Playing Their Parts

Yarrow shook his head.

“No, that was the end of the matter. After that, he just did the scenes as I had written them. Well, mostly. As I said, he tended to go a little overboard with the violence sometimes and I had to rein him in.”

“Did he only do BDSM scenes, then?” Cassie asked.

“Not at all—I had him do some vanilla scenes as well. Mostly ‘huge cock into tiny pussy’ type stuff.” He shrugged. “Needless to say, he was a natural.”

“I’m sure,” Cassie said sarcastically.

“Did he mention a ‘Gozer?’” Stone asked. “The witness also mentioned that name.”

Yarrow shook his head.

“Sorry, that doesn’t ring a bell. He just showed up for work on time and did what I asked him to. He was the perfect star, really he was.”

“Until he committed murder,” Cassie reminded him. “We’ll need a complete list of the girls he worked with. Once we ID the victim, we’ll want to know if she’s on it.”

“We’ll also need to see his work,” Stone said sternly. “All of it.”

“All of it? But that’s quite a lot of footage,” Yarrow started to protest.

Stone took a step towards him, glaring down at the other man. Yarrow paled and nodded quickly.

“But doable—absolutely doable. Just give me a moment and I’ll put everything I have on a flash drive. Brutus, bring me a drive,” he added, looking at his bodyguard.

“Right away, Mr. Yarrow.” Giving Stone a narrow look, the bodyguard left and came back quickly. He handed the small drive, which was shaped like a disk with FY embossed in gold script on it, to his boss.

“Thank you, Brutus.” Yarrow picked up a laptop lying on one of the theater seats. He was about to start transferring files when Stone said,

“No. We’ll take the whole thing.” He reached for the laptop.

“What? No!” Yarrow became visibly upset and tried to pull it away. “This is months worth of work!” he protested as Stone pried his fingers off the laptop and tucked it under his arm.

“And you’ll get it back—once we finish our investigation,” Cassie told him. “But for now, it’s evidence in a homicide investigation.”

“Let me at least copy the files I need for the next few days!” Yarrow begged.

“Do you mean let you erase the scenes with underage girls?” Cassie arched an eyebrow at him.

“Of course not.” But Yarrow looked distinctly uncomfortable. “Some of them might look a little young, but that’s on purpose. I have everyone who works for me sign a contract stating that they’re over eighteen.”

“I’m sure you do,” Cassie said dryly. “Whether it’s true or not.”

He might present himself as a suave auteur who made highly specific pornography as art, but she could tell what kind of man Frank Yarrow really was.

A predator, she thought, staring at him. One who knows how to get around the law. Well not this time.

“We’re taking this,” she said, nodding at the laptop under her partner’s arm. “You’ll get it back when the investigation is over.”

“You can’t take it without a warrant,” Yarrow snapped belligerently. “I know my rights.”

“I suppose we could fight about it,” Cassie said thoughtfully. “But I’m sure if I make a phone call to my friend, Judge Thompson, he’ll give me a warrant for every piece of equipment you own—cameras, computers, everything. And not just the electronics—every toy in your dungeon is going to be taking a vacation in the PD evidence locker.”

“What?” Yarrow looked aghast. “You’d strip me bare! How could I continue to work without my equipment?”

“I guess you could buy more—though that could get pretty expensive,” Cassie mused. “Or you could just release the laptop.” She shrugged, as though she didn’t care either way. “Your choice.”

“You’re bluffing.” Yarrow narrowed his eyes. “I don’t believe you can get a warrant that fast.”

“Okay, let me just give Judge Thompson a call.” Cassie whipped out her cell phone. “Of course, being bothered at dinner time makes him grumpy but I think he’ll understand once I explain that you’re obstructing a murder investigation.”

“No, no, no—wait!” Yarrow held up his hands. “Fine, you can have the laptop.”

“For which we thank you,” Stone growled, tucking it under his arm. “Goodbye.”

“We need the names of everyone The Beast worked with first,” Cassie reminded her partner.

“It’s all in there,” Yarrow said sullenly, nodding at the laptop, now tucked securely under Stone’s arm. “I keep everything in one place. The contracts the girls signed are filed with the scenes they shot.”

“Convenient. Thanks.” Cassie nodded at him and gave him one of her cards. “We’ll be in touch. Call me if you think of anything else or if The Beast contacts you.”

“I doubt that,” Yarrow said bitterly. “If he killed someone by accident during a scene, he’s probably in the wind by now. I’ve lost my best star and all the work he did at the same time.”