“I know the standard alias logic is to change the last name before the first name, but I think in your case it might be worth making an exception,” Dani said when Prather had left. “Alice Jones. Janet Jones. Jenny Jones. Shirley Jones.”
“Senator Jones,” Perfect said.
“Well, sure, but that’s a little ostentatious. The idea is to be low-key.”
“My father,” Perfect clarified. “Remember?”
“Oh, yeah,” Dani said. “I’ll admit I don’t pay a lot of attention to politics, so that didn’t really stick in my head.”
“Okay, but is he really going to make the connection?” Dani asked. “I had a math teacher named Smith, but I don’t automatically assume that every other Smith I meet is related to him.”
“If I was Alice Jones or Janet Jones, I wouldn’t sweat it,” Perfect said. “But chances are he’s either done his homework on the senator’s family or somebody’s going to hand him a cheat sheet before he goes in. I can’t picture him looking at a bio of Daddy and going, ‘Hmm, I met a Perfect Jones the other day. Must be a common name in the area.’”
“Whereas he’ll never think twice about having been introduced to a ‘Perfect um dot dot dot uh Smith question mark’ just days before,” Dani said.
“I was a little smoother than that,” Perfect said.
“Perfect, you could have smiled suavely and handed him your gilt-edged business card with the name Ms. Perfect Van Sickle on it and your name would still jump off the page at him,” Dani said.
“Yeah, it’s possible I didn’t think this through,” Perfect said. “My name… it’s kind of a blind spot with me. I know it’s distinctive, and I know my family is in the public eye… intellectually, I know those things, but on an operational level it’s just my name and my family is just my family. My father career is kind of a big deal, but it’s not a big deal to me.”
“Talking about big deals… why would it be a big deal for Prather to know who you are?” Dani asked. “I don’t think he’s going to narc on you or anything. Maybe if you were underage or something, I could see him telling your parents. But I don’t think he’s the kind of guy who goes around telling secrets.”
“It wouldn’t be a big deal if he wasn’t going to be dealing with my father,” Perfect said. “But since he is… well, you heard him talking about appearances? He’s a man of integrity. I want him to be able to deal freely with both me and my father without any worries about how he’s coming across… there can’t be any appearance of a quid pro quo expectation if he doesn’t know who I am.”
“So, you lied to the man who values honesty and integrity above everything else in order to let him keep his integrity?” Dani asked. “Don’t you think he might be a little miffed when he sees through your elaborate web of cunning deceptions?”
“It’s a secret identity,” Perfect said. “I think he might understand it on that basis.”
“Yeah, especially since he specifically asked you what yours really was so that the two of you could interact as equals,” Dani said.
“He’s only here for a week,” Perfect said. “Even if he does see my name somewhere and make an association, he’ll probably be too much of a gentleman to ask. If not, I’ll explain and apologize. It’s not really a big deal. I just… panicked and blurted it out. You’re right, it was a mistake. I wasn’t thinking. But there are more important things going on.”
“Yeah,” Dani said. “End of the world, for one thing.”
“Well, that, yeah… and my daddy’s coming to town,” Perfect said. “I have to see if he has time to take me to lunch.”
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