“Nothing. Right. And for you, Ms. Corazon?” He gave the name an exaggerated Spanish inflection that, combined with his smile, was like a lewd caress.

“Maybe just some water?”

“Water.” He nodded, repeating the word as though it were an interesting comment she’d made, rather than a request. “So. Come in, sit down.” He gestured with his glass toward a seating area in front of a cathedral-size window. As he spoke, a young woman in a skintight black leotard flew across the expansive room on eerily silent Rollerblades and disappeared through a doorway in the far wall.

Getz led the way to a set of six brushed-aluminum chairs around an oval acrylic coffee table, his mouth widening into a smile-like expression, shocking in its lack of warmth.

After they’d seated themselves at the low table, the Rollerblader flew back across the room, disappearing into another doorway. “Claudia,” Getz announced with a wink, as though revealing a secret. “She’s cute, eh?”

“Who is she?” asked Kim, who seemed taken aback by the display.

“My niece. She’s staying here for a while. She likes to skate.” He paused. “But we’re here for business, right?” The smile evaporated, as though the time for small talk had passed. “So I have some great news for you. Orphans of Murder got a top score in our audience polling.”

Kim looked more confused than pleased. “Polling? But how did you—”

Getz interrupted her. “We have a proprietary system for evaluating program concepts. We create a representative slice of the show, expose it via podcast to a statistically representative audience sample, and get real-time online feedback. Turns out to be super predictive.”

“But what material did you use? My interviews with Ruth and Jimi?”

“Slices. Representative slices. Plus a little surrounding info to set the scene.”

“But those interviews were shot on my amateur cameras. They weren’t intended—”

Getz leaned forward over the table toward Kim. “Fact is, the so-called amateur look in this case turns out to be perfect. Sometimes the zero-production-values look is exactly right. It says honesty. Just like your personality. Earnest. Open. Young. Innocent. See, that’s another thing our test audience told us. I shouldn’t tell you this, but I will. Because I want you to trust me. They love you. They absolutely love you! So I’m thinking we have a future in front of us. What do you think of that?”

Kim was wide-eyed, her mouth open. “I don’t know. I mean … they just saw a slice of an interview?”