“Wait a minute. Boss. You’re missing the point. They didn’t leave!”
“Come again?”
“I left ’em there in the reception room, and the next thing I know Mr. Mouth here is hollerin’ at me for losing customers. They never came out! Now, like you say, I’m supposed to be a bodyguard. By my figuring we’ve got some extra people wandering the premises, and all this slob wants to do is yell about whose fault it is.”
“I know whose fault it is,” Aahz said with a glare. “There are only two ways out of that reception room, and they didn’t come past me!”
“Well they didn’t come past me!” Guido countered.
I started to get a very cold feeling in my stomach.
“Aahz, “I said softly.
“If you think I don’t know when….”
“AAHZ!”
That brought him up short. He turned to me with an angry retort on his lips, then he saw my expression.
“What is it, Skeeve? You look as if….”
“There are more than two ways out of that room.”
We stared at each other in stunned silence for a few moments, then we both sprinted for the reception room, leaving Guido to trail along behind.
The room we had selected for our reception area was one of the largest in the place, and the only large room with easy access from the front door. It was furnished in a style lavish enough to impress even those customers spoiled by the wonders of the Bazaar who were expecting to see the home office of a successful magician. There was only one problem with it, and that was the focus of our attention as we dashed in.
The only decoration that we had kept from the previous owners was an ornate tapestry hanging on the north wall. Usually I’m faster than Aahz, but this time he beat me to the hanging, sweeping it aside with his arm to reveal a heavy door behind it. Our worst fears were realized. The door was unlocked and standing ajar.