In that case…
Sorren took a step forward, getting in my face. “Then what were you thinking?”
I rose from the bumper of the ambulance to stand closer to him, toe to toe. I’d never felt more drained and upset, but I wasn’t about to be pushed around by him, or anybody else at the crime scene. I was one of the victims here, wasn’t I? Sure I was.
“I told you what I was thinking in your office. Remember? You told me I had no evidence. You insinuated I should try and find some.”
Sorren swatted his hand in the air incredulously. “So you go to the OCTF and bullshit a prosecutor about your writing an article?”
“How’d you hear that?” I asked.
“I spoke to Phalen’s boss, a man named Ian LaGrange, on the way over here. He said you lied to both of them.”
“He’s right, I did lie. That’s why Phalen wanted nothing to do with me,” I said. “I was here to try and change his mind. That’s all.”
Sorren smirked. I’m sure he knew that probably wasn’t true – not with Phalen murdered and me narrowly escaping the same fate. “Listen to me, Nick,” he said, his tone sharpening to an edge. “The time to protect Phalen was when he was still alive.”
Whoa. That stung. I was already beating myself up over getting Derrick involved in this mess. The self-inflicted guilt was bad enough. The Sorren-inflicted guilt just made it that much worse.
But he was right. Suddenly I was reminded that Sorren was a very bright guy and that I needed him, possibly just to stay alive.
“Derrick Phalen was helping me,” I admitted. “He told me he’d discovered something big and that it would blow my mind.”
“All right. That’s good. So what was it?”
“He was supposed to share it with me tonight. That’s why I came here. I’m telling the truth, David. I’m totally leveling with you.”
“You have no idea what it might be?” asked Sorren. “Don’t try and have it both ways, Nick.”
“I’m not,” I said. “I have no idea. None.”
“Fuck.”
“You’ve got that right.”
Sorren took a last desperate drag off his cigarette, throwing it at the ground. I watched as he gave it an angry twist with his heel.
Of course, if I’d been looking up instead of down, I would’ve seen the man who was charging straight for me, his fist cocked, his nose just about blowing steam.
But it was like everything else that had happened that terrible night.
I never saw it coming.
MY RIGHT CHEEK imploded, the pain so quick and fierce I thought I’d been hit by a crosstown bus.
In a way I had. Ian LaGrange, all six feet four inches and nearly three hundred pounds of him, had stormed right past Sorren to sucker punch me square in the face, and as I fell helplessly back against the ambulance behind me, I could hear him screaming at the top of his fire-breathing lungs.
“LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE, YOU SON OF A BITCH! LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE!”
And he was far from done himself.
He lunged for me again, his long and powerful arms flailing in the air. Were it not for Sorren stepping in to block him, he would’ve probably knocked me out cold, then smashed my face into pieces. As it was, I was seeing stars and a variety of bright colors that weren’t in my usual palette.
“Stop it! Calm down!” barked Sorren, pushing him back – or at least trying to. LaGrange outweighed Sorren by a hundred pounds easy, and he wasn’t about to be denied another crack at me.
That is, until Sorren tried a different tact. While LaGrange continued shouting about me being the reason Derrick Phalen had been murdered, Sorren reminded the guy that we weren’t alone.
Uh, hello? Did you not see the news vans?
“Look around you, LaGrange!” said Sorren through clenched teeth. “This isn’t the place.”
That did the trick for some reason or another. LaGrange’s rage was trumped only by his desire not to be fodder for every news outlet in the city, not to mention his becoming the latest sensation on YouTube. With reporters and their cameramen literally sprinting toward us, LaGrange immediately backed off.
“Nothing to see here, folks!” announced Sorren to the reporters. “We’ll have a statement for you in a few minutes. Just be a little patient.”
Reluctantly, they took his word for it.
Sorren waited impatiently until it was just the three of us again. He turned to LaGrange.
“Do me a favor, Ian,” he said calmly. “I need you to give the detectives whatever personal information you can on Phalen – next of kin, exact title with the Task Force, et cetera… Nothing that they can run with.”
LaGrange nodded. He knew Sorren merely wanted him separated from me. That’s probably why he couldn’t help himself as he turned to walk away.
“I don’t care what anybody says,” said LaGrange, jabbing his thick forefinger at me. “You got Derrick killed.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. It was all I could think of.
No, worse than that, actually.
It was all I had.
Chapter 68
“HE’S AN ASSHOLE. Don’t let him get to you,” said Sorren as LaGrange headed over to talk to the detectives.
“Too late. He already did,” I said, rubbing my jaw, which was already swollen from the guy’s roundhouse punch. “I think he loosened a tooth.”
“Yeah, that was way out of line.” Sorren shifted his feet uncomfortably. “I know it’s well within your right, but if you’re thinking about pressing charges -”
“Do I look like the type to take him to court for that?”
“No, I suppose you don’t,” said Sorren, flashing some relief. “Thanks, Nick.”
“Sure. And now you owe me one, right?”
“We’ll see about that later. Listen, after Ian’s done I’ll let you finish up with the detectives so you can finally get the hell out of here. Just so you know, though, you’re going to need around-the-clock police protection after tonight.”
“Is that necessary? Wait, that didn’t come out right. I mean, will it help any?”
“I don’t know. You tell me,” he said with a glance at the scorched and smoking carcass that used to be my car. “It’s probably safe to say that whoever wanted you dead still does.”
I nodded. “But it’s not Pinero.”
“So you’ve been telling me,” replied Sorren, reaching for a cigarette. It was like he was only half listening to me.
“It was Joseph D’zorio,” I said.
That got his attention.
Suddenly his next smoke could wait. Sorren was all ears. “How do you know that? Who’s your source? Talk to me, Daniels.”
“I can’t give you all the details, but Dwayne Robinson owed him money that he didn’t have. So -”
Sorren raised his palms. Smart guy – he saw where I was going. “Wait a minute,” he said incredulously. “You’re telling me that your being at Lombardo’s that day was a setup?”
“It was all a setup. D’zorio knew I’d have a recorder going to catch every word of Robinson’s. He knew he could frame Pinero.”
“I guess. But how do you know all this?”
“I can’t reveal my source.”
“Then don’t. But if you want my help, you’ve got to give me more than a gut feeling.”
I spread my arms wide. Take a look around! “Does all this look like a gut feeling? D’zorio knew Phalen and I were onto him.”
“Maybe that’s true; maybe you’ve solved this thing. But it’s a nonstarter if I can’t connect the dots.”
“What about Pinero?” I asked.
“What about him?”
“He’s been charged with first-degree murder.”
“Yes. That’s what happens when all the dots connect,” said Sorren.
“What if you’re wrong?”
“That’s exactly why I need to talk to your source.”
“There is someone else you could talk to,” I said. “The manager at Lombardo’s.”