The McBain Brief by Ed McBain

something wrong?” he asked.
    â€œEverything’s fine,” I said. “Solly, are you ready?”
    â€œReady,” Solly said, and began taking off his clothes.
    We worked very hard during those next few weeks, both on camera and off. Now that we were really into the movie, soto speak, the hours got longer; we would start work at eight and sometimes not finish till three or four in the morning. You have to remember that we were all holding daytime jobs, and I mention this only to explain our dedication to the project. And besides, this was still costing each of us close to forty-two dollars a week because, since we were gentlemen, we agreed to continue paying Harry his twenty-five a week even though his services would not be required on the picture again till we came to the very end of it. We explained to the girl that the end might be some time away, since whereas she was doing an excellent job and we were all very pleased with her (including Ben, who had preferred a redhead for the part), we were nonetheless not getting exactly the kind of professional footage we wanted, and this might require shooting a great many scenes over again, maybe even three and four times. So this would probably take us past the twenty weeks we were hoping for.
    The girl said this was okay with her, she was as interested in doing as artistic a job as the rest of us, but it would help if she understood a lot of the words in the script, like sometimes Solly’s descriptions were very artistic but a little difficult to understand. We asked her to point out a specific instance in the script, and she said, “Well, like this one.”
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  174 THE LOFT—INT—NIGHT
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  The Girl is clad in leather straps.
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  She does fellatio on The Cameraman.
    â€œI just don’t know what he means by ‘clad in leather straps,’” the girl said.
    â€œWe’ll show you the costume when we get to it,” I said.
    â€œAnd also,” she said, “it would help if I could see some of thescenes we already shot, so that I could know what I was doing right or doing wrong.”
    â€œThat’s very bad for an actress,” I said. “It only makes her self-conscious. Just take our word that you look beautiful and entirely convincing. I think I can say, in fact, that even in those scenes where Solly or I were handling the camera while Ben was working with you, even those scenes came out beautiful.”
    â€œEven the close-ups?”
    â€œThe close-ups are particularly beautiful.”
    â€œWell, okay,” she said. “But this scene we’re supposed to shoot tonight, the one where I’m supposed to be between you and Solly?”
    â€œBetween The Director and The Writer, you mean.”
    â€œYeah, you and Solly,” she said. “I want you to know that I can’t even draw a straight line with my left hand. So I don’t know how I’m supposed to do this both together. I might get mixed up.”
    â€œJust do your best,” I said. “Believe me, you’re everything we hoped for. You’re making our dream come true.”
    â€œWell, thanks,” she said, and lowered her eyes. “And I want you fellows to know something, too. And that is that I think you really are trying hard here not to make a cheap or dirty picture. I think it’s marvellous the way you pay so much attention to detail and want to get things absolutely right. I really do hope we make lots of money on it, but that’s not the important thing. The important thing is that I got a chance to work with professional people who really care. That, to me, is very very important, and I just wanted to thank you.”
    And that was when Harry the dope stepped in and ruined the entire thing.
    He called me at Benjamin Brothers Apparel, and left a message that I was