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He looked taken aback. “Oh my God! What happened? Was she ill?”
“It was a car accident,” I lied, hoping that Jana had led me true about the official story. “Vincent, one of my half-brothers, died in the same accident.”
“That’s terrible,” Andrew said blankly. “I just can’t tell you how sorry I am. I’m surprised we didn’t hear about it. We would have sent flowers. I can’t believe… I mean, she was so vital. So intense, so charismatic. A truly remarkable woman.”
“Yes, it was very sad,” I said. “We were, um… all broken up about it.”
“Yes.” Andrew lay his hand on mine as his gaze slid down the bare skin in the vee of the dress. “It’s tragic. But I am glad to have met you tonight. Yet another beautiful, fascinating Halliwell daughter. Who would have thought he had so many?”
Creepy. So I was interchangeable with my dead sister? A consolation prize? I removed my hand from beneath his with a big, empty smile. “I’m actually not a Halliwell,” I told him. “I use my mother’s name. Clarke.”
“So you and Nicole were half-siblings, then? That makes sense. You don’t resemble her at all in looks. You must both look like your mothers. Were you two close?”
“Not really,” I admitted. “She and Vincent were older than me, and I was raised away from them, with my mom. I came to work with Mr. Halliwell very recently.”
“So formal, for an American,” Andrew commented. “You don’t call him Dad?”
“Yes, it is formal, but calling him Dad seems overly familiar,” I said. “I didn’t grow up with him, so it just doesn’t feel right.”
To my relief, Andrew seemed to accept that severely edited explanation. Then Halliwell clinked his glass and started off with long string of self-congratulatory toasts, which touched off still more from the other side. He and Mr. Hwang performed a twenty-minute circle jerk, each lauding the mutual marvelousness of the new partner, their commitment to this shared endeavor, the massive profits sure to follow, blah blah.
I pretended to drink at each toast, smiling until my cheeks ached and burned.
After desserts and liqueurs were served, Andrew Hwang leaned over and murmured into my ear. “Care to go out for a drink after? I found a place down on the beachfront in town that’s still open.”
I suppressed a shudder. “I wish I could, but I have a really full day tomorrow. I have to be up and functional in less than four hours as it is.”
His smile faded a notch. “Ah. Another time, then.”
“Certainly,” I said, smiling, smiling, smiling. Right. When pigs flew.
After the goodbyes, I walked out of the restaurant and looked around for the SUV that had brought me here. It was nowhere to be seen.
Then a silver Lamborghini pulled up in front of me. Halliwell looked up from the driver’s seat. “I sent Samuel home,” he said. “I’ll drive you back. A chance to talk.”
Great. Like I needed to mainline more stress hormones today. Being in close quarters with that man made my liver feel like it had been in the deep freeze for weeks.
I got in, repeating it in my head.Stay strong. Hang tough. Think of Reggie.
“I noticed your conversation with Andrew Hwang,” Halliwell said, once we were underway. “He seemed quite taken with you. What was he curious about?”
“We discussed systems design, security, penetration testing strategies, malware,” I said. “He’d actually heard about Red Queen Consulting. Which was very gratifying to hear.”
“Of course he’d heard of it. Everyone in the industry has heard of it. So that’s all? I hope you know the futility of lying to me.”
I twisted my fingers together, chilled with irrational fear. I had been six people down the table from Halliwell, who had been seated next to Hwang, Sr., the big boss of the Hwang Group. Halliwell had been in constant, animated conversation with Hwang and the other people near him the whole time. How had he overheard my hushed conversation? It was like the guy was telepathic, with a direct line right into my head.
“Come on,” he prompted. “Don’t be coy. Did he ask you about Nicole?”
I weighed each word. “Um. Yes. He wanted to know why she wasn’t there.”
“And what did you tell him?”
“I don’t know much about Nicole. Her life, or her death. But I was told to say that she and Vincent died in a car accident. I hope it was the right thing to tell him.”
Halliwell maneuvered the car onto the road that led up to the clifftop drive, switching back and forth on long loops to gain elevation. “He must have been very disappointed,” he said finally. “I’m sure he was hoping to fuck her again.”
I flinched away from that. “I wouldn’t know. He didn’t mention it to me.”
