The owl lady's bushy eyebrows shot up. "The police have a favourite suspect? Really? Who, pray tell, would that be?"
Rivqua looked at the big feather-clad female. She wasn't making the connection. At the same time she seemed almost guilty. Too guilty. Rivqua put it down to default behaviour of owlish bank managers faced with any challenge regarding the unknown.
Zana went in with customary delicacy. "Hoot Gaas of course! Fadda Bing gets smoked and the same day Hoot goes missing! He never goes missing! His second-in-command at the casino made that clear, and he seemed to be a pretty educated fish. A bit odd, wouldn't you say?"
Owl woman stared at them both.
"Hoot Gaas? A murder suspect?"
"We don't know for sure," Rivqua said, raising a finger. "But I can imagine the detective inspector's got both his brains working that angle-"
Before she'd finished the bank manager burst out laughing. Took off with a guffaw that rocked her feathery bulk from top to bottom. The robot clerk turned to look what was going on. This was not a familiar display.
The girls looked at each other. For want of grasping what was funny they joined in, applying mild chuckles to the moment.
Rivqua said, "Yeah, suspicion of murder, eh? How about that?"
"You might not believe this, Ma'am," added Zana, "but we've got two brains too, between us, and we came to the same conclusion!"
The lady owl slapped her thighs, howling away.
"Hoot Gaas!" she shrieked. "A murder suspect!"
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