XII) Teacher and Pupil

"Disappointment," she said with certainty.

Cal nodded, pleased. "Why?"

"Her lips," she told him, pointing to the photograph. "That slight lowering, there, in the corner. That's disappointment."

He showed her another photo. "And this one?"

She examined the photo of the old woman only briefly. "That's not an emotion...she's expressing a physical sensation." Her own expression saddened as she eyed the photo. "Pain. Physical pain."

Cal nodded. Pleased. Gillian Foster wasn't a natural and she couldn't spot nearly as many micro-expressions as he could. Likely never would. But she was a fast learner.

"Ready to try some video?"

She shrugged, offering him a bunch of chocolate candy from a newly opened container. He declined and she poured out half a handful for herself. "Sure."

"Even Em doesn't eat those things anymore."

"Some parts of childhood are worth keeping around," she told him, ignoring the face he made.

Cal forwarded the video-recording to the fourth example on his tape.

He wanted to start with that one because he knew it was the hardest one to decipher. Unlike the other examples, it wasn't a real life interview. It was a seasoned actor playing a part. Cal couldn't remember a single student of his who'd ever figured out they were being played. Especially without seeing the other videoclips first.

"Ready for a challenge?"

"I signed on with you, didn't I?"

Funny.

He ran the tape for her. Watched her focus on it intently, breaking her concentration only when she stopped to pop another candy into her mouth.

"Don't you ever get sick of...sugar?"

"No."

Right then.

"Well...?" he asked when the three-minute reel was over. "Is he lying or telling the truth?"

Gillian's face was a mask of concentration, her blue eyes still riveted by the screen in front of her, even though he'd stopped the tape. "Play it again."

Cal obliged and watched as she ate another piece of candy before taking it in a second time.

"So...what's the verdict?" he asked her again.

"He's lying," she announced.

Cal tried hard to hide his surprise. "Why?" he demanded, dying to know how she made that deduction. There wasn't a single tell-tale marker on the man's face. It wasn't just hard to figure it out, it was near impossible. At least given his own guidelines.

"His voice," Gillian told him. "There's a difference in our voices when we remember and when we talk about an imagined event. It's very subtle, and you have to know how to spot the inflections, and this guy..." she turned to him with a smile, thoroughly impressed. "He's really good, Cal. I almost bought it, but about a minute into the tape... when he talks about having dinner with his mother, he's not remembering. I'm sure of it now. It's more like he's recounting it...like someone telling a story."

Cal looked at her incredulously. "You can tell that...by listening to him?"

Gillian nodded. "Voice stress analysis, I told you, it's...a speciality of mine. The way our vocal tones are influenced by our emotions. It's a fascinating field of study."

Sure, he'd heard of it, had remembered her mentioning her interest in it. But he hadn't paid it much attention. Mostly because he was convinced it was a flawed science. He told her as much. "Voice stress analysis is about as unreliable as a polygraph test. It's full of false positives."

"It is," she agreed. "If you're only measuring pitch while hooking a nervous subject up to a machine. But there's more to it than that."

"Like?"

"Like combining pitch with the verbiage used. Verbiage and word choice can be very telling. Plus, you read the non-verbal leakage alongside both of those. Manipulators, illustrators, emblems...you name it. Combine all of that and your accuracy goes up greatly. Especially if the person doing the reading is good at it." She ate another candy. "And I am good at it."

Yeah, no kidding.

Cal watched her, watched as she suddenly became aware that what she was saying might've come across as boastful. Cocky even. Her reaction amused him because he'd never met anyone less prone to either one than her.

"What I'm trying to say is...I'm lucky because I have an ear for it. I never forget a voice."

Cal raised his brows. All this time he'd been reading her visually, she'd probably been reading him too. Using an altogether different sense of perception. "You never forget a voice, ever?"

"No. Never."

Bloody hell. "When were you going to tell me this?"

She eyed him, puzzled. "Why is it important?"

"Why?" He couldn't help grinning. "Because between my ability to read micro-expressions and your skill with this...it'll be almost impossible for anyone to ever pull the wool over our eyes."

She returned his smile. "Glad to be useful."

They really were going to make one hell of a team.

Cal held out his hand for a piece of candy. It was time to cave in. "Since I'm teaching you all my tricks of the trade, how 'bout sharing some of yours with me?"