It sounds to me those two don’t have a story as such, unless you want to make a point about what they are doing.

Oh, they have a story alright — I’m just not sure what it is.

Granted … they’re amoral psychopaths/sociopaths and are, as you say, filling a gap in the market — which might simply be for no reason other than it is profitable.

I’m not so sure you should.

Indeed … they seem to act more as a nexus than as protagonists.

I get the impression that little moments should suffice — some elements are unique to each of them individually whilst others provide a segue to/from others’ stories.

But I’m open to suggestion for plot development that is more personal to them — how they found each other, for instance?

They found a rather strange hole in the market

Well … a number of strange holes, really — they run one of Pratchett’s ‘wandering shops’, so to speak, but altogether too real and altogether less wholesome.

It might be easier to do chapters on their clientèle. What they want, why they want it and what happens when they get what they want.

Yes … that’s kinda the impression I get — the two themselves are intriguing grotesques in the background but the foreground is a carnivale of their much more disturbing clients.

Oh and I think you need a government official antagonist. Someone from the health department or ethics commission or something, whose life’s work is to shut these people down.

That has potential, yes … although I will need to consider that carefully — I’m not sure I don’t prefer the sense of unease/disquiet that stems from the possibility that they operate completely under the radar and will, therefore, almost certainly never be stopped because nobody knows they are there to be stopped.

And a lawyer who has a barter agreement with them.

An interesting idea.

Not directly related … but it has reminded me of the ‘Electric Climax Paedosnuff Movies (Amsterdam) Ltd.’ idea I forgot to mention: package deals to Rio, down the storm drains where all the orphans ‘live’, with a gun and a camera crew — hunt it, fuck it, shoot it … watch the movie back home with your mates afterwards.

Might well be the kind of thing he’s into — or one/some of his clients.