Billy Summers

She laughs and raises a hand, palm out. Bucky gives her a high five. Billy does the same, but his enthusiasm is fake. In the excitement of the shopping expedition, Alice has forgotten why they’re shopping. He thinks Bucky has too, because he’s drafting off her happiness. But Billy remembers. He’s thinking of that little girl in TJ, clutching a toy and listening to the sound of approaching footsteps.

6

Alice wants to take the pictures as soon as they get back, but Bucky tells her to wait until the next morning, when she’s looking her youngest and freshest. He calls it the September morn look.

‘Neil Diamond, right?’ Alice asks. ‘My mom’s a big fan.’ And to Billy: ‘Don’t even ask, I called her last night.’

Maybe Bucky is thinking of Neil Diamond, but Billy is thinking of Paul Chabas, and the girl in the house on the outskirts of TJ, and Shanice Ackerman. In his mind the two girls have become a pair.

7

Bucky sets up their little photo shoot the next morning. He wants to use the east-facing window for natural light. The sofa is there, but he says they should move it and put a chair there instead. When Billy asks why, Bucky says it’s because sofas say sex, and that’s not the look they’re going for. Innocent young girl is the look they’re going for. Maybe selling herself just this once to help her poor old broke-ass mother.

When Alice comes out in one of her new skirts and tops, Bucky tells her to go back into the bathroom and scrub off most of the makeup. ‘You want just a little blush on your cheeks and enough mascara to make your eyelashes look good. Tiny touch of lipstick. Got it?’

‘Got it.’ Alice is excited, a kid playing dress-up.

When she’s gone, Billy asks Bucky how he knows about this stuff. ‘Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad because I couldn’t do half as good a job, just the clothes go a long way toward selling it—’

‘No,’ Bucky says. ‘The clothes are good, but it’s mostly the hair. The ponytail.’

‘How did you learn that stuff? You didn’t ever …’ Billy trails off. What does he know about Bucky Hanson, really? That he brokered stickup guys, that he’s good at getting fugitives out of the country, that he has contacts in the legal profession and maybe even some top echelons of the New York judiciary. If so, Billy doesn’t know who any of those guys are. Bucky is discreet. Which is probably one reason why he’s still alive.

‘Did I ever take pictures of young women dressed up to look like jailbait? No, but it was a thing for awhile in the porno mags like Penthouse and Hustler. Back in the 80s, when there were porno mags. As for taking pictures, I learned at my father’s knee.’

‘I thought you told me once that your father was a mortician. Somewhere in Pennsylvania.’

‘He was, so I also learned a lot about makeup at my daddy’s knee. Photography was his sideline – yearbook photos and weddings, mostly. Sometimes I was his assistant. In both jobs.’

‘I came to the right place,’ Billy says, smiling.

‘You did.’ But Bucky isn’t smiling back. ‘Don’t you get that young woman hurt, Billy. And if you do, don’t come back here because the door will be closed to you.’

Before Billy can answer, Alice comes back. In her white blouse, blue skirt, and knee-socks she looks very young indeed. Bucky seats her in the chair and tilts her head this way and that until the muted morning light is shining on her face to his liking. He’s using Billy’s phone to take the pix. He says he has a Leica and would love to use it, but that would be a little too pro. Klerke might not register that and be suspicious, but then again he might. TV and movies are a big part of his business, after all.

‘Okay, let’s get this party started. No big grin, Alice, but a little smile’s okay. Remember what we’re going for. Sweet and demure.’

Alice tries for sweet and demure, then dissolves in a fit of giggles.

‘Okay,’ Bucky says, ‘that’s fine. Get it out of your system, then remember that the man who’s going to be looking at these is a fucking pedophile.’

That sobers her up and he goes to work. For all his pre-shoot fussing, the actual photography doesn’t take long. He shoots sixteen or eighteen of Ponytail Alice in various outfits (but always, even in the boatneck dress, with the lowtop sneakers). He shoots a dozen more of Barrette Alice and finishes with a dozen of Alice Band Alice. He makes three sets of eight-by-tens on his color printer so they can each look at a stack. Bucky tells Billy and Alice to pick half a dozen they think are the best and says he’ll do the same. At one point Alice cries out in a mixture of glee and dismay, ‘Jesus Christ, I look about fourteen in this one!’

‘Mark it,’ Bucky says.

When they’re done, they have all agreed on three of the shots. Bucky adds two more and tells Billy to email those five to Giorgio. ‘He’s pimped for the nasty old lizard before, so he’ll probably know whether or not Klerke will bite.’

‘Not yet,’ Billy says. ‘I’ll do it once we’re on the road and headed to New York.’

‘What if Klerke tells Giorgio he’s not interested?’