Third You Die (kevin connor mysteries)

by Scott Sherman

  Now, his name was coming up for a third time.

  I had a feeling it wouldn’t be the last time, either.

  I was going to have to talk to Lucas Fisher.

  “What did Lucas do?” I asked.

  “Some background first. If you’re going to be working with us, you deserve to hear the kinds of things that sometime come up-and how we handle them.”

  I decided not to point out that I hadn’t agreed to work with him at all. It was clear Mason assumed that even though I expressed some ambivalence, there was no way I’d pass up the opportunity to make the kind of money he’d offered. As far as he was concerned, I was already part of his stable. I resented his arrogance, but if it made him more open to being truthful, I could live with it.

  Of course, I knew that if I led him on like this, and then backed out, he’d be even more bitter than if I’d simply rejected him to begin with. But that wasn’t my plan.

  If things worked out the way I hoped, it’d be him rejecting me. But that was yet to come.

  I scooted back on the bed so that my back was against the headboard, grateful for the opportunity. This was a position I was counting on being able to get into to pull off the rest of my plan.

  But to Mason, I must have seemed like an eager eight-year-old ready to hear his favorite story. Good. The more he relaxed his guard, the better for me. “You’re right,” I said. I gave him my best fake-sincere smile. “I appreciate your understanding my… mixed feelings.”

  “Naturally, I do,” Mason said. “It’s not like I haven’t had them myself at times.”

  The only feelings I imagined he ever had were pride and greed. I suppose you could mix them, but the result would be bitter.

  “You need to understand what it’s like to work on the set of an adult film. Especially for the models. But first, you have to understand the audience.

  “It’s strange-when someone watches a Die Hard movie, they don’t think Bruce Willis is really getting thrown from buildings and running from explosions. When Julie Andrews sings ‘My Favorite Things’ to comfort her charges in The Sound of Music, the audience doesn’t believe she really wants to marry that old man and adopt those adorable little Nazis-in-waiting. Yes, we all swoon when Richard Gere sweeps Julia Roberts off her feet in Pretty Woman, but as convincing as those two actors are, we understand they’re just pretending. When the director yells cut, we know they go to their separate trailers to complain to their agents or abuse their personal assistants.

  “But with all-male porn, everyone wonders ‘Is it real? Are the actors really enjoying themselves? Are they even gay?’

  “When most people ask me that, I ask, ‘Does it matter?’ We know Willis isn’t really a New York City cop with the most amazing recuperative powers this side of Wolverine, that Andrews isn’t really a virginal nun, and that Roberts isn’t that dullest of cliches: the whore with a heart of gold.”

  Hey, what’s so unbelievable about that last one?

  “Who cares if the actors are having a good time or not?” Mason asked, then answered himself.

  “The only question that matters is: Is the viewer having a good time?

  “That being said, it’s a lot easier to pretend that you’re suddenly inspired to sing some dumb song about whiskers on kittens or that you find Richard Gere attractive than it is to maintain an erection and ejaculate. I mean, let’s face it, there are some things we just can’t fake.

  “When you see a guy get hard and come, you know, on some level, he’s having a pleasurable experience. But Roberts and Gere probably enjoyed kissing each other, too. It’s just a physical act.

  “And while we haven’t yet gotten to the point where digital effects can reliably and believably be used to simulate male sexual performance, there’s still a lot of ‘movie magic’ and editing that goes on behind the scenes. So, while you may see an actor shoot his load across his co-star’s back, it’s not that ass, no matter how spectacular it may be, that’s getting him off. What we don’t show you is the ten minutes the top had to spend stroking off to a girlie magazine to get to that stage.

  “My point is, what goes on between the actors on an adult movie set isn’t love. It isn’t really even sex. It’s a performance. Sure, sometimes it becomes something more. ‘Real’ movie stars sometimes fall in love, too. Look at Elizabeth Taylor’s history. But that’s the exception, not the rule.”

  “Lucas,” I said, “was an exception, wasn’t he?”

