Chapter 12 Dominic
Dominic
Straightening the extra headset Hannah and I borrowed from Monica as she left for her college classes, I click my pen into the active and ready position and lean over the notebook in front of us.
Hannah nervously tugs her bottom lip between her teeth as she stares at the phone, and it’s .
. . distracting. Her innocence is endearing, and I wish we weren’t here, doing this, where it’s nearly impossible to protect it.
Her breaths are anxious as the next call rings in our ears, and I give her a thumbs-up in an attempt to ease her mind.
Part of me is still reeling from the revelation that she’s a twenty-five-year-old virgin with zero phone sex experience, but the part of me that’s seasoned from more than a decade of police work with the MNPD knows better than to spend more than a minute or two thinking about it.
Just like in life, people are always, always, always going to surprise you.
It’s what you do with the information that makes the difference.
In this case, I’m going to help out where I can and ignore the rest. Besides, if I think about who’s really sitting next to me—the girl with the cute laugh; the bright, expressive eyes; and that soft curve to her lips when she smiles—I’ll lose it.
I offer a gentle squeeze to her shoulder and whisper, “You got this.” She takes a deep breath, nods, and answers the call.
“Hi, there. You’ve got Ruby. What’s your pleasure today?”
I listen intently, ready to help her, but also ready to take notes if this caller turns out to be related to the case in some way, shape, or form.
“Hi, Ruby. You . . . sound different than you used to. Is everything okay?”
I take immediate notice of the caller’s words, as they signal that he’s, at the very least, called in before. I scratch a word quickly on the notepad—Name?—and Hannah leans forward to read it.
The slight brush of her shoulder against mine as she moves closer pulls my awareness for a moment, but I force myself to focus.
“I’m great, don’t you worry. Who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?”
“Felix.”
“How can I make you feel good today, Felix?”
“I’d just like to talk with you, Ruby. Just want to hear your voice.”
“Of course,” Hannah agrees. “That’s what I’m here for. What do you want to talk about?”
I nod, assuring her she’s going in the right direction and continuing to listen closely as Felix answers.
“I’ve just been stressed,” he says, a deep sigh escaping his lungs. “And you always know how to calm me down. Though I’m still wondering why you sound so different.”
Hannah looks at me with panicked eyes, and I quickly scribble something on her notebook.
I just got over a cold.
“I just got over a silly cold,” she says and even pretends to cough a little into the phone.
“Aw, my poor, sweet Ruby. I hate that you’ve been sick,” Felix says. “I tried to call you a few times a while ago, but you didn’t answer. I’ve missed you. But I guess I always miss you most when I’m feeling so stressed out.”
Hannah’s eyes go wide. Her hackles are clearly rising from just how familiar this caller seems with the Ruby persona, and I know if I don’t cut her off at the pass, things could head in the do-you-want-to-cut-my-tits-off-and-wear-them direction again.
I scribble on the notepad in front of her quickly.
No need to stress, baby. There’s no stress at CMA.
“There’s no need to stress right now,” she repeats, clearly trying to make it sound natural in her own words. “You’re on the phone with me, right?”
“You always make me feel better, Ruby,” Felix says, his voice calming noticeably.
“That’s my job,” Hannah says, but she digs her teeth nervously into her bottom lip before continuing. “To make you feel good. What makes you feel best?”
“You do, Ruby. Always you. I wish we could really be close.”
Hannah looks at me again, and I can actually see the pulse in her neck thumping at a rapid pace. I gently place my hand on hers for a beat and mouth toward her, “You’re doing good. Keep going.”
“We can . . . be close,” Hannah says, finding a rhythm. “We can be as close as you want.”
“Really?” Felix asks, relief in his voice. “I’d love that so much, Ruby. I wish I could put my head on your chest right now and listen to your heartbeat.”
“Then put your head on my chest, Felix. Listen to my heartbeat,” Hannah responds, guiding the conversation well. Even though the caller’s familiarity is clearly off-putting for her, his low-key mood appears to agree with her much more than all the callers before.
“Is it racing like mine?” he asks, his voice escalating slightly.
“Definitely,” Hannah comments. “My heart always races when I’m excited.”
“Mine too. Calling you always makes me feel less alone, Ruby.”
“I’m glad, Felix. No one should feel alone.”
“See, you get it. You understand. I’m just looking for companionship and company and to feel like I’m heard.”
There’s something about him I can’t quite put my finger on.
Sure, he sounded a little confused by the change in Ruby’s voice, clearly surprised by the difference, but .
. . he seems quite attached. And really focused on her instead of his own pleasure.
It’s at odds with nearly every other caller we’ve listened in on so far.
I open my phone and text Shane.
Me: Is it just me or is there something about this guy that sounds off?
Shane: Already called in a trace with DFU seeing if we can find an address tied to his number.
