Chapter 1
Business Before Blood
Rose had always believed that the easiest way to identify a dangerous man was to observe how he treated a waiter.
A genuinely powerful man said thank you.
An insecure one snapped his fingers.
And a particularly stupid one asked whether the restaurant knew who he was.
Unfortunately, the restaurant usually did. That was the problem with expensive establishments. They were full of people who had mistaken recognition for respect.
Rose watched a man in a charcoal suit humiliate a young waiter over the temperature of his water while three businessmen nodded sympathetically, as though the fate of international trade depended on whether the glass contained sufficient ice.
She checked her watch.
Nine minutes late.
The man she had come to meet was apparently either very important or very committed to making strangers wait. In Rose’s experience, the two qualities frequently overlapped in the most irritating people.
She lifted her coffee.
Cold.
Of course.
She had chosen the restaurant herself: a private dining establishment hidden behind an unremarkable entrance on one of the city’s wealthiest streets. Inside, everything was polished marble, expensive wood, and the sort of silence people paid for because they couldn’t achieve it in their own homes.
