Back in Black (McGinnis Investigations #1) - Rhys Ford Page 0,56
the building, and mostly everyone who lives there is older.” Marlena smirked, pushing herself off the bench with a long stretch, then turning to face me as she stood up. “They all were very friendly when Mama and Poppa moved in, like they’d known each other for a long time. So maybe that’s where you should start looking. Let me know what you find. I’ll be either upstairs waiting for Poppa to get back or in the shower trying to scrub this filth off of me.”
Thirteen
“THE BITCH stabbed me!”
As glad as I was to hear Bobby at the other end of the phone, I had to wince at the invective he slung out, especially since a group of nuns passing by clearly heard him through my phone’s magnificent speaker, which only seemed to have Dolby surround sound at the worst opportunities. Smiling at a particularly stern woman in formal penguin wear, I cupped my hand over the phone, hoping to mute him a bit.
“Where the fuck are you?” Then I winced because somehow, doubling down on the profanity was obviously going to win me points with the Sister Mary Margaret brigade going past me. Luckily it seemed like they were out of earshot or I’d have gotten a ruler straight across of my mouth. “And who stabbed you?”
“I’m in the ER. Just get over here.” Bobby growled at someone else, muttering they’d better bring someone with a painkiller in a few minutes or he’d chew through someone’s head. “They put me in the second bed after you come in, but I haven’t seen anyone yet. I’ve got pressure on the cut, but it’s going to need stitches. Whatever you do, don’t call Ichi.”
So of course I hung up and called Ichi.
That phone call went as I expected it to—a lot of heavy silence as my half brother sorted through the Japanese swear words probably filling his head before coming up with some English I’d understand. The call was actually pretty short and sweet. I did my best to tamp down the smugness I felt about finally being the one calling everyone else to say someone—other than me—had been hurt. I wanted to savor the moment, but Ichi seemed to be in some hurry to see his stupid husband. My asshole of a younger brother hung up on me before I could draw my smugness out to a climactic conclusion, but the damage had been done. He was headed down to the hospital in a mild fury and would soon be there to take Bobby off of my hands.
I was dialing O’Byrne when I realized I hadn’t told Bobby he’d actually been stabbed by a fake Marlena while the real one had coughed up as much information as she could. He was going to have to wait until I was done with Dell.
She picked up on the first ring, barking her name at me as if I didn’t know who I was dialing. But by the sounds of a siren cutting off and loud voices coming over the phone, I guessed she was a little bit busy. I identified myself and barely got my name out when she cut me off.
“Where are you, McGinnis?” O’Byrne was walking away from whatever shitstorm she’d been standing next to. The sounds of chaos were fading. Then I heard a car door slam, and things were silent except for her breathing. “Tell me you’re near the hospital. Tell me Arthur Brinkerhoff is not only alive but also awake enough for me to shake down for information.”
“Last time I saw him, he was alive and being wheeled out for tests. I talked to his granddaughter—”
“Well then you were probably the last one who did, because she was just found in a parking lot a couple of blocks down from the hospital. She’s got a new hole in her head, right in the middle of her forehead.” She sighed long enough to send a whistle in my ear. “When did you talk to her?”
“She actually just left. That woman you found? The slinky blond who could pass as Jessica Rabbit’s sister? That’s not Marlena Brinkerhoff.”
The swearing I got this time was Mexican, but it had as much heat on it as Ichi’s Japanese. I heard Dell take a deep breath, as if she were calming herself. Then she spat out, “What the fuck are you talking about, Mac. I spoke to the woman last night for a few minutes on the phone. Bishop was with her for