Page 42 of Pride, Prejudice, & Pretense

"He's undoubtedly an educated man, and clever," Lizzy said. "The way he talks about architecture, the way he looked at Marina City, the Robie House, the interior of Alinea?all of that makes me believe that he does have some real training in and feeling for architecture. Still, he's clearly a man who compartmentalizes himself."Intricate, she thought. "The architecture, the feeling for it seems hived off from the rest of what he is. Or maybe he uses it to excuse everything else he is."

Lizzy knew something about compartmentalizing, how hard it was to resist as an agent. There was a constant temptation to tell yourself, “There is my station and its duties” and “Here is me and what I truly value.” Compartmentalizing was a strategy for hiding from yourself. Or better, for hiding yourself as if you were a pea hidden beneath one of three rapidly shifting walnut shells, only you don't know which one. And you are not only the pea, you are also the shells, and it is your hands that do the sleighting…

Darcy was nodding in agreement. "My sense of him from the beginning has been of that sort—that he's compartmentalized like a submarine. He probably believes he is, at bottom, somesort of honorable rogue, like Cary Grant inTo Catch a Thief.Except Wickham trails blood whereas John Robie"?he smiled at the coincidence of names?"trailed diamonds."

Movies again.

Her mind turned to a different contrast between Wickham and John Robie. "Why prey on women as Wickham does?" she asked, curious to hear a man’s perspective on the question.

Charlie leaned into the screen. Lizzy had not realized he was there for the discussion. “Maybe it has something to do with Wickham's mom? The way men treated her? Women as playthings, not as people?"

Lizzy smiled acknowledgment at Charlie but shook her head. "Hey, Charlie! I'm not sure. Maybe, but that sounds backward. Makes me wonder about the details of his story. We'll have to see if Wickham will share any more with Fanny. Whatever his story is, he feels entitled to his treatment of women the same way he feels entitled to injure and kill people in terror attacks. He doesn't behave like a man with dirty hands."

"It's hard to understand anyone without a conscience," Darcy said. “We three will continue to think about it. I’ll pass the story he told us onto the analysts at the CIA and MI-6 and see if they can unearth anything new. I suspect Wickham will share more if Fanny makes it clear to him that his sharing and her sharing?" he frowned grimly?"are intertwined."

Lizzy had read a phrase in some book that referred to cuckolding as “to have criminal conversation”with the lover of another. "If he wantscriminal conversationwith Fanny,he's going to have to talk to me."

Just then, Fanny's phone rang. Lizzy walked to the couch and retrieved it from her purse. She put a finger to her lips and waved the phone. The two men nodded on-screen, understanding.

"George?" she pitched her voice carefully, warm but also weary.

"Fanny! It's bad form to call after saying goodnight, but I want to issue another invitation. Lady Catherine is having a small gathering two nights from now. She is finishing the guest list, and I was hoping you would attend. We'dbothenjoy having you here."

The bug in Fanny’s phone enabled Darcy and Charlie to hear both sides of the conversation. The microphone on their computer had obviously been muted so the call would not be broadcast into her apartment. She could see them both listening, just as they could see her looking at them.

Darcy waved at Lizzy, held up his left hand, and pointed to his ring finger, then at himself, then at his finger again. She understood his unspoken message.

"Well," she said, drawing out the delaying word, "I just talked to Ned"?let Wickham process that?"and he seems like he's determined to visit again. The work that called him back to New York finished faster than he expected. So…may I bring him?"

She held her breath, making herself endure the long silence after her question. Then she added, as if blurting it out but keeping her voice quiet, "He's jealous of you. I want to reassure him. So, you know, he'll know nothing's going on."But something is. Fanny knows it and you know it, Wickham. She's already lying to Ned.

Wickham chuckled, the sound cool and confident. "I'm sure Lady Catherine would enjoy that, as would I. So, shall I send Rook for you both the day after tomorrow?"

"Yes. I'll text you if anything changes."

"I'll text you the time to expect the car."

"Goodnight, George"?Lizzy made Fanny's voice breathless?"again."

"Goodnight, Fanny. Don’t forget what I told you in the car."

"I…haven't. Goodnight."

She ended the call and walked back to the counter but did not sit on the stool. Darcy turned his microphone on again. "You heard?"

"We heard. I'll get an engagement ring tomorrow so Fanny and Ned can show up engaged. It should be an interesting evening."

"Yes." Lizzy already dreaded it.

After shutting the laptop, she went into the bedroom and plopped down on the bed. She made herself breathe in and breathe out slowly, trying to discipline herself and her feelings. Although she had known Darcy…Ned…was listening to her…during Fanny's date with Wickham, the phone call had somehow been worse, seeing Darcy listen as Lizzy artfully manipulated Wickham into believing he was artfully manipulating Fanny.

She felt ashamed of herself…of Fanny.

These undercover missions get so twisted, identities so confused and confusing. Ned Moreland and Fanny Prince are both fictions—but Darcy inhabits one and I inhabit the other. We're like Method actors, not justrepresentingthe characters we play butexperiencingthem. That’s what we have to do if we are going to succeed in fooling Wickham and Lady Catherine. A foundation of fact.

Lizzy wondered what Darcy imagined she felt as Wickham's hand slid up Fanny's thigh.

She turned and scooted to the head of the bed, putting Fanny's phone on the nightstand and then picking up her own, fighting to regain a sure sense of herself, the weight of her own phone a small anchor. She was Agent Elizabeth Bennet. This was a mission. Darcy was her partner. Wickham was her mark.

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