Well, he did it. He said words in a phrase that she had no idea that went together. Private eye. He wasn’t wearing an eye patch so both his eyes were visible. Neither were private. The confusion crossed her face as easily as it crossed her mind. Then he added the part about watching people. “Private eyes watch people in secret?” The first two words were spoken slowly, as if they were foreign to her. Vigdis was not stupid. She wasn’t slow. The poor girl had been raised by wolves, so to speak. She never had a proper education. Hell, she didn’t even know how to read or write.

The girl didn’t even know that she was much of a beauty like he spoke. There weren’t many mirrors aboard the Crimson Ghost, nor did she have many standards to compare. There had been a few women here and there but none stayed on the ship too long. And they were usually heavily perfumed and overly powdered. If anything, that’s what Vigdis thought pretty women were supposed to look like. They were the ones that got the attention from the crewmen.

Marcus started to walk away, still speaking to her. There was no thought as to whether or not she should follow him. Vigdis simply did. “More people like me would make this a lot easier,” she commented. “Ye needn’t worry ‘bout me. Not from them at least.” No, it was the socialites that worried her. They fought with their tongues, not their swords. She could hold her own in fistcuffs. But a battle of the wits, she knew she was lacking. “So tell me, Bucko, how do we get that funnel cake if neither of us have the cash for it?” Vigdis really was hungry.