  “He came to me after the first scene he ever shot with Brent. It was in a movie called…” He glanced over at Pierce. “Do you remember?”

  “ School Gayz,” Pierce grumbled, resenting the instruction to be helpful to me in any way.

  “ School Gayz, yes,” Mason said slowly. “We filmed that at a real college-between semesters, of course. The dean was a fan of ours.

  “I was on set for that shoot. I’d set up a small office in one of the empty dorm rooms there. I hadn’t seen the shooting of the scene between Lucas and Brent. I didn’t even know it’d been finished. So, when Lucas came in to chat, I wasn’t on my guard.

  “Lucas was a beautiful boy. The golden-haired surfer type. He’d never be a top-level star, but he was a steady performer with a loyal following. I don’t think he was a hundred-percent gay, but he certainly came to enjoy sex with men. There’s a lot of gossip on a movie set, mainstream or otherwise, and I’d heard he’d partied with some of his co-stars on the side. He also was hustling.

  “In any case, it wasn’t unusual for Lucas to hang out with me. He was a huge flirt. Even though he knew I wasn’t going to do anything with him (as I told you, I never touch a model), it was in his nature to play up to a man he saw as being in a position to help his career. Maybe he even enjoyed talking with me, who knows? He wasn’t the brightest bulb on the set, but he was charming and adorable. I was always happy to see him.

  “So, on that day, it took a while before I noticed something was up. He was doing his usual shtick of entertaining me with stories and gossip from the set, mixed in with references to surfing and skateboards I never understood, when I realized he was asking more and more questions about one of his co-stars.”

  “Brent Havens,” I supplied.

  “Exactly. It began with the kind of conversation he might make about any of the models on the set. ‘So, is this his first movie?’ ‘Where did you find him?’ ‘What’s his deal in real life-is he into guys or girls?’ The usual gossip.

  “Then, it got more personal. ‘Does he have a boyfriend?’ ‘Do you know what kind of guy he likes?’ ‘Where does he live?’

  “It took me a while to figure out what was going on. Lucas had fallen for Brent. Like I said, it’s not that it never happens. But it’s not usually that fast. Or that obvious.

  “It was actually,” Mason observed, sounding wistful, “kind of sweet. Lucas was like a thirteen-year-old girl meeting Justin Bieber. I answered what questions I could, and dodged the ones I couldn’t. Overall, though, I encouraged Lucas. I told him he should tell Brent he was interested.

  “Lucas blushed red as a fire truck. He tried to tell me he was ‘just curious.’ I let him get away with it, but I knew he was lying. I wasn’t sure how deep it went, though-whether he was lying to me, or to himself, too. I didn’t know much about Lucas. Was he emotionally developed enough to understand how an on-set infatuation burns hot but soon burns out? They’re like summer camp romances-you’re sure they’ll last forever, but once you’re back home, you never think of him again.

  “In any case, when Lucas left, his usual cocky strut was a little less confident. I called the director, who was just finishing up for the day, and asked him to show me the scene he’d shot with Lucas and Brent.

  “I remember him asking, ‘So, you heard about that, huh?’

  “ ‘Heard about what?’ I asked him. ‘What was there to hear? Did something bad happen?’ If there was trouble on the set, the director should have come to me. That’s why I was there.

  “The director
heard my concern. ‘Nothing bad,’ he assured me, ‘but something you’ll want to see. Something extraordinary. But I’ll be there in a few minutes. You can judge for yourself.’

  “Of course, at that point, all we had was the raw footage. Usually, watching the films before they’re edited is an exercise in the most extreme form of tedium. There are hours of starts and stops, models fluffing themselves, and limp dicks. It’s not fun.

  “But this scene was different. It was shot in one take. There was no fluffing needed. In fact, I’m lucky the boys held out as long as they did.”

  Mason gazed up and to the left, as if pulling out memories. “It was… magic. Pure sexual chemistry, captured on film. The director told me there wasn’t a person on set who didn’t almost pop a load themselves just watching it.

