Page 71 of Ruining Vanessa

The interruption catches both me and Tiago off guard, thankfully, so I’m not the only one who’s left staring at the runt. It gives me a second to gather myself, though I have to fight not to swear under my breath. I’ve been doing a damn good job of keeping Giulio’s places out of the line of fire, but it looks like the Romanos have taken offense to something Giulio’s done.

Imagine that.

Mancini looks like he wants to slap Nilo, though. “Shut up,” he hisses. Then he turns to us with a strained smile. “Nilo only means that he hopes you’re being thorough in your investigation. We aren’t the only club in the area, and if your missing friend enjoyed the company of women, there are plenty of places to go for that.”

I shrug. “We’re looking into every lead. I don’t suppose you’d know where to tell someone to go if they were looking for the company of men, would you?” The sergeant had told me they thought Baca might’ve had a thing for guys, and I use that now to try to redirect Tiago’s attention away from Giulio’s—straight—clubs.

Nilo’s sneer turns uglier. “Then you really should ask Giulio Pavone. He’s a fucking fag, you know.”

I look at Nilo, and for a moment, I imagine what he would look like at my cabin in the woods, displayed on the table like I’d done with Vanessa. I wouldn’t have to hold myself back with him. I could tie him down and cut off fingers and toes, one at a time, until I moved on to wrists and ankles…

“Yeah?” I ask, my voice as casual as my thoughts are murderous. “He doesn’t run that kind of club, as far as I know.”

Nilo glares at me. “So? He’s disgusting. And anyway, this guy you’re looking for—” he waves the photo around, “I’m pretty sure he was at one of Pavone’s places. Somebody told me about a cop disappearing from there.”

If looks could kill, I wouldn’t even have to murder Nilo myself. Mancini looks ready to do it for me.

Mancini grabs the photo from Nilo’s hands and gives it back to Tiago.

“There you have it,” Mancini says in clipped tones. “Of course, if you do go visit Giulio Pavone, you don’t have to mention… any of this.”

Unlike Nilo, Mancini doesn’t want to piss Giulio off. He’s a lot smarter than the little brat.

“Of course not.” I smile at Mancini. “But I would like to know a little more. If you know someone who could tell us more about our disappearing friend, we’d be negligent not to speak to them, of course.” My gaze goes to Nilo. Who’s the fucking rat?

Nilo seems to realize he fucked up, because he pales. “Just… somebody I know. You don’t have to worry about him.”

Him. Not one of the girls, at least. Unless one of the girls told “him,” and “he” told Nilo… ugh, fuck. There are too many people who walk in and out of Ntimacy every night. “Yeah? If he has information about a missing police officer, I’m sure he would be happy to cooperate with us.”

I am going to find who’s responsible for this leak and make sure they pay for it in blood.

With any luck, it’s Paul, and I’ll finally get to deal with him properly.

“I’d have to… I’d have to ask him.” Nilo mumbles, and he’s way less confident now than when he was calling Giulio a fag.

“Sure.” I get up and hand Nilo one of my business cards. “Tell him to give me a call. You can call me too, if you ever have more information you want to share.” I smirk at him. “This could be a very mutually beneficial relationship, kid.”

Very mutually beneficial, if Nilo gets the reputation of being somebody who snitches to the cops.

Nilo shrinks back from me and mumbles a weird “thank you,” like he doesn’t know how to react.

Mancini coughs into his hand. “If that’s all, detectives? I do hope we can keep this entire meeting… discreet.”

Tiago gets up and shakes out his shoulders. “No worries. The only reason we came here was for that sweet lap dance. I might have to come back for Chantal sometime.”

“Of course,” Mancini says, sliding back into his smooth salesman voice. “I’ll make sure they know that Chantal is always available for you. Now, I do have a few more things to take care of. I’ll have one of the girls escort you out.”

It doesn’t escape my attention that it’s not a suggestion, but I’m just as glad to get out of there as he is to be rid of us.

Once we’re outside, Tiago lets out a long, annoyed groan.

“Fuck me. I don’t want to deal with Pavone,” Tiago complains. “I dunno if he is a fag or what, but I do know he’s fucking crazy.”

I’m a bit taken aback. “You’ve met him?”

“Yeah, like five years ago or something. He got called in for questioning because of… eh, I don’t fucking know anymore. Most frustrating interview of my life. It’s the first time I actually wanted the suspect to lawyer up, because then it’d actually have made more sense.”

I’m too pissed off to be amused. That sounds like Giulio, all right. I rub at my temples, pausing for a moment. “I think it’d be a bad idea to bring him in. We just have the word of a fucking mobster kid that Pavone is involved. Sounds like big talk to me, and I don’t want to get in the middle of that war.”

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