DFU is our Digital Forensics Unit. Our go-to guys there are Jimmy Pagnotta and Watts Houser, the best civilian-contract analysts in the department.
They’re both late-twenties whiz kids who know technology better than anyone I’ve ever met.
We also have a Technical Investigations Unit at MNPD, but since these two cases have already involved other digital forensics needs, we’re sticking with Jimmy and Watts to keep things as cohesive as we can.
The fewer hands in the pot, the better.
Hannah eyes me suspiciously as I tuck my phone in my pocket and shake my head. I scribble a lie on the notepad to put her at ease.
Just texting about another case.
She refocuses on the call. “I hear you, Felix. You have all of my attention.”
Felix’s breathing turns labored and erratic on the line, and he groans and growls as he pretty obviously jerks off for us to hear. It’s disturbing given how PG the conversation between them has been thus far, but Hannah rambles on, trying to make the best of it.
She still seems a little nervous, understandably, but I feel the strangest sense of pride in how well she’s handling it all.
“Is that feeling good, Felix?” she asks.
“Oh yeah,” he grates, his voice unsteady.
“I’m so glad,” Hannah whispers into the headset. “I feel good when you feel good.”
“Oh, God, yeah,” he grunts, shouting into the line as he is very clearly getting close to climaxing. “Are you close like me, Ruby? Are you going to come too?”
“Yes. I’m so close,” Hannah says through a pretend moan, looking to me with broad eyes. I scratch out a reminder on the pad in front of her.
Stick to the basics
Hannah nods, closing her eyes and holding the microphone of her headset in front of her face. “Yes, Felix. Your penis feels so good in my vagina. And my boobs and butt feel good too.”
My head falls back, and she shrugs, throwing her hands in the air. Hannah May just isn’t a natural on the sex-phone waves—and maybe that’s not a bad thing. She seems to really hate the job.
Good news is that it’s enough for Felix. He keens and croons over how perfect his Ruby is and how much he wishes they could be together all the time. It’s a little desperate, but I imagine that’s not uncommon in the phone sex business at all.
I can’t deny this guy has raised some red flags for both Shane and me, even if he hasn’t said anything overtly incriminating yet. He’s definitely someone we need to keep a closer eye on.
My phone vibrates in my lap, Captain Leonard’s name on the screen.
Our boss—a lazy fuck who prefers to be told what’s going on instead of going through files himself—has been on vacation for the past two weeks.
I’m sure this call is him wanting an update on the cases that have required two of his homicide detectives to sit in a van outside a warehouse hosting a phone sex hotline.
I hold up a hand to Hannah and point to the door, and she nods as I get up and book it toward the exit. When I have the door to the hall open, I answer the call before it can go to voicemail.
“Hey, Cap,” I greet him, ensuring the door clicks shut behind me as I walk toward the empty stairwell.
“Where are we on the Call Me Anytime case?”
“Shane and I have several leads we’re looking into. DFU is working on getting an address from one of the callers as we speak.”
“What about the labs?”
“Well, it’s obviously hard to retrieve usable prints or narrow down DNA from a hotel room, but CSI is doing their best to see if they find anything conclusive that’s not from the staff or previous guests.
Preliminary tox came back for fent, but Booth is still running tests to get a more in-depth understanding for what type of fent.
It’s clear this wasn’t a simple overdose.
She was blindfolded, the injection was in the neck, and there were no drugs with the body.
Booth has already classified it as a homicide.
Just like in Gwen Bridges’s case, it would’ve been physically impossible for the victim to inject herself. ”
“Yeah. That’s what I’m hearing. Wilkins updated me about the similarities this case has with the Gwen Bridges case.”
“Yes, sir—fent overdose by an injection in the neck and no obvious paraphernalia or substance to be found. Both murders occurred in fancy hotel rooms with roses and strawberries and shit, and both girls were dressed to the nines and blindfolded in the bed. They also both worked on the Ruby line at CMA.”
“Sounds like a pattern,” Captain Leonard says.
“Uh-huh. Though we’re not ruling out the possibility of multiple suspects at this point.”
“All right,” the captain responds through a deep sigh.
“Get some of those callers in here ASAP and let’s see if they alibi out.
I’ve got no interest in having to monitor these calls from here to fucking eternity.
Not to mention, there’s no way Benny’s going to want to go to the judge for another tap when this order expires, so you better make the best of it. ”
I’d say the fact that I’ve relocated from the van to actively helping Hannah with these calls is the definition of me making the best of it. Though I don’t tell the captain that. The bastard would get too much enjoyment from it.
I can already picture him taking a listen to the calls himself, even inviting Chief Willis and a few other officers to join in on the fun.
The playful ball-busting that would bring my way at the station would be easy enough to handle, but I refuse to tempt anyone into invading Hannah’s privacy like that.
She already has more than enough bullshit to deal with.
Going out of your way to protect her? Interesting, Dom. Maybe you should, you know, focus on the job.