“Actually, I was thinking the salt water would have been painful, given your burn marks.”
Skylar grimaced. “Yeah, there was an initial protest, shall we say. But I powered through.”
I decided not to dwell on that topic. “Did you get dinner? There’s a 24/7 café just down the road. A local place, not a chain. We could take our computers.”
Skylar sat up and reached for her jeans. “That sounds fantastic.”
The graveyard menu at Rick’s Café was heavy on fried food and breakfast items, but Skylar found a grilled, marinated chicken breast and I ordered a mushroom Swiss burger.
We sat side by side in a coveted wraparound corner booth, so both of us could see my computer screen. I inserted the flash drive with the Facial Analysis, Comparison, and Evaluation data, then called up the first of four images deemed to be a match. “Emma Atherton is a day trader from Durango, Colorado.”
“I see that FACE ignores hair color and cut,” Skylar said. “I’d wondered about that.”
Whereas Skylar kept her sun-bleached hair short, presumably for the athletic benefits, Emma’s straight brown hair extended a good six inches past her shoulders. “We programmed it to ignore anything easily alterable. Hair color, hairstyle, eyewear, eye color, moles and birthmarks.”
“Who’s next?”
I hit the forward arrow and Sandy Wallace appeared.
“Same woman I found on Facebook.”
I hit the arrow again. “Amy Zabala, a marketing manager from Nashville, Tennessee.”
Skylar squirmed. “This is kinda creepy. She could be my long-lost twin.”
“She doesn’t appear to have your charm.”
“It’s a driver’s license photo. Nobody looks charming in those. But thank you.”
I clicked again. “Carmen Rohan, schoolteacher from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.”
“She looks like a vampire. A fat vampire.”
“The computer ignores skin tone, so long as the race fits. Tanning is easy to manipulate.”
“What about weight?”
“I gave it a weight range from one hundred to two hundred. A height range from five feet, four inches to six feet and an age from twenty to forty. Figured it was better to cast too wide a net than too narrow.”
“I still don’t see the resemblance. Do you?”
I wasn’t going to go near that one. “I’d agree that it’s the weakest match so far. But remember, Tom isn’t trying to match you. He’s trying to match someone who looks like you. That someone’s probably not a professional triathlete.”
The food arrived. I pushed the computer to Skylar’s far side so she could click through the ten remaining lookalikes while eating. She did just that, cutting and chewing a single bite of chicken while studying each profile photo. Only one of the images merited two forkfuls.
“So that’s it?” she asked after the final arrow click.
I popped the last bite of burger into my mouth and wiped my face with a paper napkin while chewing. “That’s what FACE has matching the parameters I used. But FACE is far from complete. While it incorporates most of the federal data from passport, immigration, and licensing applications, less than half the states have supplied data from driver’s licenses and such.”
“Why is that?”
“It’s a privacy-versus-security issue. State legislatures get to decide whether they want to participate or not, and to what degree. Some only provide driver’s license photos, others include mugshots as well. The point is, there are a lot more potential matches out there.”
“That’s discouraging.”
“It’s not as bad as you think. Tom’s ability to search will be limited as well. Social media is the big variable. I’m sure you could write a program like FACE for Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube, et cetera. It’s just a question of time, talent, and money.”
Skylar polished off her chicken and immediately picked up the dessert menu. “So what’s next?”
“Pie, I’m guessing.”
She licked her lips. “Good guess. But you know what I mean.”
The waitress appeared with an expectant look in her eyes. “Can I get you all anything else? The apple pie is my personal favorite.”
“Can you warm it?” Skylar said with a smile.
“Sure thing, sweetie. A la mode?”
“Oh yeah.”
“Just another slice of lemon for my water,” I said when the server turned my way. “Didn’t get my swim in today.”
She didn’t call me sweetie.
Once we were alone again, I turned back to Skylar and answered her earlier question. “Next, we go fishing.”
She didn’t miss a beat. “With my lookalikes as bait?”
“You got it. Emma, Sandy, and Amy are already dangling. We need to prepare them asap. I also want to create a custom lure.”
“What do you mean?”
“I want to set up a new Facebook account. One specifically designed to catch Tom’s attention.”
43
Astute Observation
ALLISON FOUND DAVID at the bow of the boat, lying on a sky-blue cushion with his hands behind his head. She, David, and Lisa had flown to Seven Star on separate helicopters for the emergency meeting, having arrived in Southern Florida at different times. For the return trip, however, they were all taking Felix’s yacht. This gave Allison a welcome opportunity to bounce ideas off the big brain of her fellow research scientist.
She plopped onto the thick cushion beside him, but lay on her side so she could see his face. “I think you’re right.”
“That’s always good to hear,” he said with a wink. “About what?”
“About the killer being one of us.”
His face darkened. “Actually, I thought Pierce had a good point.”
“You and I both know that disciplined minds can exert considerable control over physiological reactions. If the killer knew she couldn’t have been uncovered, she’d have remained cool.”
“She? You think it’s Aria or Lisa?”
“Not Aria. Lisa maybe. She killed Kirsten after all. But I was just avoiding the automatic use of he. Actually, I think Pierce is the most likely candidate.”
David propped himself up onto one elbow as well, mirroring her pose. “Why’s that?”
“For starters, he’s an investor. Deep down, they’re all carnivores. His relationship to us was always utilitarian. Transactional. I don’t know that immortality has changed his perspective on that.”
“And now he wants to be a senator.”
Allison raised a finger. “He wants to be president.”
“Either way, how does killing the other Immortals help?”
His tone was sincere, not judgmental. That, she realized, was why she liked talking to him so much. He never used his enormous intellect to make her feel small. Fortunately, she had already considered his question. “It will help him keep his big secret during the extreme scrutiny that accompanies running for national office. If he’s the only Immortal, then the odds of discovery drop to near zero.”
David looked up and to the left, an inward stare. She’d piqued his interest. “Excellent point. I hadn’t considered that. I’d looked at their ambitions as a danger to us, not vice versa.” His expression morphed as he spoke. “But as one of the people whose ambitions are doing the endangering, you’ve got a different perspective.”
Allison absorbed the blow without taking it personally. David had a fair point.
“Let me think about that,” he added, giving Allison the opening she needed.
She pulled herself up and sat facing him in a cross-legged position. “I’ve wanted to be an actress ever since I was a schoolgirl. But my parents took one look at the odds of success and the lifestyles of people trying, then pushed me into science.”