That at least got a laugh out of Tananda, and I knew we had weathered the storm.
“Chumley, you’re incredible! And I thought women were manipulative matchmakers. I never realized it before, but you’re a bit of a snob, big brother.”
“Think yew,” I said in my best clipped accent. “I accept that observation with pride . . . when I consider the alternatives. I feel everyone would prefer to be snobs if they ever really had the choice.”
“Why are we stopping?”
“Well, if we’re done deciding Master Skeeve’s future for the moment, I believe we have a spot of business to attend to.”
She looked where I was pointing and found we were indeed standing in front of a dubious-looking establishment, embellished with a faded sign which proclaimed it to be the Suspended Sentence. The windows that weren’t painted over were broken or gone completely, revealing a darkened interior. It might have been an abandoned building if it weren’t for the definite sounds of conversation and laughter issuing forth from within.
Tananda started forward, then halted in her tracks.
“Wait a minute, big brother. What did you mean ‘we’?”
“Well, I thought that since I was here, I’d just…”
“Wrong,” she said firmly. “This is still my assignment, Chumley, and I’m quite capable of handling it by myself.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t breathe a word.”
“No, you’d just loom over everybody with that snaggletoothed grin of yours and intimidate them into cooperating with me. Well, you can just wait out here while I go in alone. I’ll do my own intimidating, if you don’t mind.”