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He looked at me for what felt like a long time. ”Do I know you from somewhere?”
I shook my head. ”No,” I said. ”I guess I just have one of those faces.”
I definitely did not have one of those faces, and we both knew it, but in the darkly lit restaurant, he probably couldn’t recognize me from the newspapers and certainly not from a mugshot.
Sam shrugged. ”Alright,” he said. ”This is Archer.”
Archer was a man in his late forties wearing tight black slacks, a grey shirt and a denim jacket. I could immediately tell that he was also part of the police; something about the way he held himself made it obvious.
I could also immediately tell that he was sleeping with Sam.
”You brought a date!” Sofia said, as we all sat down.
Sam’s eyes widened. ”Uh,” he said, his gaze darting around the room. ”Yes. I mean, yeah.”
So that meant he wasn’t just a date. He was probably Sam’s superior in some way, which made him interesting.
I took a sip of wine, keeping my eyes on Archer. He was older than me, softer around the middle, with wrinkles around his eyes.
It seemed like a façade.
There was something dangerous about him, something that made my pulse quicken. I knew that I shouldn’t be thinking about him like this, but I couldn’t help it. I told myself I was just being paranoid.
Most of the time, and for good reason, I didn't trust the police.
”So, Teo,” Sam said, interrupting my thoughts after we’d ordered and as we started to make conversation. ”What do you do for a living?”
”I own a few nightclubs,” I said. ”Real estate holdings. That kind of thing.”
Archer leaned forward, his cold gaze appraising me. ”Really? You look like you'd be in security or something.”
”What can I say?” I shrugged. ”I make time to work out. It's good for my mental health.”
Archer's mouth quirked up into a smirk. ”I can certainly see that,” he said. ”You must have a lot of…stressful situations to deal with.”
I didn't miss the way Sam glared at Archer, as if warning him to back off. It was obvious that the two of them had some kind of history, and I was curious to know what it was.
Sofia seemed to sense the tension in the air, so she quickly changed the subject. ”So, Archer,” she said, smiling sweetly. ”How did you meet my brother?”
Archer’s eyes flicked to Sam before he answered. ”On the job,” he said. ”Your brother is a fine protégé and he’ll make a good detective some day.”
Sofia’s eyes widened. She looked more than a little alarmed and she flashed me a look as if I was going to be able to bail her out. I knew I should’ve kept my mouth shut, but this was the first time she had actively asked me for help.
I took another sip of my wine. ”Do you make it a habit to sleep with your protégés?”
Archer smiled at that, his gaze sliding down Sam’s body. ”Only when they’re devastatingly handsome,” he replied.
Sam cleared his throat, his cheeks reddening. ”Can we talk about something else?” he asked, looking uncomfortable.
Sofia looked between her brother and his date and nodded. ”Of course,” she said. ”Whatever you want.”
The rest of the meal passed by without incident, but I noticed that Archer would often look at me as if he was searching my face for answers. Mostly, I let Sofia do the talking. Regardless of the weird social situation we found ourselves in, it was nice to see how well she got along with her brother, and it was clear that they had missed each other.
I considered what I was about to do next very carefully. Leaving Sofia alone with her brother implied that she could ask him for help, and if she did, we’d be in a world of shit. Even then, I could tell she was concerned about him, and she wasn’t stupid.
This was a gamble, but it was one I knew I needed to take.
Once our meal was finished, I stood up. ”I’m going for a smoke,” I said. ”Archer, care to join?”
