Chapter 39: Chapter 39

There is not even a chance of me trying to behave like I didn’t hear him. I was stuck like a deer caught in headlights. Coming face to face with a potential murderer is not how I pictured my lunch break going to be.

‘I…uh…I’, that’s it, my mind took a bag and went on a vacation. What will someone say to their sister’s murderer? Rage boiled inside me. I want to plummet him to the ground with my blows. Alas, I shall not do it. I shook myself clearing any emotions and lingered and pasted a smile on my face.

I tried again with my pretension. ‘Oh, Mr. Sinclair, I was just going to have some lunch. You must be busy. Here, please don’t let me keep you from whatever work you were doing’, I slide out from the elevator, giving him a wide berth for him to enter.

‘Oh no. How can I work when I can have a chance to have lunch with such a pretty face!’, he tried to flatter me.

Lunch? with him? I imagine it for a minute, and I can conclude that within the first 10 seconds I could be stabbing him with the fork. That’s about the control I have.

‘Umm, Mr. Sinclair, I’m afraid I have to refuse it. I have tons of work littered on my desk and I must get back to it as early as possible’, I imitated my apology.

‘No. I’m not hearing any of it. Dear big brother has kept you locked in his tower long enough. I won’t take no for an answer. I insist you join me’, he tried to persuade me.

‘But Mr. Sinclair, my work… and Raphael, I mean Mr. Sinclair won’t be happy if I use company hours for an elaborate lunch’, I used my excuses.

‘That can be easily fixed’. He took out his mobile and called Raphael.

‘Hello big brother, guess what I found? Your sweet secretary. She will be late to take your dictation. I’m taking her to lunch. Uh-huh…hello…hello…I can't hear you. Sorry, brother looks like the connection is weak. See ya’, he cut the line with a wide grin, looking like a cat who got his cream.

‘So, Ms. Anderson, I hope you won’t have any more problems having lunch with poor me?’, he said and dragged me to a nearby restaurant without asking me for my taste.

‘I really should be back in an hour’, I said, forcing a smile that I hoped was derisory.

‘Oh, pooh. If you have not noticed Erica, can I call you Erica? Good. Where was I? Oh yes, if you have not noticed, I’m also one of the executives- in short, indirectly your superior. So, as your superior I would say you have my permission for late lunch’, he said with an authority which he thought sounded like Raphael. Unfortunately, it looked like a child imitating his parents.

‘As you say, Mr. Sinclair’, I gritted out.

We ordered our lunch in silence. I tried to control my rage with my thoughts as paradoxically my hand is inching towards the fork. Just one stab. No one will see.

To divert my killing tendencies, I thought about what Sophie said to me. Jack hired a PI.

If he is the one who hired the PI, then he must have known about our relationship. At the very least about me. Then why didn’t he recognize me when we first met? If he is not guilty why didn’t he approach me? If not to talk then to offer his condolences. What kept him away? Why this fake ignorance? Is it because he never got the opportunity to talk alone with me until now? But his behavior is not suggesting a serious talk. If the teasing glint in his eyes is any indication. More questions are stacking in my mind and nowhere near to finding answers. What’s his game?

I opened my mouth to ask that exact thing, but he beat me to it by asking, ‘So, a little bird said something to me’.

I drank some water expecting him to ask about Sophie. ‘About what?’

‘Uh uh uh…it is a secret. An interesting secret’, he said with a gleam.

Forget the dramatic pause and get to the point, I wanted to snarl at him.

‘A secret? We all have secrets, Mr. Sinclair. Even you. Some are more gripping than others’, I countered, hinting at him.

‘Alas Ms. Anderson, my secrets are not as fascinating as yours.’

‘Trust me, Mr. Sinclair, I don’t have any of those fascinating secrets. I’m just a normal secretary. Nothing interesting about me’, I blatantly lied.

‘I won’t count a secret tryst with my brother as not fascinating Ms. Anderson’, he said with a smirk.

My thoughts came to a halt at the mention of Raphael. How did he know about us? We were very careful. Except on that Sunday.

Instead of answering the obvious, I diverted him. ‘My relationship with your brother, if any, Mr. Sinclair, is best described by your brother’, I replied coyly.

‘Oh, never mind. Dear big brother is hardly a cuddling type. That’s why I’m asking you, Ms. Anderson’.

Not reverting from the task at hand, I replied, ‘then it must remain a fascinating secret as you said, Mr. Sinclair’.

Before he could argue some more our food arrived. Thank god, for small mercies. While eating, I turned the tables. ‘What about you Mr. Sinclair? Any girlfriend waiting in line with huge sighs?’, I probed him.

‘Not at the moment Ms. Anderson. Why? Are you by any chance interested?’, he said with a mischievous grin.

Hiding my disgust at that I said, ‘No. Just asking. You know for a guy like you, what I mean is, who is so good at socializing, it is quite surprising to find out you are single. No interesting prospects?’

‘Unfortunately, no Ms. Anderson. This heart is open, free, and waiting for someone to be filled with their love’, he said with a hungry look.

To distract him from plunging us into a more uncomfortable conversation, I said to him, ‘You know Mr. Sinclair, my friend Sophie likes the dish you are eating. Now, this is… interesting’.

‘Sop…Sophie?’, his voice screeched. No kidding.

‘Yes-’

‘So, there you are’, Raphael Sinclair cut in succinctly.