11
Lia turned her face into her pillow and groaned. Her body felt like—flashes from the previous evening stormed her mind. She had picked Joseph Craig up at a bar, brought him home and had sex with him four times. Memories of the multiple orgasms she’d experienced had her cheeks heating. He knew her body better than she did, and certainly better than Ned ever had. Muscles she previously wasn’t aware she had were sore.
The aroma of coffee floated in from the kitchen and her heart did a funny flutter at the realization he was still in the house. She peeked at her alarm clock, which read 11:05 a.m. What time had they fallen asleep? No, “sleep” was too generous a term for the short stretches they took between bouts of sex. He took the phrase “virile male” to a new level.
She pushed herself up on her elbow and took in her room in the harsh morning light. The carpet, once tan, was more of beige color with places worn completely bare. There were two windows overlooking the parking lot and the miniblinds covering them were bent up and in need of replacement. Her bedroom furniture looked relatively new, but that did little to help the overall ambience of the room. What could he be thinking? She was twenty-eight years old and her apartment was in worse shape than her old college dorm. Waves of embarrassment washed through her at the thought of him in her kitchen with the old appliances and worn linoleum floors.
Her gaze focused on his jacket and trousers lying over the arm of the chair in the corner. His suit probably cost more than six months of her rent. Men like Joseph Craig belonged to sophisticated women like Kathy Paige, not single mothers who survived paycheck to paycheck. He was out of her league, and he was probably coming to the same conclusion as he saw how she lived.
She crossed to her bathroom—more a closet with a shower, toilet and tiny sink—and again found herself looking at it more critically, imagining what he saw. It was clean, but that did little to improve the overall appearance. The handle for the faucet was chipped, there was a rust stain in the bottom of the sink and the towel rack had come out from the wall, leaving patches of chipped paint and plaster in its wake. She sat on the closed toilet and dropped her face into her hands. How could she have let this happen when she knew she’d have to see him again? He was her lawyer, for God’s sake. This was going to be ten times worse than Eric Nettles’ rejection, because she still wanted Joseph. She’d have to make it clear that all future dealings would be over the phone. And what was he even still doing in her house? She wasn’t experienced at one-night stands, but was pretty sure the guy didn’t usually bother to spend the night.
When she forced herself back out into the bedroom, Joseph had returned from the kitchen and was sitting on the side of her bed, looking down at his cell phone. He raised his gaze. “Good morning.”
“Hi.” She pulled her robe closer around her.
“I hope you don’t mind that I helped myself to coffee.” In only his boxer briefs, his hair tousled and his eyes puffy from sleep, he looked younger and more vulnerable than the suit-clad lawyer usually on display.
“No, not at all.” Her heart began to pump a little faster in reaction to him.
“I made you some too.” He inclined his head towards a steaming mug of coffee on her dresser.
“Thank you.” She turned, grateful for an excuse to look away from him. She needed him to leave so she could lick her wounds.
“There was powdered creamer and sugar on the counter, so I assumed you took both.”
“I do.” She took a sip of the warm liquid, keeping her back to him “Thank you. It’s perfect.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Yes, I just have a lot to do today and I didn’t intend to sleep in so long.”
“Come here.”
She forced a smile to her face before turning back around. “This isn’t a big deal. I’m surprised you’re still here.”
“Closer.” He snagged her free hand and began tugging her towards him.
“What are you doing?”
He took the mug from her other hand before stretching his arm out and setting it on the nightstand. “Saying good morning.” He pulled her between his knees and settled his hands on her hips. “Good morning.” He dropped his head forward and began to kiss her stomach through the material of her robe, his hold on her hips tightening.
She closed her eyes and gave in to the urge to touch him, letting her hands slide over his shoulders. “I’m not cut out for this.”
He pulled back only enough to be able to lift his eyes to hers. “I have news for you, sweetheart. I have no intention of allowing you to crawl back in the shell you’ve been occupying.”
“I don’t want to get hurt.”
“I’m not planning to hurt you.”
“You may not plan it, but that’s how it ends for me. That’s how it always ends.” She felt tears gathering in her eyes.
“It’s never ended with me, Lia. I feel something very real for you—something I want to explore.”
She looked into his eyes and was struck again by their warmth. They weren’t the eyes of a liar. “We barely know each other.”
“That’s not true,” he said deeply. “I’ve known you since the moment I met you.”
Lia’s heart rate accelerated at his words. He felt it too “Why?”
