She checked the audio again, and Erin was saying her good-byes. Alex didn’t know how Carston was able to devote so much time to listening to his daughter talk. It was a good thing he had only one child. Probably he multitasked, just like Alex was doing.
On his work calls, there had been no names mentioned at all, let alone one that started with a P. She felt as though if she could just push this worry to the back of her mind, her subconscious would figure it out for her. Unfortunately, she couldn’t stop obsessing about it, so of course she wasn’t making any progress.
“Okay, the final touch,” Val said, wrestling a wig onto Alex’s head.
“Ouch.”
“Beauty is pain. You can look now.”
Alex stood stiffly—she’d been immobile for too long—and revolved to face the mirrors.
It gave her a start. She didn’t recognize herself right away as the short woman standing next to Val.
“How…” Her fingers went automatically to the place where her scabbed wound should be.
Val slapped her hand away. “Don’t touch anything, you’ll smear it.”
“Where did it all go?”
The face of the woman in the mirror was unmarred and perfect. Her skin looked like it belonged to a dewy fourteen-year-old. Her eyes were huge, enhanced without looking overdone. Her lips were fuller, her cheekbones more pronounced. She had shoulder-length, medium brown hair with reddish highlights. It fell in flattering layers around those suddenly high cheekbones.
“Voilà, your new face,” Val said. “That was fun. Next time, I’m trying you as a blonde. You have a good skin tone—it will look natural with a lot of shades.”
“This is amazing. I can’t believe it. Where did you learn how to do this?”
“I play a lot of different roles.” Val shrugged. “But it’s fun having a model. I always wanted one of those big Barbie styling heads when I was a kid.” She reached out and patted the top of Alex’s wig. “Or a little sister. But the plastic head was my preference.”
“I’m probably ten years older than you,” Alex protested.
“What a nice compliment. But whatever my age might actually be, you’re still not older when it comes to the things that count.”
“If you say so.” Alex wasn’t about to argue; Val had just handed her an unexpected get-out-of-jail-free card. “My own mother wouldn’t know me.”
“I can go sexier,” Val promised. “But you wanted inconspicuous…”
“This is probably the sexiest I’ve looked in my whole life. I’d be scared to see what sexier looks like.”
“I bet Danny would like it,” Val purred.
“By the way… where did I screw that up? What tipped you off there?”
Val smiled. “Please. When two people are that into each other, it radiates off them. You didn’t do anything.”
Alex sighed. “Thanks for passing your observations on to Kevin.”
“You’re being sarcastic, but you should thank me. Aren’t things easier now, without the secrecy?”
“I guess so… but he nearly shot me in the head, so there’s that.”
“Little ventured, little gained.”
Alex approached the mirror wall and leaned in close to examine the disguise. There was some kind of prosthetic skin covering the wound on her jaw. She moved her mouth carefully, watching for expressions that might pull too far, make the fraud obvious. She could see a slight ripple when she smiled, but the layers of the wig mostly obscured that part of her face anyway. She wouldn’t have to worry about someone noticing something wrong with her, even close up. Sure, people would be able to tell she was wearing makeup, but most normal women did. Hardly something that would draw attention.
She could accelerate her plans now. She didn’t need to wait for dark. She grinned, then smoothed the expression to ease the tension in her fake skin. The new freedom was a heady thing.
Alex skipped quickly down the stairs, computer tucked under her arm. She already had a pretty workable plan—low risk, minimal exposure—so she was listening to the calls only in the vain hope that Carston would screw up and say something meaningful. It was unlikely, but she’d finish it out. Later. Right now she could get started on the specific preparation.
“Huh,” Kevin grunted. Alex saw him look past her to where Val followed. “Hey, Val, how many virgins did you have to sacrifice to make her look like that?”
“I don’t need any satanic help to do what I do,” Val responded. “And virgins aren’t useful for anything.”
Daniel got up from the couch where he was watching the news—taking it seriously as his assignment—and came around the stairs to see what Kevin and Val were talking about.
Alex hesitated on the bottom stair, feeling oddly vulnerable. She wasn’t used to caring if she looked pretty or not.
Daniel did a small double take, then his face relaxed into a smile.
“I’d gotten so used to seeing you with the bruises, I’d almost forgotten what you looked like without them,” he said, and then his grin got wider. “It’s nice to see you again.”
Alex knew she hadn’t looked like this on the train, but she let it go.
“I’m headed out to place the tracker,” Alex told them. “Shouldn’t take me long.”