thought, still unable to take
his eyes off the cover photo. Apiece of paper on a plastic box.
Her body had been found in the Hildreth Mansion on
the morning of Saturday, April 3rd. Hands and feet severed,
evidence of vigorous sexual intercourse with multiple partners. Cause of death: "strike-trauma by six-inch-wide
lower-abdominal impactation," the autopsy report coldly
informed-an ax buried in her belly. "With possible perimortal transvaginal evisceration."
Westmore closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
The place was dark, smelled sweet with something-some
fashion of air-freshener. Westmore had only been in this
porn shop once-oblivious-in order to buy an appropriate
gag gift for a friend's bachelor party. He was as familiar with
pornographic videos as he was with Euclidean geometry.
He'd read somewhere once that the porn business comprised
a multibillion-dollar-per-year industry now And now, in the
shop, he looked around at wall after wall of X-rated videos
and DVDs. It's a world to itsef An under orld, he thought.
A rough but feminine voice drifted across the shop.
"We've got more of hers."
Westmore saw the proprietor, from a high checkout area.
"What's that?"
"More films by Gabrielle. I can check on the computer
to see which ones are in stock."
Westmore walked over. A large-breasted woman with
awful-looking dirty-blonde cornrows, weathered and
chunky. Rode hard and put away wet, he deduced. "I'll take
this one, and, yeah, could you check the computer for more
films by T&T?"
"Sure." She was smoking a black cigarette. Stapled to the
wall behind her were scores of ad posters sporting more
preposterously attractive woman in striking poses, either
naked or barely clothed. A stark sign at the top of the wall
read ASK ABOUT OUR LINGERIE MODELS! Westmore didn't get it.
"Yeah, Gabrielle was cool. You want me to run just her
films or-"
"Anything by T&T," Westmore said. "You sound like
you knew Gabrielle."
"Not well. Every now and then she and the other T&T
girls would come to the store to do autographs." She
pointed behind her, to a poster bearing several signatures,
four nude woman in a Charlie's Angels-type pose "Wild
bunch but they were all cool. You may not know this but all
their main stars were murdered early in the month."
"Yeah, I ... heard about that. Some guy named Hildreth."
"Um-ham."
"But explain something to me." He was looking at the
back of the first DVD. "T&T Enterprises is a Florida-based
company, according to the papers. Why does this disc say
Redondo Beach?"
"That's where they were based before Hildreth bought
them. Psycho billionaire. He bought the whole company
because he saw one of their DVD's and liked their looks.
Moved the company to his house, for God's sake. Before the
buy, T&T released fifty movies a year, but since Hildreth
bought them out, they only release a few." She paused.
"Er-well, now they don't release any."
"Why is that, though? It doesn't make sense for a rich
guy to buy a successful porn company and then not capitalize on its value. When rich guys buy businesses, it's for a return on their investment."
"It didn't matter that's how rich Hildreth was." She
clicked down on the computer screen, the black cigarette
hanging unbecomingly off her lips. "It was an impulsebuy-seriously-because he liked the look of the girls. He
moved them all into the house to live for free, like the damn
Playboy Mansion. Gabrielle said 'he was obsessed with
beautiful women, they were his furniture."
Furniture, Westmore thought, depressed by the notion.
And then he put an ax to it all.
He wound up taking four more DVD's, T&T's final releases, which all starred most of the victims from the murder. He pulled out his wallet. "How much are these each,
by the way?"
"$49.95."
Westmore about had a cow. DAMN! The five discs
wound up costing more than half of his rent. He looked at
the last one she'd taken out. Another stunning woman-a
redhead with a
his eyes off the cover photo. Apiece of paper on a plastic box.
Her body had been found in the Hildreth Mansion on
the morning of Saturday, April 3rd. Hands and feet severed,
evidence of vigorous sexual intercourse with multiple partners. Cause of death: "strike-trauma by six-inch-wide
lower-abdominal impactation," the autopsy report coldly
informed-an ax buried in her belly. "With possible perimortal transvaginal evisceration."
Westmore closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
The place was dark, smelled sweet with something-some
fashion of air-freshener. Westmore had only been in this
porn shop once-oblivious-in order to buy an appropriate
gag gift for a friend's bachelor party. He was as familiar with
pornographic videos as he was with Euclidean geometry.
He'd read somewhere once that the porn business comprised
a multibillion-dollar-per-year industry now And now, in the
shop, he looked around at wall after wall of X-rated videos
and DVDs. It's a world to itsef An under orld, he thought.
A rough but feminine voice drifted across the shop.
"We've got more of hers."
Westmore saw the proprietor, from a high checkout area.
"What's that?"
"More films by Gabrielle. I can check on the computer
to see which ones are in stock."
Westmore walked over. A large-breasted woman with
awful-looking dirty-blonde cornrows, weathered and
chunky. Rode hard and put away wet, he deduced. "I'll take
this one, and, yeah, could you check the computer for more
films by T&T?"
"Sure." She was smoking a black cigarette. Stapled to the
wall behind her were scores of ad posters sporting more
preposterously attractive woman in striking poses, either
naked or barely clothed. A stark sign at the top of the wall
read ASK ABOUT OUR LINGERIE MODELS! Westmore didn't get it.
"Yeah, Gabrielle was cool. You want me to run just her
films or-"
"Anything by T&T," Westmore said. "You sound like
you knew Gabrielle."
"Not well. Every now and then she and the other T&T
girls would come to the store to do autographs." She
pointed behind her, to a poster bearing several signatures,
four nude woman in a Charlie's Angels-type pose "Wild
bunch but they were all cool. You may not know this but all
their main stars were murdered early in the month."
"Yeah, I ... heard about that. Some guy named Hildreth."
"Um-ham."
"But explain something to me." He was looking at the
back of the first DVD. "T&T Enterprises is a Florida-based
company, according to the papers. Why does this disc say
Redondo Beach?"
"That's where they were based before Hildreth bought
them. Psycho billionaire. He bought the whole company
because he saw one of their DVD's and liked their looks.
Moved the company to his house, for God's sake. Before the
buy, T&T released fifty movies a year, but since Hildreth
bought them out, they only release a few." She paused.
"Er-well, now they don't release any."
"Why is that, though? It doesn't make sense for a rich
guy to buy a successful porn company and then not capitalize on its value. When rich guys buy businesses, it's for a return on their investment."
"It didn't matter that's how rich Hildreth was." She
clicked down on the computer screen, the black cigarette
hanging unbecomingly off her lips. "It was an impulsebuy-seriously-because he liked the look of the girls. He
moved them all into the house to live for free, like the damn
Playboy Mansion. Gabrielle said 'he was obsessed with
beautiful women, they were his furniture."
Furniture, Westmore thought, depressed by the notion.
And then he put an ax to it all.
He wound up taking four more DVD's, T&T's final releases, which all starred most of the victims from the murder. He pulled out his wallet. "How much are these each,
by the way?"
"$49.95."
Westmore about had a cow. DAMN! The five discs
wound up costing more than half of his rent. He looked at
the last one she'd taken out. Another stunning woman-a
redhead with a
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