  “Unfortunately, as so often happens in real life, people can mistake great sex for something more than it is. At least, Lucas did. He came and spoke with me a few days later. He was more open about his feelings this time. He told me he was in love with Brent.

  “Who knows what creates the kind of sexual chemistry that occurred between those two? Is it pheromones? Genetic? I can’t say. But I did know it wasn’t love. It was infatuation, perhaps, but not love.

  “I tried to explain that to Lucas. I didn’t want to see him get hurt. I told him how easy it is to confuse the rush of endorphins we get from an intense orgasm with something more meaningful. I told him to take things slowly with Brent and not to get his hopes up.

  “Lucas listened carefully, and nodded at all the right times, but I don’t think he believed me. Why would he? When has anyone ever been able to convince a young person that their romance wasn’t real?

  “In the meantime, the director of School Dayz approached me with an idea. Seeing the incredible energy between the two, he suggested a follow-up movie called Brent amp; Lucas: More Than Friends. He knew the scenes between them in School Dayz would be a sensation, and that a movie that put them front and center would be a huge success.”

  Mason shifted in his sagging seat, uncomfortable. He stood and paced as he told me the rest of his tale.

  “Green-lighting that project was one of the few things I’ve done in my career that I honestly regret. I knew Lucas was in over his head with Brent. I also knew, although only from what Lucas had told me, that the feelings weren’t reciprocated. Had I been thinking of Lucas, instead of how much money I’d make, I would have said no. In my heart, I knew that putting Lucas through more weeks of intimate contact with Brent would wind up hurting them both.

  “But I said yes. And More Than Friends was one of our biggest hits ever.

  “But it came at a price.

  “Halfway through its taping, Brent came to see me. He told me Lucas was being inappropriate. That he’d told Brent that he loved him.

  “Brent said he was kind to Lucas, but he made it clear he wasn’t interested. He explained he was already involved with someone.

  “But Lucas insisted they were ‘meant to be.’ He called Brent at all times of the day and night, brought unwanted presents to the set, threatened to hurt himself if Brent wouldn’t see him. It got ugly.

  “One night, about a week after filming More Than Friends, I realized I’d left something in the office that I needed at home. I got there around ten and found Lucas had broken into my office. He was looking for information about Brent. Pictures, Brent’s home address and phone number, anything he could find.

  “When he saw me, he burst into tears. He knew he was out of control but couldn’t stop himself. I called my therapist right then and there. He agreed to talk to Lucas on the phone and they made an appointment for the next day.

  “Things seemed to settle down after that. Lucas told me my therapist referred him to another doctor and that he was going weekly. Brent told me the harassment stopped. When the movie came out, we sent them out to do some publicity together and there were no major problems.

  “But there were minor ones?” I asked.

  “Brent never gave me details. But I could tell something still bothered him about Lucas. For the most part, though, things went well.

  “I never put them together in another movie, however. Lucas asked about it a few times, but I put him off. He lobbied hard for a sequel to More Than Friends. So did a lot of people at the company. The movie was a huge success.

  “But, believe it or not, money isn’t the only thing I care about, Kevin. I cared about those kids, and I thought keeping them separated was best for both of them.

  “A few months later, Lucas gave me an ultimatum. He came into my office wild-eyed. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. He’d lost a lot of weight.

  “Emotionally, he was all over the map. One minute he was crying, saying Brent broke his heart. Then, he was yelling, blaming me for keeping the two of them apart. He said if I didn’t promise him another movie with Brent, I’d ‘never see him again.’

  “I didn’t know what he meant. Was he saying he’d leave SwordFight? Was it a suicide threat? Or, was he implying I’d never see Brent again? I tried to get the answer from him, but he ran out of my office in tears.

  “I didn’t know what to do. So, I called my therapist again. Believing that Lucas might have been making a serious threat to hurt himself-or someone else-I asked my therapist if he could give me the name of the doctor to whom he’d referred Lucas. I thought the only responsible thing to do would be to tell his doctor what Lucas had said.