“I don’t know.”
She looked away from him, not wanting him to see how much she already cared. She was afraid. She was so afraid. “How do you know it’s not just an attraction? That you’ll want me for a couple of weeks and then it will be over?”
“I know what it feels like to be attracted to a woman. You’re not the only one vulnerable here. I have been consumed with thoughts of you for months. You’re why I ended it with Kathy.”
“What?” Stunned by his words, she felt her eyes widen.
“And then you rejected me,” he continued. “I know you want me—your eyes have been talking to me since the first time we met. And I knew your wall would eventually come down. I wasn’t in a rush.”
“I need to think,” she whispered.
“No. You need to feel.” He curved his hand around the back of her neck, pulling her towards him.
“I have to go. I have a meeting at two.” Joseph’s deep voice broke into Lia’s semiconscious state as she lay snuggled against his side, her head resting on his chest.
“It’s Saturday.”
“I met you on a Sunday.”
“True.” She sighed. She hated the thought of him leaving, knowing as soon as he was out the door her mind would start doubting everything she felt.
“We don’t have to have another talk, do we?” he asked as if reading her thoughts.
“No, but I need to take this slow. I don’t want to jump into a full-blown relationship.”
“We’ve had sex five times in less than twelve hours. You don’t expect me to go back to holding hands, do you?”
“No, I’m not talking about that. I don’t want this to take over my life. For the first time as an adult, I’m realizing I’m okay alone. I don’t want to lose that. I already feel like I don’t spend enough time with Taylor.”
“Did you skip out on the normal girl training?” he teased. “Don’t you now that you’re supposed to be demanding more than I can give?”
“I’m serious.”
“I work an insane amount of hours—the recurring complaint I’ve received from every woman I’ve ever had a relationship with is I don’t have enough time. We can take this as slow as you like.”
“Are you going to see other women too?”
“And there’s the girl.”
“Are you?” The thought of him touching other women made her stomach clench.
“I wasn’t planning to. Are you going to let me see you more than a couple times a month?”
“Yes.”
“And you’ll be my plus one if the need arises?”
“Yes.” This was really happening. “I know we haven’t even had a real date, but I don’t want to have sex with you if you’re having it with other women too.” She may have sounded like a prude, but she didn’t care.
“You are the only woman I want.” He kissed her softly. “I won’t be with anyone but you.”
Hours later, knowing she’d go crazy if she spent another minute alone in her apartment, Lia drove to her mother’s and joined her in the kitchen, where Elaine was preparing dinner.
“Did I ever show you a picture of Joseph Craig?”
“Joseph Craig?” Elaine frowned. “Why does that sound familiar?”
“He’s my attorney for the Zurtech stuff.”
“Ah.” Elaine nodded. “Why do you have a picture of him?”
“I don’t have a picture, picture. It’s a picture online from a magazine he was on the cover of last year.” She pulled up the image on her phone.
“‘Washington’s most eligible bachelors,’” Elaine read. “I can see why. He is my type of handsome. This is the one Taylor was going on and on about on Christmas? The one that helped you get the job?”
Lia nodded, watching her mother study the picture of Joseph. “He’s even better looking in person.”
“Really?” Elaine handed her back the phone “Have you heard from him lately?”
“I ran into him last night.”
“And?”
“And he’s—he’s very charming.” She dropped her eyes to his picture.
“Well that’s nice, but I was actually asking about your case.”
“Oh, we didn’t discuss it.” She continued to study the picture of Joseph in a custom-tailored suit, standing in the lobby of his law office, his arms crossed over his chest, a look of amusement on his handsome face. A vivid image of what he looked like under the suit flashed through her mind and a sigh escaped her lips.
“Are we developing a bit of a crush on him?”
Lia covered her eyes. “I’m so confused.”
“Lia?” Elaine walked around the counter, stopping beside her chair. “Is something going on between you and your attorney?”
“Yes.”
“Something romantic?” Her eyes narrowed. “Isn’t there an ethical rule against that?”
“I don’t know. There’s this attraction that won’t go away.” She finally met her mother’s eyes. “I’m so scared.” She bit her lower lip and to her horror tears welled up in her eyes. “I don’t want to be hurt again and I don’t know what to do,” she whispered.
“Is he putting pressure on you?”
“No. God, no.” She shook her head. “He isn’t putting any pressure on me. He’s leaving everything up to me.” She ran the back of her hand over her cheek, wiping at the tears. “I’m sorry. I’m such a baby.”
