” Manny said. He leaned in closer to him and whispered, but Susie’s sharp hearing picked up everything. “Did you finally pull off that big job you were dreaming about?”
Gren straightened half of his spines. It would have meant something to other sea urchins, but the gesture was lost on his audience. “Of course not, Manny!” he said, “The currents are just going my way is all. Yes, I am one lucky guy!”
Manny looked skeptical. “Well, Gren, does that mean that you’re finally going to pay off your tab?” he said.
Gren pricked up some more spines, almost imperceptibly. Sea urchins don’t have the most expressive faces. “I’m good for it, my friend!” he cried, but then he promptly hopped off his stool and left.
Marvin watched Gren sidle out the door and thought that if Gren was perhaps a more sinuous creature, like an eel, he would have been a great dancer. Just as Gren crossed the threshold, a pearl dropped off of one of his spines, but oblivious, he continued on.
A nearby Sergeant Major whizzed over to the pearl faster than Marvin could get there. Susie cursed under her breath that someone else saw it; it would have been a pleasant experience to suck it up for evidence.
The Sergeant Major, inspecting the pearl closely, was not bothered when he noticed Marvin hovering over the object as well. He turned to Marvin, wanting to impress the stranger with the beautiful stripes with his knowledge. “Quality workmanship. This is clearly a pearl from the mantles of the members of the Hard Shells, a gang of oysters down south. They make pearls by day, but at night – no plankton is safe from their aggressive filter-feeding! You know, I don’t know how Gren could have afforded something like this…I wonder–”
Marvin jumped as Susie scooted under him, propelling herself with a burst of sand. “Marvin,” she whispered, “We better get going. The vibrations in the sand are telling me that Chief Al is on his way here, and I don’t think we want people to know that we are working with him on the investigation yet. The people in this town seem to like to tell strangers everything!”
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