Within a week after returning to Los Angeles the old man
made his first payment of $10,000.
It only took Johnny one letter and one telephone call to him to seal the
deal. Johnny was surprised that it went so smoothly and was ecstatic about that
reality too. He realized how this
plan was his new life until he reached musical stardom and fame; his rightful
place in the world. But he wasn’t
planning to re-create his whole life; he liked being paid for sex and liked
living off others. He would live
like the god he believed himself to be with all people at his feet with this
scam as a grand addition to his way of life not a subtraction.
The woman had explained to Johnny that he needed to write a
letter to make the scam work flawlessly and that it would protect him should
any of the marks decide to later go to the police. If he wrote a letter and
sent it, she explained, providing a detailed account of the fabricated sexual
assault, it would stand as support that the mark committed the crime and was
paying “settlement” money and this was not extortion. She added that a one on one sexual assault claim is always a
“he said she said” so they could never prove it didn’t happen and he wouldn’t
be arrested or charged. The woman explained further that he was not to put a
request for money or threaten the mark with publicity in the letter; just
detail his sexual acts and add some depressed emotionally distraught victim
language. She also told Johnny
that should the police ever contact him he could never say that he knows the
woman or Rooskie.
Johnny liked writing the letter and even had fun doing it.
It had been a while since he had written anything but as a god he knew his
skills were far superior in every aspect and the fabrication came easily for
him. It was only two paragraphs
but it was loaded with lies that would, in Johnny’s mind, destroy the old man.
He thought about his father when he wrote it and though his father was not
religious he did value his reputation and would pay to save it too. Sexual
scandals are not something any professional can survive only movie stars can
Johnny thought as he put the money words on the paper. He even decided to add
some drops of water for an effect of a crying victim. The fact that the old man
knew none of these things he wrote in the letter actually happened was
irrelevant to Johnny, because the juice of the scam was in the knowledge that
unless payment is made others would be told these lies and their reputation
would be ruined.
When Johnny made his call a few days after the letter was
sent, Johnny heard the old man’s worry about his reputation outwardly. He
laughed as the old man broke down crying trying to plead with him not to spread
the lies as he agreed to pay him the money. Johnny felt powerful as he played
with the old man reminding him with delight of all of the lies he had told him
he would tell the world. The
entire conversation took no more than 10 minutes and the money was on the way.
After that call he knew that the woman was right about the
old man paying even more than the $10,000 he already paid. Now that he had one payment it would be
even easier to get more since as a result of the first payment, should he
decide to go to the police or any lawyers, he would be in a very good position
to beat any rap and he could thus continue to threaten him with the same thing
and get more and more money. The old man would become a bank account he could
draw off of and he was excited to add more patrons to the list. When the money
came the woman gave him $4000 of the $10000 telling him that he got more than
her and Rooskie because he was the one that was the lead on that scam. She also
gave him another $1000 from the healer event Johnny had attended with her. He
didn’t know what her take was from that but this was the most money Johnny had
in his hand at one time since his father cut him off and he did not want to
complain.
Before the old man’s money was received Johnny moved in with
Trisha who he met at a local Hollywood lesbian dance club a few days after they
returned from Los Angeles. Johnny
had dressed up in the schoolgirl outfit to go to the club and find someone to
live with because he could no longer stay with the woman, as the only way they
could be busted was if people found out they knew each other. Trisha was an aspiring singer that came
from New Jersey to find her fame in Los Angeles. She worked as a waitress
during the day at a small bistro restaurant that was popular and that gave her
a good wage and tips to get by. She had also landed a bartender job at nights
that let her go on singing jobs when she was lucky enough to get them. Trisha didn’t realize that Johnny was
not really a woman and he convinced her easily that he was about to be a paid a
big sum of money because an old man in Palm Springs sexually assaulted him. It
was always funny to Johnny that people would just believe whatever he told them
and when he saw the sympathy in Trisha’s eyes he knew he had her hooked. He
added for the ringer that soon he was gong to be a big rock star as he already
had a recording that had a lot of interest locally and was going to be going on
meetings shortly to cut his deal. Johnny knew that women would typically
question every story he gave them as a man but they didn’t do that when they
thought he was a woman. It frustrated him that he could not get this advantage
all the time and only when he was dressed as a woman.
Johnny told Trisha that he was just temporarily down on his
luck and needed a place to crash for a few days. Trisha had easily agreed and
Johnny was given his own room in her small apartment. The second room used to
be a roommates room but Trisha had explained how it did not work out and she is
paying all the rent now with great difficulty. But Johnny didn’t care about Trisha Johnny just needed a place
to crash for a few days until he got his money from the woman after the old man
paid and then he would decide what he would do next.
He kissed Trisha and did other things to keep her going but
didn’t let it get hot and heavy so she wouldn’t find out that he was a man.
