Blood and Fire (McClouds & Friends #8)(58)

“You guys already have one,” Bruno said. “From some stuff that happened last year.”

Petrie was silent for a moment. “I see. And might this situation have any connection to what happened last year?”

“Absolutely not,” he said. “No chance in hell.”

“Huh. You have a really eventful life, Mr. Ranieri. And I want to talk about this all further. Come on in, soon. And please keep in mind: The longer I wait, the worse your prospects become.”

“I can’t do that right now,” Bruno said. “I’m truly sorry. I’m not doing this to make trouble for you. I’ll be in touch.”

He broke the connection and dropped his face into his hands.

It was snowballing. A dead lookalike suicide, a hysterical Zia Rosa. And staying square with the law and trying to help Lily Parr seemed to be mutually exclusive. He didn’t relish the thought of life as a fugitive. Much less did he relish the thought of life in prison.

He had to call Zia, but that was going to be an emotionally punishing yell fest. He was too rattled to face it, at least for another minute or two. Sean, next. He pulled out the dedicated phone Aaro had given him, enabled the encryption function, dialed.

“About goddamn time,” Sean said tersely. “What the f*ck is going on? With this cop calling to tell Zia Rosa that you blew your brains out? She practically had a stroke on us, man! It was ugly!”

“I don’t know,” Bruno said helplessly. “All I can say is, I didn’t do it. I still have my brains in there, such as they are.”

Sean grunted, clearly unimpressed with Bruno’s brains, whether located inside his skullor elsewhere. “So? What’s the deal? Aaro called after that and told us what he knew, which wasn’t much, but at least he told us you were still alive up there, so Zia could calm down a little. He told me about finding Petrie’s number for you. Did you call the guy?”

“Yes. It didn’t go well. But he knows who the corpse is not.”

“Huh. So what the hell happened?”

“Like Aaro told you,” Bruno said wearily. “These guys attacked me and this girl I hooked up with this morning. I defended myself, and—”

“Snuffed them in the process.” Sean’s voice was heavy with disapproval. “Heard about that part.”

“On the bright side, I’m alive, and so is she,” Bruno snarled.

“Yeah. The only positive thing you can say about the situation.”

“I did not call you for a lecture, so f*ck off.”

“The lecture is the price you pay for my help,” Sean informed him. “Back to the problem. The guys you killed. Any ideas?”

“It’s about Lily,” he admitted. “She wasn’t surprised.”

“Ah.” Sean pondered that for a beat. “What did she do to them?”

“Nothing,” he snapped. “She did nothing.”

“Wow, aren’t we defensive.” Sean waited for more and huffed with impatience. “Bruno. I need a little more collaboration here from you.”

“She doesn’t know! That is to say, she has suspicions, but . . .”

“But what?” Sean prompted.

“But they’re not helpful ones,” he forced out.

“Define helpful.”

“She thinks it’s connected to me,” Bruno admitted. “Her dad committed suicide in a locked psych ward over a month ago. She says it’s murder. She also thinks it was connected to my mamma’s murder. We’re talking way back, when my mamma, ah . . . Did you know about her getting killed? The Mafia goons who came after me?”

“Yeah, Kev mentioned that,” Sean said.

Yeah. Right. Kev “mentioned it.” Like that horrible event was something you could just “mention.” Only Kev. Only the McClouds.

“And what do you think?” Sean insisted.

He looked over at Lily. She was huddled against the face of the cliff. Shoulders slumped, face hidden. Two locks of hair fluttered out of her hood on either side of her hands. The brightest point in the picture.

He steeled himself. “I think it’s a load of crap,” he said. “I think what happened to my mamma was exactly what it seemed.”

“So. What’s the deal, then? With the girl?” Sean asked delicately.

“I don’t think she’s lying. She’s convinced of what she says.”

“She must be pissed at you,” Sean said. “For holding out on her.”

Duh. Bruno swallowed back a rude and unhelpful comment.

“So.” Sean’s voice was brisk. “What do you need from us?”

“Help securing Lily. Help figuring out who’s attacking her.”

Sean paused. “You’re taking on the cross, then? Wow, man. Sure you’re up for it? Looks like a big ol’ f*cking shit storm.”

“I don’t know what else to do!” he exploded. “The guys who attacked hewere coordinated, trained. They meant business.”

“Have you considered the possibility that this chick is, um . . .”

“Sure I have,” he snapped. “I’ve made my judgment call. I’m helping her. So you can help me do that, or you can f*ck off.”

“I sense the effects of excessive sexual hormones on your brain.”