“Have you been dating him or—”
“No. But I want to, Mom. I really do. I’ve never felt this way before, but I don’t know if I trust my own judgment. I mean, I thought Eric was a great guy and look what he turned out to be.” Tears continued to fall from her eyes.
“Honey, are you sure you’re telling me everything?”
“I ran into him at happy hour last night. I was with some girls from work and he joined our table.” She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. “You should have seen him. People are attracted to him. They want to hear what he has to say, and he’s so smart, Mom. I mean, I’ve never met someone so smart.”
“I don’t understand why you’re so upset.”
“Because I like him, and I don’t want to! Can’t you understand that after everything I’ve been through?”
“You don’t have to yell, honey. I’m trying to understand.”
“I’m sorry. I’m just so confused. I thought after Eric I wouldn’t even want to date another man. And now I can’t stop thinking about one. I don’t know what to do.”
“I don’t know what to say about Joseph Craig, Lia, because I don’t know him. When you told me after Eric you would never date again, I didn’t say anything because you were devastated and I didn’t want to upset you further. But I knew, or at least hoped, you were being rash. You’re too young to never remarry. It’s not natural. We’re made to be part of a couple.”
“I don’t want to be hurt again.”
“There are no guarantees in relationships. There’s always the chance you’ll be hurt. You could fall in love with the nicest man in the world, but if he doesn’t love you back you’re going to be hurt.”
“But with Eric and Ned I was deceived. They betrayed me.”
“So you’re going to let them continue to hurt you by keeping you from a more healthy relationship?”
“But that’s just it. I don’t know if I have the ability to recognize a healthy relationship.”
“I don’t think you’re giving yourself enough credit. You’re a smart girl. I think the signs were there in both relationships and you chose to overlook them.”
Her mother was right. She’d chosen to ignore the fact that Ned seemed to lose interest in sex overnight, and with Eric, well, Eric never seemed interested in anything but getting her into bed. “Why would I do that?”
“With Ned, you were young and had these idealistic beliefs about what a marriage should be. And then with Eric…” She shook her head. “Your self-esteem was so low after the breakup with Ned. I don’t think you were thinking clearly. But I think you’ve grown up a lot in the past four months, honey. You have a good job, and I think you’re starting to realize you can take care of yourself.”
“I am. And I don’t want anyone to mess me up.”
“No one can mess you up unless you let them. You need to keep your eyes open and trust yourself. Take it one day at a time and judge this man for who he is—not who you want him to be.”
Taylor arrived home Sunday evening and promptly announced she was going to be a big sister. “Because Daddy and Candice are having a baby,” Taylor said before looking back at her father. “Right, Daddy?”
“That’s right,” Ned said.
“Daddy isn’t actually going to have it,” Taylor said. “Candice is, but its Daddy’s baby too because they’re married to each other.”
“That’s nice.” Lia smiled at Taylor. “Say goodbye to your daddy.”
Lia hated the thought of Ned and Candice having a baby, but even that news couldn’t damper the warmth that enveloped her whenever she thought of Joseph.
When Lia hadn’t heard from Joseph by Thursday, she literally felt sick. He’d made love to her five times, basically agreed to a monogamous relationship and then hadn’t so much as sent her a text since Saturday. The insecure part of her worried he was a liar, but another part, a deeper part, couldn’t believe that was true, so after putting Taylor to bed and having a glass of wine, she picked up her cell phone and called him.
After five rings it went to his voicemail, and she hung up without leaving a message. It was 9:45 p.m. She tried again an hour later and this time left a message when he again didn’t answer. And then she lay down on her bed and wondered where he was at 10:45 on a Thursday night.
Joseph opened the door to his apartment a few minutes past 11:00 p.m. After pouring himself a glass of scotch, he dropped down onto the couch in his family room. He’d had a late meeting with Sam Malone, and the latest updates on the Zurtech investigation brought more questions than answers. Marcos Rodriguez was a regular visitor to the Zurtech house, but it was unclear why. He would show up the day after a reception and enter the house alone, then leave ten minutes later. Malone was convinced he was picking something up, but needed more time to figure out exactly what. As far as the connection to Carmen was concerned, Malone had learned they shared a rented home together in Centreville, Virginia, several miles outside of Reston.
