Call Me! Read online

  Dani Ripper & John Locke

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  CALL ME!

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

  Copyright © 2011 John Locke. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical without the express written permission of the author. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  Cover Designed by: Telemachus Press, LLC

  Cover Art :

  Copyright © istockphoto 162619 (Foster)

  Copyright © istockphoto 4713823 (Lukic)

  Copyright © istockphoto 18053195 (Petolea)

  Published by: Telemachus Press

  http://www.telemachuspress.com

  Dani Ripper: http://daniripper.wordpress.com

  John Locke: http://www.DonovanCreed.com

  ISBN: 978-1-937698-54-6

  Version 2011.11.10

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Epilogue

  Final Thoughts

  About The Author

  THURSDAY

  “IT’S HARD TO look dignified with a dick in your mouth.”

  “Excuse me?”

  My new client, Carter Teague, needs to understand I’m a decoy, not a hooker. In other words, I’m not going to have sex with her boyfriend.

  “Fiancé,” she says.

  “Whatever. I’ll get him in my hotel room, and you can walk in on us from the adjoining room. But we won’t actually be naked.”

  Carter looks exasperated. “He could come up with a million excuses if you’re dressed. But if I walk in and you’re both naked, what’s he going to say?”

  She looks around my office.

  I know what that means.

  She’s noting the disarray. The fact I don’t have a secretary. And do have a bag of trash that’s overdue for the garbage. She checks my business card for the second time and sees my name, Dani Ripper, is not raised or embossed. She rightfully assumes a female private eye in Cincinnati, Ohio, rarely gets the big clients.

  She knows I need the money.

  “What if I sweeten the pot?” she says.

  “I’m not a hooker, Ms. Teague.”

  “No, of course not!” Carter says, shaking her head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply—”

  I wave her off. “It’s okay. I just want to be clear.”

  There are two faux leather chairs across from my desk. Carter’s sitting in the one closest to the door. She’s thirty. Dressing younger, but thirty, which makes her six years older than me.

  I’d stake my life on it.

  Her shoulder-length hair is russet, with amber highlights, if you care about such things. I do, and make a note to ask who does her hair, though it’s probably a week’s pay for me. I did happen to notice her Casadei back-zip wedge sandals when she entered, though they’re currently hidden by the desk. The part of her I can see is wearing an off-shoulder leopard tunic, with bracelets that match my annual house payment. She exudes wealth, and proves it by saying, “I’ll pay you two thousand plus expenses.”

  “For two thousand you could hire the best hooker in town.”

  “This isn’t about sex, Ms. Ripper. I don’t want to catch him cheating, I just need to know if he would. There’s a lot at stake here. The wedding alone will cost my father a quarter million.”

  Two grand means I get to keep driving my car.

  “Bra and panties?” I offer.

  “Three thousand,” she says. “All cash.”

  “In advance?”

  “If you wish.”

  I wince, thinking about it.

  “Maybe I could lose the bra. But my panties aren’t negotiable.”

  “Five thousand dollars!” she calls out with all the enthusiasm of a trophy wife at a charity auction. “All cash. In advance.” She pauses, then says, “My final offer.”

  I bite my lip.

  “Take it or leave it,” she says.

  “No photos,” I say.

  “What? Why not?”

  “Are you serious?”

  Carter sighs. “Deal.”

  Her fiancé’s name is Joe Fagin. He’s thirty-two. We review his photos together. She wants to set it up for tomorrow night at the Brundage Hotel in Louisville, where he has dinner reservations at Simon Claire’s at seven-fifteen.

  “Have you ever been there?” I ask.

  “No.”

  “The restaurant’s on the second floor. There’s an open area, then the bar.”

  “Perfect.”

  “Who’s Joe meeting for dinner?”

  “Computer geeks, trying to raise money.”

  “Joe’s a venture capitalist?”

  “He thinks so, but my father suspects he can’t fund his deals. Mind you, there’s no evidence of tha
t.”

  “Do you know if they have plans for after dinner?”

  “Joe Fagin hanging out with computer geeks?” she laughs. “He’s not the type. You’ll see. I expect he’ll lose them after dinner, probably hit the Brundage bar.”

  “Or catch a cab somewhere more exciting.”

  She frowns. “That could mess things up.”

  “I’ll work it out.”

  “I admire your confidence.”

  “I’m confident I can get his attention. Enticing him to come to my room is something entirely different.”

  “You’ll try your best?”

  “Of course. But if he doesn’t take the bait…”

  “Then we live happily ever after.”

  “You’d consider him faithful if I can’t seduce him in a single encounter?”

  “Absolutely.” She notes my puzzled expression and says, “I mean, look at you!”

  I can’t look at me, but she does. In fact, she studies me so deliberately it makes me uncomfortable.

  She says, “If he can resist you, I’ll marry him. If not, I’ll be heartbroken, but better off.”

  She opens her purse and removes a bundle of hundreds wrapped in a Union City Bank paper band.

  “That’s five,” she says.

  To her amusement, I spread the bills across my desktop and run a counterfeit money pen over them. When I’m satisfied they’re real, she reaches in her purse and removes another bundle of equal size and denomination, and peels five bills from that one.

  “Expenses,” she says.

  I run the pen over those, as well.

  As I watch her leave my office, I recall how she entered it thirty minutes earlier. She knocked on my door, tentatively. I told her to come in. When she did, she looked at me and her eyes widened.

