Page 69 of The Five Year Lie

He laughs, and that’s when I spot a familiar face. Familiarish. Like so many of the young men who work for Chime Co., I never had much interaction with Bryan Zarkey. But he was one of the more charming guys in the room. He tried, anyway, and that’s more than I can say for a lot of them.

He has a beard now, and it makes him look older. And the purple velvet cape he’s wearing over a leather chest plate makes him appear as though he’s stumbled in from another era.

Honestly, he’s pretty easy on the eyes.

“There,” Zain says, stopping just outside the booth. “And you doubted me.”

“What’s your plan?” I ask. Bryan hasn’t spotted us yet. He’s talking to an older man who’s looking at a set of daggers laid out on turquoise velvet.

“I don’t need a plan. He’s chatty—I can just slip my question into the conversation.”

“Huh. Okay.” Zain is not a subtle person. This will probably be a disaster.

“Come on.” He wraps an arm around me as we step into the booth. There’s a long table full of sharp-looking knives of various lengths. The ornate handles are stained in assorted colors.

“Cool,” Buzz says, and his voice is full of awe.

“We can’t touchanything,” I caution, locking his hand into mine.

“Bryan, wow. Good spread this year!” Zain says in an enthusiastic voice.

Two people look up. There’s Bryan, who gives Zain an automatic smile.

There’s also a woman.Girlfriend, is my first thought, since their purple capes match. But the capes aren’t the only resemblance. She has the same pale blue eyes that Bryan has.

My eyes are drawn to her hands as she repositions one of the daggers on the table. The handle is made of wood in a deep purple hue. And I notice that her fingers are stained various different shades.

She’sthe artisan here, I realize. I can always spot them. It wouldbe fun to ask her some questions about metalwork, but I don’t want to miss out on Zain’s conversation.

Bryan steps around the table, still smiling. His eyes travel from Zain to me and then to Buzz. His smile takes on a little bit of a smirk as he notes the three of us together. “Hey, old friends,” he says slowly. “Taking in the fair?”

“You know it,” Zain says. “We just watched a sword fight. How’ve you been since I saw you last?”

Zarkey shrugs. “Chained to my keyboard. You know how it is. How’s the job treating you?”

“Got promoted. Can’t complain.” Zain rocks back on his heels. “Although, since you asked, I do have one question for you. Were you ever familiar with a piece of software called LiveMatch?”

Lord.That wasn’t very subtle. I watch Zarkey’s reaction closely as his eyes widen slightly. But it’s the reaction of someone who wasn’t expecting to think about his old job while dressed like a medieval squire. “Maybe? The name is familiar.” He looks up at the ceiling of the tent, as if thinking about it. “Why? Is something broken?”

“Nah. It’s a relic on the network,” Zain says. “And I wondered what it was. Looks like some kind of software running on overseas servers. And I couldn’t think why that made any sense.”

“Oh!” Bryan glances at me. And suddenly his expression is less cheerful. “Thatthing. Some kind of beta program.” He shrugs. “Honestly, it was frustrating. Like, it’s my job to keep things secure, but I can’t do that if you’re sending a feed to someone else’s server.”

“But what was itfor?” Zain presses. “There’s nothing left of it except for some old comment lines.”

Bryan’s forehead wrinkles. “If I ever knew, I don’t remember. Some kind of joint venture with another company.”

“Huh,” Zain says. “So it never launched?”

Bryan spreads out his hands. “No idea, man. Not my circus anymore. Not my monkeys. And I doubt you’ll find anyone to tell you, because it was, uh...” His eyes flicker to me again. “It was Edward’s project. Sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you,” I say softly.

Edward’s project.That lines up with what Ray told Zain, too.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me.” He gestures toward two men who’ve appeared to fondle daggers at the far end of the table. “I have customers.”

“Right,” Zain says. “Sorry.”