“So your evening with Ellington was just a ruse?” she asked doubtfully. “I couldn’t take my eyes off her,” I said again. I’d tried to explain Ellington Feint to Moxie Mallahan several times, and each time she gave me the same skeptical look. “Skeptical” is a word which here meant she didn’t believe me. She thought I had other reasons for wanting to spend the evening with Ellington, and I’d been unable to convince her she was wrong.
