House, sitting on the sidewalk outside the club with his cane across his lap, cursed himself yet again for being such an idiot. What had possessed him to come to Edge in the first place? Hell, what had possessed him to go into the bathroom just in time to see Leo being choked?

"You wanted to see me?"

House looked up to see a man with unbelievably red hair standing over him. He was dressed all in black, and was wearing sunglasses. At night.

"And you would be?" he asked.

"Lieutenant Horatio Caine." Horatio took off his sunglasses. His eyes were blue. "And you would be?"

"Doctor Gregory House," House replied. "I run a teaching hospital in New Jersey."

"A little far from home, aren't you, Doctor?"

"You don't go on vacation in your own backyard," House pointed out. "Anyway, I figured I should make this investigation a whole lot easier for you. I saw it."

Horatio's response was alarming. He dropped into a crouch that brought him so close to House that the doctor actually shifted back against the wall in surprise. "You saw the murder?"

House sighed inwardly. "I got here at one o'clock. I spoke to Leo around two o'clock."

"What did you talk about?"

"Nothing exciting, I'm afraid. Just normal can I buy you a drink stuff."

Horatio raised an eyebrow.

"It is a gay club," House said.

"Go on."

"So I bought him a drink. I think he wanted a margarita. We talked a while, probably twenty minutes. He moved on, went to talk to..." House squinted into the night, and gestured with his chin to a young blond man who was talking to Delko. "Him. I didn't see him again until around quarter to when I went to answer a call of nature and saw Leo being choked in the bathroom."

"What did you do?" Horatio asked.

"You have to understand the context of this choking. It was erotic asphyxiation." House could have laughed at the look on the lieutenant's face if he didn't think it was going to get him into trouble. "He was braced against the counter. The other guy was tall, dark hair, well dressed, expensive leather shoes. Early thirties. I hadn't seen him in the club before and I didn't see him in it after."

"What did you do?" Horatio repeated.

"I figured it was none of my business and used the ladies'." House rolled his eyes. "Come on, there was no way I was interrupting that."

Horatio remained noncommittal. "Go on."

"Go on and say what? I don't know what happened after that. Ten to three or five to three, the roommate came running in all hysterical yelling for someone to call an ambulance. I'm a doctor, so while he was calling the ambulance, I went outside with Kyle and checked his pulse. He was already dead. But I saw Leo with hands around his neck in the men's room, not in the alley."

"Okay." Horatio nodded. "Thank you. How long are you in Miami, Doctor?"

House heaved a sigh. "How long do you need me here?"

"If you give me a contact number, I'll let you know."

House gave the man his cell number and watched as he disappeared into the night.

"What have you found?"

Alexx looked down at Leo von Damme. He had been an astonishingly good-looking young man - one of the few males who could be termed beautiful - and perhaps he still was in death. She stroked his hair lightly. So he'd been an exotic dancer. That didn't mean he'd deserved to die.

"He had anal sex just prior to his death," she said. "There's no reason to suggest it wasn't entirely consensual. I found traces of lubricant."

"Biologicals?"

"Well, his partner definitely used a condom, but I think we may be able to get saliva from the hickeys on the back of his neck and epithelials from these." Alexx pointed to the bruises on his neck. "Take a look at them."

Horatio eyed the configuration of bruises. "They're from behind. Well, that would fit with the doctor's story about erotic asphyxiation."

"Calleigh took his clothes," Alexx said, and touched Leo's cheek. "Poor baby. He probably had no idea what he was getting himself into."

"Or who was getting into him."

"We recovered biologicals from the bathroom," Calleigh told him. "Prints and semen on the counter matched the victim, but I lifted three prints from his belt that aren't his. Eric's running them through the database now."

"The killer dressed him afterwards and put him out in the alley," Horatio mused. "Let me know when you find anything."

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

"I'm going to give our doctor a call."

House was jolted out of a painful doze by the ringing of his cell phone. The number was not one he recognized. "House."

"Doctor," came the voice. "This is Lieutenant Horatio Caine. I'd like to ask you a few more questions."

House gave his thigh a tentative squeeze and was rewarded by a flood of pain. He gritted his teeth. "I'd rather not walk too far."

"Tell me where you're staying and I'll meet you there."

House gave his address and, once he'd hung up, took a Vicodin. Then he began to massage his thigh in earnest. He needed to recover some form of mobility before Horatio got there. Because he needed to shower. And also to put on some clothes.

Horatio knocked on the door. The man who answered it looked ten times worse than he had last night. There were dark circles under his eyes, and the hand that gripped the cane was white-knuckled. "Doctor House. You don't look too good."