Joseph took a long swallow of scotch before laying his head back on the couch cushions. Malone had checked out the other Zurtech facilities throughout the country and, as far as he could tell, Stan Hall was running a lone wolf operation. And the B2Bs’ promiscuous behavior wasn’t a secret among the business elite of Northern Virginia. According to Malone, the extra perks were a real incentive to many executives. But there was no proof. And why Mike Hall bankrolled the operation remained a mystery. To date, Joseph had shelled out over fifty thousand dollars to Malone and another six thousand to pay restitution for Lia’s wardrobe.
He reached into the inner pocket of his suit jacket and took out his cell phone. There were ten texts, five missed calls and four voicemails. He scanned the texts, listened to and deleted three voicemails, and then he was pushing the speaker button and listening to the fourth as he leaned back on the couch and loosened his tie.
“Hi, it’s Lia. I thought I’d call and say hello. I hope you’ve had a nice week. You can call me back, um, whenever—I’m usually up late. Okay, bye, Joseph.”
“It’s about time, Lia,” he said aloud, before tapping the display and bringing the phone to his ear.
“I’ve been thinking about you,” he said as soon as she picked up.
“You have?”
“Obsessively.” He unfastened the top two buttons of his oxford shirt.
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“Is that a serious question?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t think I was supposed to. I thought you were dictating the speed of our relationship.”
“I didn’t mean you couldn’t call me.”
“Well, I wish you had told me. I would have called you a dozen times. I’ve missed the hell out of you.”
“You have?”
“I have.” He laid his head back and closed his eyes. “Are you going to let me see you this weekend?”
“Yes.”
“Is this okay?” Lia asked two days later as she glanced down at her white sleeveless top and black cropped pants. She was standing in the middle of her mother’s kitchen, awaiting Joseph’s imminent arrival. He was taking her to a 7:00 p.m. Nationals’ baseball game in Washington.
Her mother looked up from a magazine. “You look very nice.”
“Not too dressy?”
“No, you look perfect.”
She felt nervous, very nervous. Once she’d decided to let Joseph in, she felt like she actually lost a bit of control. It suddenly mattered very much what he thought of her.
“I think your date has arrived.”
“What? Where?” She turned towards the front of the house. “I didn’t hear the door.”
“Look outside,” Elaine said. “I’m assuming he’s the one out there with Taylor.”
Lia followed her mother’s gaze to the bay window behind the kitchen table, where she was watching an animated Taylor interacting with Joseph, who was standing beside the swing set in the backyard. “That’s him.” She felt a flutter in her stomach.
“She really likes him.”
“I know.” Lia continued to watch. “He’s handsome, isn’t he?”
“Very.” Elaine nodded.
Lia gave them about ten minutes before opening the door and stepping out onto the deck and telling Taylor it was time to come in.
“Mommy, did you know Joseph didn’t have a swing in his backyard when he was a little boy?” Taylor scraped her shoes across the dirt in an attempt to slow the swing.
“No, I didn’t know that.” She watched as Joseph reached out and slowed Taylor’s swing. “Why don’t you bring him up to the house so he can meet Grandma?”
“Isn’t that sad about him not having a swing set?” Taylor called out. “I told him I have two.”
“Two?”
“Yes, one here and one at Daddy’s.” She bounded up the stairs and stopped in front of Lia. “Remember?”
“Now I do.” She met Joseph’s eyes as he came up behind Taylor, and a wave of attraction passed between them. Dressed in charcoal-gray pants with dark shoes and a combed white cotton oxford shirt, the sleeves rolled up to reveal his muscled forearms, he looked casually elegant and very handsome. “I’ve never seen you in anything but a suit.”
“That’s not true. You’ve seen me without it,” he said, bringing a blush to Lia’s cheeks.
“Mommy, I’m going to go get the picture I made today and show Joseph, so don’t leave yet.” Taylor opened the French doors and disappeared inside the house.
“God, you’re beautiful. If we weren’t being watched, I would push you back against that wall and show you how much I’ve missed you this week.”
Lia breathed in deeply, her heart beating wildly in her chest at his words. “That would be my mother.” She glanced back and saw her standing in the kitchen, openly watching them through the window. “Do you want to come in and meet her?”
“You’re moving a little fast for me,” he teased.
“You’re funny.”
After Lia made the introductions, Taylor shouted from the next room that she couldn’t find the picture and Lia went off to help her.
“My granddaughter seems to be very smitten with you,” Elaine said as she watched Joseph watch Lia leave the room. “She doesn’t usually warm up to people so quickly.”
