Okay, so 'detective' was apparently some sort of trigger word for the rookie. Vesper had to wonder just what the Resistance's angle was for sending him to meet her for the exchange. It would be easy to brush it off as just them being assholes, which they were, or maybe they just really didn't view her as a threat so why not send the most incompetent person to deal with her? Somehow the latter seemed even less likely. They were a group of crazy people, but they weren't that careless.
So what was it? His behavior and his strange familiarity to her was going to bother Vesper until she figured it out. And she always figured it out. Vesper was just sneaky like that. The guy seemed so perpetually on edge though that honestly, she almost felt a little bad for him. Almost. And not that she'd ever admit it either way, even if threatened at gun point. Not her style, and that was kind of the problem.
If she were somebody else, she might know what to do or say to put him out of his misery, that is if she wanted to. Even Selina was better at that then she was, or at least, she had been when it came to one person in particular. Whatever, being a comfort to someone didn't come naturally to her, even if this had been the type of situation where that would have been appropriate. She wasn't an orphan like Selina but she didn't exactly come from a family that encouraged affection. She wasn't Alfred, so offering the poor guy a cup of tea to soothe his nerves was out of the question and that made her feel inadequate in ways she didn't like.
Vesper didn't know precisely why her emotional shortcomings were suddenly some kind of an issue, but maybe it had something to do with the way he unexpectedly caught her gaze and then held it. It only threw her for a second, but a second was long enough. At first Vesper thought they were blue, but after a moment they seemed more green to her than anything else, his eyes boring into hers like he was looking for someone else. While some heavy eye contact wasn't normally a challenge for her, that was more than enough to make Vesper fight the impulse to look away.
The moment passed, and Vesper's mask slipped back into place as her momentary surprise was replaced by an easy smile. "Bet you say that to all the girls." Except she didn't, because she wasn't sure he was capable of a cheesy, disingenuous pick-up line to save his life.
Why did he seem so damn familiar to her? There had to be a reason beyond 'extremely handsome face', as much as that was still unfortunately true. Vesper was just starting to get frustrated with the mystery when it clicked, and Vesper's hands stilled with a stack of cash in between them. He was the missing brother, the one from the picture that girl had flashed at Vesper just the other day. "Hold on - you're that guy in all the fliers. The one who's missing." Vesper's eyes narrowed. "... Except you don't exactly seem like you're missing, so what gives?"