Right. As much as she disliked Simon, she knew all too well how charming and winning he could be. And he was smart. She couldn’t take that away from him. She would bet that Simon was the anchor around which the firm revolved, and the one the clients wanted to deal with. “I’m thinking you’re probably the one who keeps an eye on the money too.”

He gulped down the rest of his drink and sighed. “When there is money to keep an eye on. We lost a big job a few weeks ago. A longtime client.”

“What happened?” she asked.

Before he could answer, the bartender was back with their food. “Will there be anything else?” he asked politely.

“Thank you, we’re fine,” Blaire said, turning back to Carter. “So . . . what was the story?”

“I’m not sure, exactly. One of Simon’s accounts. But we need to make up for it, or we’re going to have to put in more of our own money. A lot more.”

“I see.” She watched as he put a shrimp in his mouth. A trickle of butter ran down his chin, and she reflected again how very different he was from suave and sophisticated Daniel.

It was more of the same over the next half hour. They were losing money, and somehow he and Simon were going to have to come up with a considerable amount of cash to save the company. But Blaire wanted to have the full picture of the noxious mixture of ingredients that could make Simon a killer.

“What about that new hire? Sabrina, I think her name is?”

Carter stopped eating, his fork poised in midair. “Simon hired her. The last thing we needed was another architect on the payroll. But I have to admit, she’s got a way with the clients.”

Blaire was certain that Carter enjoyed ogling her as much as the clients did.

He shook his head. “In fact, I took Simon to task over the fact that he left her behind when he met with a potential client in New York. She was the one who’d reeled them in for the meeting. We’d probably have gotten the job if she’d went.”

If she’d gone, Blaire wanted to say. So much for his expensive prep school education. She looked at him with curiosity. “Why didn’t she?”

Carter threw his hands up. “Not exactly sure. But it was after he got a call from Lily.”

Blaire’s ears perked up. “Go on.”

“I was in his office when his assistant patched the call through. Simon seemed a little surprised. After a few minutes, his face turned red, and he waved me out. Next thing I knew, he was telling Sabrina she had to stay behind.”

“Hmm. So you think Lily said something about Sabrina to him?”