  “My therapist confirmed that he’d given Lucas a referral. But Lucas had refused to take it. Lucas told him that he was fine, that it was Brent who had the problem. To the best of my doctor’s knowledge, Lucas never saw anyone for treatment.

  “Lucas had lied to me about seeing a therapist. It broke my heart. What else had he deceived me about?

  “The next day, I found out. I received a news release that Lucas had signed an exclusive contract with one of my competitors, Hardman Studios. Those kinds of deals take weeks of negotiation, if not longer. Lucas brokered it behind my back.

  “But I wasn’t upset. I was relieved. At least I knew what he meant when he said I’d ‘never see him again.’ His leaving SwordFight was the least awful of all the possibilities. I felt sorry for him, though. Hardman’s a shitty shop, and, sure enough, they never used Lucas properly. He made one or two films with them, then dropped off the radar completely.”

  “So, he also went missing?” I asked, sitting up straighter on the bed. That was two boys from SwordFight gone into the ether. Seemed like a big coincidence.

  “Who knows?” Mason said, chuckling. “Maybe they ran off together.” He must have seen the distress in my face.

  “Oh, Kevin. Don’t look so appalled. It’s obvious you think there’s something… sinister going on, but I implore you to use your common sense. Boys who work in adult movies don’t submit formal letters of resignation. This is how ninety-nine percent of them leave the business: They just stop. They don’t return your calls, they change their numbers, they move on.”

  I believed most of that. But it didn’t explain why Brent hadn’t said good-bye to Charlie or let him know where he was. There was something hinky here. I could feel it.

  “Trust me, Kevin. No one would rather believe Brent is out there willing to return to the business more than I would. That adorable child brought in millions. There’s no one at SwordFight who would have wanted to see him hurt.”

  Hurt was the least of it. Maybe I’d stumbled across one too many murders in my time, but Brent’s total disappearance made me seriously wonder if someone might have killed him.

  If so, who? One of Tony’s rules as a homicide investigator was to follow the money. Most murders that weren’t crimes of passion involved either the quest for financial gain or the fear of financial loss. Since it seemed like losing Brent must have cost Mason a lot of money, he made an unlikely killer.

  But between Charlie, who hated Brent’s double life, and Lucas, who loved him too much, the whole crimes-of-passion angle seeme
d like a real possibility.

  “Do you have any idea where I could find Lucas?” I asked.

  “I can answer that question,” Mason said. “But it’s going to cost you. Ready to start taping again? Turn around and let’s check out your back.”

  This was the last step before I’d have to pull down my pants. And, even if they never used it, I didn’t want these creeps having video of me in my underwear.

  I may have been a whore, but it was always my decision who got to see me naked. Mason and Pierce weren’t about to make the list.

  23

  Flesh and Blood

  I stood up slowly and felt the dripping down my back.

  Yuck. So gross.

  Good.

  I turned around slowly. Now that I’d shown off my chest, this was the next reveal.

  “Oh my god,” I heard Mason whisper, “that is… oh.”

  While the job Steven Austen did applying the scar to my chest was masterful, the disfigurement he applied to my back was nothing less than horrific. A mess of pimples, boils, and welts scattered across me like the ugliest constellation in the universe. He’d even filled some of them with a viscous white liquid designed to “pop” when pressure was applied-an effect I achieved when I sat down with my back against the headboard.

  As I gave Mason a few moments to process the train wreck in front of him, I reached into my pocket and took out what appeared to be a tube of ChapStick. It was actually a tube of Vicks VapoRub, which I applied under each nostril. To Mason and Pierce, though, it should have looked as if I was using lip balm.

  I tucked it back into my pants. While my hand was in my pocket, I unscrewed the other vial in there and let the liquid contents seep out.

  “Uh, Kevin,” Mason said, trying to keep his voice steady. “It looks like you have some kind of… rash.”

  “I do?” I said, aping surprise. I craned my neck trying to see. “Really? I don’t see…” I twisted a shoulder as far as it could go. “Aw, crap,” I said. “It’s back.”

  “It?” Mason asked. He sounded ready to run screaming out of the room into the nearest decontamination chamber.