Chapter Fourteen
The Hustler
Tyrone Lucas answered the door in a pair of grubby grey sweatpants which hung low enough to expose his hip bones. Jason knew from his videos that Tyrone was shorter than the models he had worked with, but he was not prepared to tower over him so much. The pasty skin, dark hair and sharp features were as expected, but Tyrone was a lot more rodent-like in person and his skin was in poor condition, with black shadows beneath his eyes, broken veins around his nose and across his cheeks and dry, broken lips. The overpowering pong of cannabis wafted from the apartment.
“Hi,” Jason said, holding forth his ID.
Tyrone sucked his teeth and leaned against the door frame. “Have you got the money?”
Jason gave him two twenties and a ten. “Half,” he said. “You’ll get the rest after we’ve talked.”
Contempt flowed from the younger man in waves, then with a tut, he snatched the cash and opened the door wider. Jason stepped inside. Tyrone’s sweatpants drooped from his flat backside, exposing a good two inches of butt crack.
The bedsit was tiny, with a kitchen area in one corner and a tattered sofa pulled close to a TV and gaming console. The surfaces were littered with dirty dishes and mugs, pizza and takeaway cartons, empty bottles and full ashtrays. The whole place stunk of weed, body odour and damp.
Jason was more surprised at the other side of the room. The bed and surrounding space were immaculate, with crisp white sheets and freshly painted walls. There was a phone on a tripod facing the bed and a bright selfie circle light. A second, traditional video camera stood on a tripod at a different angle. It was obviously where the magic happened.
Jason noticed the lights were switched on.
“Are you filming?” he asked.
“About to,” Tyrone said, scratching his crotch. His famously huge dick waggled in his pants. “Till you turned up.”
“On your own?”
“What does it look like, mate? Unless you wanna bend over and take it, there’s no other fucker here.” He gave his cock a squeeze to emphasise the point.
“I’ll pass on that. This won’t take long if you tell me what I want to know.”
Tyrone grimaced, then stepped over a pile of dirty plates to drop onto the sofa. Jason wondered whether Tyrone’s subscribers had any idea of what was on the other side of the camera. It would destroy any erotic delusion.
Jason was about to take a seat but thought better of it when a mouse scurried across the floor to disappear beneath an upturned pizza box .
Tyrone retrieved a half-smoked joint from an ashtray and lit it. “Come on. Time is fucking money. What do you want to know?”
“I want to know about Theo Glass. You might have known him as Hart Stone.”
Tyrone held the smoke deep in his lungs and exhaled slowly, deliberately taking his time. Testing Jason. He didn’t respond.
“I know who the fucker was. I don’t know what you expect me to tell you, other than he was a thieving cunt.”
“You didn’t like him?”
“Couldn’t have given half a shit about him either way. He was the one who contacted me after seeing my content. He said we could make a video together. I didn’t fancy him, but that doesn’t matter when there’s money involved. I’ve fucked a lot worse.”
“Did he make all the arrangements?”
“He booked that poncy hotel, if that’s what you mean.”
“Which hotel was it?”
“The Vermont.” He took another hit on the joint.
Jason had suspected as much. It put a tragic taint on the incredible time he had spent with Marc there last night.
“What else?”
Tyrone could not keep the irritation from his tight face. “Like what?”
Jason pointed at the tripods beside his bed. “You didn’t film on those. I’ve seen the footage. It was professionally done.”
He sucked his teeth again and nodded. “Theo arranged all that too. Phone cameras weren’t good enough for him. He had to have a pro. ”
“And what, you shared the costs?”
“Fuck no. He wanted the fancy photographer and professional edit. He paid for it. Waste of fucking money. People who want to see a big cock, they don’t give a shit what it was filmed on. They just want to see it, you know what I mean.” He tugged his pride and joy to make his point. “I don’t need any of that shit when I’ve got this. Theo, though, what did he have? Below average dick and a slack hole. He needed all that fancy equipment to make him look good.”
