When he got home, he checked his email to find a message from Shooter. Call me, it said.
Sawyer found Shooter’s number and hitdial. “Hey, you got something?”
“Maybe. It’s hard to say without the original photo. But, yeah, I think it’s been messed with. Whoever did it is good. There’s none of the telltale signs. No warpage in the background and no patterns left behind by an amateurish cut-and-paste job. It’s something about the way DeRose’s body is turned. It’s anatomically funky. I’m far from an anatomical scientist, but in my years of taking photos I’ve never seen a pose like this. There’s something off about it. Her head isn’t quite sitting right. And her skin’s a little too blended. It could be her makeup, but it’s usually a sign of fakery. Well-executed fakery, though. Usually I don’t have to look twice to tell. But this one took a while.”
Sawyer’s pulse picked up. Now they were getting somewhere. “Is there a way to conclusively prove that the shot was photoshopped?”
“Not without the original. At least nothing that would hold up in court.”
Sawyer didn’t need it to hold up in the legal system, just in the court of public opinion. “It’s going to be pretty damned near-impossible to get the original.” Sawyer didn’t even know where it came from. Like all things on the internet, it started floating around with no credit line. “Is there anyone who’s an expert I can send the copy to? Someone who’ll write me out an affidavit that it’s bogus?”
“There’s a forensic guy who’s well-known, testifies in copyright cases. I can’t begin to tell you how many people think a photo on social media or on Pinterest is free for the taking so some moron can mangle or photoshop it for a meme. This guy has impeccable qualifications. But again, he’ll want the original photo. And I don’t even know if he takes on individual cases or just works with lawyers.”
“What’s his name?” Gina’s lawyer could contact him. Sawyer was sure she had legions of them.
Shooter gave Sawyer his name. “Do a clip search on him. He testified for theTimeswhen those two society chicks stole Lance’s shot of Beyoncé and superimposed it on cheap T-shirts they then sold for a few hundred bucks apiece. Talk about nerve.”
Sawyer vaguely remembered the case. “I’ll do that. Thanks for looking at it for me, Shooter. Seriously, I owe you one hell of a solid.”
“Buy me a drink next time we’re in some shithole war zone, taking fire.”
“You got it.”
“I think your chef friend has a good case there. Something is definitely up with that photo. I’d be willing to put money on it.”
“I’ll contact this guy. At least now I’ve got more to go on.”
As soon as he got off the phone he did a quick Google search and found an email address for the forensic photo expert. The guy worked for an image-analysis consulting firm in Boston. After taking a few notes, he called his mother.
“Well, if it isn’t my long-lost son.”
“I’ve been busy, Mom.”
“Too busy for your mother?”
“Never too busy for you.” He rolled his eyes.
“I heard you had a little excitement this morning.”
“Nothing we couldn’t handle. We’re taking precautions.” If you counted precautions as telling Tiffany to keep her trap shut. “Mom, do you know where that photo of Gina and Danny Clay originated?”
There was a long pause, then, “Sawyer, you know I can’t talk about this with you. Why is it that you want to know?”
“I had a friend, a photographer buddy from theTimes, take a look at a copy of the photo I found on the internet. He’s certain it’s a fake. But it would help to have the original. If we had it we could send it to this forensic expert who is well-known for authenticating pictures. Maybe he could write a declaration or at least go on the record that the picture is bogus.”
His mother didn’t say anything, but he could hear her thinking on the other end of the line.
“Mom?”
“I really shouldn’t be talking about this without Gina’s permission. Do you have Gina’s permission, Sawyer?”
“Yep. Gina’s on board.” Gina hadn’t explicitly given him permission to discuss her case with his mother, but close enough. He was helping her, after all.
“We don’t know where the photo originated. It was, of course, the first thing I looked for. We’ve hired someone to trace not only where the photo came from, but the timing of it. Unfortunately, so far no luck.”
Sawyer found that peculiar. Typically, these types of pictures were sold to tabloid editors who wanted nothing more than to take credit for scooping their competition. It’s how they sold newspapers.
“Well, do you want to contact this expert and see what he can do with a copy?” he asked. “It seems to me that if you can prove the photo is a fake you can clear Gina’s name.”
