She came on a Tuesday again and this time she did not go directly to Valdris's office.
She stopped at Ava's desk and sat in the visitor's chair with the unhurried authority of someone who had decided she was staying for a while and considered invitation optional. She was wearing something in a deep charcoal grey that was expensive in the understated way of things that did not need to announce their quality. Her hair was pinned up and her eyes were the darker grey that Ava had noticed the first time, warm underneath the sharpness.
"I want to take you to lunch," Vera said.
"I have thirty minutes at twelve thirty," Ava said.
"I know. I checked your calendar." She said it without apology or embarrassment, which was consistent with everything Ava had observed about Vera Varek in two meeting
