Adarius Jaegar knew he was in trouble. He could tell this because of the look of patient disappointment on the face of the woman as talking to him. It was one of several familiar responses that he connected with being "in trouble" and was preferable to screaming, punching, sudden arrest or demands for large quantities of money with significant menace.
One day, he was going to figure out how he ended up in so much trouble, but so far it was a total puzzle to him.
"It"s my fault really," said Rula with disarming kindness, "I should have been paying attention when you told me what you did for a living." Adarius looked at her with a well-practised expression of mild bafflement – the best way to hand what might well be highly-skilled passive aggression. "I always ask. Men seem to like it for
