“… And that was?”
“Don’t you remember he said no criminal would rob this Hoos guy?”
“Quite. So?”
“. . . So if there’s a criminal connection here, I should be able to get some information out of the underworld.”
That sounded a tad ominous to me, but I have long since learned not to argue with Tananda when she gets her mind set on something. Instead, I decided to try a different approach.
“Not to be a noodge,” I noodged, “but how do you propose to find said underworld? They don’t exactly list in the yellow pages, you know.”
Her pace slowed noticeably.
“That’s a problem,” she admitted. “Still, there must be a way to get information around …”
“Can I offer you a glass of cold juice. Miss?”
It was my friend from the morning with his vending cart. A part of me wanted to wave him off, as interrupting little sister in mid-scheme is not the healthiest of pastimes, but I couldn’t think of a way to do it without breaking character. Tananda surprised me, however. Instead of removing his head at the waist for breaking into her thought process, she turned her most dazzling smile on him.
“Well, hi there!” she purred. “Say, I never did get a chance to thank you for giving me directions to the police station this morning.”
Now, little sister’s smiles can be devastating to the nervous system of anyone of the male gender, and this individual was no exception.
“Don’t mention it,” he flushed. “If there’s anything else I can do to be of assistance …”
“Oh, there is one teensy-tiny favor you could do for me.”