Orchid Blues (Holly Barker 2)

"Jesus, that's good," Ham said, impressed.

Eddie hit some more keys, and the face turned to its left a quarter turn. "Does it still look good?"

"Yep."

Eddie turned the face to profile. "How about now?"

"The nose isn't turned up like that, it's straight, but the length is right. He looks older than your picture, too."

Eddie typed some more. "What age?"

"Fifty, maybe, or a young fifty-five. No, that's too old. He's fairly youthful-looking, no sagging chin or bags under his eyes."

"We'll make him fifty and well preserved," Eddie said.

Ham watched the changes in the image. "Try forty-five."

Eddie adjusted the picture.

"Eddie, that's the guy. Dead ringer. I swear, I didn't know it could be done that well."

"Okay, now let's compare him to the database," Eddie said.

"Just a minute, I forgot the glasses. They were round, steel-rimmed, on the small side."

"Like this?"

"Rounder. That's it. Now try your database."

Eddie typed for another thirty seconds, and the screen went blank. "This'll take a few minutes," he said. "It goes faster if you don't watch it happen." He stood up, walked back to the living-room sofa and retrieved his beer.

"Anything else you can tell us about this guy?" Harry asked.

"I'd say he was a natural-born leader, considering the respect he got from everybody. They seemed a little in awe of him. He was the first one to actually ask me to do something for the group."

"What did he ask you to do?"

"To train some of his people in shooting."

"Shooting of what?"

"He didn't say; just shooting. I gave them a little demonstration, and somebody asked me if I could shoot like that with the Barrett's rifle."

"What did you tell them?"

"I told them I could, if I had an opportunity to sight it in."

Eddie got up and went back to the computer.

"How's it going?" Harry asked.

"Coming along. It's a big database, remember, and a lot of John's features are common to a lot of other people. Give it a few more minutes."

"Does John live out at the lake with the group?" Harry asked.

"My impression-and nobody actually told me this-was that he didn't, that he was visiting. It was the first time I'd seen him there, but it's possible that he lives there, but had been away and had just returned."

Eddie spoke up. "We've got some faces," he said. "Come take a look."