“So Widder Hackett has been telling me.”
Malkin nodded. “Aye, she’d know. The old cow was the biggest gossip in the town. She must have kept records of everything everyone did.”
“You thieving little strumpet!” Widder Hackett rasped.
“Careful,” Wiz said to Malkin.
“She was an old busybody and I’d tell her so to her face.”
Wiz looked around the room. “I think you just did.”
Malkin snorted. “So what? She’s dead and she can’t touch me.”
“Why you little guttersnipe!” Widder Hackett roared. “You’re a fine one to talk, what with . . .”
The ghost went on for some time and in some detail. In the middle of it Wiz discovered that putting his hands over his ears did absolutely nothing to block out her voice. Malkin watched his antics with some amusement.
“Anyways,” she went on when Widder Hackett finally ran down into a mumble, “you’ve got bigger things to worry about. That half-firkin councilman is going to hold it against you no matter how much provocation his pig nephew gave the girl.”
“He’s unhappy with me already. Just before Anna kneed Pieter I told him I wouldn’t support his latest graft opportunity disguised as a public works project disguised as a dragon defense.”
“In that case you’ve probably made yourself a mortal enemy. Dieter may dote on that little swine but he truly loves the chance to get money out of someone else’s pocket.”
“Well, it was inevitable anyway,” Wiz sighed, “once he figured out I wouldn’t go along with his scheme to get his hand into the public treasury up to the armpit.”
Malkin nodded and turned to go out. She paused in the doorway. “There’s another thing you’d better think about, Wizard. Young Halder’s not the only one who’s going to come sniffing about after Anna.”
“She seems to handle them pretty well.”
“Oh, aye. She’ll protect herself. If she understands what’s about in time. Problem is she’s as cow-witted as she is pretty and she might not see the danger. Not all men are as easily discouraged as Pieter Halder. That’s why she needs protection.”
Wiz sighed. Another responsibility I don’t need. “Look, go down there and comfort her, will you?”
“Me? What do I know about comforting hysterical females? You do it. You’ve got the knack and she looks up to you.”
“I’m not what she needs just now. Besides, I think she’d take it better if a woman told her she did the right thing.”
“All right then. I’ll look in on her.”
“Malkin?”
“Yes?”
“Do you suppose people will get the wrong idea about you and Anna living here with me?”
“Oh, there’ll be talk. Always is. But you’re a powerful wizard and you’re expected to be strange and mysterious in your ways. Besides, no one except chronic gossips are going to believe that you’d take advantage of the girl.” She eyed him. “I don’t know if you’re too married, under a spell or-Fortuna aid me!-a gentleman. But it’s obvious you’re not going to do her any harm.”
“What about you?”
Malkin threw back her head and laughed. “Me? Fortuna, I’ve got no reputation to lose, being a thief and all. And you could do better than a long stick like me in any establishment in town.” She sobered slightly. “Besides, men want women they can look down on and that’s a fact.”
Wiz started to protest that he found Malkin attractive and then decided this wasn’t the time. It was true about her height, Wiz realized. Malkin was easily the tallest woman he’d ever seen in this world. She was over six feet and her slenderness made her appear taller.
By the time he got all this together in his head, Malkin was gone.
Thirteen: Chat Mode
While ignorance and stupidity may debar a person from solving a problem, it is no handicap at all when it comes to screwing up someone else’s solution.
The Consultants’ Handbook
Wiz was bored, restless and, most of all, homesick for Moira and the Wizard’s Keep. E-mail was wonderful but it was no substitute for being there. It wasn’t even a substitute for talking on the phone.
He toyed with the idea of trying to set up a telephone call to the