“He tried to sneak out after I told him. Boss,” Nunzio squeaked. “That’s what took me so long.”
“Hello, Geek,” I purred. “Have a seat. I want to have a little chat with you about a card game.”
“C’mon, Skeeve. I already told you …”
“Sit!”
The Geek dropped into the indicated chair like gravity had suddenly trebled. I had borrowed the tone of voice from Nunzio’s dragon-training demonstration. It worked.
“What the Geek was starting to say,” I explained, turning to Aahz, “is that before the game tonight he warned me that I was overmatched and asked me not to have any hard feelings . . . that the game with the Kid wasn’t his idea.”
“That’s right,” the Deveel interjected. “Word just got out and…”
“What I’m curious about, however, is how he knew I was out-classed.”
I smiled at the Geek, trying to show my teeth the way Aahz does. “You see, I don’t want to talk about tonight’s game. I was hoping you could give us a little more information about the other game . . . you know, the one where I won Markie?”
The Deveel glanced nervously around the group of assembled scowls.
“I… I don’t know what you mean.”
“Let me make it easy for you. At this point I figure the game had to be rigged. That’s the only way you would know in advance what a weak dragon poker player I am. Somehow you were throwing hands my way to be sure I won big, big enough to include Markie. I’m just curious how you did it without triggering the magic or telepathy monitors.”
The Geek seemed to shrink a little in his chair. When he spoke, his voice was so low we could barely hear him.