“Some people would say that,” suggested Mma Makutsi, mischievously.

“But I think we need to know a little bit more,” said Mma Ramotswe.

“Then ask him. Isn’t that the way we work in the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency? Don’t we just ask people if we want to find out something?”

Mma Ramotswe had to agree that this was true. If she ever wrote a book like The Principles of Private Detection, she would add to what Clovis Andersen had to say. He suggested all sorts of clever ways of finding out facts—following people, looking at what they threw away in the bin, watching the sort of people they mixed with, and so on—but he did not say anything about asking them to their faces. That was often the best way of getting information, and in her book, if she ever wrote it (Private Detection for Ladies might be a good title), she would make much of this direct method. After all, this technique had served her well in many of her cases, and perhaps this was another occasion on which it might be used.

She rose from her desk and sauntered into the garage, followed by Mma Makutsi. Mr J.L.B. Matekoni was attending to a car which was parked outside, its owner standing anxiously by. Inside the garage, underneath the hydraulic ramp upon which a large red car was balanced, Charlie and the younger apprentice were peering up at the car’s suspension.

“So,” said Mma Ramotswe conversationally. “So you are going to fix the suspension of that car. The driver will be very grateful to you. He will not feel so many bumps once you have finished.”

Charlie looked away from the car and smiled at Mma Ramotswe. “That is right, Mma. We are going to make this suspension so smooth that the driver will think he is riding along on a cloud.”

“You are very clever,” said Mma Ramotswe.

“That is right,” said Charlie. “I am.”

Mma Ramotswe glanced at Mma Makutsi, who bit her lip. It was sometimes very difficult to remain civil when dealing with these boys. It would have been so easy to be sarcastic, but the problem was that they did not understand sarcasm: it was wasted on them.

“We saw you yesterday afternoon,” she said airily. “We saw you getting into a very smart car, Charlie. You must have some very smart friends these days.”

The apprentice laughed. “Very smart,” he said. “Yes. You’re right, Mma. I have some very smart friends. Hah! You think I’m nothing, but I have friends who do not think that.”

“I have never thought you were nothing,” protested Mma Ramotswe. “You have no right to say that.”

Charlie looked to the younger apprentice for support, but there was none forthcoming. “All right,” he said. “Maybe you do not think that. But I’m telling you, Mma, my life is going to change. It’s going to change very soon, and then …”

They waited for him to finish speaking, but he did not.