Still smiling, Christy said goodbye and left the meeting room. It was unusual for someone from the Jinx to joke with us like that, but her position was unique. She was a member of the Jinx, but she was also in a relationship with Fifteen, our young aide, so we saw her socially from time to time.
Fifteen was young, perhaps only a year or two older than his name. He was usually attired in cutoff jeans and a battered T-shirt, with his head shaved. Christy was somewhat older. My wife, the great detective, estimated her age as late 30s. I would have said a few years younger than that, but Jan accused me of being swayed by a pretty face, glorious red hair, and a shapely figure. I denied this accusation, of course.
In any case, Fifteen had fallen for Christy the first moment he'd seen her. She had seemed flattered, but she'd always made it clear that the very idea was silly, and the rest of us did tease him about this infatuation from time to time (though not in front of her, of course).
Then, one night at a party, they showed up together, she with her arm through his, and they were together all evening. At first we thought this was a joke, but then they left together, and my employer (despite my admonitions that this was none of her business) followed them and determined that they went together to Fifteen's modest room and remained there together all night.
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