Zechariah turned his head to avoid ‘eye contact’ with the not-quite opened wine bottle, opting to drum his fingers under the table to keep them otherwise occupied.

“Easy for you to say,” Zechariah scoffed.

She did not have blackmail on him. But, his pretense was based on other things.

“Have you seen the woman?” he opted for instead.

Zechariah had. More fatally: she had seen him.