“No,” said Odette uncertainly.
“Could he just have been some man off the street they paid to get a vasectomy, wear someone else’s face, and try to kill Myfanwy before bashing himself to death against a window?” asked Eckhart. The lunch party contemplated this possibility.
“It does not seem likely,” said Marie finally.
“Where would you even find someone willing to do that?” asked Odette.
“And even if you did find someone like that, how did he dissolve?” mused Rook Thomas. “Plus, he seemed to know me. He was certainly taking the whole thing very personally.”
A knock at the door heralded the arrival of the mains. They all composed themselves in a manner that they imagined befitted graphic designers. The food was brought in, smelling delicious. They were all still silent, though, apparently lacking any clue as to what graphic designers might talk about.
“I don’t care what you people say!” Felicity burst out suddenly, and everyone in the room jumped. “We are not using a font that does not have fucking serifs!” Odette buried her face in her hands. The servers exchanged horrified looks and left hurriedly.
“Yes... very good, Pawn Clements,” said Eckhart. “Good improvisation. Now, shall we eat?” All four Grafters produced large pill organizers and began opening sections. The Checquy people affected not to notice.
“You mentioned something about the melted man’s face?” said Marcel as he began his meal.
“Yes,” said Security Chief Clovis, “and that is one of the things that is most troubling. It turns out that he was in possession of one Broederschap implant. Everything rotted except his face, which remained relatively pristine.” He looked at Odette. “You had mentioned that the Antagonists would be wearing different faces.”
“Yes.” She shrugged. “It’s not a terribly difficult matter to arrange.” The Broederschap had 3-D printers that worked in collagen and skin.
“So they can look like anyone?” asked Chevalier Eckhart.
“Well, their faces can,” said Odette. “The size of one’s skull affects things, obviously, and if I showed up wearing Security Chief Clovis’s face, you’d twig pretty early on that something was amiss.”
“Of course,” said the Chevalier. “But it sounds like it could be a very effective disguise.”
“It can be,” said Marie proudly.
“Marvelous. My concern is that we can no longer be certain that anyone in your delegation is who they say they are. Is that correct?” This was met with an awkward silence. “I see that it is. The situation is getting increasingly complicated.”
“And you have called us here to help uncomplicate it,” said Marcel.
“Well, that, and, of course, it gave me a chance to confirm that everyone here is wearing his or her own face,” said Rook Thomas. The Grafters looked around uneasily, realizing that the Rook had been using her powers on them. Marie put a hesitant hand up to her cheek as if she could feel Thomas’s mind sorting through her skin. “Don’t worry. All of you are who you say you are. If you weren’t, you’d be lying on the floor awkwardly handcuffing yourself.” She took a thoughtful sip of wine.
“Anyway,” continued the Rook, ignoring the Grafters’ stricken looks, “this does not solve all our problems. It solves barely any of them.” She closed her eyes for a moment and seemed to be gathering her strength. When she opened them, she said, “To begin with, we’ll need to ensure that there are no moles in your delegation wearing someone else’s face.”
“We’ll set about testing everyone’s DNA,” said Marie. “Immediately.”
“That’s not enough,” said Chevalier Eckhart. “I want Rook Thomas to read their faces. Is your entire entourage coming to the event tonight?”
“Not everyone was supposed to come,” said Marie uncertainly.
“They are now,” said Eckhart flatly. Rook Thomas winced.
“And thus the chefs of Apex House will be goaded into a collective nervous breakdown,” she said.
“There will be armed guards at the reception,” said Clovis. “If Myfanwy identifies someone wearing the wrong face, I will have no compunction about blowing that person’s brains into his or her salad.”
“If she identifies someone wearing the wrong face, I’ll have that person vomiting up his or her lungs,” said Marie darkly.
“Until we confirm the identities of all the Grafter delegates, I will have armed guards in every negotiation room,” said Clovis. “Don’t worry, though, they’re extremely discreet. In fact, one of them is actually coating the table in conference room B.” At that, Odette took her hands off the surface of the dining table and wiped them on her skirt.
“Now, let’s go back to the puddle that used to be the blond man,” said Eckhart, blithely putting a spoonful of soup to his lips.
“He was already dying when we came in,” said the Rook. “I could read it in his flesh. His organs were falling apart under my mind’s touch. I expect that bashing his own head in was simply some sort of gesture. The med staff are about to start testing the remains. Tell me, are they going to find anything?”
“Doubtful,” said Marcel. “The effect you’ve described doesn’t leave any identifiable information.”
“What about her?” said the graaf, pointing toward Felicity. She flushed as everyone turned to look at her. “Your Pawn who can talk to dead bodies.”
“Well, first, that’s not what she does,” said Rook Thomas tartly.
“Liquids are tricky,” said Felicity. “I can try, but the further back in time I look, the longer it will take. The sooner I start, the better.”
“How long to look back forty-eight hours?” asked Eckhart.
“With liquid? About twenty-four hours, sir,” said Felicity.
“I don’t think we have that much time,” said Myfanwy. “They said they were building toward something big. We’ll have to follow all the other leads first. For instance, why would they perform a vasectomy on the blond guy?” she asked. Felicity looked around with interest. The Grafters seemed particularly bewildered by this revelation. “That was the only modification our doctors found.”
“They missed the face?” asked Marcel.
“They noticed he had one. I think they stopped looking after that.”
“I can think of only one reason for a vasectomy,” mused Eckhart. “Well, two, if you take into account that time we were trying to see how many things Pawn Wampler could grow back. And that was a dare at a stag do anyway.” Deathly silence greeted this tangential recollection.
“It doesn’t sound right,” said Odette finally. “Birth control is one of the very first things we address when we start getting modifications.”
“Well, that strongly suggests that he wasn’t one of the Antagonists,” said Ernst. “I can’t think of anything else.”
“Well, I suppose that’s one more mystery to write down on my list of Stuff That Makes No Sense,” said Rook Thomas. She scribbled on a notepad at the side of her plate. Felicity, who was sitting next to her, noticed that the heading actually was “Stuff That Makes No Sense.”
“And he had no weapons, not even any spur mechanisms,” Odette said.
“I don’t know why you children even use those things,” sniffed Ernst. “If you’re going to poison someone, why not just spit at them? Or give them some doctored schnapps?”
“We’re veering off topic here,” pointed out Rook Thomas.
“They’re discreet, Grootvader,” said Odette. “And I managed to take out a couple of attackers with them, so that should make you happy.” Ernst didn’t say anything, but he didn’t look unhappy.
“So, we don’t really have any further leads on the Antagonists,” said Eckhart sourly. “Unless we get lucky and there’s another attack on Myfanwy.”
“It’s difficult,” said Marie, “since they took so much when they absconded. And, of course, they have a great deal of money. That sort of independence always makes it harder.” Odette’s great-uncle cleared his throat.