nineteen-year-old who ran a brutal gambling ring. He’d been tiny, probably weighed a-hundred-and-ten pounds, and he’d had two big dimples when he smiled. But he was ruthless in his exploits. If he wanted someone roughed up or taken out, he did it himself, usually with a few people watching. If he wanted someone taken out in secret, his equally tiny twin sister acted as his assassin.
So yeah. Appearances could definitely be deceiving, and I couldn’t let Kate’s blush affect my assessment. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy talking to her. Maybe I’d even get to know her a little. Having someone inside the boss’s house could be a real help, if I could figure out how to play my cards right.
“I’ve only been here a month,” she said, smiling over at the kid. “He’s a really good baby.”
That was great, but I didn’t want to hear about the kid. I wanted to know more about her. “So you’re from the States. You’re a long way from home.”
“In more ways than one,” she said.
“Yeah? How so?”
“I’m from Alabama. I grew up in a small town. The life I lived there seems a million miles away from this one.”
Yeah, because your boss is a crook, who doesn’t mind murdering people for money. “Which town in Alabama?” I’d grown up in Oxford, Mississippi, and I ditched my southern accent as soon as I started working in the field.
“Brooksville, not far from Decatur.”
I nodded. I’d never heard of it, but I’d been to Decatur.
“Are you from the States?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said. “San Francisco.” I understood a little German, and I was fluent in Spanish, but I wasn’t perfect at it. I couldn’t pass as having grown up anywhere but in an English-speaking country. San Francisco was a big enough city that most Americans wouldn’t have a clue that I didn’t grow up there.
“I haven’t been there yet.”
“You’ll love it,” I said. “How do you know the Laurents?”
“I had a professor who…”
Before she could finish, the baby let out a sharp cry and Kate launched into action. She turned to face the high chair and spoke to the kid. “Hey, buddy. Great job on finishing your carrots.”
He gave her a big toothless grin and picked up a piece of banana, smashing it between his fingers. She smiled back at him. “Are you ready to get up? We can read a book before bed.”
If she was posing as a nanny, then she was doing a damn fine job of it.
The baby picked up his spoon and started gnawing on it.
I wasn’t ready for her to leave. “Looking for an escape route?” I asked.
She spun back to face me. This time the flush spread down her neck and chest. “I...um. I have to make sure Gabriel’s taken care of. I can’t let him cry.”
“So they want him to be seen and not heard.”
“No,” she said. “But this is a business dinner, not social. Keeping Gabriel happy is my job.”
Ah. So she was flustered and trying to defend her bosses. Interesting. I assumed most of the people in Laurent’s household staff would resent his pompous attitude, but maybe she was genuine.
“Well. I do admire people that take their jobs seriously.”
She took a quick look at the baby again, but he was still happy. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t even ask what you did for Mr. Laurent.”
“I’m his corporate accountant,” I replied.
Gabriel started to squirm, and she came and lifted him from his seat. She expertly moved him to the side and made him sit on her lap back in her chair, so he couldn’t reach her wine glass or her plate, even though he kept grabbing for both.
She smoothed her hand over his head. It was an unconscious gesture, one full of affection. It wasn’t often someone her age from Alabama ended up in Chile. Whatever else she might have been up to, she was a good nanny, and she sure as hell wasn’t up for bad-mouthing Laurent with me.
She lifted those green eyes to look at me. This time they sparkled. “I wish I knew what that meant,” she said.
“I doubt you want to hear about that,”
“I really do,” she protested. “I don’t know much about finance, beyond studying poverty statistics in college. All my courses were in social science.”
So she’d been to college, and she’d mentioned a professor before the baby had cried. I still needed to know how she ended up down here, but I couldn’t push too hard, too fast. “I’d