Page 9 of Pervade London
“Come sit.”
He took a chair at the kitchen table. “Where did you study the violin?”
“The Royal Academy of Music.” I was still there.
“That’s why you’re so good.” He reached for a glass and gulped the water.
“Your techy skills are impressive. You’d make a dangerous enemy.”
He stared at me. “Someone once told me the same thing. But I’m not like that.”
“Glad to hear it.”
“Could you get the thief’s name?” I watched him carefully.
“Do you want me to?”
With a shake of my head, I let him know I wasn’t sure. After handing him the rice dish, I set his chicken tikka masala before him.
He looked like he was saying a prayer. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
“Hungry?”
“You have no idea.”
I caught him looking at my nose ring. “Go on then, say it.”
“I was going to say you should delete all apps from your phone.”
“Hmmm, you sound paranoid.”
Xander scooped several helpings of the creamy chicken onto his rice. “The problem with society is they’re not paranoid enough.”
“Really?”
He paused with his fork to his mouth. “The richest one percent owns more of the country’s wealth now than in the last fifty years.”
“I’d read that somewhere.”
“But what you don’t know is the extremes they’ll go to in order to keep it that way.”
I picked up my fork. “What do you do again…when you’re employed?”
“My specialty is computers.”
“But you don’t hack into them?”
“Not in the way you think.” He looked thoughtful. “It’s about…communications.”
He ate elegantly, and I marveled that a man so hungry didn’t shovel in his food.
I took another bite of the chicken and rich creamy sauce and the flavors burst over my taste buds. My stomach grumbled. Usually, when I got home, I’d grab a bowl of cereal or something simple, so this was a nice treat.
I had bailed on making any money tonight by helping him. I’d have to make the cash up after classes when I went out busking again. At least I had a season pass for the Tube so I could get to the Academy.
I turned my attention back on the intriguing man opposite me who was dipping a piece of naan bread into his sauce.
He took another elegant bite and dabbed his mouth with the paper napkin. “So good.”
