KILLING SARAI(76)

Victor walks with me through the enormous room and we are then greeted by a man, though this man is not Arthur Hamburg. He is much younger with sandy-brown hair and brown eyes.

“Welcome to the Hamburg estate,” he says. He reaches out a hand and Victor shakes it. “I am Vince Shaw, Mr. Hamburg’s assistant.”

“I am Victor Faust and this is my lady, Izabel Seyfried.”

I hold my hand out to the man, palm-down and he takes it into his fingers and leans over kissing the top.

I wonder if that’s really Victor’s last name. He doesn’t seem worried about using his real first name…unless ‘Victor’ isn’t his real first name, either…

I can’t think about that right now.

‘Vince’ takes a glass of champagne from a tray when a server walks up carrying it. The server presents the tray to us next.

“Please, have a glass,” Vince says and Victor takes one from the tray and gives it to me before getting one for himself.

“I apologize,” Vince says, “but I was curious as to where you obtained your invite.”

Victor takes a sip and is slow to answer as though he’s important enough to make the man wait for it.

“Izabel and I were guests at Mr. Hamburg’s restaurant last evening. There was an incident.”

“Oh, yes of course,” Vince says with a knowing, but respectful smile. Then he turns to me. “You were compensated with interest for your dress, I presume?”

“Yes, I was,” I say and take a sip. “But I must say, I think it could’ve been handled differently.”

“Oh? In what way do you mean?”

“Well, it happened to be my favorite dress. Sentimental to me, if you must know. The waiter should’ve been relieved of his job.”

“Ah, yes,” Vince says. “Well, that certainly can be arranged. I will speak with Mr. Hamburg about it personally. That is, if you don’t want to speak to him yourself about it when he meets with the two of you later.”

“No,” I say and bat my eyes. “I trust that you will save me from having to repeat myself.”

I look at Victor who seems to be pleased with my performance.

“Of course,” Vince says. “Say no more. It will be done.” He smiles, revealing his straight, white teeth.

I feel terrible about being the reason that poor guy will get fired, but I make myself feel better by telling myself that he shouldn’t be working for a man like Hamburg anyway. After all, if we were sent here to kill him it can only mean he’s a bastard in some way, shape or form.

We mingle with Vince for a short while, but mostly I just sip on my champagne and listen to the two of them talk. Every now and then I’ll bring up my hand, folding my fingernails over and into view, nonchalantly studying them out of boredom. I notice Victor glance at his watch once.

“Mr. Hamburg will be down to greet his guests in no time,” Vince says. “For now, feel free to enjoy the champagne and hors d'oeuvres. Ah, there she is!” He waves a hand toward us and we turn around. “I would like for you to meet Lucinda Graham-Spencer.” He smiles at Victor. “Surely you know of her?”

A stunning woman wearing a tight white dress that hugs her hourglass curves approaches with a man in a suit.

“Yes, I have heard her play,” Victor says. “At a concert in London last year. She is brilliant.”

“Darrrling, how are you?” the woman named Lucinda Graham-Spencer asks holding out her arms dramatically to Vince. Victor and I step aside and she flits between us to plant two almost-kisses on each of Vince’s cheeks.

I roll my eyes. Not just in character, either.

“Lucinda,” Vince says, turning to Victor, “meet Victor Faust and,” he gestures to me, “Izabel Seyfried. They are guests of Mr. Hamburg.”

Lucinda leans in to Victor the same way she did with Vince and they kiss each cheek. Then she turns to me. Victor’s eyes narrow at me privately, but it’s not enough of a hint and I sure as hell can’t read his mind.

So, I act as my gut tells me to.

“A pleasure to meet you,” I say politely yet without letting my air of self-importance diminish. I kiss her cheeks in return, my hands fitted gently around her arms as hers are on mine.

Victor’s eyes smile at me now, approving of my choice and probably relieved by it. Apparently, this woman is of a much higher stature than I could ever be, and although I have no idea what kind of musician she is or why she is so important, I know that she must be famous in her own right and I would only make myself look like an idiot if I shunned someone as respected as her. In fact, we’d probably get kicked out on our asses if I did.

Vince leaves Victor and me alone as he walks with the woman through the room to introduce her to the other guests. I listen to him, noticing that he says the same thing to everyone that he said to us and that everyone here is introduced as ‘guests of Mr. Hamburg’. I start to wonder just how Victor plans to get Mr. Hamburg’s sole attention with so many other people in here, couples included, to compete with.

Victor drapes his free hand around the back of my waist and we walk through the room slowly, pretending to talk about the paintings and the statues. He’ll point subtly to this and that and comment on the detail or the color or the emotion it portrays. It’s all pointless, uninteresting observations that really don’t warrant verbal recognition in my opinion, but I play along anyway. Soon, I see that he was using that time to get across the room without looking lost or as though we needed the company of someone else to make us feel more welcome.