AEP03
DINER RECEIPT
RECEIPT NUMBER: AEP03
RECEIPT DATE: 11 15 1988
MANAGER TITLE: TRUSTED ASSOCIATE
RECEIPT NOTES:
Well… that was certainly quite the interview. I’m glad mon nouvel ami has become so… “spirited” about the hiring process. Though, I must say, another 10-hour interview is not an experience I’d like to repeat anytime soon. Thankfully, that was the last one on our books.
And you know I don’t scare easy, yes? But Marcus—this Marcus—the one I have memories of, though from a time when I truly couldn’t have… he makes me itch in a way I can’t scratch. It’s not fear. It’s quieter than that. Slipperier. Like an ominous cloud hanging low in the sky. A presence.
As we spoke, hour after hour, I couldn’t stop watching his hands—long, deliberate, tracing patterns in the condensation on his glass. Not symbols of la dame—no, something else. Something older. He spoke slowly, carefully, but with an urgency simmering underneath, as though the words might shatter if he didn’t choose them just right. I know you caught it too, mon nouvel ami. He said many things he absolutely shouldn’t know. Things I don’t know. And things even you were hearing for the first time.
Sharp doesn’t begin to describe him. He fits the memory I have of him—if you can call it that. Yet, looking back, those memories feel… hollow now. Before, I would’ve sworn he was one of my closest acquaintances. But that man? He’s something else entirely. And what really twists my gut is how certain he seemed about how the Cafe would end. So sure of himself, so sure of us.
To be honest, I’m more than content with how warmly you’ve welcomed our Secret employee and Ms. Saturn, our potential future hire. If you feel Marcus is a bridge too far—well, I may just agree with you. But let me leave you with this final thought, mon nouvel ami: if we pass on him, we better hope he doesn’t end up playing for the other side. Because I’d hate to see what Marcus could do with what he already knows.