“They’re priceless,” I answered. “Like your jokes. I must applaud you. Not only did I know nothing of this at the time, but I didn’t make any correct guesses when I did have a few facts to rub together. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

“Yes,” she said.

“I’m pleased there came a point where things went wrong for you,” I added.

She sighed, nodded, took a drink of wine.

“Yes, it came,” she acknowledged. “I was hardly expecting any recoil from such a simple bit of business. I still find it hard to believe that there’s that much irony running around loose in the world.”

“If you want me to appreciate the whole thing, you’re going to have to be a little more explicit,” I suggested.

“I know. In a way, I hate trading that vaguely puzzled expression you’re wearing for one of delight at my own discomfort. On the other hand, there may still be material able to distress you in some fresh fashion on the other side of it.”.

“Win a few, lose a few,” I said. “I’m willing to bet there are still features of those days that puzzle you.”

“Such as?” she asked.

“Such as why none of those April thirtieth attempts on my life succeeded.”

“I assume Rinaldo sabotaged me some way, tipped you off.

“Wrong.”

“What, then?”

“The ty’iga. She’s under a compulsion to protect me. You might recall her from those days, as she resided is the body of Gail Lampron.”

“Gail? Rinaldo’s girlfriend? My son was dating a demon?”

“Let’s not be prejudiced. He’d done a lot worse his freshman year.”

She thought a moment, then nodded slowly.

“You’ve got a point there,” she admitted. “I’d forgotten Carol. And you still have no idea — beyond what the thing admitted back in Amber — as to why this was going on?”

“I still don’t know,” I said.

“It casts that entire period in an even stranger light,” she mused, “especially since our paths have crossed again. I wonder…?”