"She asked to see it. I showed it to her. She shook her head, pretende she was surprised. S e'd maintains all along she didn't know who he was, but I knew she was lying.; her reaction was so obviously feigned.
'So what do you want?" she asked. I told her a million dollars. She said that was absurd, that; the material didn't justify anywhere near that kind of money.
"I told her the amount didn't seem so large to me, not with a homicide involved.
"She listened, and then she asked: 'What do you want of me?' "I told her I wanted her to act as go-between, and for that she'd get ten percent,
" 'And if I refuse?" she asked.
" 'You won't,' I said. 'Because you're guilty too for Sonya's death.' "She understood, She said she'd give it some thought. I told her not to think too long, because if I didn't @ear from her soon, I'd take the pictures to the cops.
"She looked at me quite strangely then, and then she kind of smiled. 'Be careful, my pet. You're playing with fire." Then she kissed me on both cheeks.
"The next week or so was pretty tense. Adam was calling me every day. I tried not to let on to you that anything was wrong. I brought Shadow down to meet You. I was glad you two got along.
"The only odd thing was the call from Amanda Duquayne, and that was only strange in retrospect. I told you we'd done these little numbers together. But I hadn't heard from her in quite a while. Anyway, you know what happened. We went there, quarreled, then I went home to discover someone had broken into my apartment.
"But not really, you see, because the lock wasn't broken. Someone got in with a key, then tore the place apart. Dresses slashed. Shoes clipped in half. Like he went through all our stuff with a gardening shears." She made quick scissoring motions with her hands.
"He must have been looking for the photographs."
Kimberly shook her head, "I'd given-Mrs. Z the standard line: the pictures were 'deposited' with a friend, and if anything happened to me, such as an 'accident,' they'd be released immediately."
"they were deposited with Rakoubian, of course." She nodded.
"Still, you must have been scared?"
"Out of my mind. So right away I called Adam and he said 'Stay cool,' we had to expect a move like this, it was just a negotiating tactic, their way to soften me up so they could whittle down the price. I asked him if he thought the Duquayne invitation was a ruse to get me out of the apartment. He said it probably was. Then he told me again not to worry, that it only meant they were getting ready to close on a deal.
"But I was worried, and when Shadow didn't show, I became very concerned. Sure, she stayed out sometimes, but she always called me when she did. I barely slept. Then, when you woke me up, I started cleaning the apartment just so I wouldn't have to think."
"You told me you and Shadow had a modeling session."
"What we had scheduled was a rehearsal."
"At Mrs. Z's?" She nodded.
"It was to be just the two of us late that night, preparing a scene for a new client, someone we hadn't met."
"What happened?"
"I always knew I'd have to leave New York, no matter I'd told Rakoubian, of how the blackmail turned out. course, and Shadow too, my explanation being that since Sonya's 'accident,' I'd grown so fearful of Mrs. Z, I was afraid to stay in town. I also told Jess Harrison, the guy down the hall with AIDS. But I never told any of them about Key West. And I was careful when I bought my ticket. Even though it cost me more, I bought one with open dates and used a phony name.
"I spent most of that day getting ready to leave. I out the apartment and packed up the finished cleaning ent a lot of time few things that remained. I also sp thinking about how I could explain it all to you."
"I thought you weren't going to explain it."
"I was. Later I changed my mind."
"Why?"
"Because of what happened, the trap I walked into later that night."
Shadow finall called late in the afternoon. Kim was relieved to hear y from her. Shadow said she'd slept over at one of her friend's, and when Kim told her about the break-in and the damage to their clothes, Shadow sounded upset, but not so upset, Kim thought later, as she should have been.
Anyway, they had a normal enough conversation, and agreed to meet at midnight at Mrs. Z's. Then Kim went down to West Seventeenth to see Adam Rakoubian.
She told him s he was scared, she was going to leave New York, hide out where she couldn't be reached. No more face-to-face meetings with Mrs.
Z; from now all the dealings would have to be by phone. llwfiat about the money drop-off?" Rakoubian asked.
She assured him she'd be there for that. She also told him she thought it was time to lower their demand. If they cut it in half, she said, Darling would think he was getting a bargain. they quarreled. Rakoubian stonewalled on the money. She, in turn, accused him of talking big while she took all the risks. Both of them,got angry, and nothing was resolved. When she left she began giving serious thought to dumping the blackmail idea and going to the cops.
There was an actor's trick Mrs. Z had taught her: to really consider a certain option, so you can voice it with conviction on the stage. So she actually did consider that as she started downtown to Mrs. Z's. I have to mean it, she told herself. Only by meaning it, will I be able to compel belief.
When she arrived at the loft, Shadow wasn't there, just Mrs. Z alone.
The acting teacher, seated in the spectator's throne, got directly to the point.
In the first place, she said, no intelligent person pays blackmail, because he knows, no matter how much he pays, it's only an installment against future demands. Furthermore he knows that even when pictures are turned over, copy negatives have invariably been made.
Therefore the Masked Man (she refused to acknowledge his name) had considered her proposition and refused. Yes, he had once tried on the mask, and yes, he had attended various performances. But he had had nothing to do with any homicide, and could alibi his whereabouts the night the alleged crime had taken place.
This having been said, Mrs. Z continued, the Masked Man wanted to rid himself of the nuisance. He was prepared, therefore, to pay twenty-five thousand dollars for the photographs, and (this was the most important part) a sworn notarized statement from Kimberly in which she would admit to having attempted extortion.
That was it, his final offer, and there would be no further discussion.
It was a take-it-or-leave-it proposition. So, did Kimberly accept? Or not?
No, she most certainly did not accept, she said, but she agreed there would be no more discussion. Her offer to sell the photographs for a million dollars was hereby withdrawn. She would take them and her story to the cops.
Mrs. Z looked at her closely.
"That is not a credible threat."
Kimberly responded that it seemed credible to her, as, at the very least, the performance loft would be closed, and the involvement of prominent people, such as the Duquaynes, would be exposed. Furthermore, Sonya's disappearance could easily be verified, and regardless of any phony alibis, there would be considerable interest in Kimberly's claim that Darling had murdered Sonya in a violent sex-for-money scene brokered by Mrs. Z.
As Mrs. Z began to show distress, Kim was feeling pretty good. She felt she was handling the situation well, and the time to strike a bargain was at hand.
But then Mrs. Z said quietly that she'd like to show Kimberly a videotape. She turned on a VCR and a monitor, and when Kim saw what was on it, she began to scream.
We were on Duval. It was 11:30, we'd finished dinner, and were walking toward the Post Office to pick up my car. The bars of downtown Key West, filled and boisterous, poured country music into the sticky summer night..