Johnny knew it would be easy to play the conservative role because he had done
this many times before and he knew most women bought it. Since Trish worked a lot it was even easy
for Johnny to pull a few tricks while she was gone and make money. After he
received his $5000 he didn’t leave Trisha’s apartment despite the fact the
Trisha wanted him to leave. He chuckled about her way of showing it since she
was the “polite type”. She showed her frustration in other ways but Johnny
ignored it while he squandered his money away on mostly cocaine and clothes
while staying at Trisha’s apartment eating her food and using everything she owned
as if it was his own. In Johnny’s mind this was his castle while he chose to
use it and Trisha had nothing really to say about it. Johnny viewed her as sorely stupid and weak. He felt pleased
with himself and felt no pity for Trisha because Johnny believed he was a god
using Trisha for his bidding.
Before long he was almost out of money despite his continued
prostitution as having all that cash caused him to turn tricks only when he
wanted sex and thus only a few times a week. He was glad that that he had purchased
a bicycle with some of his money so he could get around town easier since he
didn’t have a car. He did take Trisha’s car when she was home but that wasn’t
very often because of all the jobs she had.
He relished his fabulous new selection of women’s clothing
to wear while he stayed with Trisha that helped keep her convinced that he was
a woman. Johnny’s taste in women’s clothes were centered on the styles the
woman had liked the most; schoolgirl, latex and business. He bought a few more
outfits that he decided were better for his rocker image including a long black
heavy coat that he thought when he put it on made it hard for people to know
whether he was a man or a woman. He liked that he could switch his identity so
easily with this coat.
Within a couple of weeks he was contacted by the woman and
she told him to meet her at the same spot in Venice Beach that he had woken up at
when they first met at 5:30AM the following morning. She told him to come
dressed as a man for this meeting and Johnny was worried that Trisha would see
him as a man. But Johnny needed Trisha to drive him to Venice Beach in her car
so he told Trisha that he had a meeting with a music agent at a restaurant
there and soon he would have money to pay her thousands of dollars. He put on
his make up that morning at 4:30AM before Trisha was awake and took a bag with
a pair of jeans and a t-shirt he would change into once he got there and after
he was sure that Trisha left.
Trisha was getting less tolerant and “polite” but she was
still going along with Johnny’s demands. She did question the 5:30AM meeting as
it seemed something was wrong with an agent setting a meeting with a musician
at 5:30AM but then considered that she did not know that much about the music
industry world and thus told Johnny, who she only knew as Miranda, that she
would take her to Venice beach. She made it clear that her work schedule didn’t
allow her to wait for her or pick her up. Trisha was hopeful that Miranda would
get an agent and get out of her apartment since she was eating her out of house
and home and wasn’t getting the hints she was giving for her to leave.
Trisha’s offer to take Johnny to Venice Beach was fine with
Johnny because he thought he would easily get a ride back to Trisha’s from the
woman. When he arrived at the beach he quickly found a public restroom and took
off his make up and changed his clothes, throwing his woman clothes back into
the bag. He walked briskly to the meeting spot as he was running a few minutes
late and he wasn’t sure how the woman or Rooskie would react to his being late.
When he reached the woman she appeared to be alone, as he could not see Rooskie
through the morning beach fog. The
woman began talking as soon as Johnny reached her with excitement in her tone
keeping her voice at a volume for words meant only for Johnny’s ears. She told
him that she succeeded in getting Johnny a meeting with a Los Angeles DJ. She
said she thought he could get his “My Universe” recording on the airways in
addition to cold hard cash. The woman told Johnny that he was a popular DJ and
that the meeting with Johnny was going to be at the radio station. She gave Johnny the details about the
station and told him to get the DJ to go into the office in the back. She
explained to Johnny that he needed a period when he was alone with the DJ for
the scam to work.
As the woman told Johnny about the latest plan he could
hardly contain his excitement; his musical stardom was closer than ever now.
Now and then as the woman talked about the details of her plan she would stop
to laugh her head titling backward in a way that once again mesmerized Johnny.
He never wanted to leave her side ever again. The woman told him to leave her after
she provided the time and address for the appointment. Johnny desperately pleaded
with the woman to let him stay with her until suddenly Rooskie appeared
grabbing him by the back of his neck and pushing him forward to the ground into
the sand. Rooskie then threw a
small clear package of cocaine at Johnny’s fallen body. Johnny slowly turned his head before
getting up from the sand and met Rooskie’s eyes with his. Johnny had felt rage
initially but when he saw Rooskie’s eyes fear overcame his rage and he quickly tucked the package of cocaine in his pocket got up and ran
away. When he had almost reached the boardwalk where merchants were just starting to set up for the beach day, he stopped running, feeling
he was safe again. He looked back for a moment and saw that the woman and Rooskie were gone.
