Weird.
“Here you go.” I handed him a beer from the refrigerator.
The poker game was back on, and the game of dice and paper had been revived by Wila, January, Vance, and Bede.
Which meant besides Foster and Robert, everyone was playing something. Robert reluctantly turned and delivered the beer then settled at a table by the window, watching the room.
His eyes followed me as I walked over to the poker game.
I didn’t know what was wrong with him, but he was not acting like himself at all. Or at least not like the man I’d met very briefly once.
Maybe I wasn’t the best judge. If no one else thought he was acting strangely, and since they all seemed comfortable with him, I had to assume that was true, then it must just be the way he was.
I stopped next to the game table, behind Abraham’s shoulder. He tipped his hand and thumbed the cards so I could see them.
A pair of twos and nothing else.
“Want the next hand?” he asked.
“Sure,” I said. “What are we betting?”
“Favors,” Welton said.
“It’s flexible,” Dotty said. “Since you’re House Gray, you can bet Abraham’s money.”
“Hey, now,” he said. “Don’t go promising my pocket, Dotty.”
She chuckled and won the pot on three aces.
Abraham shook his head and pushed away from the table toward the kitchen. “And you all thinkIcheat.”
“What did you have in the pot, Bram?” she asked.
“Must be something good.” Loy winked at me and took a drink of beer.
“One free month of workforce on one job,” Abraham said, “fifty people or fewer.”
She plucked a piece of paper out of the pile she’d gathered up. “No, honey, you promised me one free month of workforce on one job, two hundred people or fewer. And I know Feye Green is gonna be happy with that one.”
“Oh, I’ll win it back,” he said.
She grinned at me. “It’s cute when he thinks he’s in my league.”
Welton laughed. “None of us are in your league.”
Helen return from her walk, settling on the couch across from Wila and Bede.
Robert crossed the room and stopped next to me.
“Matilda,” he said, “I would like a moment with you, please.”
“I think I’m in the next hand,” I said.
“It is important.”
He’d helped Abraham bring us to the city undetected. I supposed I could give him a minute or two of my time.
“Sure, all right. I’ll catch the next round,” I said.
