Page 45 of Inferno

“You sound a lot better than I thought you would,” her boss said.

“Any update on the guy we arrested?” She hadn’t heard anything from Romeo while she was in the hospital. Samantha had resigned herself to the fact she wouldn’t get to listen in on the interrogation, let alone actually be there participating. But she still wanted to know what happened with the man they’d arrested.

“That’s why I’m calling,” Deerdan said. “We ran his ID, and his name is Bill Morrison. He’s a local guy, but we can’t find any employment or a last known address. I have units going to the address associated with this driver’s license. The whole thing is looking pretty thin, but maybe he’s just a guy who lives small.”

“What did he say about attacking me?”

Deerdan made humming sound in her throat. “Well, that’s the thing. He claims he actually thought you were attackinghim. That he was acting in self-defense.”

“Did he lawyer up?”

“No, he declined representation.”

Samantha figured it was likely that he believed he knew exactly what he was doing and had the whole thing in hand—or he believed he did. “He really claims I attacked him first?”

“You need to write down your statement and get it to us. Morrison will be arraigned in the morning, probably before lunch. We need to know your side of things if we’re going to have any way of keeping him in jail long enough to tie him to the fires.”

And the murders.

“I’ll get that typed up tonight,” Samantha said. “Then email it to you.”

“I’ll be here.” Deerdan made another noise. “Dumb coffee pot,” she muttered. Then she said, “He actually claims that you were following him for a number of blocks. He was only out walking. Then when he tried to ask you why you were following him, you launched yourself at him and he tried to de-escalate the situation.”

She laughed out loud, a barking sound that dissolved into a whole lot of coughing.

Julio jogged quickly down the hallway, concern on his face.

She waved off his concern, signing,I’m fine.But he obviously didn’t agree with that assessment because he got her a glass of water.

“I also need a statement from Captain Coda,” Deerdan added.

Samantha glanced at Julio, accepting the water. “He can do that.” Then had to ask, “Do you think we can get enough evidence to tie him to the arsons?” She set the phone on the counter and hit the Speaker button.

Deerdan’s voice came through loud enough for Julio to hear as well. “Right now, we have no evidence that he is our arsonist.”

Samantha couldn’t even confirm it either. All she could do was go with her gut. That creepy guy had been looking acrossthe yard into the window, and she’d felt compelled to chase after him.

Her boss continued, “He may have engaged with you for a bunch of different reasons. None of which he’s inclined to explain to us.”

Samantha tapped a finger on the counter. “He’s probably goading us, knowing we have nothing to arrest him on. He’s going to walk free, satisfied that he has all the power here.”

“If he does, I’m sure I don’t have to explain to you that youcannotapproach him. I’ll have uniformed officers watching him at all times, which will likely just guarantee he doesn’t slip up. No way he’ll set another fire now. However, there’s nothing you can do about it. Don’t try and incriminate him. Understood?”

Julio frowned.

Samantha shrugged. “Yes, I understand, Sergeant.”

“Good. Don’t let a lowlife like this ruin a perfectly good and very promising career.” Deerdan paused. “One day you’re going to sit in my chair, and any misstep in this case will ruin that chance. Don’t flush it all down the toilet.”

The call ended.

“I guess that’s it.” Samantha looked at Julio, still frowning. “What are you thinking? Because we can talk about it, but then we both have homework.”

That didn’t make him smile. Instead, he scratched his jaw. “She really thinks you’re going to do something to incriminate the guy?”

“I thought you were more worried about the fact he’ll probably be released tomorrow.” Samantha paused. “Unless we can find evidence that ties into this case.”

“He’s totally messing with us. That whole thing was a setup,” Julio said. “Just a way to prove to us how little we know about him by dangling himself in front of us and even getting arrested.”

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