“Nick told me he roused himself, smelled gas and called you, Sal. You told him to get out of the apartment. Nick said he told you he hadn’t been able to wake Bill Ryan but you again told Nick to get out of the apartment and that you would call nine one one. Is that right?”

“Yeah, he called me.”

“And did you tell him to get out the apartment and leave Bill Ryan there?”

His face tightened. “I was worried about my brother.”

I looked at Fernandez. “Can you see the problem now, Frank? If Bill was still alive when Sal told Nick to get out of the apartment…”

“He was already dead,” Sal said angrily. “Nick got out just in time.”

“You know that because you turned up, right? Peg Donohue said she saw you in the ambulance with Nick.”

“Yeah, I was there,” he said, more subdued.

“You live in Oakland. How did you get into the city so quickly?”

“I was at my girlfriend’s place. She lives in the Mission.”

“How did Nick know to call you there?”

“He called my pager. I—”

Fernandez, alarmed now, said, “Okay, Henry, I don’t think I want Sal to answer any more questions about what happened that night or his part in it. Let’s focus on his investigation. That’s what you said you were interested in.”

“Sure. Your report says the leak was caused by a corroded gas line into the stove. Did you take pictures of it?”

He shook his head. “I didn’t have to. I tested it and saw the leak.”

“You also said in your report the leak had been there for some time. How long?”

“I can’t say.”

“Days?”

“Yeah.”

“Weeks?”

“Maybe.”

“Months?”

“It was an old line. I don’t think it was ever replaced after the stove was hooked up way back when.”

“So,” I said, “you’re certain that the leak didn’t start within twenty-four hours of Bill Ryan’s death?”

Fernandez intervened. “Is there a reason you’re asking this question?”

“I’ve talked to an accident reconstruction expert who told me the quantity of gas that would have caused Ryan’s death couldn’t have been produced by a slow leak. A leak would have been detected by its smell or having caused some non-lethal symptoms of gas poisoning long before that night. He says there had to have been a sudden flood of gas that caused Ryan to suffocate.”

Fernandez mulled it over, smiled tightly, and said, “I’m going to cut this short. I think the company’s going to want to conduct its own investigation before Sal answers any more questions.”

I glanced at Sal. “Sure, as long as you know that I know it didn’t happen the way you said it did.”

He started to speak, thought better of it, and folded his arms defensively across his chest.