Duplicity - A True Story of Crime and Deceit by Paul Goldman (general ebook reader .TXT) 📕

- One more question. You said in a prior reading that therewas a connection between Audrey and a website calledFANTASYGIRLS.COM Now,this website has no links to escorts. It has porn movies and photosonly. What's the connection?

TERRI - Oh my GOD. You're not going to believe this. She's doneporn! Bring her photograph to one of those video stores and ask theclerks if they know her.

PAUL - What's the name she did the movies under?

TERRI - It's an "A" name, like, um, Audrey Austin, but that's notit. She does use her first name and the last name, like, ANCHOR, orALBERT.. she has made several... hang on... ALMOND,ALMOND.

PAUL - Thanks Terri. Bye

As the reading ended, Islowly hung up the phone and sat in silence for a long time. On anygiven day, my feelings toward Audrey ranged from bitterness andresentment, to sadness, anger, and even bursts of rage. There wasno part of me that wanted any part of her, but hearing that herlife would meet a frightening, violent end was something entirelydifferent. I had loved her once, and though that love could neverbe recaptured, the knowledge of her fate found me terriblyburdened. Though Terri had shared so manyuseful things with me, I regretted knowing this. For that day,however, I put my emotions aside, grabbed my car keys and quicklystrode out of the room, and got into my car. There was work to bedone.

I drove to a local adult video store and theempty lot heralded me as its only customer. I turned off the carand glanced down at my notes where I had scribbled Audrey’spossible movie names, with the moniker “Audrey Almond” underlinedseveral times. Although I wondered where she had found the time,and made the connections to get into that business, I wasn'tshocked by Terri's vision of Audrey as a porn star. Sex for money.As long as she was paid, filmed or not filmed probably made littledifference to Audrey. I knew if I could find a sex tape with Audreyin it, showing it at my trial would be a great help to my case.

* * *

Much like the clear linethat divides those who believe in the supernatural and those who donot, there is an even clearer line separating those who patronizesexually-themed stores and those who do not, at least for therecord. The former tend to feel no shame in their consumerism andbrowse as openly as they do unapologetically, while the latter canonly be found surreptitiously browsing with a ready excuse, such asthe need to pick something up for a friend, a joke, or a bachelorparty. Regardless of the purpose of the visit, I can honestly saythat I was probably among the very small percentage of meninvestigating the possibility of his wife being a porn star. Nomatter, I was prepared with pictures and withoutapology.

Pushing open the door to the store, bells inthe shape of a certain anatomy announced my entrance and I wasimmediately confronted with rows of videos, confusing and in somecases terrifying instruments, and even some apparel. The store wascompletely empty of people except for the three clerks standingbehind the counter, two of whom were conducting an inventory whilethe third stared absently out the front window into the parkinglot. None of them bothered to glance at me.

With pictures of Audrey in hand, I approachedthe first two clerks directly and cleared my voice to signal myneed for assistance. Without looking up, the first clerk, a tall,gangly young man with unwashed hair and wire rimmed glasses asked,“How can I help you?”

“I was wondering if youcould tell me if you recognize this woman from any movies?” Iasked, placing the pictures on the counter. The second clerk lookedup, a smaller version of the first clerk without the glasses, andpeered down at Audrey’s image.

“Never seen her,” heresponded, sounding disappointed while the first clerk peered overhis shoulder.

“Me neither. Sorry, man.”The first clerk said, adjusting his glasses before using the backof his hand to wipe his nose.

“Well, what about her?” Iasked, pointing to the third clerk who continued to stare out thewindow. My question must have jarred her from her trance, since sheturned toward me, revealing a tired face, blonde spikes of hairconcealing one eye, and a rusted nameplate that read“Kim.”

“Excuse me,” trying toencourage her to join the viewing, “do you recognize this woman?”Kim didn’t answer, but instead walked over to the counter andpicked up one of the pictures, tilting her head and squinting hereyes. Between the three of them, I figured they'd probably seen thestore's entire library of porn films, so I was indeed talking to apanel of experts. Sure enough, Kim identified her.

“Oh yeah, that’s AudreyAlmond.” She spoke with complete certainty and then she let thepicture drop back to the counter before returning to thewindow.

“Wait, how do you knowher?” I asked, unable to conceal my surprise.

“Iremember her films from stocking shelves where I used to work atthe Red Light VideoStore. That was a year ago.” Her backstayed turned to me as she answered.

“Well, do you remember thetitles of the movies she was in? Any ‘Audrey Almond’movies?”

“Nope, sorry. I don’treally remember titles, just faces. But that is definitely AudreyAlmond,” she said again, the back of her head nodding. Desperate tolearn more or find something, I turned to the two clerks who werestill staring at the pictures.

“Can you run the nameAudrey Almond through your computer? Find the names of hermovies?”

“No, we can’t do that. Ourcomputer system searches by movie titles only,” the taller oneconfessed with a sniff, while the smaller one seemed to bememorizing Audrey’s face. “Not names, sorry.”

“You should just searchher online. I bet you’d find something,” the smaller one offered,finally shifting his glance away from the pictures back to someboxes on the floor.

“Right, thanks,” Ianswered, collecting the pictures and hurrying out the door. Idialed information on my cell phone before I even got to my car andwas able to hunt down the address of the Red Light Video Store so Icould continue my search. Unfortunately, a thirty minute drive, twoclueless clerks, and an equally inept computer system offered up noanswers. On my way home, I decided to try searching the