the apparatus fails in the field

The disguise malfunctioning live, twice, mid-interrogation. "The lurid wig of him slipped when he moved the head with any abrupt force," and later, at a pitch of intensity, "Steeply's wig had slipped hard to starboard" — the cover literally listing to one side as the conversation heats. Where the veil and the CV hold their concealment steady, Steeply's field-persona is a physical object subject to gravity and sudden motion, and the harder the exchange presses the more visibly the apparatus comes adrift. The operative's body keeps betraying the operative's costume.