  That was the first thing I noticed, her eyes. I’d never seen harlequin-green eyes before.

  “Wow,” she said.

  “Wow?”

  “You’re beautiful.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “That’s quite a compliment, coming from you.”

  And it was, because Carter Teague’s a knockout. As a woman, I’m allowed to say that. I’m allowed to notice, too. It’s funny how we can get away with looking at, and even touching, other women. I wasn’t interested in touching her boobs, of course, but I could’ve said something like, “Are those real? No? Oh, my God, they’re spectacular! May I?” Then I could’ve reached out and touched them. She would’ve been embarrassed, but she’d have allowed it. If a man tried that, he’d find himself in an orange jumpsuit before the noon whistle signals lunch at county.

  Funny, that.

  I think she caught me looking at her boobs just then, because she suddenly averted her eyes and pretended to glance out my office window. She did that a few seconds, then turned back and focused her eyes on mine.

  “You’re Ms. Ripper?” she said.

  “Please. Call me Dani. And you’re?”

  “Carter Teague.”

  “Great name,” I said.

  “Thanks.”

  We were both quiet a moment.

  “Um…you’re staring,” I said.

  “Oh. Sorry!”

  “No problem. I’m flattered. I think.”

  She wasn’t blushing, more like flushed. And staring again.

  “You’re married?” she said.

  “Yes.”

  “Happily?”

  How does any married woman answer that question? Depends on the hour, the day, the time of month…

  “I like to think so,” I say. “How can I help you?”

  She removed my business card from the card holder on my desk and held it between her perfectly manicured thumb and index finger.

  “You’re a private investigator?” she said.

  “I am.”

  “I was told you’re a decoy.”

  “By whom?”

  “I heard my father talking to someone. He’s a divorce attorney.”

  “Here?”

  “No. Cleveland.”

  “And he’s heard of me?”

  “He was telling someone you’re the best in the business.”

  “I’ve done some decoy work. Not locally.”

  “This would be in Louisville, not Cincinnati.”

  I nodded. She explained what she wanted, and how she planned to walk in on her fiancé and me while having sex, and I explained how I don’t actually have sex with the husbands or boyfriends, and—wait. I’m wasting your time. You’re caught up. Let’s move along.

  TWO THINGS HAVE happened. Carter Teague has left the building, and I’ve got another decoy job.

  The sign on the door says Dani Ripper, Private Investigator. As does the ad in the phone book. The business cards. The social media listings all over the internet.

  Dani Ripper, Private Investigator.

  The word “decoy” cannot be found associated with my name, but that’s the work I get.

  I’m not shocked, there are reasons I’m not on the short list for the big PI jobs. First, I’m a woman.

  I don’t mean it the way you think.

  What I mean is most clients think this type of work involves physical encounters with seamy, bent-nosed characters. Clients are conditioned to expect a PI who’ll hang a brute on a meat hook and beat the shit out of him with a tire iron to find out where he hid the jewels. They tend to view me as tight jeans, five-inch heels, and a kick-ass halter.

  I’m the first to admit I’m not tough.

  I don’t grunt, sweat, or smell. I know some basic moves, but I’m more at home on a dance floor than a kick boxing ring. In short, I don’t look the part. Which is funny, since ninety-nine percent of the job involves computer and camera work, and sitting in cars waiting for people to exit homes, hotels or businesses. Less than one percent involves physical contact.

  The second reason I don’t get much PI business is I’ve never had a high-profile case. In this business one high profile case will feed you a lifetime of clients.

  Let me amend that statement: I have had a high-profile case. I just didn’t solve it. And that’s the third reason I don’t get much PI business.

  I scoop Carter’s cash off my desk and stuff it in my shoulder tote. I’m a Choo girl on a Kors budget, which is to say I’ll splurge to a point when I get a windfall.

  Which isn’t often.

  Today’s a windfall, but I’ve already earmarked Carter’s cash for practical things, like catching up on my car payments. And the mortgage. I’ll also put a grand toward my step-son’s college fund. Buy some groceries and household cleaning supplies. And…wait. I might have enough left to splurge. Tomorrow I’ll buy a nice gift for best friend Sophie Alexander, whose birthday happens to be today. This morning Sophie was the proud recipient of a whimsical email card and an invitation to a birthday lunch on Tuesday. Thanks to Carter Teague, Sophie’s lunch has been upgraded to dinner and a bracelet. I’ll get her something trendy, but tasteful.

  So the clothes, jewelry, fancy cars, mansions, yachts and such will be placed on hold till I finally crack a high-profile case. And that’s fine, since I suspect it’s more fun to dream about exquisite material things than it is to insure and maintain them. While I admit to owning a few signature pieces, like my Gucci watch (a gift from Sophie) I’m not a clothes whore. I’d much rather have a fond vacation memory than a pair of designer pumps.

  With ninety minutes to kill before my lunch appointment with Vicky Stringfellow, I go back to what I was doing before Carter showered me with cash, which happens to be the same thing I always do when I have time on my hands.

  Check my emails.

  It’s not what you think.

  I check emails the same way you do, and read and answer them the same way you do. But, unlike you, I’m checking to see if my alerts have been triggered. I use all the alert programs, seeking hits to variations on the phrase that haunts my days and nights.