"My leg acts up sometimes." House beckoned him inside and retreated slowly to the couch, where he sat down carefully. "What did you want to ask me?"

"What happened to your leg?" Horatio asked, avoiding the question and removing his sunglasses in the relative darkness of the hotel room.

"Muscle infarction," House replied tersely. "An arterial blood clot. We had to remove part of my thigh muscle."

Horatio eyed the jeans-clad leg as though trying to see some imperceptible difference in size. "That must hurt."

"It does." House's piercing blue eyes flickered away from him. "You obviously haven't found the killer, or you wouldn't be here."

"Doctor -"

"My first name is Gregory."

"Can I call you Gregory?" Horatio asked after a pause.

"You can call me King Richard the Third if it suits you," House answered with a degree of snark that is considered illegal in most developed countries.

Horatio took that freedom and ran with it. "Greg, I want you to go over what happened one more time. Be as detailed as possible. You'd be surprised at what could turn out to be important."

House took a deep breath and leaned back in the couch. He closed his eyes, one hand unconsciously moving to his right thigh. "Leo was bent over with both hands on the counter, the third or fourth sink from the door, pants around his ankles. The other guy was behind him. Tall, maybe six foot three or four. Dark hair. I can't remember his eyes, he was looking in the mirror, not at me. His shirt was half-open. He had a gold chain around his neck."

"Pendant?"

"A letter. Uh...D, maybe. P, B. I don't know, I'm not sure. Oh, and he was wearing a gold wedding ring."

"Did he touch anything?" Horatio asked. "The counters, the mirror, the sinks?"

House opened one eye. "Look, I stood in that doorway for all of three and a half seconds. The guy had one hand on Leo's hip and the other on his dick. He didn't touch anything else while I was there. I don't know what he did after."

"How did Leo look?"

House snorted. "Pretty damn happy. I'm relatively sure it was consensual, Lieutenant."

"Please. Horatio."

"Horatio. Horatio." House rolled the name around in his mouth as though he wasn't sure how it tasted. "How'd you get a name like that?"

"Ever heard of Horatio Alger?"

"The author? Oh, don't tell me. Your parents were fans?"

Horatio nodded. "Believe it or not."

"You do know that Horatio Alger was a pederast, right?" House's eyes glittered with morbid amusement. "An unfortunate namesake for a CSI."

Horatio ignored that. "What were you doing in Edge?"

House arched an eyebrow. "People-watching."

"You came from New Jersey to Miami to watch people?"

"Miami has some ridiculously beautiful people, in case you hadn't noticed," House replied, running a long-fingered hand over his stubble. "You should see some of those girls in there."

"Girls?"

"It's a gay club, but that doesn't mean only gay men go there. There were a lot of girls dancing on the bar that night, some of them straight, most of them in skirts that would give you a heart attack."

"What makes you think girls in short skirts would give me a heart attack?" Horatio's voice was measured. House glanced up quickly, and Horatio continued, "I've been to Edge before, Greg. There aren't that many straight people in there."

"Can't fault me for trying," House said, and shrugged. "Does your team know?"

"Does yours?"

House gave a wry grin. "Like hell." Another pass of his hand over his jaw, and Horatio found himself wondering what it would feel like to touch House's face. "You think you're going to find this guy?"

As if on cue, Horatio's cell rang. "Horatio." Pause. "Nice work. Pick him up. I'll be there in twenty."

"Found something?" House asked.

"The fingerprints on Leo's belt were matched to a Patrick Donahue. Do you think you could positively identify the man you saw in the bathroom?"

"If I saw him again in the throes of wild sex, sure." House snorted. "I can't promise anything, but I'll give it a shot if you want."

"I'll give you a lift downtown."

House liked the way Horatio automatically slowed the pace of his walk so he didn't have to struggle to keep up. The Vicodin wasn't particularly effective anymore, and House was becoming increasingly desperate for something to ease his discomfort. Distraction was actually proving to be the most successful thing.

"You must see a lot of gore," he commented.

"No more than you do."

"It's similar work. I try to save lives, you...well, I guess you speak for the dead."

Horatio stopped walking and turned to him. One pale finger edged the sunglasses down his nose, and dark blue eyes regarded House seriously. "Yes," he said. "We do. We bring them justice."

"All the justice in the world can't revive a corpse," House said.

"But one person who kills another deserves punishment all the same."

"Do you believe in an afterlife?"

Horatio's lips compressed slightly, and he resumed walking. "I'm taking care of some of the paperwork."

House snorted. "Never heard it put like that before."

