Page 23 of Her Last Secret

He shifted uncomfortably, his gaze dropping to the worn carpet before darting back to Rachel's unyielding stare. "There were these two actresses I wanted to meet," Bryson admitted, the words escaping like steam from a pressure valve.

“Who?”

“Miranda Lee and Courtney James.”

“Why them?”

He shrugged and looked like an embarrassed kid on a playground who had just been caught talking dirty about girls. "I wanted to meet them.”

“The way we hear it, you’d been lurking around for a while,” Jack said.

“Yeah, I had. I was…sort of recruiting. Or trying to, I mean.”

“How so?”

“My job…it’s sort of my job to keep an eye out for attractive women and offer them contracts.”

“What sort of contracts?”

The embarrassed, sheepish look came over his face again. "I wanted them to work with me. I'm a video editor. I work on high-end stuff for adult websites."

"High-end porn, you mean?" Rachel's voice was devoid of judgment, yet her words cut through the air sharply.

"Y-Yes." Bryson nodded, pushing on. “It’s a legit site. Nothing illegal. All girls are at least eighteen and the contracts are iron clad. Almost ridiculously so.”

“If you’re just the editor, why were you head-hunting?”

“I get a five-hundred-dollar bonus if I get a girl to reach out to the owners. Then I get another grand if they sign on.”

“And this actually works?” Rachel asked, the anger now boiling at the surface.

“Not often.”

“How many girls have you signed?”

"Three in all, over the course of about a year. Two were dancers at gentlemen's clubs. One was a waitress. I'd seen Miranda Lee at a performance before and thought she was gorgeous. I know most people think porn is all about the breasts and backside, but the face is just as important…especially when they're expressive."

“Maybe stop talking about that now, yeah?” Jack said.

“She asked, man.”

"Is your line of work the reason Claire Murphy filed a restraining order against you?" Jack asked.

Bryson looked trapped, cornered by his own actions. He was already pale but seemed to blanch even further under the scrutiny. He licked his lips nervously, a bead of sweat tracing its way down from his temple. "Claire... she misunderstood," he began, his hands trembling slightly as they clutched at the back of a chair for support.

"Did she?" Jack interjected, his tone skeptical. "Or did she see something in you that scared her enough to keep you away legally?"

"It wasn't like that," Bryson insisted, looking between the two agents. "I thought Claire had talent. She could've been great behind the camera and maybe in front of it, too. And maybe I pushed a little too hard. I thought she’d just say no and that would be the worst of it. But she was really offended and broke things off. She just took it the wrong way.”

“Is there arightway to take that?” Rachel asked, unable to help herself.

Rachel studied him, weighing his words against her instincts. His confession was another piece of the puzzle, potentially revealing a coercive nature, one that craved control and perhaps wouldn't take rejection lightly.

"Your work," she started again, shifting gears but not the intensity of her interrogation, "you say it's all legal. You have proof of this?”

"Completely clean, I assure you," Bryson replied, a hint of defensive pride seeping into his voice. "Everything is by the book—age verifications, consent forms, the works. It's a business. Nothing more. And two of the three girls I signed are still working with the company. They seem happy, making great money."

Rachel and Jack stared at him for a moment. Rachel continued to try viewing this through a professional lens but the very nature of the conversation mingling with her anger was making it very difficult.

---