Stuart Woods_Stone Barrington 14

because the Agency people I showed the photographs to unanimously agreed that he is not; too young, wrong facial features. Also, I have been able to confirm that he is, in fact, one Barney Cox, one of four British subjects sought for questioning in a robbery of cash from a company at Heathrow Airport, in London, some months ago. Confidence is extremely high, to the point of certainty.”
    â€œThank you for confirming that,” Lance said. “I’ll see that the information is passed along to the appropriate authority.”
    â€œNow,” Mona said, “about the other two. At first, the photos seemed to be ordinary British passport shots, the kind you’d get at a dozen photographers’ in the West End of London. I analyzed them right down to the dot level, or rather, the pixel level on the computer, and there were a number of similarities, so much so that I began to think that they might have been taken by the same photographer. What kept throwing me off was that the light was different in the two shots—a slightly different color temperature and with the light coming from a different direction.”
    â€œIs there some way to identify at which studio they were taken?”
    â€œI’m sorry, I’m not there, yet; I’m just walking you through what I found.”
    â€œOf course, go ahead.”
    â€œIt turns out that where they were taken isn’t really relevant, though I suspect London. They were taken with a Polaroid camera, the kind that takes four shots at once; very common in photo shops.”
    â€œNot digital?”
    â€œNo, that’s what you’d expect if they were taken in a large U.S. city, where the conversion to digital photography may be a bit farther along than in England, but again, that’s not the point. After I had taken that analysis as far as I could without identifying a specific shot, I started to do multiple comparisons of the faces.”
    â€œAnd…?”
    â€œWell, look at the two faces: you see,” she said, pointing, “the man on the right, Weatherby, has had his nose broken at some point, and his jawline is a little firmer than the other man, Pemberton.”
    â€œYes, I can see that.”
    Mona hit a few computer keys. “Now, here I’ve enhanced and enlarged the Weatherby photo: look at his Vandyke.”
    â€œRight, I’m looking at it.”
    â€œWhat do you see?”
    Lance gazed at the enlargement. “A mustache and goatee.”
    â€œBut look at what appear to be the roots of the hairs: they seem to have a tiny, thicker dot at the root of each one.”
    â€œWhich means?”
    â€œWhich means that it’s a false beard, though a very good one.” She moved to another enlargement. “Same at the hairline; it’s a wig.”
    â€œSo Weatherby is disguising himself.”
    â€œYes, but still not the point.”
    â€œGet to the point, Mona.”
    â€œNow look at an enlargement of the broken nose,” she said, moving to another photo. “What do you see?”
    â€œCome on, Mona, tell me.”
    â€œAll right.” She pointed at the place where the nose seemed broken. “No pores in the skin,” she said.
    â€œSo it’s a false broken nose?”
    â€œJust a clever application of spirit gum, a common theatrical makeup substance.”
    â€œAll right, so he has a fake broken nose, too.”
    â€œRight.” She changed photos again. “Now here’s the Pemberton nose, enlarged, alongside the Weatherby shot. Look at the other side of the nose.”
    â€œI’m looking.”
    â€œThe other side of both noses is very like that side of Weatherby’s.”
    â€œBut not the chin,” Lance said. “It’s softer, less firm.”
    â€œIt certainly is, but here’s what happens when I straighten Weatherby’s nose and remove his Vandyke.” She switched to two photos where the hair was cropped out but the faces were enlarged. “What do you see now?”
    â€œThey’re beginning to look related,” Lance said. “Brothers?”
    â€œNo, there’s spirit gum on Weatherby’s chin, as well as his nose. If we remove that we get…”
    Lance furrowed his brow. “Pemberton’s chin?”
    â€œExactly. They’re not brothers; they’re the same man.” She clicked on two other photos, and images appeared that made the two men look the same.
    â€œHas