"I don't know whether the wicked are punished after death. But I feel a lot safer in my bed at night knowing there's one less maniac on the streets."

"Mm," House said by way of agreement, and Horatio held a glass door open for him. He limped into the room. "Remind me how we're doing this again?"

"You're going to be in here with me. Two of my CSIs are going to walk past with Patrick Donahue. You're going to tell me if he's the man in the bathroom."

"I need a left profile," House said, rubbing his leg.

"Done."

Five minutes later, they were still sitting at opposite ends of the table in relative silence. Horatio looked up to find the doctor studying him intently. "What?" House asked when their eyes met.

"You're looking at me," Horatio replied calmly.

"I've never seen anyone with hair such a ridiculous shade of red."

Horatio wanted to laugh but stopped himself. "It's natural."

"I know. It goes with your freckles." House shrugged, then remarked casually, "I had an adolescent fixation on redheads."

"I had a thing for blonds with ridged foreheads and blue eyes."

The look on House's face was priceless. "Did you grow out of it?"

"No idea." Horatio glanced to the door. "Okay, they're coming."

The man Calleigh was walking with certainly fit the description of the man in the bathroom. Tall, dark-haired, well-dressed. His shirt was buttoned up to the collar, so Horatio couldn't tell if he was wearing a chain, and his hands were in his pockets.

Across the table, House's blue eyes narrowed. He cocked his head to one side, bit his lower lip. Horatio waited patiently as Delko said something to Donahue, and the man laughed and shook his head. Calleigh glanced at Horatio, and he nodded at her. The three in the corridor disappeared from sight.

"Is it him?" Horatio asked.

House ran a hand over the lower half of his face again. Horatio heard the rasp of skin against stubble. "Yes," he said at last. "Yes. It's his mouth. That's him."

Horatio had the cell phone to his ear. "It's him. Put him in a room and see what you can get. I'll be there in five."

"My work here is done," House said wryly, wiping his hands on his jeans.

"Not so fast. Don't you want to see him in handcuffs?"

"Is that a double entendre?"

"Take it as thou wilt." Horatio stood. "You wait here. I'll be back."

Patrick Donahue, up close, was every bit as good-looking as Leo von Damme had been, albeit in a different way. Patrick had a rugged jaw and dark eyes that seemed to contain all sorts of bad things, whereas Leo had had an innocence about him. Looking at the man in front of him, Horatio supposed they were opposites, after a fashion - a devil and an angel.

"Mr. Donahue," Horatio said evenly. "Let me cut to the chase here. We have a witness who saw you have sex with Leo von Damme shortly before he was found dead in an alley. We found your fingerprints on his belt."

"It's not illegal to have sex with another man," Donahue responded defiantly.

Horatio refrained from mentioning that it had only been four years since the Supreme Court had repealed the sodomy law. "The witness also saw you choking Leo. His cause of death was manual strangulation. I don't think that was a coincidence." He paused, studying the man. "I think it was an accident."

Something flickered in Donahue's eyes. "I didn't kill him."

"What time did you and Leo finish up?"

"Half past two, maybe. I didn't check my watch."

"That's odd, because my witness clearly said that he saw you in the bathroom at quarter to three." Horatio turned towards the man. "Look, Mr. Donahue - you left bits and pieces of yourself all over Leo. Your saliva and your skin cells on his neck, your fingerprints on his belt. There's an eyewitness who will testify to having seen both of you together with your hands around his neck."

Donahue looked away, fidgeted a little in the chair. "It was an accident," he said at last. "I didn't mean to kill him. He...he liked it rough. He wanted me to choke him. Lack of oxygen...it gives a better orgasm, you know? I guess I didn't let go in time. I didn't know what to do, so I dressed him and, well, left him in the alley. Then I got the hell out of there. I just...oh Christ. I swear I didn't mean to hurt him."

"But unfortunately, you did." Horatio nodded to the officer at the door. "Get him out of here."

"That was fast," House said.

"You did most of my work for me." Horatio nodded. "Thank you."

"Thank you. I saw him in handcuffs."

Horatio smiled. "How did you resolve your adolescent fixation on redheads?"

"Who says I did?" House leaned back in the chair and stretched. "When do you get off?"

Horatio was strongly tempted to ask someone to pinch him. Was he actually being asked out on a date? By a man? By this man? He studied the doctor carefully for a moment, drinking in the details of his appearance - the square, unshaven face, the electric-blue eyes, the tousled hair. Lugubriously sexy, Horatio thought. Like a well-hung eel.

"I could leave now if I wanted," he answered.

"Coffee?"

"Coffee."