Annaliese was on her feet and stalking Alfred’s way before Seth had time to do more than tighten his grip on the pistol Norma Jean had stashed in his pocket.
“Tell your monkey to give my reticule back,” she snapped.
“I ain’t got no control over what that monkey does,” Alfred said. “She’s got a mind of her own. Why, I’m just as surprised as you are that she nicked that bag straight out of your hands.”
“Spare me the innocent act,” Annaliese returned. “I saw you flick your stick in my direction right before your darling monkey scrambled over to me.” She glanced at the monkey, who was backing her way toward the tent flap, clearly preparing for a speedy escape. “I’m sure if you’d tell her to drop my bag, she would, but know that there’s no need to steal it as I’m perfectly willing to give the two of you a courtesy fee for showing up to help my students. That will spare you the bother of getting arrested for attempted theft, which will certainly earn you a stint behind bars.”
“Aren’t you going to give me a fee?” Marvel asked before Alfred could respond, although Alfred had taken to squintingat Annaliese quite as if he were weighing her offer of a fee against simply helping himself to the contents of her reticule.
Annaliese leveled a glacial look on the magician. “You’ve already been compensated today as you charged my students money to participate in a magic trick that went awry.” She turned to Alfred. “But to return to our conversation, how much of a fee do you believe you and your friend deserve?”
Alfred gave his chin a rub. “Should be at least a dollar ’cuz that’s how much my monkey could have made during the time we’ve been standing around, jawin’ about nonsense.”
“I’d be more than happy to give the two of you a dollar, although...” Something interesting flickered through her eyes. “I would be willing to pay more than a dollar if you’d sell me your monkey.”
Calculation immediately clouded Alfred’s eyes. “My monkey’s real special to me. Talented too, so I wouldn’t be willing to part with her for anything less than a hundred.”
“Done,” Annaliese didn’t hesitate to say.
Thurman released a snort. “There ain’t no way some schoolteacher would have an extra hundred dollars lying about.”
“How do you know this lady’s a schoolteacher?” Marvel asked.
“She said those girls were her students.”
“Ah,” Marvel said. “She did say that, but you’re right. There’s no possible way she has that kind of money.” Marvel sent Alfred a knowing look. “Take it from a magician. She’s trying to trick you.”
Velma took that moment to clear her throat, drawing everyone’s attention. “Miss Merriweather isn’t trying to trick anyone because she’s not just a teacher but is a member of what the fancy call the New York Four Hundred in New York City, and...” Whatever else Velma continued to say became unintelligible when Norma Jean stepped behind her and placed a hand over Velma’s mouth.
“Did you not learn anything from my abduction attempt?” Seth heard Norma Jean mutter.
Velma’s eyes went wide right as Thurman stepped forward, rubbing his hands together, something that suggested the situation was about to turn trickier than it already was.
Five
“Seems to me we might have members of the quality with us, boys” were the next words out of Thurman’s mouth, which lent credence to Seth’s theory that events were going to deteriorate, and rapidly at that.
“Too right it does,” Alfred added before he snapped his fingers, causing the monkey to abandon Annaliese’s bag before it scrambled over to Alfred and jumped up to his shoulder. The monkey immediately covered her eyes, as if she couldn’t bear to watch what she knew was coming next.
Annaliese, instead of looking the slightest bit concerned over their latest predicament, moved to pick up her reticule and calmly tucked it under her arm. “If the three of you are now contemplating how much money you might receive if you were, say, thinking about holding us for ransom, know that while stealing a lady’s reticule will earn you a brief stint in jail, holding us for ransom will see you spending far more time there.”
“Not if we don’t get caught,” Thurman replied.
Annaliese turned to Seth. “You’re remarkably proficient when it comes to odds. What do you think the odds are that these men won’t get caught if they try to hold us for ransom?”
Figures immediately swirled through Seth’s mind until a specificnumber settled front and center. “I’d say sixteen percent since there’s a whole unit of policemen milling about the steam engine display.”
“Not very good odds at all then,” she said, returning her attention to men who were now exchanging confused looks, something that implied they were trying to puzzle out if the odds were good enough to risk spending time in jail.
Alfred gave his head a scratch as he turned to Thurman. “If I’m figurin’ right, there’s a greater chance we’re gonna get caught than get off scot-free. You know Ora ain’t goin’ like it if I get hauled off to jail again.”
“Your missus ain’t goin’ to like it if she finds out you blew a chance to make some serious blunt either,” Thurman shot back.
“But if that gent’s right, we have a fifty-five percent chance of gettin’ arrested.”
“Eighty-four percent,” Seth felt compelled to point out, which earned him a look of bewilderment from Alfred and a grin from Annaliese.
Before he could do more than appreciate the grin, Thurman took to counting on his fingers, then counted his fingers again before he shrugged.
