The Caller

Sixty-Nine

‘Wow! You look stunning,’ Detective Julian Webb said as Dr. Gwen Barnes pulled open her front door. She wore a white knee-length cocktail dress with spaghetti straps, revealing well-toned arms and legs. Her clutch bag, decorated with rhinestones, matched her platform evening sandals. Her hair sparkled under the dying rays of the late afternoon sunlight.

‘Thank you so much,’ she replied, giving him a smile that was as inviting as it was mysterious. ‘You look very nice yourself.’

Dr. Barnes didn’t know this, but Webb was pretty much wearing his everyday work attire — a dark suit with a white button-up shirt and a striped tie. The shoes were black, comfortable and shiny.

Dr. Barnes checked her watch: 6:00 p.m. sharp. ‘You are... exactly on time. I’m impressed.’

‘If at all possible, I try to be,’ Webb replied. ‘But in my line of work, it gets hard sometimes. Things don’t really happen by appointment, if you know what I mean.’

Her smile widened. ‘Yes, I can imagine.’

‘So, how have you been?’ he asked, looking past her shoulder and into the house. ‘Everything OK? Did you manage to get any sleep during the day?’

As he had promised, Webb had called Dr. Barnes in the morning to check on her. She had told him that other than having almost no sleep overnight, everything else was fine.

She shook her head. ‘No, no sleep at all, hence the heavy makeup under my eyes, but...’ she turned her head to look over her own shoulder, ‘everything seems to be all right. Thank you.’

The look in her eyes as she delivered her last few words made Detective Webb wonder if she was now debating what she seemed so confident about before — that her bracelet had really been taken from inside her bedroom. He decided to leave the subject alone, at least for now.

‘Look,’ he said, renewing his smile, hoping to cheer her up a little. ‘I know that we sort of agreed on having coffee, but I was thinking, what do you say if we grab some dinner?’

‘I was about to suggest the same thing,’ Dr. Barnes said. ‘But with one condition.’

‘And what is that?’

‘That you take me to a place where you and your detective friends usually go to.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘You know, during your regular day, where do you usually stop to eat?’

‘During a regular day I barely have time to breathe, never mind eat.’

‘Yes, I understand that, but you do eat, don’t you?’

‘Yeeeeees?’

‘And I bet you have a couple of favorite places you like dropping by, don’t you?’

Webb tilted his head from side to side two or three times, accepting it.

‘Great, because it’s to one of those that I would like you to take me.’

‘Oh no, you really don’t want to go to any of those places.’

‘But I do. I really do.’

Webb looked at Dr. Barnes from head to toes. ‘But you’re dressed so nicely, and those places are proper dumps. Believe me.’

‘I can change. It’s not a problem.’ She began swerving her body around.

‘No. Please don’t.’ He stopped her. They locked eyes. ‘That really is where you’d like me to take you?’

‘Yes.’

Webb chuckled to himself. ‘OK, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.’

Just over thirty minutes later, Webb parked his car on Hollywood Boulevard, just in front of a tiny pizza place called Joe’s Pizza.

‘Here we are,’ he said.

Dr. Barnes looked at it from the passenger seat and smiled.

‘I told you that the places we go on the job are dumps.’

‘Is the food good?’

‘The food is awesome. Best pizza pie in Hollywood Boulevard. It’s just not the place where anyone brings a date to.’

‘Did you say pizza pie?’

A short pause.

‘I did. Do you like them?’

‘I love pizza pies.’

Webb’s face lit up. ‘Oh, in that case, get ready for this then,’ he said, with a proud twist to his tone, ‘because this will change your life.’

Dr. Barnes was unsure if she could call it a life-changing experience, but it certainly was a habit-changing one. The special Grandma Pie they shared was the best pizza pie she had ever tasted, and she hadn’t laughed so hard in years. As it turned out, Detective Webb was a very amusing person.

As she finished her last slice, she looked at Webb and smiled again.

‘What?’ he asked, looking back at her sideways. ‘Do I have cheese on my chin?’ He grabbed a paper napkin and dabbed it against his chin.

‘No. It’s not that.’

‘Oh!’ He put the napkin down.

‘It’s just that... I was worried that we would struggle with conversation.’

Webb found the statement strange. ‘I’m not sure I follow.’

‘Well, because of the line of work we’re in,’ Dr. Barnes explained, ‘neither of us can really talk about our jobs, am I right? I mean, you probably can’t tell me anything about any of the investigations you are involved in at the moment, and I can’t really talk about any of my patients.’

Webb had a sip of his Dr Pepper before agreeing.

‘I for one spend most of my days involved in something to do with my work,’ she said, ‘including weekends, and I have a feeling that so do you.’

‘Yeah, that’s an understatement.’

‘So,’ she said, ‘I just thought that since neither of us could talk about what keeps us busy for most of our days, conversation would die a death, but I have been proven wrong.’ She toyed with her can of root beer. ‘So far, I’ve had the best time I’ve had in a very long time.’ The inviting smile was back. This time, the mysterious part of it wasn’t there anymore.

Webb lifted his drink, proposing a toast. ‘Me too. And I’ll drink to that.’

They touched cans before a moment of awkward silence took over.

‘I’ll tell you what,’ Dr. Barnes said. ‘I know you’re not drinking because you’re driving, right? But how about we go back to my place, you park your car there, we call a cab, and go have some real fun — tequila style.’

Webb regarded his date for a few seconds. He liked her more and more as the night went on.

‘That sounds great,’ he said. ‘But you’re forgetting that I still have to drive home when we get back from wherever we go.’

The look Dr. Barnes gave Detective Webb put a definite end to that theory.

He smiled at her. ‘OK. You’re on.’

‘Why don’t you come in?’ she said as Webb pulled up in front of her house, around forty minutes after they left Joe’s Pizza. ‘We could have a glass of wine while we wait for the cab.’

‘That sounds great to me.’

As they approached the doctor’s front door, they both heard Webb’s phone go off in his pocket.

‘Just a second,’ he told her, bring the phone to his ear. ‘Detective Webb.’ As he listened to the person at the other end of the line, his facial expression shifted. ‘When?’ He listened for a little longer before drawing an extra deep breath. ‘Motherfu...’ His eyes found Dr. Barnes’ and he paused mid-word. ‘OK. OK,’ he said into his phone, breaking eye contact. ‘I’m on my way.’ He disconnected and returned the phone to his pocket.

‘Gwen, I’m so sorry about this, but...’

For a second she looked upset, but Dr. Barnes knew better than most what a call like that meant.

‘It’s OK, Julian,’ she stopped him. ‘I understand.’ She stepped closer and gave him a peck on the lips. ‘How about you drop by whenever you’re done.’ She winked at him. ‘I’ll keep the wine and the tequila chilled.’

‘That’s a deal.’ He smiled before kissing her again, this time for a lot longer.

‘I’ll be waiting.’

Once Webb was gone, Dr. Barnes unlocked her front door and stepped into her living room. Even if she tried to, she wouldn’t be able to get rid of the smile on her face.

She hadn’t dated anyone in nearly two years, and she had almost forgotten how exciting it could be. How a single kiss could make a person feel. And right then, she felt good. So good that the note and bracelet incident had completely slipped her mind. So good that for an instant, she kept the lights switched off, leaned back against her front door, closed her eyes and savored the moment. So good that she failed to notice the dark shadow now standing just outside her window, his eyes staring straight at her.