Double Trouble (Dev Haskell - Private Investigator Book 10) by Mike Faricy Read Free Book Online Page A

stare as he spoke.
    “Hi, Tony, yeah, don’t worry he’s okay. This is that investigator guy Roy called about. He’s gonna find out who’s been jacking me around.”
    “That so,” Tony said looking at me sideways, nodding with a half smile on his face like he wasn’t about to believe it.
    “Hi, I’m Dev Haskell,” I said and extended my hand. I didn’t like the guy already and he’d only been here for a couple of seconds.
    He half snorted then said, “Haskell, I heard of you, you’re the movie star.”
    “You’re in movies?” Ashley half shouted.
    Heads turned. “No, no it wasn’t anything, believe me and it was a long time ago.”
    “It was what you might call one of them cameo appearance deals, a reality video before reality shows. And now you’re supposed to find out who’s been doing this shit? Yeah, right,” Tony said.
    “I’m gonna try. It appears no one else has been able to do much. That’s most likely why Mr. Baker contacted me. You wouldn’t happen to have any ideas, would you, Tony?”
    “I’m working on a couple of things. Yeah, I’ve got some ideas.”
    “Well, if you come up with anything, please be sure to share it with me. Look, Ashley I’ll be in touch, I want to get back to Royal and go over a couple of things. Is it all right if I give you a call tomorrow?”
    “Let me call you, I’ve got your number. Grab my bags there will you, Tony?” she said and indicated the shopping bags scattered across the floor.
    “All that shit, what’d you…?”
    “Just pick them up, Tony and let’s go. God, you don’t have to make a federal case out of it. I’m the one who had to go shopping for the last three hours, I’m beat and my feet are killing me and I could use something just a little stronger than this latte right now.”
    “Okay, okay.”
    “Come on,” she said then slung that gigantic purse over her shoulder and marched off without saying goodbye. A number of heads turned as she strutted past, all the while continuing to read pain-in-the-ass Tony the riot act over her shoulder. I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but I recognized the body language, and what a body.
    There was something, make that a number of things, I didn’t like about Tony that had nothing to do with his movie star comment.
     
     
    Chapter Fourteen
     
    I left a message for Royal the following morning. Marilynn had let me know in no uncertain terms that she was the keeper of the gate and I wasn’t getting past. While waiting, I checked out Ashley’s online presence. I visited five different sites, all listing escorts available in major cites around the world.
    Ashley’s profile name was exactly that, “Ashley,” which led me to believe that wasn’t her real name. She was willing to travel for a “to be determined” price and available in the twin cities for in-call at $350 per hour or out-call starting at $450. She was more expensive than any plumber I could think of, but then again. She would accept men, women, couples, two men or two women with commensurate price increases.
    You had to submit your credit card and list references to Royal’s various sites and then, upon approval, you would be able to contact her using a numerical ID and schedule an “appointment.” Ashley was one of maybe twenty women listed in the Twin Cities area.
    Royal’s sites provided a secure vetting process as well as a variety of credit card and PayPal billing options. I guess the business had moved a long way from just the simple “Buy me a drink?” line.
    Ashley also had fifteen different images on her “photo album.” The photos left nothing to the imagination as far as what, exactly, one would be paying for. All the images had the look of professionally-done studio shots and for just a nanosecond I wondered if the photographer had to pay the model.
    There was a sixteenth image on Ashley’s album, a bit out of focus and obviously not part of the professional photo shoot. Ashley looked a tad bit