Amanda was sorely impressed with Editta’s abilities. She hadn’t realized how smart her friend was. She guessed it was possible to be smart and superstitious at the same time, although she wasn’t sure what would happen if a situation required that Editta pick one or the other.
“That was amazing,” she said. “Just out of curiosity, how did you do that?”
“It’s simpler than it looks,” said Editta. “Sixteen cars at an average value of 18,200 pounds apiece. This is just a guess, of course. Fifteen thousand two hundred or so for the building, plus extra for the contents. I could be off.”
“That sounds reasonable,” said Amanda, who still had trouble converting between U.S. and UK currencies. Still, Editta’s assumptions made sense when you thought about them.
“Brava!” said Nick. “I think we should all take you out for chocolate.” Editta blushed again. She was starting to look good all red. The color went nicely with her brown eyes.
“If they ever let us out of this place,” said Amphora. “But I’m in. Excellent, Editta.”
“Thank you,” squeaked the honoree.
“What’s next then?” said Amanda. “I know. Why don’t we try profiling the perpetrator?”
“We haven’t had Profiling yet,” said Amphora.
“That’s okay. I have an idea,” said Amanda, winking at Nick. “We know how to look for a character’s motivation.”
“So we do,” said Nick, winking back.
Editta and Amphora looked at each other with a what-are-they-talking-about look.
“We can’t do it here, obviously,” said Amanda. “Let’s go to the common room. Don’t you just love those picture windows? I wonder how it’s decorated today. Do you think they ever let students suggest a theme?”
“That’s not a bad idea,” said Nick. “Let’s do it.”
“You can talk to Thrillkill,” said Amanda.
“I will,” said Nick. “It’s not an unreasonable request.”
Amanda gave him a look that said “Good luck with that.”
“Let’s go,” said Nick, stepping rhythmically, as if he were about to travel down the yellow brick road.
“Watch out for glass,” said Amanda.