“I’m smitten with her too.” He waited until Lia was out of sight before turning to Elaine. “She’s beautiful. They both are. It’s beyond me how he could have ever let them get away.”
“Me too,” Elaine said softly, her eyes meeting his. “Me too.”
It was the perfect evening for a baseball game. At least, it would have been perfect if Lia had remembered to take a jacket. But the temperature reached seventy-five degrees during the day, and she never considered how cool it might get in the evening. By the time they reached the ballpark, the temperature had dropped at least ten degrees, and Lia was cold just making the short trek from the parking lot to their seats behind home plate. She was contemplating how she was going to survive a nine-inning game when Joseph shrugged out of his suede jacket.
“Here, slip this on.”
“No. I’m the one who was too stupid to remember my jacket. You shouldn’t have to suffer.”
“I’m not cold.” He laid the jacket across her shoulders. “Really, come on. Put it on.”
Lia thankfully slipped her arms into the sleeves and leaned back in her seat, breathing in the smell of leather mixed with what she now recognized as his scent, a clean soap smell with the undertones of woodsy-scented cologne.
“Do you like barbeque and beer?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
Ten minutes later, he returned wearing a Nationals’ jacket and carrying a box of food and two beers from Blue Smoke balanced precariously on a cardboard tray.
“I knew you were cold! And you had to buy an expensive jacket because of me.”
“I’ve always wanted a Nationals’ jacket.”
“You’re lying. You probably don’t own one item of Nationals’ clothing.”
“Now I do.” He lowered his head and kissed her for the first time that evening.
Three beers and seven innings later, with the Nationals up 9 to 1 over the Dodgers, they left the ballpark and drove to the Lincoln Memorial a few miles away.
“This is one of my favorite places in Washington,” Joseph said as they walked hand in hand along the reflecting pool towards the Lincoln Memorial. “I like to run here at night.”
“Last time I saw my father, we came here. It was on my sixteenth birthday.”
“Really?” Joseph’s gaze swung to her profile. “Why so long ago?”
“He lives in California with his wife of…” She paused. “Gosh, it must be close to fourteen years, and they have three children.”
“Have you met them—his other children?”
“No.” She brought her gaze to his momentarily as they continued to walk. “He left us when I was twelve, and then he slowly weaned himself out of our life. We were standing somewhere right around here when he told me he was married and had been for a couple years and that he had a son.” She shook her head, remembering. “It was so strange. I remember looking at him and thinking, ‘Who are you?’ He had this whole life going on that I was no part of, and in my mind he was still this huge part of my world because he was my father. And then something clicked in my head and I realized he didn’t want to be my father, so…I stopped talking to him.”
“Just like that?” Joseph slowed as they approached the steps to the memorial. “And he accepted this?”
“Pretty much.” She turned to face him. “I mean, I think we represented this huge failure in his life. If he didn’t have to see us, he could pretend we didn’t exist, except once a month when he signed the child-support check.”
“He sounds like a great guy.”
“Oh, he wasn’t so bad. He was weak.”
“Weak?” Joseph narrowed his eyes. “Weak is not being able to keep yourself from having another drink. What he did—abandoning his own children—is criminal.”
“I guess, but when I wrote him out of my life I stopped caring. My brother, on the other hand, had a much harder time dealing with it. He moved out there after high school and reestablished a relationship. He’s still there now.”
“And?” Joseph prompted, when she didn’t immediately continue. “Did he reestablish the relationship?”
“I guess, but at a great expense. I mean…” She paused as she lifted her gaze back to his. “He moved three thousand miles away from me and my mother so he could bond with a man who rejected him. I always thought that wasn’t really fair to my mom.”
“So you haven’t spoken to your father since you were sixteen?”
“No, I have. He called when he heard I was getting married, and then again after Taylor was born. I think now that he’s older he’d like to have a relationship with me, but I have no desire for one. He hurt me so much during those first four years after he left. I had to push all thoughts of him from my mind, and when I did that, he lost the power to hurt me. Now he’s a stranger to me.”
“Jesus, I would never put my child through that.” Joseph shook his head, the side of his jaw clenching. “Men like him should be jailed.”
“I’m sorry.” She laid her hands on his chest. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I don’t know what made me tell you that. I’m a real downer, aren’t I?”
“No.” He moved his hands to the sides of her face, his eyes looking into hers. “I think you’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met.”
