Free Blood Rites by Jim Butcher

products—videocameras, televisions, cell phones, computers—would die a horrible fizzling death after any extended time in my presence.
    There was a sense of order to what we were doing that appealed to me on some level. Putting parts together, locking them into place, lining up plugs into their corresponding sockets, taping groups of wires together so that they wouldn't get tangled. I did well enough that Joan sat back and watched me work on the last camera on my own.
    "So how is this supposed to work?" I said. "What happens next?"
    "The lights." She sighed. "The damned lights are the most annoying part. We have to set them up so that no one looks too shiny or too wrinkly. Once that's done, I'll let the technical manager handle sound, and go ride herd on the actors."
    "Metaphorically, I hope."
    She snorted. "Yes. Some of them are decent enough—like that blockhead Guffie. But if you don't push them into getting things done, they'll never be ready for the set on time. Makeup, costume, that sort of thing."
    "Aha. And some of them are late?" I asked.
    "Scrump will be," she said. It almost came out a growl.
    I pushed. "Who?"
    "Tricia Scrump. Actress."
    "You don't like her?" I asked.
    "I despise that self-absorbed, egotistical little bitch," Joan said cheerfully. "She'll play the princess and everyone else in the cast will know that they don't have to show up on time, or be ready to go on time, or be entirely sober, since Her Lascivious Highness Trixie Vixen will be showing up late to everything anyway, high as a kite and doing exactly as she pleases. I long to slap her silly."
    "You shouldn't repress your emotions like that," I said.
    She let out a belly laugh. "Sorry. No reason to drag a newbie into old politics. Guess I'm just upset to be working with her again. I didn't expect it."
    Aha. Hostility for the porn starlet. That's what we in the business call "motive." Joan did not strike a creepy, murderous
Strega
vibe with me, but I'd learned the hard way that a skilled liar can look innocent right up until she stabs you in the back. I dug for more information like a good investigator. "Why not?"
    She shook her head. "When Arturo left Silverlight Studios to start his own company, he made a lot of people angry."
    "What do you think about that? The move, I mean."
    She sighed. "Arturo is an idiot. He's a kind man, and he means well. But he's an idiot. Anyone who works with him now risks getting blacklisted by Silverlight."
    "Even Trixie? I mean, if she's a big star, won't the studio kind of kowtow to her?"
    Joan leaned down to check a connection I'd made, shoving the plug in. "Are you on drugs or something? She's a big star with a limited shelf life. They'd replace her without blinking."
    "She sounds gutsy."
    Joan shook her head. "Don't confuse courage with stupidity. I think she's vapid enough to actually believe she's too important to lose."
    "If I didn't know better, I'd say you don't like her much."
    "Doesn't matter whether or not I like her," Joan said. "It's my job to work with her."
    I watched her set her mouth in a firm line as she started closing cases and stacking them up. I was willing to bet that Tricia Scrump, a/k/a Trixie Vixen, didn't have the same kind of professional resolve.
    I helped Joan pick up the crates and tools and stack them against the far wall of the dim studio. She moved briskly, tension and distaste simmering under the surface of her determined expression. I studied her as covertly as I could. She clearly wasn't happy to be here. Could she be gunning for Arturo with some kind of heavy-duty entropy curse?
    It didn't track. There hadn't been any hostility when she spoke about Arturo. And if she were a strong enough practitioner to throw out deadly spells, she wouldn't be able to keep up a career amidst so much technology. If she was harboring vengeful feelings toward Arturo, she was the best actress I'd ever seen.
    I suppose that could have been possible. But my instincts were sending me mixed