Page 152 of Blood and Fire

She spun around, wild-eyed, brandishing a can of pepper spray. “Stay away from me!” she screeched, spraying wildly.

Kev jittered and spun back out of range, before he could get a faceful of the spray, and then lunged forward, nabbing the canister before she could plunge another one. “Just a quick word with you, ma’am,” he said. “About Bruno—”

“So he was lying, then! He did tell his no good friends my number! And my address, too, eh? That lying little punk!”

Kev had no idea what to do with that. “No, ma’am. We’re just his ride, that’s all. We wondered where he’d gone. Is he still in the house?”

“I’ll call the cops!” she howled. “I’ll have you arrested!”

Sean hung way back, watching, keeping a wary distance.

“Mrs. Ranieri, please, just tell me,” Kev pleaded. “Did Bruno find the jewelry box? Is he still inside looking?”

“No!” she yelled. “There was no jewelry box! He just got that phone call, and out the back door he walks! As cool as you please, without so much as a word, or a goodbye, or even a thank-you! Sorude!”

“The back door? He went out the…oh,shit.” He and Sean exchanged horrified looks. “Oh, no, no, no.”

He and Sean bolted as one for the narrow strip of lawn bordered by the neighbor’s chain link fence at the side of the house. The old lady followed them around back, shrieking and swinging her purse at them.

He tore through the back patio, the yard, through the breezeway, out into the alley. No sign of Bruno. He let the pepper spray canister drop to the ground, yanked out his cell, pulled up Bruno’s number.

It went straight to voicemail.

He and Sean stared at each other in grim dismay.

They raced out, pounding down to the avenue. No Bruno. Cars zipped past in both directions on the busy street.

Sean strolled back into the alley, and stopped next to a dirty white van. He looked over at Kev, his eyes full of dread. “Bro. Come here. Have a look at this.”

Kev braced himself, and looked at the message on the van.

lilyhad to sorry

“Oh, God. Bruno.” Kev sagged forward, his forehead against the filthy vehicle. And he’d thought he’d gotten his shit together. That he had Edie and his family, that everything would be fine at last. That he’d earned a little happiness, a little peace. That it would finally be OK.

But no. The world was still able to tear new holes in him. It was so easy to just rip it all to pieces. Oh, Bruno.

Sean’s hand closed on his shoulder. “Hey. Kev. I’m so sorry.”

He couldn’t answer. Just tried not to fall apart.

“Look,” Sean said. “This sucks, but we have to sharpen up, and disappear. Regroup.”

Kev gulped, stood up, wiped his face. “Yeah,” he muttered.

“So let’s go get your crazy Zia,” Sean said. “And hope that she has some really brilliant new idea for us. Because I’m fresh out of ideas.”

They caused a loud, screeching protest by their choice to run through Pina Ranieri’s property again, but fuck it. The shrill sound was already fading, and it was the fastest way back to their car.

Not that they had a clue what they were hurrying for, anymore.

CHAPTER29

Lily stumbled as Zoe dragged her down the corridor. “No, really,” she said. “You look like shit. What happened? Did you get the flu?”

“Shut up.” Zoe jerked Lily off her feet. She thudded down to her knees on the cold, hard floor, with a gasp of startled pain.

“But it was only four days ago, right?” Lily persisted. Zoe looked destroyed. A weak link. Stress would weaken her futher, and if there was one thing Lily was good at, it was driving people nuts.