“No, no! Not watch. Of course not watch!” Mr. Jonas’ sparse eyebrows wrinkled; his hair, when he had it, must have been ash blond. “I certainly wouldn’t want to watch. And I don’t think my friends would want to watch either. What we were thinking of had much more to do with … well, it occurred to us that while you do your work very well, if you had some help, it might be more effective … psychologically effective. I mean I’ve always considered your work to be basically psychological in its … well, effect, despite the inevitable physical side; I think of you as a sort of artisan of pain, a spiritual worker whose finest points might have been honed in some cellar of the Inquisition, some—”

Hogg’s blank, dumb look got through.

“Well, at any rate, we thought if you could have some help—that idea came from … but you don’t want to know his name, do you? You say you already have the child here.…” He frowned down at me, trying to imagine what I could have done.

“I think …” Hogg began, then suddenly guffawed loudly. “I think I know what you want, hey? I know this dago. He’s worked with me on some jobs. He’s real mean, Mr. Jonas. I’ve seen him stick a knife in a bitch fast as he’d stick his pecker in a pussy. Sometimes, when we work over a cunt together, I got to hold that boy back from slittin’ the bitch open.”

“Well, yes, now. That’s—”

“And I got a nigger, too. Works with me a lot. Big, black, and nasty. The shit I seen that spade mother pull when he gets after a bad pussy, well, it would make a gentleman like you sick, Mr. Jonas.” Hogg chuckled, shook his head. “Just sick.”

“Well, now you do seem to have the idea. A big colored man? That would really amuse—but then, there’s no need to mention who. A darky? Yes, that sounds particularly good.”

“I can think of a couple of other guys. I know a whole bunch of rape artists, Mr. Jonas. I can get you some real scroungy types. Just plain creepy. Standin’ there and watchin’ those guys work over some poor bitch gets me so fuckin’—”

“Fine. Yes, that’ll be fine, Hogg. We understand each other now. And you’ll charge me for this …?”

Hogg hefted his crotch. His fly was half open and you could just see inside it. He was chewing something over in the back of his mouth. “Well, I got to round up these bastards and keep ’em in line. That’s gonna be more work than the shag job.”

“I’m not interested in stories either, Hogg—”

“For something special like this I’ll have to charge two hundred for each of the bitches—”

“That’s fifty more than—”

“—in cash. Plus … lemme see. I’ll get four guys beside me. They gotta get at least seventy-five apiece. For each bitch. Now don’t look all funny—you pay me a hundred-and-fifty for one, remember. And why don’t you throw in fifty bucks for the little cocksucker here?”