Patiently he bound her other foot. He was irritated, though, that there was nothing to tie it to. He had to wrap it around a cabinet hinge. “Doesn't look right.” He stepped back and adjusted the camera upward, to avoid shooting the clumsy jerry-rigged job. “What are you going to do?”

He had his hands on his hips. With his chest naked, his tight blue jeans, the mask, he was a medieval executioner.

“What do you want?” she squealed. “Leave me alone.” It often got him how stupid some people were. What did he want?

It was pretty fucking obvious to him. He told her, “Just making a film, honey. Just what you do all day long. Only there's one difference: You tease. This is for real. This film's going to show your soul.”

“You're...” Her voice was soft, shook with sickening terror. “This is a snuff film, isn't it? Oh, God...”

He pulled more rope out of his bag. He paused for a moment, studying her. Nicole began to scream.

Tommy took an S & M gag — a lather strap with a red ball attached to it — and shoved it into her mouth. He tied it tight behind her head.

“They sell so much garbage. You know, leather panties. Face masks, jockstraps out of latex. You ask me it's too complicated. I go for the simple stuff myself. You got to get it just right. It's sort of a ritual. You do it wrong, they don't pay. This customer of mine — I'm making twenty-five thousand for this, by the way — he likes the knots to be just right. They're very important, the knots. One time, this guy wanted redheads only. Man, that's not easy. So I cruised two, three days along Highway 101. Finally found this student from some community college. Get her into this shack and made the film. I thought it was pretty good. But the customer was pissed. Know why? She wasn't a natural redhead. Her pussy hair was black. I only got five thousand. And what'm I gonna do? Sue?”

He finished the elaborate knotting, then rummaged through his bag. He found a whip, a leather handle with a dozen leather strips hanging from it. He took a long pull of vodka from the bottle. He checked the time. The customer was paying for a two-hour tape. Tommy'd make it last for two hours. He believed in the adage that the customer is always right.

Death of a Blue Movie Star

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Sam Healy and Rune lay in bed, watching the lights on the ceiling, reflecting off the Hudson River.

Healy was feeling pretty good. He wanted to say, Not bad for an old guy. Or something like that. But he was remembering about times like this — and that was one thing he remembered clearly: You didn't talk about yourself.