“First, let me apologize for surprising you at home like this,” Detective Dunn says. “After we spoke this morning, though, you gave me your personal number.”
“I did?”
Holy shit, that’s not good.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Oh my God. That’s ...” I sink my head into my hands. “I can’t believe I did that.” I stand up straight again, running my hands over my head and then settling them on the back of my neck, distressed.Do I need to get a new number?I scour my memory, trying to recall the rest of my phone sex conversations enough to make sure I didn’t do it again, but my thoughts are unbelievably scattered.
On a sigh, I shake my head, and my fingers fidget with my waistband again. “I guess ... I think ... you just caught me off guard.”
Detective Dunn tips his head in understanding. “Don’t worry about it, Hannah, honestly. No one expects a call from the police. The thing is, your line there at CMA is an active number in a police investigation. Do you know a woman by the name of Heather Turnwat?”
“No.” I shake my head, searching for an inkling of recognition and coming up empty. “I’ve never heard that name before.”
Detective Dunn shares a look with his partner before turning back to me. “Are you sure? The number for your line at CMA was in her phone as an incoming call several times. Is it possible she was an employee there? Or someone that called into your line?”
“I don’t know.” I shake my head, a wave of panic rushing over me. I cannot freaking believe any of this is happening. “It was my first day at Call Me Anytime, so—”
“Today was yourfirstday?” Detective Dunn asks, his eyes widening ever so slightly.
Technically, he was my firstcallin the phone sex biz, but I dig my teeth into my bottom lip and avoid sharing that little nugget of fun.
“Yes,” I answer instead. “I interviewed with Margo Mavis, the, uh ... head of the company ... at about ... ten? This morning. She offered me the job, and I took it and started right then.” I hold up both hands in the air and shrug. “I ... I have no clue about any calls on the Ruby line before that, incoming or outgoing, or anything about someone named Heather.”
“And you’ve never had any association with Call Me Anytime before today?” Detective Maddox asks.
“No.”Truth be told, Detective, the newspaper ad said it was a phone hotline, and I thought it was a job selling toner or printer paper. Maybe a political survey. Tele-pussy wasn’t even a whisper of a thought.
“Okay, then. We appreciate you talking with us.” Detective Dunn stands from his seat at the island with a nod, pulling a card from his back pocket and setting it on the counter between us. “If you think of anything else, feel free to call me anytime.”
A short, sardonic burst of air leaves my lips, and he smiles, the irony of what he’s just said hitting him simultaneously.
Detective Dunn is gorgeous—fist-biting hot, in fact—but his phone number is one I hope Ineverhave to use. I’ve got more than enough on my plate as it is.
6
Dominic
9:15 p.m.
Hannah May closes the door behind us and clicks the locks into place as I jog down the concrete steps.
I can tell Shane’s tongue, currently strangled by a cat, is fighting a valiant battle for freedom as he follows me to the car and climbs in the passenger side with a smile.
When both our doors are closed and the engine is cranked, he lets it all fly. “I fucking love this job! Phone sex girls and women in towels and ladies thinking I’m badass Gibbs fromNCIS? It’s never boring, Dom. Never. I swear I’ll cry if that ever changes.”
Leave it to Shane to be excited about everything that just happened with Hannah and Sherry. I admit, at first I was amused, too, but after hearing the struggle in Hannah’s voice over her mom’s Alzheimer’s, I’m having a hard time thinking any of it is funny.
I suppose, though, I have way more perspective than Shane after watching my grandma Harriet experience dementia at the end of her life, and giving him shit over a completely normal reaction to the cacophony we’ve faced today isn’t going to win me any prizes.
“You watch that show,NCISor whatever it’s called?” I ask instead, and he looks at me like I’ve grown two heads.
“Who doesn’t watchNCIS?” he retorts, his voice amped up like he’s ready to put on a suit of armor and go to war.
Silence escalates between us as the answer to his rhetorical question becomes obvious.
“You’re kidding me, Dom! It’s been one of the most popular shows on network television for years, and you’ve never seen it?”
