Face Value Read Online Free PDF Page B

purposes. Psychotherapists use the manual when they treat patients. The FBI uses it to train its interrogators so they can spot when someone is lying. Software companies use it to develop facial recognition systems. Even Hollywood uses it in their computer graphic animations to make their cartoon characters seem more realistic. Like the Na’vi in the movie Avatar . James Cameron is a big fan of FACS.”
    â€œAnd Stanley Plotkin uses it?”
    I nodded. “He has a copy of the manual and studies it every day. Sometimes for hours, according to his mother.”
    â€œDoes it work for him?”
    â€œHe’s pretty observant, Benny. I’ll give you an example. The night before last, Jerry and Stanley met with the two police detectives that handled Sari’s death. I met with the same two yesterday. One of them is young and cocky—a red-headed guy named Rob Hendricks. You know the type. Top three buttons of his shirt open, thick gold chain underneath. The other detective—Harry Gibbs—is in his sixties, bald, bags under his eyes, low key, white short-sleeve shirt, and narrow black tie. I spent maybe thirty minutes with them yesterday. Afterward, I asked Stanley what he’d noticed about them. He told me that Hendricks was insecure and struggling with homosexual urges.”
    Benny laughed. “No shit?”
    â€œI didn’t ask him how he knew that stuff because I was more curious how he had concluded that Gibbs, the older one, was recently divorced and a recovering alcoholic. He told me that his first clue was when Hendricks made some crude joke about marital sex. He said Gibbs responded with a forced, voluntary smile. That indicated tension on the subject of marriage, which caused Stanley to study the ring finger on his left hand, where he detected what he said were superficial tissue scarring and skin color differentiation. He said that the scarring and color differentiation would have been caused by a ring that had been in place for years. From those two facts, he claimed you could infer that Detective Gibbs had been married and that the marriage had ended within the recent past. He said that the scarring and skin color would have been much harder to detect if the marriage had ended, say, five years ago.”
    â€œJeez.” Benny sat back in his chair. “And the alcoholism?”
    â€œThat was more observation than facial action codes. He told me that the whites of Detective Gibbs’ eyes were a little yellow, which apparently is a sign of swelling of the liver, which he said is a symptom of alcoholism. That was confirmed, he claimed, by the redness of the detective’s nose and cheeks, which were caused by broken capillaries. He said that’s another symptom of alcoholism.” I smiled and shrugged. “He’s good at it, Benny.”
    â€œDamn, I’d like to meet this dude. Maybe take him along to a singles bar. Help me hone in on optimal targets of conversation.”
    â€œThere’s a vision.”
    â€œHey, you’re talking to a visionary.”
    â€œI’m telling you, Benny, Stanley’s no fool. He’s convinced that Sari was murdered.” I shrugged. “I’m kind of leaning toward giving him the benefit of the doubt.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œHe sees things that others don’t. I spoke with Sari’s father this morning. I didn’t tell him about Stanley, but I promised him I’d do a little poking around, make sure there was no reason to doubt the official version of her death.”
    â€œBut who would want to kill her?”
    â€œI have no idea.”
    â€œDoes Stanley?”
    â€œActually, he does.”
    â€œWho?”
    â€œSomeone in that law firm.”
    â€œNo shit. Who?”
    I shook my head. “He doesn’t know. But he’s convinced someone in the law firm killed her.”
    â€œWhat’s the motive?”
    â€œHe doesn’t know.”
    Benny finished off