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I am shown to a room with more Marie Antoinette style furniture. The ceilings are tall and the room is at once grand and intimidating. She is sitting on a cream sofa with a white dog on her lap. She appears to me to be impervious, inflexible, and utterly cold. It is almost like looking into the eyes of a reptile. There is nothing there. No emotion at all. No warmth at all.
“Miss Raine Fillander,” the manservant announces in a formal tone.
“Thank you, Horton. We are ready for tea whenever you are.”
“Very good, Madam,” he says, and withdraws, closing the door.
Her eyes scan me, noting all the designer stuff I have piled on myself. I can tell by the expression in her eyes that she has come to the impression I wanted her to get. She thinks I dressed this way because wearing expensive designer clothes is important to me.
“Come in and sit down,” she invites.
I walk over and take the seat opposite her. “You have a very beautiful home.”
“Thank you,” she says, sounding bored.
Then her dog suddenly jumps off her lap and comes towards me.
“Cesar,” she calls, but it ignores her and sniffs at my ankle.
“He’s getting on now and if you sit still, he’ll pee on your leg,” she warns.
I don’t look up at her. I know exactly what she is doing. I grew up on a farm. I know and understand animals better than I do humans. This dog is not going to pee on me.
A) There is no way this dog is not toilet trained.
B) There is no way anyone in their right mind is going to let a dog soil such a fine and expensive carpet.
She just wants to startle me, to put me at a disadvantage. Well, round one to me. I reach out a hand and scratch the top of its head and instantly, it stands on its hind legs and begs to come up on my lap. I pick it up and put it on my lap and look up at her. Just in time to see her eyes flash with fury. She is quick to veil it.
So… she is jealous of her dog liking anyone else.
But I don’t want her to be angry and jealous. I don’t want her to see me as a formidable opponent. I want her to underestimate me. Sun Tzu’s advice reverberates in my head, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.
“I love all animals,” I tell her. “I grew up on a farm, you see. You can take the girl from the farm, but you can’t take the farm from the girl.”
I put the dog back down on the carpet, and it wanders back to her. She pats her thighs and it jumps back onto her lap.
There is a soft tap on the door, before it opens and three women of either Mexican or South American descent appear. They are wearing black and white maids’ uniforms and wheeling trolleys of food. As I stare in surprise the women load all the food onto the table. There are all kinds of sandwiches, bagels, cakes, pastries, doughnuts, and pots of tea.
I look up at her and find her watching me speculatively. “I didn’t know what you liked,” she murmurs.
“That was kind of you,” I say politely, but I feel the first real sense of unease. Is this woman even sane?
One of the maids pours tea into the gold-rimmed china cup in front of me.
“One sugar, thank you,” I instruct with a smile.
Then the women leave and I am left alone with the reptilian like human.
“Please, eat,” she urges.
The last thing in the world I want to do is eat, but I reach for a biscuit and nibble on it. “What did you want to see me about?”
“I heard that Konstantin has done what he does to all the women in his life. He casts them away when he is done with them. I understand he has also reneged on his promise to pay your sister’s medical bills.”
I don’t pretend to ask how she knows. I know exactly how she knows and she knows I know. I put the biscuit down on the saucer of my cup as if I am too emotional to eat.
“Yes. Yes, he has,” I say, making my voice sound choked and hoarse.
Her eyes glitter. “I’d like to help you.”
I pretend to look surprised. “You do?”
She smiles. “Yes. How would you like to easily earn a million dollars?”
“A million. How?”
“The police will come to interview you about the death of that Russian hacker. All you have to tell them is you were asleep. You were so deeply asleep you couldn’t be sure if Konstantin remained all night with you. He might have been, but he could just as easily not have been.”
