No One Will Hear You
Page 29
Harrow and Carmen exchanged astonished glances. Just when you think you’ve heard everything. …
On screen, Jana was saying, “That’s enough, Vince. No one’s ever to see this, anyway. Not unless we release it someday, ourselves.”
He was grinning, nodding. “Bonus features! … Just one thing more.”
Jana nodded her permission.
“I want you to know, J.C. … and any family members and friends of the actresses I have already cast or will be casting in the days ahead … that there is nothing personal about it. As my own casting director, my costars are actresses who have found fame elusive themselves. And thanks to me, they will finally have their fifteen minutes. Of course, the costar I’ve cast for our climax has already made it, hasn’t she? She deserves special ‘guest star’ billing. I realize I indulged in typecasting, since she’s previously appeared in a serial killer episode of Crime Seen. But I had to do it, J.C.—to give you a strong finish and because, well … Carmen Garcia is just perfect for the part.”
Carmen rose and staggered to her chair, slumping there.
Vince’s voice continued: “Andrew Cunanan had Gianni Versace, Manson had Sharon Tate, we have Carmen Garcia….”
The monitor went black.
Carmen said, “I would have been the next DVD.”
“But you aren’t. You fought back. You won.”
“I … I don’t feel anything about it—about killing her.”
“You will. She was a monster, but she was a person once. It’s going to hit you, Carmen. No way you can prepare for it, but just … don’t be surprised.”
She laughed bitterly, nodded toward the pile of DVDs. “Won’t Dennis just love airing this crap.”
“Why, are you going to tell him about them?”
She blinked at him. “Aren’t … aren’t you? You know he’ll make copies before you give them to Lieutenant Amari.”
“I don’t think Anna needs these.”
“But … they’re evidence.”
“Are they? That case is closed.”
“You mean …?”
“Vince and Jana’s show just got cancelled.”
And Harrow dumped the discs in his waste-basket.
Crime Seen Tips
The LAPD Sex Crimes Division herein is imaginary; that caseload is taken on by individual sex crimes units throughout Los Angeles.
Thanks to crime scene analyst Chris Kauffman CLPE, Van Buren (IA) County Sheriff’s Office; computer forensics investigator Paul Van Steen-huyse, CFCE, CEECS, Data Analysis & Recovery Consultants; Matthew Schwarz, CLPE, Schwarz Forensics Enterprises; Dennis Kern, CLPE, Department of Criminal Investigation, State of Iowa; Vince Murillo, toolmarks and firearms examiner, Department of Criminal Investigation, State of Iowa; and independent filmmaker Elaine Holliman (for Santa Monica background).
Among books consulted were: Practical Homicide Investigation (1996), Vernon J. Geberth; The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers (2000), Michael Newton; Mind-hunter (1995), John Douglas and Mark Olshaker; In the Minds of Murderers (2007), Paul Roland; and Profile of a Criminal Mind (2003), Brian Innes.
Special thanks to our editor, Michaela Hamilton, who in a brainstorming session at Boucheron 2009 in Indianapolis helped shape this novel. Also, thank-yous go to our agent, Dominick Abel, and our wives, Barb and Pam—in-house editors, and support systems.
MAX ALLAN COLLINS, a five-time Mystery Writers of America “Edgar” nominee in both fiction and non-fiction categories, has been hailed as “the Renaissance man of mystery fiction.” He has also been a frequent Private Eye Writers of America “Shamus” nominee, winning twice for his Nathan Heller novels, True Detective (1983) and Stolen Away (1991), and receiving their Lifetime Achievement Award, the Eye. A new Heller, Bye Bye, Baby, will appear in 2011.
His graphic novel Road to Perdition is the basis of the Academy Award–winning DreamWorks feature film starring Tom Hanks. Max has many comics credits, including the “Dick Tracy” syndicated strip; his own “Ms. Tree;” and “Batman.”
His other credits include film criticism, short fiction, songwriting, trading-card sets, and movie/TV tie-in novels, including the New York Times bestsellers Saving Private Ryan and American Gangster, which won the Best Novel “Scribe” award from the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers. Working with the Mickey Spillane estate, following the wishes of the late author, he is completing a number of manuscripts, including the current Kiss Her Goodbye, a Mike Hammer novel begun in the mid-1970s.
An acclaimed and award-winning independent filmmaker in the Midwest, he wrote and directed the Lifetime movie Mommy (1996) and three other features, including Eliot Ness: An Untouchable Life (2005). His produced screenplays include the 1995 HBO World Premiere The Expert and The Last Lullaby (2008) from his novel The Last Quarry. He lives in Muscatine, Iowa, with his wife Barbara, collaborating with her as “Barbara Allan” on the award-winning “Trash ‘n’ Treasures” cozy mystery series.
MATTHEW CLEMENS has authored or co-authored numerous short stories that appear in such anthologies as Private Eyes, Murder Most Confederate, the Hot Blood series, the Flesh & Blood series, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. With Pat Gipple, he co-authored Dead Water: The Klindt Affair, a regionally bestselling true crime book, and has written for such magazines as Fangoria, Femme Fatales, and TV Guide. He has worked as a book doctor on over fifty novels, and assisted the late Karl Largent on several bestselling techno-thrillers.
Clemens is also co-plotter and researcher for Max Allan Collins on books based on the television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, Dark Angel, Bones, and Criminal Minds. Collins and Clemens have also written comic books, graphic novels, a computer game, and jigsaw puzzles based on the successful CSI franchise. Many of their collaborative short stories were gathered in My Lolita Complex and Other Tales of Sex and Violence (2006), and their short story, “Murderlized,” featuring Moe Howard (of Three Stooges fame) as an amateur detective, appears in the anthology Hollywood & Crime. Clemens lives in Davenport, Iowa, with his wife Pam, a teacher.