Chapter Two Summary

Marta returns to visit and in her affected way, explains how rote her current theatre play has become. She explains how a co-actor has dealt with hundreds of personal details while onstage and going through the motions of being in an all-too-familiar play.

Marta has brought Alan an envelope of pictures—faces of people from history. Alan is fascinated with faces, and is intuitively adept at reading them, which has served him well in his line of work. He can particularly spot irresponsibility in a face. He has not categorized faces, but characterizes them and is able to spot a criminal. As he looks at the pictures, he takes a particular interest in Richard III, who was known to have murdered his two young nephews, although their fate was never resolved. Grant decides there is a mystery to be solved...