“Fish and chips. Beans on toast.”
Kaden shifted slightly. “What’s the most unusual part of your routine?”
Blake hesitated, then said, “I rehearse conversations.”
Kaden raised an eyebrow. “Before meetings?”
“Before anything. Running through possibilities,” Blake admitted. “Phone calls. Interviews.” He gestured lightly between them. “This.”
Joe grinned. “Ah, so somewhere, there’s a version of this where I trip up?”
“There are several versions,” Blake said. “In one of them, you knock something over.”
Joe glanced deliberately at a nearby glass lamp.
“Please don’t,” Blake said. “That’s a Lasvit. Cost me over two thousand pounds.”
“It’s lovely.” Kaden smiled. “You have good taste. Is that a Lowry?”
“It is. I’m from Lancashire. It reminds me of my working-class roots.”
“Did you anticipate me asking about that?”
Blake’s mouth twitched. “Yes.”
“I’m not sure whether I should be annoyed to be found predictable.”
“People can be very unpredictable.”
“Occupational hazard, I imagine.”
Blake glanced at him. “Among other things.”
Kaden tilted his head. “Do you ever get it wrong? The rehearsals, I mean.”
Blake was quiet for a moment. “Yes,” he said finally. “I can’t control everything.”
“And what happens then?” Kaden asked.
Blake met his gaze. “You adapt. Or you deal with the consequences.” Blake held his gaze a second longer than necessary.
Joe swallowed hard.
“As I said,” Blake smiled now, “people are unpredictable.” Then he added, almost idly, “Though some are better at hiding it than others.”
Joe felt that land. Did he suspect them? But how could he?
Kaden didn’t flinch. “If we weren’t unpredictable, you’d have nothing to rehearse for. What do you think of penguins?”
Blake chuckled. “I like them. I sponsor one at London Zoo. Did you know that?”
“No. I spotted that ornament on the windowsill. I like penguins too.”
“What’s the most unusual thing you know about penguins?” Blake asked.
“That they have a catastrophic moult once a year and lose all their feathers in a short period of time.”
Blake smiled. “I like that they have a gland above their eye that filters out the salt from sea water after they drink it.”
