'Before what?'
He closed his eyes, opened them again. 'I got shot, what, three, four years ago maybe? I don't know anymore. I don't know what day or month or even year it is. The light's always on, so I don't know if it's day or night. I don't know who's president.' He swallowed, not without some effort. 'She's crazy, man. I try screaming for help, it don't do no good. She got the place lined with cork. I just lay here, all day, looking at these walls.'
I found it hard to find my voice. Squares, however, was unfazed. 'We're not here for your life story,' he said. 'We want to ask you about one of your girls.'
'You got the wrong guy,' he said. 'I haven't worked the streets in a long time.'
'That's okay. She hasn't worked in a long time either.'
'Who?'
'Sheila Rogers.'
'Ah.' Castman smiled at the name. 'What do you want to know?'
'Everything.'
'And if I refuse to tell you?'
Squares touched my shoulder. 'We're leaving,' he said to me.
Castman's voice was pure panic. 'What?'
Squares looked down at him. 'You don't want to cooperate, Mr. Castman, that's fine. We won't bother you further.'
'Wait!' he shouted. 'Okay, look, you know how many visitors I've had since I been here?'
'Don't care,' Squares said.
'Six. A grand total of six. And none in, I don't know, has to be a year at least. And all six were my old girls. They came here to laugh at me. Watch me shit myself. And you want to hear something sick? I looked forward to it. Anything to break up the monotony, you know what I mean?'
Squares looked impatient. 'Sheila Rogers.'
The tube made a wet, sucking noise. Castman opened his mouth. A bubble formed. He closed his mouth and tried again. 'I met her God, I'm trying to think ten, fifteen years ago. I was working the Port Authority. She came off a bus from Iowa or Idaho, some shithole like that.'
Working the Port Authority. I knew the routine well. Pimps wait at the terminal. They look for kids fresh off the bus the desperate, the runaways, the raw meat, coming to the Big Apple to be models or actresses or start anew or flee from boredom or escape abuse. The pimps watch like the predators that they are. And then they swoop in, take them down, gnaw on the carcass.
'I had a good rap,' Castman said. 'First off, I'm a white guy. The Midwest meat. It's almost all white breast. They're afraid of the strutting brothers. But me, I was different. I'd wear a nice business suit. I'd carry a briefcase. I'd be a little more patient. So anyway, that day I was waiting by Gate 12. It was a favorite of mine. Got a good view of maybe six different arrivals. Sheila came off the bus and man, she was smoking hot. Maybe sixteen years old and prime-time. A virgin too, though I couldn't tell that right off. I'd learn all about that later.'
I felt my muscles tighten. Squares slowly slid his body between the bed and me.
'So I started sweet-talking her. Sling her my best bits, you know?'
We knew.
'So I give her the line about making her a big-time model. But smooth. Not like the other assholes. I'm like silk. But Sheila, she was smarter than most. Cautious. I could tell she wasn't buying it all the way, but that was okay. See, I don't press. I act legit. End of the day, they want to believe, right? They all hear stories about some super model being discovered at the Dairy Queen or some such shit, and hey, that's why they come in the first place.'
The machine stopped beeping. I heard it gurgle. Then it started beeping again.
'So Sheila sort of crosses her arms, right. She tells me straight up that she never parties or any of that. I tell her hey, no problem, I'm not into that either. I'm a businessman, I say. A professional photographer and talent scout. We'll take some pictures. That's all. Get a portfolio going. Straight up no partying, no drugs, no nudity, nothing she isn't totally comfortable with. And I'm a pretty good photographer, you know. I got an eye for it. See these walls? These shots of Tanya I took them.'
I looked at the photographs of the once-beautiful Tanya, and the chill struck me deep in my heart. When I looked back at the bed, Castman was staring at me.
'You,' he said.
'What about me?'
'Sheila.' He smiled. 'She means something to you, am I right?'
I didn't reply.
'You love her.'
He stretched out the word love. Mocking me. I kept still.
'Hey, I don't blame you, man. That was some quality tang. And, man, she could suck the '
I started toward him. Castman laughed. Squares stepped in the way. He looked me straight in the eye and shook his head. I backed off. He was right.
Castman stopped laughing, but his eyes stayed on me. 'You want to know how I turned your girl out, lover boy?'
I said nothing.
'Same way as I did Tanya out there. See, I went for the prime cuts, the ones the brothers couldn't get their hooks into. A high-end operation. So I gave Sheila the rap, and eventually I got her into my studio for a shoot. That was it. All I need to do. Put a fork in her, she's done.'
'How?' I asked.
'You really want to hear this?'
'How?'
Castman closed his eyes, the smile still there, savoring the memory. 'I took a bunch of photos of her. All nice and legit. And when we were done, I put a knife to her throat. Then I cuffed her to a bed in a room that was' he chuckled, let his eyes open and roll 'corked. I drugged her up. I filmed her when she was half out of it, made it all look very consensual. That, by the way, was how your Sheila lost her virginity. On video. With yours truly. Magical, am I right?'
The rage flared again, started boiling over, consuming me. I didn't know how much longer I could keep from wringing his neck. But that, I reminded myself, was what he wanted.
'Where was I? Oh, right, I cuffed her and shot her up for maybe a week. Prime stuff too. Expensive. But hey, it's a business expense. All businesses got their training regimens, right? Eventually Sheila got hooked, and let me tell you, you can't put that genie back in the bottle. By the time I uncuffed her, that girl would lick out my toe jam for a hit, you know what I mean?'
He stopped as though waiting for applause. It felt as if something were shredding my insides.
Squares kept his voice flat. 'So after this, you put her on the street?'
'Yup. Taught her some tricks too. How to get a guy off fast. How to take on more than one guy at a time. All that, I was her teacher.'
I thought that I might throw up.
'Go on,' Squares said.
'No,' he said. 'Not until '
'Then we'll bid you good-bye.'
'Tanya,' he said.
'What about her?'
Castman licked his lips. 'Can you give me some water?'
'No. What about Tanya?'
'The bitch keeps me here, man. It ain't right. Yeah, I hurt her. But I had my reason. She wanted to leave, marry this John from Garden City. She thought they were in love. I mean, come on, this look like Pretty Woman to you? She was going to take some of my best girls with her. They could live out in Garden City with her and this John, get cleaned up, some such shit. I couldn't stand for that.'
'So,' Squares said, 'you taught her a lesson.'
'Yeah, sure. It's how it is.'
