“Yes, it does,” Barry said.
He was working away as he spoke. “Computers can do these things right off the bat, but I like pencil drawings...at first, at least. So...” He added a shadowing to what he’d been doing and slid the paper in front of her for a look.
As Adam had said, Barry Gleason was good.
She nodded, feeling her throat constrict.
It was already a good likeness. Good enough to bring her back in time twelve years.
“Brow a little thicker and a bit higher at the arch. His nose was straight, dead straight. And other than that, the likeness is very good,” she said.
He worked on the paper again and handed it back.
She nodded, amazed he was so good, and felt a little sick inside. “Yes, that’s very much like the man. The coloring—”
“Ah, I may look like a relic, but I’ll be entering this into the computer, and then I’ll do all kinds of shades with you at my side. Let’s get on to the woman he was with.”
“On to Jennie,” she said.
And Katie began Jennie’s description. She had been about five foot six—unnecessary for a facial sketch, she thought, but Barry listened gravely. Katie went on. Sandy-blond hair to her shoulders, deep brown eyes, slight uptilt to her nose, clean, well-defined brows a little darker than her hair.
Hair color could change easily, Katie knew, but it was also important in remembering and then getting down to details.
Jennie had been pretty, full of enthusiasm and, just like Dr. Neil Browne, charming. She had been pleasant with everyone. She’d had a light spattering of freckles over her nose, and her eyes were hazel, green with starbursts of brown. Also like Dr. Neil Browne, she’d had a long, lean face, but full lips and...
She paused, and Barry looked at her, waiting.
“A mole. On the left side of her face, just below and to the left of her eye,” Katie said.
Barry showed her his work. Once again, he smudged, put in new lines, narrowed, widened and came up with an incredible likeness.
When he was done, he first thanked her, telling her she had an impressive memory and a remarkable way of giving him the little details that made one person different from others. Then he glanced at the trio of men who had been waiting silently through it all.
“I’m going to put these into the computer and deal with the coloring. There’s coffee down the hall, and we have a fancy little machine so it’s darned good coffee. I’ll come get you when I’m ready for Katie.”
The men all thanked him. Katie rose nervously.
“Coffee, anyone?” Adam asked. “It’s late, if anyone was planning on sleep, but...”
“Hell, yes, coffee,” Dan said.
He started out of the room but paused, indicating Katie was welcome to go first.
“No, no, lead the way,” she said.
He did, but in the little break room, he offered to make her coffee first. There were different pods to choose from.
She knew she wasn’t going to sleep that night. It didn’t make any difference. She chose a dark roast.
Since she came from Miami, where Latin American powerhouse coffee was the norm, and now lived in Louisiana where they liked it just as strong, she considered anything less than very bold coffee to be nothing more than colored water.
He smiled.
She thought he approved of her choice.
Adam and Axel opted for tea but noted their tea tasted like coffee.
The offices were quiet; the only noise was from them puttering around the break room. She was afraid it was going to grow awkward, but Barry came for them, and she gratefully followed him back.
His images in the computer were amazing. She gave him only a few more changes in the way they had worn their hair and in the shape of Jennie’s mouth. He accomplished all easily.
“Now,” he told her, “we’ll add twelve years to them.”
He hit a few keys on his computer. When he was done, she could easily see she was staring at the couple she had met all those years ago as they might appear now.
“If they’re guilty, they’ve changed everything about themselves. Hair will be different. They may even wear colored contact lenses. But unless you undergo serious surgery, there are things you can’t change. These could be extremely helpful,” Adam assured her.
Again, they all thanked Barry. He nodded gravely.
“I wasn’t at the crime scene this morning. I understand you were,” he said to Dan.
Dan nodded. “Yeah.”
“If this helps catch those bastards in any way, I’m grateful,” Barry said.
“We don’t know, but we can’t leave any stone unturned, as the saying goes,” Adam told him.
They were ready to head out. It was midnight, Katie saw.
After midnight. But while many residents of the city would be in bed—ready to wake for school or jobs in the morning as in any other place—Bourbon Street would still be blaring out music.
Lorna and Matt might still be at Jackson Square getting ready to call it a night.
Or maybe Monty had headed on out to work the late shift.
Katie’s mind was whirling. The day had started out so...normally.
And now she was back a thousand miles away and twelve years ago.
Axel drove to her house first, but it was Dan who got out of the car to see her inside.
“I’m okay once I’m through the gates,” she told him. “The boys will be out in the yard. Really, you’d have to be one brave criminal to try to get past the boys.”
He smiled. She was right, the three dogs were already at the gate, barking away. But they