“You said he ripped you off. Did you agree to split the profits fifty-fifty? Even though he funded the shoot.”
“We agreed we could both use the clips on our own sites. Only he made a fuck load more money from it ’cause he had more subscribers. But don’t you think I should have been entitled to a big cut of that too, seeing it was my dick his fans were paying to watch him ride?”
Jason decided not to stoke Tyrone’s sense of entitlement and ignored the question. “Did you ask him for half of his subscription fees?”
“Not half. No. Just for the first month our clip went live. That’s what everyone was watching and that’s what I deserved a cut of.”
“Didn’t your own site see an upsurge in subscriptions too?”
“Not like his,” he sneered. “And before you fucking ask, no I didn’t run the stupid bastard down ’cause I was pissed off about the money he owed. I was angry, but not that fucking angry.”
“What about Dan Blumel? You did another scene with Theo. A three-way with Dan.”
He grimaced, showing small, brown teeth. “We did. ”
“Was that before or after the scene with Theo?”
“Same fucking day, mate. Don’t you know how this stuff works? We shot the scene with me and Theo in the afternoon, then Dan comes by about five o’clock and we did the threesome. That hotel costs a fortune, Theo wanted to get his money’s worth. I think he did a solo dildo scene before checking out the next day.”
“Theo sounds like a shrewd businessman.”
“Con man, more like.”
“Did Dan have any issues with Theo? Did he feel ripped off too?”
“Doubt it. They shot a load more scenes together.”
“Did you get on better with Dan? Were you friends?”
“Fuck no. I couldn’t stand him. But I’ve already told you, you don’t need to like someone when there’s money involved.” He sucked the joint dry and tossed it in the ashtray. “Speaking of which. Do I get the rest of my money now?”
Jason laughed. As unpleasant as Tyrone was, he couldn’t help admiring his single-track agenda. “It seems to me that you didn’t know Theo that well at all. What can you tell me about the guy who did the filming?” He’d already heard from Roaul that Theo had issues with one of his regular photographers. He was interested to know if that was the man Tyrone had worked with.
“He was full of his own importance as well. You’d think he was shooting a multi-million-pound series for Netflix rather than a cheap gay porno. I don’t know what Theo paid him though.”
“Does he have a name?”
Tyrone gave an exasperated sigh and rolled his head. “Blake something. Remar, I think. I’m not sure. I didn’t have anything to do with him, other than take his bloody directions. He was always bitching about the light, or a hand that was in the wrong place and blocking his shot. I don’t think he liked me but I’m not doing this to make friends. I don’t need to waste money on a poncy photographer when I’ve got this.” He groped his cock again.
He's obsessed with that thing .
“How did Blake treat Theo and Dan, was he the same with them?”
“He didn’t like Dan, for obvious reasons.”
“Which are?”
Tyrone scoffed. “’Cause he was black. Blake treated Theo like a princess. He made no secret of the fact he thought Theo was slumming it with a black man.”
“So, he’s racist?”
Tyrone shrugged. “It was more than that. He thought Theo had dropped his standards to get fucked by poor white trash like me too. Racist, snob, dickhead. Call him what you like.”
“How did Theo react to that?”
“He was pissed off, but he was more concerned about getting a return on his investment. He tried to keep everyone sweet on the day, but it was obvious he didn’t like the way Blake treated Dan and me.”
Tyrone jumped up from the sofa. He’s sweatpants had slipped even further, exposing the base of his cock. He jiggled impatiently from side to side. Jason was losing him.
“One last thing. Do you think Blake was in love with Theo, or a bit obsessed with him?”
“Obsessed for sure. He acted like the sun shone out of his arse. Might as well, that bloke had everything else stuffed up there at one time or another.” He gave a high-pitched, stoned laugh.
“Enough to hurt him?”
“You mean to run him down? I’ve no idea. I doubt he had it in him. Probably just went home and kept wanking over Theo’s old clips. The ones without black guys or white trash partners, obviously.”
Jason took fifty pounds from his wallet and handed them over. “Thank you, Tyrone. I appreciate your help.”
