The Star Trap by Robert Colby

Author:Robert Colby [Colby, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4405-3686-1
Publisher: Fawcett Publications Inc.
Published: 1960-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

13 …

I fell limply beside her and she began pouring heavy slugs over ice. We drank deeply. A long time passed before it helped. The thumb of my right hand kept twitching in little spasms. I saw police cars roaming side streets, fingering searchlights into the shadows. I heard sirens. And the clack of teletype machines sending out their all-points bulletins. And I saw the hungry, determined faces of Santella and Yeager.

“C’mon, c’mon!” I said. “I’ll give you a start. Extortion. Some kind of sex blackmail….”

Slowly she nodded her head. I knew she was going to tell me now. It was important to know it all. Because somewhere in the sewer of truth, there was a clue to Nancy.

“How did you find out that much?” she said.

“Nancy. But she never had time to finish it.”

“It’s gone too far,” she said. “I should have known … But I couldn’t help myself. I got trapped the same way Nancy did. Except with me, Rainey didn’t have to use that marriage gag. I was a model trying to sleep my way into pictures. And when Rainey invited me to the cabin at Arrowhead, I went willingly. Nancy told you how they take these … these dirty films in that sneaky way. They threatened to show them at smokers attended by the big shots, send a copy to the police, mail stills to every producer in town. And the newspapers and — ”

“If Rainey was in the pictures, wouldn’t he be incriminated?”

“Oh, no. They were too clever. They never showed his face. Only mine. And the others.”

“What others?”

“The girls you met tonight are two of them, Donna and Nanette. Misery loves company. We all live together.”

“And what was the purpose? To make you enlist in some pornographic film-making on a big scale?”

“Worse. And much more profitable. There is a certain element of movie stars, producers, directors who can’t get enough kicks. They have all this money and they’re restless. They want to buy thrills. They want parties — Roman style, when Rome was one big orgy. They want playgirls for these parties who aren’t cheap floozies with worn-out bodies and faces to match. And we were the chosen ones. Of course we got paid. Very well. But there are things you don’t do for any amount of money.”

“So the gang collected money from these Names,” I said. “And they paid you a fraction. Where do Santella and Yeager come in?”

“Grinstead and Rainey weren’t satisfied with the take. Rainey was a flop, even in B-pictures. His contract had been dropped. He was down and going broke — until Grinstead took him in and offered him a small share. Grinstead himself was operating on a shoestring and desperate for money. So they cooked up a beautiful cross with Santella and Yeager, a couple of shakedown boys on the vice squad.”

“All right. What was the gimmick?”

Mary Ann opened her cigarette case.

“It was so simple, my dear. And practically fool-poof. In the middle of this latest and greatest

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.