Dinner would have looked suspicious, so lunch felt safe. That was how Claire explained meeting the client contact at noon in a bright cafe with office workers all around them.

What made it feel private was not the hour. It was the way he asked one question and then waited through the whole answer, like he had nowhere better to be. Her husband often interrupted because life at home had become a relay race of errands. This man let silence sit there and treated it like part of the conversation. The online version of being chased looked cleaner, but it worked on the same nerve.