He took the money. “Any idea who did it yet?”
“I’m still working on it.”
“Probably just some arsehole who’d taken too much coke or had too much to drink. Theo wasn’t the type to make enemies, you know. He was too basic.”
“Did he ever mention escort work to you?”
“No. But If you keep asking questions, I’m going to need another fifty.”
Jason smiled and headed for the door. “Good luck with the rest of your work.” He jerked a thumb towards the bed.
“You know, if you ever fancy making some content, I’d be up for it,” Tyrone said.
Jason paused, at a loss for what to say.
“You look all right,” Tyrone continued, giving his cock a tug. “And it’s quite a popular scene, you know. Older, beefy guy, getting topped by a small, skinny dude. Users like that.”
Jason opened the door. “Thanks for the offer, but I’ll stick to my day job.”
“If you ever change your mind, you’ve got my fucking number.”
* * * *
Jason returned to the office. Ryman was in with a client and Olivia finished early on Friday afternoons. He made a mug of tea and started straight in on tracing Blake Remar. It took less than a minute to find his website. Tyrone had done well to deliver his real name. There was no mention of adult content on Blake’s corporate-looking site, just lots of business photographs, high-end food pics and arty wedding shots. Filming sex workers was obviously a side hustle.
Unless Tyrone had been messing with him and had given the random name of any photographer he knew. Jason’s instincts were that the boy was telling the truth. Beneath the swagger and the bad attitude, he’d come across as genuine. Almost endearing, despite it all. Though Jason wouldn’t be taking up the offer to get fucked by his enormous dick on camera.
He chuckled.
There was one photograph of Blake on his bio page. It was very slick and processed, making it impossible to get an idea of the real man. He could be anything from twenty-five to fifty. His face was whited out by a combination of lighting and filters. He was blond, possibly good-looking, with what appeared to be blue eyes. There was no trace of personality, or even humanity in the image. His smile was fixed and lifeless.
Jason reached for the phone.
He expected to reach a secretary or receptionist and was surprised when the answer came, “Hello, Blake Remar.”
“Oh, hello. This is Blake I’m speaking to?”
“It sure is.” The voice dripped with oily charm. “How can I help you?”
“Hello, Mr Remar. My name is Jason Durham, I’m a private investigator. ”
“Investigator?” The voice faltered on the single word.
“I work for the brother of Theo Glass. I understand you had a working relationship.”
There was a long pause before he replied. “I…did a favour for Theo and photographed him once or twice. I hardly knew him, though. I’m not sure how I can help.”
“I know about the adult content creation. I understand you shot quite a few of Theo’s videos.”
“I don’t know where you’ve got this information from.” There was no charm in the voice now, just pure hostility.
“From more than one source, Mr Remar. I’m not looking to do you any disservice. I’m trying to get a picture of Theo’s life in the months leading up to this death. I’m contacting as many of his acquaintances as I can.”
“I ceased working with him long before he died. I don’t see how I can help you.”
“Do you remember when you saw him last?”
Blake sighed. “I don’t know. Sometime last summer.”
“On a shoot?”
“If that’s what you want to call it, yes. Theo booked a hotel, and I went along to film him and some of his…friends.”
“You’d worked together a few times before that?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve seen some of the stuff you did together. Very professional. It seemed like you had a good collaboration going. Why did you stop working together?”
Jason heard Blake take a deep breath. “Look, I started filming him as a favour. It’s not the kind of work I usually do. I didn’t want to continue and that was the end of it.”
“A favour? So, you must have known Theo pretty well. You must have been good friends to get involved in something so risqué.”
“I’ve told you all I know. I did him a favour a handful of times then stopped. That was the end of it. I didn’t see him for months before his accident. I have nothing more to add.”
Blake hung up.
Wow . Aggressive. Defensive.
Blake Remar knew more about Theo than he was prepared to acknowledge.
Jason took out his notebook and drew a circle around his name. Blake had just become his prime person of interest.