Ruby Garner- Part 1

By Rubeena Khan

After a gruesome murder in Fullerton, California, a sexy homicide detective Ruby Garner is assigned to find the cold blooded killer
As a child Ruby Garner was deprived of love, now she is in search of her true love and the cold blooded killer. When two more murders follow, men and women are bewildered the mystery is deep, but gradually unravels with yet another mystery the mysterious disappearance of the detective herself.

The story keeps the reader in suspense, as the mystery gradually unravels

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 12, 2005
• ISBN: 9781462839155

Rubeena Khan

I am 22 years old, an undergraduate student, and live in a small town in Goa, India…the place where I was born and brought up. This is my first book, I love to write and intend to write more…

Book preview

Copyright © 2005 by Rubeena Khan.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

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Contents

THE ONLINE CONVERSATION

THE MURDER

THE CALL

A VISIT TO THE HOSPITAL

THE DATE

TRUTH DISCOVERED

THE WEDDING

THE ACCIDENT

THE BEGINNING

This book is dedicated to those whom I love.

I am very grateful to my loving parents,

my brother and my beloved for their love, and encouragement. And above all I am grateful to God almighty … always …

THE ONLINE CONVERSATION

(on the computer screen)

Ruby: Hi there, a/s/l please.

Allan_28_us: Hi, 29/m/California, and u?

Ruby: Cool, 28/f here.

Allan_28_us: Ok, where are u from?

Ruby: Pasadena and u?

Allan_28_us: I m from Long Beach.

Ruby: That’s great, we are not that far lol . . . ‘ALLAN’ is that your real name???

Alllan_28_us: Yup, and RUBY is that urs?

Ruby: Yeah. Nice meeting u Allan.

Allan_28_us: Same here… so what’s up?

Ruby: Hmmm… Nothing, what about you?

Allan_28_us: Me neither, just had a busy day… tired!

Ruby: Oh ok… so what do u do??? . . . just curious…

Allan_28_us: I work as a correspondent for Los Angeles Times and you?

Ruby: Wow, that’s an interesting job you do… I am a detective in LAPD.I am still a rookie though lol!!

Allan_28_us: Now, your job is even more interesting…

Ruby: Yeah it is… so do u come here often? I mean on the chat line?

Allan_28_us: Not really, sometimes… I like making new friends…

Ruby: I c, same with me here… so are you single??

Allan_28_us: Yup and u?

Ruby: Me too… so are you looking??? Just curious again… lol . . .

Allan_28_us: Kinda, lol . . . r u?

Ruby: Yup. Do u have a pic… I mean a picture, Allan?

Allan_28_us: I don’t have it online here, but I can e-mail it to u… but I’d like to c urs first. U know ladies first lol…

Ruby: Ok, I have it on my profile…

Allan_28_us: Ok thanks, I’ll take a look.

Ruby: k

Allan_28_us: Wow u r so pretty!!!

Ruby: Really??

Allan_28_us: Oh yes, you have beautiful lips… beautiful black eyes… and I like your hair… they look so beautiful… u look very exotic, what’s your origin?

Ruby: Thanks… by the way, my mom is an Indian and my dad an American.

Allan_28_us: That’s interesting… well I can’t believe that a cute girl like u is single… (winks)

Ruby: (smiles) now I would like to c u Allan…

Allan_28_us: Sure, there u go sweetie, check your inbox…

Ruby: Wow, u r handsome… now I can’t believe u r single… lol (winks)

Allan_28_us: Can v meet Ruby?? I mean if u like… I’d like to know u more… I mean we could meet and get to know each other… u know…

Ruby: Well that’s great, I’d like to know u too. I am sorry I gotta go now. Can u call me tomorrow? Here’s my no.:2-1-3-6-4-9-8-8-8. That’s my cell phone number.

Allan_28_us: That’s fine… I’ll call u tomorrow. It was nice talking to u. Hope to talk to u again… nite nite, bye.

Ruby: Same here. Good night. Bye.

And she logged off. It was her routine. Every night, she would come home after work; she would get something to eat for the dinner; she would take a quick shower and come out of the bathroom wearing her bathrobe; she would turn on the TV, turn on the computer, and connect to the Internet and would log in to the chat rooms. She had been chatting with so many men, but none of them seem to have interested her. Some would just flirt; some would just talk dirty and get themselves excited. Some were total liars while some pretended to be someone he was not. It was the cyberspace, the virtual world where it was hard to find reality. Yet she believed there might be someone out there who would be the man in her life; someone who would love her, be sincere, and faithful to her; someone who would be there for her always; and someone who would never abandon her and never break her heart. All she was looking for was a true love. She had had so many flings – many propositions – and was infatuated to many men, but something kept her away from them. She never wanted to sleep with the wrong man. She never wanted her heart to be broken; she never wanted a relationship to end.

