Blood Debt - By Tanya Huff Page 0,85

along with this. Hell, I can't believe I'm actually going along with this. We left him back there, Henry." With the car a barrier between them, she allowed a little'of the anger to slip from her grip-although who exactly she was angry with, she couldn't say. "We walked out on him. Left him helpless and alone."

"It's a minimal risk, Vicki, and a risk he's willing to take in order to finish this once and for all. The police will be there within the hour. What could possi?bly go wrong?"

"Famous last words." The night smelled of car ex?haust and heated metal, less strongly here on the Coast than in Toronto but still too many people crammed into too small a space. Vicki turned back toward the clinic and tried not to think how things that could go wrong usually did. "I left him there be?cause he asked me to," she said softly, silvered gaze locked on Henry once again. "I'm doing it for Mike, but you've never cared what he thinks of you."

Haven't I? Michael Celluci is an honorable man and the opinions of honorable men are sometimes all we have to define ourselves by. But there was little point in sparking another territorial dispute over Celluci's affections even though her previous reaction had more amused than infuriated him. "I'm no vigilante, Vicki, no matter how it may have seemed in the past. If I can be responsible for a solution within the parameters of the law, then everyone should be happy."

"A solution within the parameters of the law?" she repeated. Shaking her head, she folded her arms on the roof of the car and rested her chin on their pillow. "Go ahead. And make it good."

Henry had no doubt he could spin a story that the police would believe, add enough detail that they not only had to check it out but also found everything they needed to. There was, however, no need to tax his imagination. When it came right down to it, it wasn't what he said but how he said it that mattered.

"Excuse me, Officers, may I have a word?"

Resisting the completely inexplicable urge to come to attention, the police constable in the driver's seat put down his coffee and snapped out an efficient, "Yes, sir."

When the constable in the passenger seat, wonder?ing what the hell was going on with her partner, leaned past him for a better look, she found herself reacting much the same way.

The bastard son of Henry VIII, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, inclined his head in recognition of their deference. "I have some information you might find worthy of investigation." His father would have ap?proved of the tone.

Tony woke up as Henry came into the condo, sat up on the couch, and rubbed his eyes. "Did you find him?"

"Yes."

"That must've made Victory happy."

"Not exactly."

"Oh, man. Henry, you didn't kill her before you got to the clinic?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"And don't try that more-princely-than-thou crap on me either. I'm not in the mood. If you didn't kill Vicki before you got to the clinic and if you found Celluci, why isn't she happy?"

"Because we left him there."

"You what?"

"It was his idea. He thought if we rescued him, it would alert the people behind this whole organ-legging thing that we're on to them. He told us to inform the police and let them handle it while the evidence is still out in plain view."

"Yeah, but unless he's missing a kidney, how are they going to connect him with the body in the harbor?"

"Celluci seems to think he knows where the bodies are buried."

"And Victory just let him stay?"

"Not exactly. He had to appeal to her better nature."

Tony snorted. "I didn't know she had one where he was concerned. Did you tell the police?"

"I did, and with luck that'll be enough to satisfy my visitors." Henry glanced down at his watch. "Why aren't you in bed? Don't you have to work tomorrow?"

"I wanted to know if Celluci was safe before I went back to Gerry's and John's." He scrambled to his feet, folded the blanket haphazardly, and stood staring at the floor.

Henry sighed, wondering when exactly things had gotten so awkward between them. "Tony, it's late. The sun will be up in a few short moments. Why don't you stay here in your own room?"

"I don't... "

"I know."

Tony's head came up, drawn by the understanding in Henry's voice.

"When this is over, as it easily could be by tomor?row evening, we have to