Page 32 of Echo
The ghost of lips landed on my neck. I jerked the butt of the gun backwards, but nothing was there. I whirled around, but resisted the urge to fire.
“Pretty Rabbit.” Was whispered, before the light flickered on, and the dark pressure vanished.
My heart pounded as I ran down stairs to go find Ranger, but got stuck staring at Mark at the bottom of the stairs.
I recovered my phone from the room and called Aurelio. He answered, but didn’t speak. “Aurelio, tell me you have something.”
“That man is so full of shit.”Aurelio scoffed.“He doesn’t have anything on you. He told his boss he was taking time off for the death of his wife. Who no one has laid eyes on in ten years, mind you. In his world, you don’t exist.”
I stared at the mess of blood and meat on my couch. “That’s the best news I’ve heard all night.”
“It’s a fucking waste for a man to hide you like that,”Aurelio spat.“Probably just a cover for his suspiciously missing wife. Did you know he was married?”
“No,” I answered. “But he didn’t know about you either.”
He laughed at that.“Fair enough. Can I give you a word of advice, my darling ex-wife?”
“Why not?”
“You got hogs out there?”
“Someone is going to trace him to me. There are people who know about me.” I assumed it was people who didn’t know about his wife, or didn’t think much about a shady lawyer with a piece on the side. “I didn’t do him, Aurelio. Someone beat me to it.”
“Good riddance.”
“They were sloppy. Messy. I don’t know what to do.” That man couldn’t have shed more blood if he tried.
“Call the cops,”he said in the calmest voice imageable.
“Is this Aurelio Pesci?”
He let out a deep, hearty laugh.“I hear you. But if you’re innocent and you know they’ll be on your door sooner rather than later, perhaps you should just invite them.”
He had a point.
“You said you don’t know who did him?”
“Thanks for your help, Aurelio.” I couldn’t quite keep the fondness out of my voice. “I can always rely on you.”
“Not always.”He hissed.“But if you need me now, I’ll be there.”
“Goodbye, Aurelio.”
He sighed in defeat.“Goodnight.”
I cleared my voice and prepared myself to sound shaken when I called911. Luckily, the whole sex with an imposter helped everything along.
“911, What’s your emergency?”
“My boyfriend’s been murdered, and there is someone in the house.”
“What is your location?”
“9611 Millers Lane.”
There was silence on the other side.“Ma’am, we can’t get someone out there until morning.”
“What are you talking about?!”
