Page 17 of Brighter Than Gold

“You what?”

He gave me an incredulous look. “I’ve conducted interrogations for the last ten years.”

“Oh. Does that mean you can force enemies to divulge information?”

He looked back at my curious expression and indulged my distraction. “Usually, yes.”

“How do you do it? How do you know if a person is being truthful?”

“Ninety percent of our communication is body language, only ten percent is verbal. If you can learn to read what a person says with their body, then you can ignore whatever lies may come out of their mouths. You can read a man’s whole history before he’s even uttered a single word.”

“How?” I asked, thoroughly captivated.

“By the way they stand, how they sit, what they do with their hands or their mouth.”

“How can you tell if someone is lying to you?”

Callan cracked a hesitant smile. “You’re really this interested?”

“I am! Why wouldn’t I want to learn if I am being lied to?”

“Well, one tell is the rate at which a person blinks increases when they’re lying. Another is if their pupils dilate. But the most certain way to tell is if their pulse increases. On someone as slim as you are, you can usually make it out in the jugular.”

“In the what?”

“This vein, right here.” Callan raised his hand and stroked the dip running from my jaw to the center of my neck. I suddenly became acutely aware of my pulse, of the touch of his fingertips, and I withdrew slightly.

Callan snapped his hand back, knowing he had crossed some proprietary line. He cleared his throat. “Easier with men, however.” He pulled up a sleeve and bared his thick forearm.

I looked down and saw the winding veins in his arms pulsing lightly, steadily.

“Lie to me,” I said.

“What?”

I looked up at him. “Lie to me, I want to see if I can spot the difference.”

“All right.” He thought a moment. “I have two older sisters.”

I squinted at his arm, watching the vein’s tiny surge. “I didn’t see it change rhythm.”

Callan smiled. “That’s because it was the truth.”

I looked up curiously at him.

“You need to understand a person’s baseline in the beginning. Some people are very twitchy, some people are extremely calm. Some people are trained how to lie.”

“Are you?”

“Certainly. But it’s very difficult to control your pulse. Here—” he laid a hand open for me, this time requesting my permission. Tentatively, I took it. Callan pressed my first and second finger into his wrist. “Can you feel my pulse?” he asked. I nodded. “Then tell me which one is a lie. I have two older sisters.”

No change. I looked up at him and shook my head.

“I broke my arm when I fell out of a pear tree as a boy.”

No change.

“I am better with a sword than Burke.”

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