de's

es quieter. The floor was so polished I could see my own tired face in

esk where a young woman in a gray blaze

"I saw the sign outside. F

, and I watched her decide what I was wor

n said w

worse. Then her eyes dropped to the clipboard beside her phone, and she sighed.

lowe Street, and left the rest empty. Under marital status I wrote divor

with glasses on a chain and a pencil behind ea

xperi

ma'

efere

she's seventy four an

f. "We have forty candidates today, Miss La

derst

you still si

over things that hurt, and I could have said something polishe

job more than anyon

a moment. Then she picked up the phone. "Send

through. A man in his forties with sharp cheekbones and a sharper tie was already waiting insid

your last pos

s mar

ifted. "I mea

schedules, staff, guests. I kept a calendar for a

h sof

oteb

typed something

n't k

guag

h. I haven't us

t to work for K

o work. Knight Hol

went hot. "I'm sorry. That came out wrong. I mean that I wo

Hale said,

opened

way it does when a storm is about to break. Mar

't know you

voice was low

Tall. Dark suit, charcoal shirt, no tie. Black hair cut close. His eyes were a gra

o built an empire out of an old shipping firm. The man who,

he said t

ent has no experience, sir. No refere

hea

e that she does not

rd tha

d for a long, ridiculous moment he just studied me, the

he said. "Can yo

it. My hand slipped to my lap, then flattened over my stomach, an

ame out as a whispe

r five years that y

ted,"

e glass, a printer humme

said, and pushed a la

the glass behind him. Marcus Hale watched my fingers

per minute," Marcu

ll im

here are people downs

ss Laurent starts tomorrow. Eight o'clock sh

ir

s all,

y. "I'm sorry. I don't und

a

hy

ok, and something in it was almost gentle, which frightened me more

ing. I said thank you three

ly at the elevator, when hi

Laur

the glass room, one hand in his pocket, the

Dacre Knight said quietly. "

opened behind me, a