“You do?” Her heart jumped.
“I do.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re beautiful, and strong, and when I’m with you my mind isn’t consumed by the hundred unfinished jobs I have waiting in the office. I’m only thinking of you. You overwhelm me.”
As she looked into his eyes, she too felt overwhelmed. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you’ll come home with me.” He kissed her softly before resting his forehead on hers. “I want you.”
“What about Taylor? I—”
“I’ll take you home before morning. I need to be inside you.”
There was no way she could say no to him. “Yes.”
Joseph was alone in the law office when he met with Sam Malone a couple weeks later.
“Thanks for coming in so late,” Joseph said, meeting him as he came off the elevator. “This is my only free night this week and I didn’t want to wait to see what you found.”
Sam Malone was a small, wiry man with a thick head of gray hair and skin that had seen so much of the sun it looked almost like leather. “I prefer evenings,” Malone said in his raspy voice as he pulled a thumb drive out of his pocket.
“Where’d that come from?” Joseph’s eyes were on the thumb drive.
“A digital video recorder in the house.” He followed Joseph back to his office. “And if you have anything against pornography, you may have a problem with it.”
Five minutes later, Joseph pushed the stop button on his computer. “Jesus!” He leaned back in his chair. “I suppose this means Hall doesn’t leave it to his employees to tell him which clients they’ve been with.” The thumb drive showed the activities in one of the bedrooms from the night before as two women, apparently employees of Stan Hall, were having sex with a male.
Malone dropped down into one of the club chairs. “Every bedroom in that house is equipped with a camera.”
“Why?”
Malone shrugged. “Maybe this is how he and his brother get their jollies? Wouldn’t be the first pervert I’ve come across.”
“And you think Marcos maintains these video recorders?”
“I know he does. He installed a new one three days ago. I caught him on surveillance video.”
“Surveillance video?” Joseph frowned. “You set up surveillance video in the house?”
“Outside. They left the shades open in one of the bedrooms. I had it set up in a tree in the back.”
“How did you get this?” Joseph held up the thumb drive.
“The house doesn’t have a security system,” he said, not directly answering the question.
Joseph leaned back in his chair. “The more I learn, the less I think Zurtech is involved. This sounds like some peep show for the benefit of Mike and Stan Hall. These B2B women get nice bonuses for participating, and the Zurtech clients have easy access to sex with beautiful women.”
“Could be.”
“There’s still no proof this is prostitution.” Joseph tapped his fist against his mouth. “All we know for sure is this Marcos Rodriguez is video recording them. How do we even know the Hall brothers are aware this is happening?”
“Rodriguez is being paid by Tia Tacos. They’re compensating him for something.”
“Maybe they’re charging the clients.”
Sam shook his head. “Hall wouldn’t go through the expense of setting up these cameras just to see who to charge for sex and which girls should receive bonuses, no way.”
“But you think he would go through the trouble of setting it up to feed his own personal fetish?”
“I’m not saying it’s reasonable, but I think it’s more possible.”
“What does Rodriguez do with the videos? Have you seen him with either of the Hall brothers?”
“No, never. I’m guessing his girlfriend passes them to Stan Hall when she goes into Zurtech.”
Joseph blew out a stream of air. “We’ve got to be missing something. There is no way the only purpose of this house is to feed some perverted fetish.”
“Maybe they’re blackmailing the clients.”
“I don’t know. According to the women I talked to, there were a lot of repeat customers. If you were getting blackmailed based on video, it wouldn’t make sense for you to continue to give evidence to your blackmailer.”
Malone shrugged. “Maybe they figure they’re already paying, so—”
“No. These are intelligent men with high-powered jobs. They’re not going to be that stupid. Once they realized they were being recorded, they’d stop coming back.”
“Maybe they aren’t blackmailing everyone,” Malone threw out. “Maybe they only blackmail the wealthiest clients.”
“Eric Nettles is worth over ten million, and he’s a regular.”
“I’m out of ideas,” Malone said. “If it’s not to bring in money, it’s not making a lot of sense.”
“It is making Stan Hall more successful at Zurtech. You said yourself, many of the clients like the service being provided. Maybe Mike Hall is funding this to help his brother’s career and then they have the added bonus of feeding their perverted appetite.”
“Could be.”
“I think it’s probably time to shelve this investigation, at least temporarily. It’s not panning out the way I thought it might,” Joseph said.