I nod. Sigh. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“Hey, don’t sweat it. I can’t imagine being in your position and handling it as well as you are.”
“Really?” I ask, damn near the brink of tears. I’m overwhelmed. I admit it.
“Really.” His face lightens with a kindness that I feel in my chest. My tear ducts want an emotional release, but I blink hard against them as he continues to speak. “Hannah, this isn’t easy. None of it is. You just keep trying your best, and we’ll get this thing solved so you don’t have to think about it anymore. I promise.”
“Okay.” That sounds good. So, so good. The only thing better than that, in fact, would be not having to work this freaking job at all.
When I turn back toward the building’s entrance, I can’t quite bring my legs to start the movement forward. My entire body feels numb and tingly, and if I’m being honest, keeping the urge to cry at bay is taking a Herculean effort on my part.
“Um ... Detective Dunn?” I turn back toward him. He’s already heading for the van but comes to stand on the sidewalk beside me again.
“Hannah, please just call me Dominic or Dom.”
I nod. “Is it okay if I quit for today, Dominic?” I ask, pushing my hair back out of my face. “I’m just ... freaked out. And I don’t know if I can calm down enough to do any more today without biting some guy’s head off.”
“No problem at all,” Dominic agrees without hesitation. “We can pick back up tomorrow morning.”
I grimace. “Are you sure?”
“Of course.” Dom calls over his shoulder, “Right, Shane?”
“Right, Dom,” Shane replies immediately, and for the first time since coming out here, I remember that he’s been listening to this whole conversation too.
10
Dominic
Tuesday, May 14
2:00 p.m.
Shane shakes his head, and I adjust my headphones as Hannah tackles another Call Me Anytime caller while we listen from the van.
We’re going on nearly two full days of using our wiretap, and I thought, with our patience and reassurance, Hannah would eventually start to calm down and get into her phone sex flow. But if this call is anything to go by, we’re going to be sailing the rough seas for a while.
Trust me, I can imagine how unnerving it would be to have police listening in while you take call after call from horny bastards who could potentially be our killer, but Shane has the list of callers, along with their numbers, we’ve been collecting—and while we marked some to look into further, by and large, nothing has really pinged our radar.
Well, besides the fact that Hannah is vastly underwhelming at sexing men up over the phone.
Truth be told, it’s gotten to a point where I’m starting to wonder if we’re being pranked.
“Ohhh, I knowww, Hank,” she says, dragging her words out for dramatic effect. On the last call, she was short and choppy. On this one,she’s talking in both slow motion and rhyme. “So lowww, so many toes. When my feet meet your meat, it’s going to be so, so ...neat. And a lot of heat ... all up in my little beaver beat.”
Shane groans, and I roll my eyes before whispering harshly into the silence of the van, “What the fuck is happening?”
“Touch my cock, Ruby,” the caller demands shamelessly, which makes my head fall back and my hands come up to pantomime choking myself. I don’t know how these women do this day after day, truly. I also don’t know how this dude is this excitable when Hannah’s saying shit likebeaver beatinto his ear.
“Oh, I’m touuuching it, Hank,” Hannah replies, her voice nearly an octave deeper as she trains it to be “sexy.” “I’m gonna tickle that pickle, and I won’t be fickle.”
Earlier today, she referred to a guy’s dick asthe captainand pretended her pussy was a sinking boat that needed him to come on board and plug the holes. She saidahoyno fewer than fifteen times.
I don’t know if she’s working off a script or if she’s just coming up with this shit on the fly, but nevertheless, most of what she says defies logic.
“Put my cock in your mouth,” Hank says, still balls deep in excitement.
“But Hank, what a big cock you have,” Hannah says, pretending to be surprised. I nod along, feeling like maybe she’s going to guide him in a direction that makes sense. But that thought lasts only until her next words. “The better to ...fuck me?” she questions and then gasps. “But Hank, what big balls you have!” She pauses. “The better to ... fill me up with ... with lots ofsemen?”
