"Why not?"

"Because I know the person who told them to me, and I know they weren't lying."

"Based on your deep personal regard for them? Because you have kidnapped their great-grand-niece? Because magic lie detection?" asks Bella.

"I am just very, very good at predicting people," says Libby. "If I know someone well enough, I always know whether or not they are lying, and usually why. This person wasn't."

"Generous of her," says Libby.

"Very."

"And convenient for you."

"Whistle is overall extremely convenient for me. I was very lucky."

"I'm beginning to see that," says Libby.

Bella smiles pleasantly.

"Although I'm curious as to exactly how she is convenient."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, in what ways besides curbing her destructive impulses and letting you read her mind does she make your life easier?"

"It's nice to have a collaborator for magical experiments," Bella says. This seems like harmless, obvious information.

"I'm sure it is."

"And, of course, before I watched Bridget get shot, Whistle was the only person I could really talk to about magic."

"...You watched Bridget get shot?"

"Yes. I take it she really wasn't keeping you posted on our activities? We got followed by a creep, we told him to piss off, he turned out to have a gun and he managed to put a bullet - well, not in, on her before I took him down. I know aikido," Bella adds.

"Why, did you think she was? No. Although I did ask her if you were dead, right after you dropped off the map."

"I wasn't sure if she was or not. She told me about the 'dead' thing."

"And you didn't ask her if she was reporting any more extensively?"

"I asked her all the questions under the sun, but I can't take anyone's word as gospel, and Whistle's the only person I can check up on directly."

"Yes, I was going to say. Not asking a question doesn't seem at all like you."

"I sometimes exhibit discretion, but at the time I had no reason to restrain myself around Bridget."