Blood and Fire (McClouds & Friends #8)(57)

He sucked in air, dialed the detective’s number.

It might be suicide, but damn it, he was not a criminal, and he would not behave like one. It was his civic duty to let the cops know how matters really stood. They were doing a tough job as best they could, protecting the citizens of Portland. It was the right thing to do.

Whether or not he was f*ckg himself up the ass by doing it was another matter entirely. His jaw twitched, clenching painfully.

The call connected and the guy picked up. “Sam Petrie here.”

“Hello, Detective,” he said. “My name is Bruno Ranieri. I’m calling about one of your cases.”

There was a dead silent, blank moment. “This is who?”

“Ah, Bruno Ranieri,” he repeated. “I’m calling about the three dead guys behind Tony’s Diner on Sandy Boulevard this morning.”

There was another pause, and then, “I’m listening.”

“So, uh, I was coming out the door of the apartment building, and those men attacked me. In the process of defending myself, I, uh . . .”

“Killed them,” the cop finished, heavily. “And left them there. On the ground. For your neighbors to find.”

Oh, shit. This wasn’t going the way he’d hoped. “It was legitimate self-defense,” he said, trying to keep his voice calm, even. “They were armed, I was not. There’s blood spattered around the scene, some of it’s mine. Vomit, too. Also mine. Just, ah, so you know.”

“Why didn’t you call us? Why didn’t you stay at the scene?”

Bruno forced the trapped breath out of his lungs. “I had reason to believe that we were still in danger,” he said tightly.

“We?” Petrie repeated and waited. “Tell me about this reason.”

“I don’t know much yet,” he hedged. “I wish I did, believe me.”

“Let’s take this a step at a time. Who is ‘we,’ Mr. Ranieri?”

Bruno decided there was no reason to be coy. Lily had claimed not to be in trouble with the law. And the bad guys already knew her identity. Maybe this guy could help find answers for her.

“Her name’s Lily Parr,” he said. “She’s from New York City. These people are trying to kill her. They’re highly skilled and well organized. She’s been fleeing them for six weeks now.”

“Ah.” Petrie’s voice was relentlessly bland. “Who are these people? Can you identify them?”

He gritted his teeth. “No, I can’t. And neither can she.”

“Neither can she,” Petrie repeated slowly. “That’s fascinating. Does she know why they’re pursuing her?”

“No,” he said. And it sounded so very wrong to him. A big, fat lie that only a *-whipped idiot like himself would believe.

Petrie grunted, clearly no idiot. “You’d think she’d have an idea.”

“Well, she doesn’t,” he said, trying not to sound belligerent. “She’s trying to find out every way she can, but she doesn’t.”

“What is Lily Parr’s relationship to you, Mr. Ranieri?”

Whee, haw. Who the f*ck knew. “We met early this morning.”

“And you killed three men defending her? And you believe that she has no idea why they attacked her?”

He swallowed. “That’s correct.”

“She must be a very persuasive woman.”

Bruno cursed himself for making this call. “The forensic analysis of the scene will bear up everything that I say. Talk to the techs.”

“I usually do,” Petrie said, mildly. “In any case, you and Ms. Parr are urgently wanted for questioning. How soon cn you get here?”

“I’m not sure,” he hedged. “Right now, I’m stranded with no vehicle. And I have to make sure Lily gets someplace safe first.”

“Did you not hear what I said, Mr. Ranieri? Ms. Parr is wanted for questioning, too. We can come and pick you up. Where are you?”

“Look, she did nothing! All she did was get attacked!”

“We’ll see,” Petrie said. “Mr. Ranieri, do you have a twin brother?”

The question took him by surprise. “No. Why?”

“No brothers at all?”

He squinted into the wind, which was whipping tears from his eyes and then threatening to freeze them. “No. None. What the hell?”

“You might be interested to know that until you called me just now, you were presumed dead.”

Bruno scowled in total bafflement. “What? Dead? How? I never—”

“A man committed suicide this morning,” Petrie said. “He looked exactly like you. In fact, I suggest you call your great-aunt Rosa right away and tell her you’re alive, since I just got in touch with her and requested that she come down here to identify your body.”

Bruno jolted up to his feet. “What the f*ck?”

“Hey, mistakes happen when you flee the scene of a triple homicide,” Petrie said. “Call her, please. She’s upset.”

“It’s not a triple homicide!” Bruno protested. “I didn’t commit a crime! I just prevented them from killing us!”

“Yes, of course,” Petrie said. “Call your aunt, and then come in, and tell us all about it. You’ll probably need to give us a DNA swab, too, so we can rule you out—”