Lexi sat around the rest of the morning and into the early afternoon waiting for Shade to come back so she could talk to her about what she found out. “Damnit Shade where are you” Lexi said out loud and jump when she heard Shade respond directly behind her. “Shit, you can’t sneak up on my like that.” Lexi scolded Shade.
“Sorry, but not really.” Shade said “You scare to easily besides I needed to sneak in there are still cops all around your building. when do you think they will be leaving?”
“Later today I over heard one of them say. Anyway that’s not important what is though is what I found out about our dead guy in there.” Lexi said.
“And important information did you find out about the dead guy?” Shade asked not really thinking that it would be anything too profound.
“Well for starters he has no fingerprints.” Lexi said
“What do you mean no fingerprints” Shade said perking up as this was more interesting than she gave it credit for.
“He has been scraping them off for what I am assuming have been years, so there is no way to identify him by him prints.” Lexi said
“What about DNA or dental records?” Shade asked
“Waiting on those, but without something to match it to he will remain a John Doe. My guess is that if someone takes the time to remove fingerprints then chances are there won’t be blood or dental records on file either, but I am just speculating.” Lexi continued.
“We know who he is, why didn’t you just tell them?” Shade ask
“Because” Lexi said slightly annoyed “If no one reports him missing and they are unable to identify the body then…” Lexi was waiting to see if Shade was on the same page as her.
“Then what?” said Shade annoyed that Lexi hadn’t finished.
“Then there is an empty house that has a dead guy as the owner and we would be the only two to know about it.” Lexi said excitedly
The comment caught Shade completely off guard and she chocked while swallowing which sent her into a coughing fit. After a few moments she calmed down and her breathing returned to normal. “Are you serious?” Shade looked at Lexi who was nodding intently “okay I guess you are.” Shade took sometime to think about it, minutes passed before she said anything. “What about the dead guy, what if family or friends come looking for him? How long is that window open?” Shade asked.
“The cops said two weeks tops and if it hit three than it becomes my decision on what to do with the body.” Lexi responded. Shade was quiet again, it was longer this time. Lexi was getting impatient and was about to speak again when Shade said “if we do this we are going to need a plan and we have to make sure that all the different angles are covered. Meaning that we need to have the same story if someone asks us why we are in the house, where the real owner went so on and so forth. I also want to know what you whole plan for this is, you have been scheming and now it is time to come clean I want to know what is your plan.”
“first off I agree that everything needs to be mapped out.” Lexi started. “Now about my plan the other day I saw a woman who appeared to be in an abusive relationship. I watched her and the guy she was with walk by my place and there was nothing I could have done or said to help. Then I thought to myself what could I do to help those the want to hide or get away from the ones they are with but are too afraid, afraid that if they don’t succeed the punishment will be much worse than anything they have already felt. Then it occurred to me what if we could hide them in plain sight?”
“I’m not following you.” Shade said.
“What we have stumbled upon is a device to remove a face and then replace it. But what if you could remove a face from one person and place it on another?” Lexi asked
Shade’s eyes grew wide “That’s…that’s…” Shade was looking for the right words but was having a difficult time.
“Lame, stupid, the worst idea you have ever her anyone mumble while being sober…” Lexi went on.
“Genius” Shade filled in “or at least borderline genius. But do you think it could work?”
“I don’t know” Lexi said relieved that Shade indulging the idea “we would have to practice a lot to make sure that we are comfortable with the process, and that we are able to do it correctly and quickly unlike the events of last night.” Shade started to chuckle and Lexi glared at her. “We would also need to find out if one face can be transferred to another I’m hoping that in all the paperwork we have from the safe there will be something that talks about it. If not we might need to experiment with it on our own, can I put you down a a live volunteer?”
“After what happened last night, not on your life.” Shade said firmly, Lexi just laughed.
“So are you with me?” Lexi asked Shade.
“Yeah I’m with you, at least for now. If the shit hits the fan I might bail.” Shade said.
“Ouch, You better not that’s when I will need you the most is when the shit hit the fan.” Lexi said
“Alright, alright I’ll stick with you through that. Can I bail once it starts falling off the fan?” Shade said laughing
“Gross, no you will need to cover me at that point. I don’t want to get that stuff on me.” Lexi retorted. They both laughed for a while and then once things calmed down Lexi said ” I figure we have three weeks to get the facts straight and the face removal down. What do you think?”
“I think It’s time for a montage.” Shade said throwing her hands in the air and starting humming a tune.
“What do you think this is a movie? We can’t montage three weeks.” Lexi said
“Then I think we had better get started.” Shade said.
Over the next three weeks.