Page 8 of The Liar in Room 5

“Caught me,” he recovered with a twinkling laugh that felt entirely calculated to disarm someone. It was likely highly effective. “I’d like to know more about squash.”

The charming smile, pretty as it was, didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Would you really?” I asked quietly.

The noises around us faded into a buzz. Something about Andy made me want to find all the inconsistencies he forgot to hide. Given the lengths he’d gone to hide the pickleball-squash scandal, the slips had to be accidental.

“No,” Andy admitted quietly.

“Then why not say you do?”

“Because Walter was interested in it,” Andy answered with an added shrug as if that was the obvious answer.

My phone had buzzed every so often during the conversation, but now, it was a nonstop vibration.

“Sorry,” I said sheepishly. “They don’t seem to be giving up.”

“It’s fine,” Andy replied without a trace of annoyance. “Chances are your business is important.”

Something about the matter-of-fact way he decided my job was more important than the conversation we were having stopped me in my tracks.

“Is our conversation not important?”

“Not as important as your business, I’m sure.”

The way he said it made it seem as if I were the one who wasn’t making sense, as if my viewpoint was the strange one.

I made a show of pulling my phone out of my pocket and making sure he could see the screen as I turned it off entirely.

“It’s definitely not. I can’t offer you pickleball or squash this afternoon, but how do you feel about parks?”

“Thanks for keeping me company.”

“I don’t mind. It’s not a hardship to leave Halo House, although I do love it there,” Andy deflected. “Have you been a supporter for a long time?”

The hint of nervousness in Andy’s voice was juxtaposed against his painfully stylish outfit. The pretty sweater on his shoulders was a preppy touch, and his styled-within-an-inch-of-its-life hair hadn’t moved at all, even though the wind along the coastline whipped around us. From the passenger seat, he projected the epitome of calm, so long as you didn’t notice the nonstop tic just under his eye.

The scenery raced past the open sides of my convertible. The waves crashed against the fallen rocks of the cliff. The endless blue never failed to make me smile. I grew up here and loved it. More than that, I loved this stupid car. If Andy had objections to my favorite ride when I didn’t need to be client-ready, he hadn’t said anything. It was absurdly California-coded and made me feel like an asshole lawyer, but I hoped there was never a reason to give up my candy-apple red classic Mustang.

“Yeah, a couple of years. Phoenix is highly persuasive when convincing someone to support his cause,” I answered with a low chuckle.

That might be the understatement of the year. He was the smoothest dog with a bone I’d encountered in or out of the negotiating room. I spent my days working deals, but trying to best Phoenix had been a lost cause from the beginning. Giving fast and early was always the best resolution with him.

“How are you getting on there?”

Andy’s breathing caught before he evened it out and brought it back to normal. When I glanced down, he’d placed his hands palm down on his thighs and was rubbing them. His nervous tells were obvious, which, from my perspective, was very much appreciated.

“It’s been nice the last couple of weeks getting to know everyone there,” Andy said brightly.

“What bro⁠—”

“What do you do?”

Andy asked the question like the answer would change his life. It sounded genuine, but I wasn’t sure it actually was. It was hard to articulate why because there was nothing wrong, per se, but something about the way he asked felt tinged with deflection, not deception.

“I’m an entertainment attorney,” I answered, then waited for the barrage of questions about my client list. It never actually worked because I valued confidentiality, but in my experience, that was usually people’s reaction.

“Interesting. Is that what you wanted to study in law school?” If Andy was faking interest, he was a better actor than ninety-five percent of my clients. “Is that something you can specialize in in law school?”