That night, after talking to the guy who called himself Allan, she went to bed, hoping that he would call the next day. She thought, Who knows? He might be the one.

THE MURDER

The telephone rang. In a moment, she suddenly woke up and sleepily glanced at the clock, which showed 6:13 AM. She clumsily picked up the receiver and said hello in a sleepy voice. She wasn’t delighted to hear Captain Gary Parker’s hoarse voice. Captain Parker was the commanding officer of the Los Angeles Police Department Robbery and Homicide division. He was a big-looking man in his early fifties. He had served the department for nearly twenty-five years. For some reason, Ruby was in his good books. Perhaps he believed that she has the potential of becoming a good detective. It had been only a week since she joined the Homicide Division. She hadn’t even been assigned to a case yet. Most of the people in the department liked her. She had a very polite manner and charming ways; was five feet four inches tall, fair skinned, curvy; and had a very attractive face, beautiful lips, long black hair, and deep black eyes. She was such a cutie, a sweet and beautiful mixture of races. She was intelligent and smart and knew three languages including French and German.

I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes, she said, and she hung up. She reluctantly forced herself out of the bed. Within few minutes, she was pulling over in front of a beautiful house. There were other cars lined up, and cops were all over the place. She alighted from the car, neatly dressed. She looked like a perfect young lady, so cute that all the other men around turned to look at her. She flashed her badge and walked up to the porch, hiding all her nervousness. She walked through the door and into the hallway. There, she found herself surrounded by many people, few of them she knew and few total strangers. Everyone was doing his or her job. In one corner across the hallway stood Captain Parker, busy talking to a handsome tall man in his late thirties. Ruby started to walk up to Parker, and suddenly, hearing the sound of her stilettos, all heads in the room turned toward her. The handsome guy, still with his eyes fixed at her, asked Captain Parker curiously, Who is she? Within seconds, she was standing right in front of the two. She gave an innocent smile, reaching out her hand for a handshake, and said, Good morning, Captain Parker! Captain Parker shook hands with her and greeted her; he quickly introduced her to the handsome man, Ruby, meet Detective Joe Leeds. And turning to him, he said, Joe, this is Detective Ruby Garner, and she is going to be your partner in this case. Hearing this, Ruby’s heart was filled with excitement and joy, and her eyes were shining with confidence as this was her first homicide case and first step to a successful career, she believed.

After a couple of minutes, she was standing in the bedroom upstairs, in front of a good-looking white man in his early thirties, who lay cold and stiff in a pool of blood, which had poured out from his heart. Somebody had stabbed him brutally in the heart. His hands were tied together at his back and his mouth taped. It was a gory sight. When Ruby looked at it, she took a deep sigh, and the shine of confidence and joy in her eyes turned into gloom of sorrow. It looked as if she had never seen such a thing before. The man was identified as Brad Cox, thirty-one, single, and was the owner of a posh restaurant in Beverly Hills. He was the only son of Emily Burke, a wealthy lady and a widow. Her husband, Dwight Burke, a multimillionaire who owned eleven nightclubs in Los Angeles and San Francisco, had mysteriously disappeared twenty-two years ago. Dwight Burke was Brad’s stepfather. After his death, his widow had taken over his business while Brad had his own establishment and lived separately. Ruby and Joe began examining, searching for clues that might lead them to the unknown cold-blooded killer. Ruby bent over the cadaver to take a closer look. She could not stand it, but it was her job. She stood up and looked around, trying to figure out what really had happened. She walked over to the window. She could get a full view of the main gate, the beautiful garden, and the driveway. She noticed something she hadn’t noticed before: a white sedan was parked outside. It was Mrs. Burke’s. She was in the other room, sitting in a chair in one corner, a shawl wrapped about her as she was still in her nightgown. She was in shock and grief, and her eyes were red with tears. It was her who had dialed 9-1-1. She was the material witness. She had been there all night when the incident took place. The white silk nightgown she was wearing was stained with blood, and her hair was straggly. The murder weapon found around lying down on the floor beside the corpse was a carving knife from Brad’s kitchen. A strand of female hair was found on Brad’s body.

Mrs. Burke, being the only witness, was taken in for interrogation. She sat there on the chair, in the room where she was being interrogated. Her eyes were misty, and she looked pale. It was Joe who was interrogating her while Ruby and Captain Parker looked on through the glass window. Joe asked her to state exactly what happened on the night of 7 July when her son