Only Child

“Ummm...”

“Vision was right, about what he told me. He said people want to be in the movies so bad, they use their fantasies like a shoehorn—they make things fit.

“I mean, Adrienne, nobody could see her face. What did she think she was auditioning for, ass model? So, if I had set the whole thing up, just so I could do that to her, it would have worked. In real life, I mean. The same exact thing. That’s the verite. I didn’t actually set it up, but if I was a good enough actress, it would be just like I did.”

The girl glanced over at Rejji, who gave her an encouraging nod. She darted her tongue again, went on:

“You know what I told him? Vision? I told him, if this was really real, like I had planned it all for revenge, you know what would happen? We’d have to do a lot of takes. So Adrienne’s fat ass could get paddled over and over again.”

“Was that what you did?”

“No,” she said, pouty. “Vision said that the camera would know.”

“What does that mean?” Cyn asked her, a reporter interviewing a star.

“Well,” the girl said, tossing her hair slightly, “in real life, she wouldn’t start with her ass all red, see? That would give the whole thing away. So we had to do it all in one take. And I did it, perfect,” she said, chesty with self-satisfaction.

“What happened with your audition?” I asked.

“Well...nothing. Yet. Vision said, even if I didn’t get picked for a part, my tape would make the rounds. He had more of me, too, in case they wanted to see other stuff. Like more of my face, like you’re doing here. And I got paid, too,” she said proudly.

“Is that right?”

“I made five hundred dollars,” she said smugly. “Plus, I got to beat Adrienne’s ass. And she didn’t get paid a cent.”

“What’s the score?” I said into the cell phone.

“I’m not gonna lie; we been playing for the tie.”

“That’s not us. We need another move.”

“Got one,” the Prof said. “But Michelle finds out what we running, she’s gonna come gunning, bro.”

“You got Terry out there alone?”

“What you want us to do, Schoolboy? Play ofay? This here’s the boy’s turf, not ours.”

“But you’ve got Clarence close?”

“He’s right here with me,” the little man said. “Just a coupla niggers in the parking lot of this monfucious mall, anybody looks.”

“Does the Mole know?”

“Man wants to speak to you,” the Prof said, answering my question.

“You’re a light sleeper,” Rejji said.

“And you two would make lousy burglars,” I told them, glancing at my watch—three-thirteen. “What’ve you been up to? This town can’t have that much going for it.”

“We were with Kori,” Cyn said. “Playing sorority initiation.”

“You’re sure?” I asked Rejji, who was draped over the foot of the bed, on her belly, a pillow under her hips.

“She’s an amateur,” Rejji said. “But she knows what she likes.”

“I appreciate you taking one for the team,” I told her.

“Me? Please! We taught her a new game. It’s called ‘turning the tables.’ Maybe you heard of it.”

“Yeah. What did you get out of her?”

“You mean, after Cyn made her—”

“Rej, you can tell me all about it some other time, okay? But, for now, how about you go back to where you started?”

“She’s not a rocket scientist, Burke. But she’s smart enough to know when to be scared.”

“Of this ‘Vision’ guy?”

“No. According to her, he’s a real sweetheart. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. It’s the twins.”

“Who?”

“Stop teasing, bitch,” Cyn said, walking over and giving Rejji a loud spank on the bottom. She sat down on the bed, facing toward where I was propped up against the headboard. “Twin brothers,” she said to me. “Brett and Bryce Heltman. Used to be hot-stuff athletes, a few years ago. Big, strong boys. With really foul tempers. Kori says she heard they got away with murder when they were in school—they were seniors when she was still in junior high, so it’s just rumors, but she sure believes every word.”

“And they’re with Vision?”

“Not ‘with’ him, like part of his crew or anything. But...And I want to tell you, Burke, this is all stuff she ‘heard,’ okay? So it could be one hundred percent bullshit....

“There was this girl mad at Vision. Because of some video thing, Kori doesn’t know for sure. The girl ended up gang-banged. They didn’t just fuck her, they fucked her up. Broke her jaw and one of her arms. And they stuck a—”

“I get it. And word is that was these twins’ work?”

“That’s all it is, the ‘word,’” she said. “The girl never...Well, it never went to court. The girl said she didn’t know who did it. But, supposedly, she told one of her friends that it was the twins.”

“Maybe it was. But that doesn’t mean there was any—”

“Kori knows of at least two more.”

“Girls who got raped?”

“No. People who got the crap pounded out of them right after they had some kind of beef with Vision. And here’s what’s not a rumor. Kori went to meet him, Vision, once. At the Tackapausha Preserve—that’s, like, a big nature park, somewhere around where they live. She figured Vision wanted to tape her outdoors or something. When she got there, he walks her down this trail. At the end, sitting on a tree trunk, there’s the twins. She said they didn’t do anything, but they scared her to death—it was like being in a cave, back in those woods.”

“What was Vision doing?”

“Taping.”

“Taping what?”

“Taping her being scared, Kori said. And probably taping her when she ran away.”

“Which one is the paddling tape?” I asked Michelle.

“They’re all labeled, honey. With Post-its. I’ve got the master list here.” She ran her finger down a column, said, “It’s number four.”

I carried it over to the workbench the Mole had put together. Flicked on the gooseneck halogen, picked up the magnifying glass, double-checking.

“NV,” I said.

“What does that tell us?” Michelle asked.

“I don’t know yet, girl. We need to sort them first.”

It took longer than I’d have thought, rechecking the tiny little brands. When we were done, we had one high stack, and one short one. And one orphan.

CV: The dogfights, the NHB contest, the jump-in tapes...

NV: The swastika spray-painters, a girl trying on blue jeans in a booth, the sorority paddling...

FV: Just one. Vonni. Running.

“We tanked,” Terry said, walking into the suite, disconsolate.