The scene between Valasquez and Shirley at the end of the story, “Footing the Bill,” is liberally inspired by the behaviour of Francis Urquhart (played by Ian Richardson) in the British series “House of Cards.”  Urquhart would be double dealing with his close partners but would ask for their total trust while also bullying them physically. Valasquez is not a copy of this character. He’s much darker. But we like the idea of the unconditional devotion that Urquhart demands from his own partners, so that’s the aspect we tried to transpose to Valasquez.