“My last name? It’s . . . uh . . . Cock . . . lover. Cocklover. Ruby Cocklover.”
Ruby Cocklover?You’ve got to be kidding me with this shit. A deep, frustrated sigh rumbles from my chest, and Shane’s mouth curves up into a smile. I’d bet my whole trust fund the fucker is mentally celebrating the fact that I’m the one dealing with whatever the hell this call is, not him. It doesn’t matter that he can’t hear what’s going on from the other end of the line—my body language says it all.
“I love big cocks just like yours, Detective, and I’m in need of a big ol’ cock in my ... hoo-hah.”
“Fucking hell,” I mutter to myself, though she obviously hears it through the receiver and misinterprets it entirely.
“Oh yeah, you want to do that? Give me all the good ... fuck stuff.Because fucking is one of my favorite things,” she says, actually singing the last line like she’s one of the Von Trapp kids fromThe Sound of Music.
Clearly, this phone call is going nowhere.
“Ruby, I’m going to hang up now, but I’ll be calling back again, as this is a serious matter we need to discuss.”
“Of course ... Call me anytime, Detective. Just dial 615-250-5555.”
I scribble the number down on my pad, knowing it’s not the one I just dialed, and pull my phone away from my ear, my face undoubtedly a mask of the confusion I feel.
“What was that?” Shane asks, just barely keeping himself from laughing.
I shake my head, because the truth is I have no clue. That was the weirdest thing I’ve ever been a part of.
Shane takes the victim’s phone from my hand and studies the number I dialed and then snaps his fingers. “Ah, shit. Yeah, this is a Call Me Anytime number, dude.”
“Call Me Anytime,” I repeat, mulling it over and realizing Ruby said those very words to me as she was ending the call. “Shit. That’s the same company Gwen worked for.”
How the fuck could I forget that? Honestly, I’m a little pissed at myself for being so slow on the uptake.
“Looks like we’ve got a little more than a pattern.” Shane rubs his hands together. “Another phone sex girl, huh? This case is really shaping up to be interesting.”
“Put the wood away, Detective Maddox. We don’t have confirmation yet that she actually worked at Call Me Anytime. Maybe she was a customer.”
“C’mon, man.” He scoffs. “You really think she was calling into the phone sex hotline? Get real. That would go against every basic statistic we’ve ever seen.”
“I’m not disagreeing, but we’ve got to confirm this shit first.” I hold my notepad toward him, showcasing the number I jotted down. “Also, she gave me a different phone number.”
“Did she tell you her full name?”
“Ruby Cocklover.”
He laughs. “Oh yeah. I love this case already.”
I roll my eyes as Shane rubs his hands together. “Just call in a trace, would you?”
The sooner we figure out who Ruby Cocklover is, the better.
3
Hannah
6:00 p.m.
Gunshots sound through the stairwell of my childhood home as I climb to the second floor and main living area. I don’t duck and I don’t dodge, but I do sigh.
The volume of the TV must be cranked to a million as another episode of the popular seriesNCIS, my mom’s current crime obsession, plays for the whole town to hear. My mother’s favorite characters on the fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service are Supervisory Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Special Agent Tony DiNozzo, and Special Agent Ziva David. Although she also loves the team’s eccentric medical examiner, Dr. Donald Mallard—fondly known as Ducky.
My mom started watchingNCISfour years, twenty-seven days, and nine hours ago and hasn’t stopped since. It’s painfully ironic that I can remember things that, in the grand scheme of the world and my life and my family, are nothing. Besides her favorite crime show, my mom can’t remember anything—especially the important things—at all.
I wave to Lovie, my mom’s caretaker and the most patient woman on the planet, as she washes a glass at the kitchen islandsink and then set my purse and sweater on the gray-white fabric stool across from her. Lovie Jacobs is in her mid-fifties—nearly the same age as my mom—and has an unbelievably warm, motherly way about her. In my mother’s cognitive absence, she’s been a stand-in during many moments of my life, and for that, I’m so grateful.
