Still nothing but the wheezy, gasping moans of the old man on the screen. It had to be some kind of Guinness record, Shaw thought. Longest blowjob in the septuagenarian category.

“So people come to you. They give you everything. And when they leave, it’s so long, good luck. That’s a fucking question so fucking open your mouth and answer.”

“It’s all legal. They have to sign a contract. They see a psychiatrist first who confirms they’re mentally sound. There are witnesses. It’s not my fault if they have second thoughts.”

“You’re a fucking con man and a fucking sadist is what you are. Explain tonight. Everything from the minute your boy Jeremy heard Mark’s name.”

Brueckmann looked up again, mouth tightening. “I thought he had hired you to extort money out of me. The contracts are completely legal, so the police can’t do anything, and you two . . .” A faint sneer crossed his face. “You obviously aren’t lawyers. When you came up here, when you assaulted me, I decided to handle things personally.”

“We obviously aren’t lawyers?” Shaw said. “What do you think he means by that, North?”

“He’s talking about you and those ridiculous pants.”

“I think he’s talking about you. Were you still wearing your hard hat when we came in here?”

“No, I knew it would be a boner magnet, so I left it in the car. It’s probably your hair.”

“Some lawyers have long hair.”

“Yeah, but a lawyer would buy real conditioner instead of trying to make it out of rape oil.”

“Rapeseed oil. You can’t leave off the seed part.”

“You’re the one who ripped off half the label and left it out so Pari found a fucking bottle of rape oil on your nightstand.”

Brueckmann’s eyes pinged back and forth between them. A hard smile hooked one side of his mouth.

“If you’re thinking about how Shaw would look in a collar,” North said, “join the club. He’d look fucking fantastic in one.”

All of the sudden, Shaw was having a hard time getting enough oxygen.

North continued, saying, “But now I want to hear the non-bullshit version of tonight’s events.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about how you might have believed Mark sent a couple of toughs here to get money out of you, but that was at the beginning. That was when Jeremy wasn’t going to bring us upstairs. Everything changed the minute my partner mentioned the video.”

Brueckmann’s whole body tensed. He was looking at the floor again, and the lines in his jaw stood out. One eye twitched. Part of him, Shaw recognized, was bracing for the pain, expecting North to twist the pen in his hand again. But part of him was bracing against something else. Something that terrified him a great deal more.

“The video,” Shaw said. “The recording of you. Who has it?”

Shaw knew he was right as soon as he said it. His words speared Brueckmann, and the dom stiffened, his eyes up and locked onto Shaw before Brueckmann could bring himself back under control.