Chapter 47
Chapter forty-seven
Bess
"How?" asks Lutek.
"We can't deepfake him back," says Jeanette. "He knows that trick already. Right?"
Elly snorts. "I don't know. He is pretty stupid."
"So how on earth are we going to scam him?" Ed asks. "It's really not something in our field of experience." He throws a glance at Carlos. "I'm assuming."
"Well," I say, "He's got the hots for Elly."
She raises a finger. "I'm not going to seduce him or pretend to seduce him. It's too demeaning."
"No, I agree. We wouldn't put you in that position, Elly. But we could use you as bait."
"Uh uh, no way. I am not at all comfortable with that. Come up with something else that leaves sexual predation out of the equation."
"Okay," I say. "Fair enough."
Lutek scratches at his ribs. "What do we do, then?"
We all descend into a heavy silence.
Jeanette's fingers beat a drum on the arm of her chair.
Lutek strokes his chin in a pincer motion with this thumb and forefinger. The movement scrapes his stubble.
Carlos sniffs.
I roll my eyes. "Can everyone shut up for a minute?"
"Nobody's saying anything," says Elly.
"And yet, you're still being exceptionally loud."
"We could..." Lutek looks thoughtfully at the concrete floor, then shakes his head. "No."
"We could try and win it from him," says Carlos. "I once made a wager with Prince Philip that I'd make a better mount than his filly at the Royal Charity Polo Cup. We beat the other fellows by an unprecedented score and raised several hundred thousand pounds for a badger rehabilitation centre."
Elly clucks her tongue. "Could we just beat it out of him? I'd be happy to place a well-targeted kick or two."
"I bet you would," says Ed.
"No. No violence," I say.
Elly lifts one corner of her mouth up. "What about the threat of violence?"
"You'd have to scare someone pretty thoroughly to get them to part with the kind of money that buys Maseratis," says Ed.
"I don't think any of us has that kind of power within us," says Lutek.
"Anyone know any computer hackers?" asks Jeanette. "We could reach into his bank account or wherever he's keeping the money and steal it back?"
Nobody says anything.
Ed lays a hand on my arm. "I think we just have to go to the police. Let them sort it."
I hold up a finger. "Wait. I think I have an idea. Something one of you said just now..." I trail off and stand to pace.
The others watch me as I walk backwards and forwards letting things unfurl and take shape in my head.
They are mercifully quiet. No one so much as slurps at their wine.
As the pieces appear and begin to roughly slot into place, I step outside to remove the weight of their eyeballs and the pressure of expectation.
When everything's settled into something recognisable, I re-enter the workshop and am met with five sets of large eyes. "I think I've got it."
"Ooooh." Jeanette places an elbow on her knee and props her chin up with her hand. "Tell us."
“We’re going to play Jason at his own game of using a fake identity and scare it out of him in the flesh. He’s got the advantage in the digital world, so we’re going analogue.”
"That's not going to work," says Ed. "He knows all of us, or at least is familiar with us. This town's not very big, Bess."
"He's familiar with most of us. Carlos has said on more than one occasion his superpower is the invisibility of age. He won't remember Carlos."
"Carlos?" says Elly. "Carlos is a total liability. He thinks he's invisible when he closes his eyes."
"Well I can't see me," says Carlos.
I draw a deep breath and count to ten. "I have every faith in Carlos' abilities." I almost mean it.
"Me too," says Carlos. "I'll do it."