“That’s right,” his sister giggled. “I wonder what the Ax thinks about what happened.”
That was the cue I had been waiting for. I took a deep breath and a deeper drink of wine, then assumed my most casual manner.
“Why bother speculating, Tananda? Why not ask direct?”
“What’s that, Skeeve?”
“I said, why not ask the Ax directly? After all, she’s in the room right now.”
The gaiety of the mood vanished in an eyeblink as everybody stared at me.
“Partner,” Aahz murmured, “I thought we settled this when we talked to Don Bruce.”
I cut him off with the wave of a hand.
“As a matter of fact, I’m a little curious about what the Ax is thinking myself. Why don’t you tell us … Markie?”
My young ward squirmed under the room’s combined gaze.
“But, Daddy … I don’t. . . you … oh, heck! You figured it out, huh?”
“Uh-huh.” I nodded, not feeling at all triumphant.
She heaved a great sigh. “Oh, well. I was about to throw in the towel anyway. I had just hoped I could beat a retreat before my cover was blown. If you don’t mind, I’d like to join you in some of that wine now.”
“Help yourself.”
“MARKIE?!?”
Aahz had finally recovered enough to make noise. Of course, it comes reflexively to him. The others were still working on it.
“Don’t let the little-girl looks fool you, Aahz,” she winked. “Folks are small and soft on my dimension. In the right clothes, it’s easy to pass yourself off as being younger than you really are… lots younger.”
“But…but…”
“Think about it for a minute, Aahz,” I said. “You had all the pieces the first day. Kids, particularly little girls, are embarrassing at best, trouble at worst. The trick is that you expect them to be trouble, so you don’t even consider the possibility that what they’re doing could be premeditated and planned.”