“What? You mean my insisting on a contract? The reason I pushed for it there and not for our deal is that it was a long-term investment as opposed to a straight-forward purchase of services.”
“That isn’t it.”
“What is it then? Is it the contract terms? Maybe I was a little more generous than I had to be, but the situation. . . .” I broke off as I realized the bodyguard was staring hard at me.
“What I meant,” she said flatly, “was that before I put money into a business, I’d want to know what it was.”
“You heard him. It’s a wholesale/dealer operation.”
“Yes, but what’s he selling?”
I didn’t answer that one because I didn’t have an answer. In my eagerness to do J.R. a good turn, I had completely forgotten to ask what kind of business he was starting!
Chapter Seventeen:
“Bibbity . . . bobbity . . .”
—S. STRANGE, M.D.
BRIGHT AND EARLY the next morning, I launched into the next phase of my search for Aahz. The Butterfly had convinced me it was unlikely I’d find him traveling in financial circles. That left the magicians.
As Edvick had warned, the sheer volume of Pervects in the magik business made the task seem almost impossible. It was my last idea, though, so I had to give it a try and hope I got lucky. By the time I had visited half a dozen or so operations, however, I was nearly ready to admit I was licked.
The real problem facing me was that the market glut had made the magicians extremely competitive. No one was willing to talk about any other magicians, or even acknowledge their existence. What I got was high-powered sales pitches and lectures on “the layman’s need for magikal assistance in his day-to-day life”. Once I admitted I was in the business myself, I either got offered a partnership or was accused of spying and thrown out of the office. (Well, a couple of them threatened, but thanks to Pookie’s presence I got to walk out with dignity.) What I didn’t get was any leads or information about Aahz.