by Keene, Susan
I considered running. I watched out the window. The back appeared abandoned. I stormed across the room to the front. The same held true.
Tony hadn’t been anywhere near the cars. It was about thirty-five miles from Newark to Queens. I didn’t think he had been gone long enough to drive there and back.
I sat on the floor and leaned against the bed. “Let’s call Amy and Ryan to come get us. If you’re to take me to Manhattan, we could be miles away before they know we’re missing.”
He sat on the floor beside me. “Let me think a minute. This is one of those times I wish I was more of an insider. I know less about the big picture than most.”
I put my hand on his arm. “I’m going to call them unless you intend to stop me.”
“I don’t want to stop you; I don’t want to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder either. Get one of them on the phone and let me talk to them. I know a place they can pick us up and no one can follow. While I give directions, put on something warm. It’s a long and difficult hike.”
I followed his direction. Twenty minutes later we scaled the back wall.
The farther we got from the lights of the compound, the thicker the brush became and the slower we moved. “I understand why you were so certain no one would follow us. I need to rest for a minute.”
“It’s not much farther. I’d say another half an hour and we’ll be at the meeting spot.”
I slumped to my knees to catch my breath. “I can’t walk another step.”
He sat on a rock facing me. “I could use a minute or two myself.”
We rested in silence. Tony stood and reached down with both hands to help me up. “We’d better keep moving. It doesn’t take long to get cold out here in the damp brush.”
He pushed the twigs and small limbs out of my way as we creeped along. We came to a steep bank. At the top, a gravel road stretched before us.“We’re here.”
A car flashed its lights and drove toward us.
Relief soared through me when Ryan and Amy got out. I hugged Ryan as if he was a lifeboat in the ocean during a storm. Amy wrapped her arms around the both of us. Tears of relief trickled down my face. I was safe.
Tony stood back. I let go of Ryan and walked to him. “This is Tony,” I said to Ryan. “If it weren’t for him, we might not have made it. Tony, this is Amy and Ryan.”
Ryan stepped up and shook his hand. Amy hugged him. “I feel like I know you after talking to Sophie.”
“I wish she was with you.”
Ryan patted him on the back. “We do too. I didn’t know if it was safe. You’ll see her before the days over. I have a plane waiting. I thought you two might like to get away from this place.”
Neither of us answered. We walked toward the car. I rode in front with Ryan.
He put his hand on my leg. “Bet you’re tired and hungry.”
Tony leaned forward. “I’m more nervous about getting out of here before someone sees us.”
Ryan turned around and smiled. “I have it covered. We’ll leave this car in a neighborhood between here and the airport. One of my men, Nathan, will pick us up. He does surveillance for a living. He’ll know if anyone follows us. Our plane’s in a hanger on the South end of the West runway. The main worry is will they try to find you and Sophia when all of this settles down?”
“Dominic told me to take Kate to Manhattan to his aunt’s house. He thinks it’s safe there. He’ll be too busy to check for himself. I doubt if he gives her another thought. I’d say if we’re careful we won’t be missed.”
I turned around and looked at him. “I hope you’re right.”
Four hours later we pulled up to the Penthouse.
When the elevator opened upstairs, there stood my twin sister. I still couldn’t believe it. Tony walked over to her. They shared a loving hug.
She heaved a heavy sigh and looked over at me. “About two years ago your picture was in a magazine along with an article. I knew you were my sister, but I couldn’t ask anyone for fear I would put you in danger or get myself killed. And now, here you stand, in front of me, in the same room. It’s a dream come true.”
She walked toward me with her arms out. We hugged and then I pushed her back so I could look at her face. “It is rather remarkable, after all these years of not knowing about each other, here we stand, together.
She smiled, pulled me to her again and gave me a bear hug. “I can’t tell you how happy I am just to stand here, in the same room with you.”
I took her hand and led her to the couch. Chili stood patiently on the arm waiting patiently to get a greeting. “Chili, I’m so glad to see you.” She jumped down, ran around and jumped up to get Ryan to get her. I looked around, Amy, Ryan, Sophie, Tony, and Chili; my family.
“Do you have any idea why anyone would separate us at birth? And how you ended up with the Mafia and I with a woman who didn’t think it was important enough to tell me? She swears she didn’t know about you. I’ll tell you, Sophie. I’ve watched movies with worse plots than this.”
We both laughed. I watched her as she absently petted Digger. Somehow I knew my sister would be an animal lover.
She met my gaze. “How did you like living with Dominic?”
I took Chili from Ryan. Digger had jumped from Sophie to Amy. “I don’t know how you did it day after day. I found him intimidating when he didn’t have to be and mean when he could have been kind.”
Sophie moved to the love seat across from me. “I hope you don’t mind. I would like to sit where I can see you. I would say you captured Dominic’s persona perfectly.”
“Denise or my mother, or whoever she, is treated me wonderfully. Since we found out about you and talked to her about my childhood, I have been dumbfounded. I don’t have any idea what her motives were, but she was pretty much the perfect mother. It’s what makes this such a mystery. Why? I believe I could get obsessed with it until I find out why.”
Sophie looked at Tony and back to me. “I had three friendly people in my life, Tony, his mother, and for a few years, a lady named Roxy. Unless one of those three were with me, I was ignored. I would sit under Dominic’s desk and color. He didn’t acknowledge I was there. As I got older, I no longer fit under the desk.”
Ryan asked, “What did you do then?”
She leaned forward as though what she was about to say was secret. “I pretended to study in his office as people came and went. I was mesmerized by what he did and said. Sometimes he said nothing. He merely pointed a finger or nodded his head and the things he wanted to be done were taken care of. I would run back to my room and write down everything I could remember; times, dates, names, and orders. I fantasized about Dominic leaving and me taking over as the new capo di tutti capi”
Amy had been sitting quietly in the lounge chair listening. “This is fascinating. Let’s have a glass of wine.”
Ryan got up. “Where are my manners? That sounds wonderful. Amy want to help me?”
They went to the other side of the bar and came back with glasses for everyone. Amy said, “I’m not savvy about Italian, Can you translate what you said earlier about capo...”
“Sure, it means boss of all bosses.
Amy sat her glass on the side table and picked up Digger who jumped at her feet for attention. “So you wanted your father dead?”
Sophie held her glass in one hand and covered her mouth with the other one. “I wasn’t as sophisticated as that, but I believe there is a time in every child’s life when they don’t want to be held back by a parent who controls them. Dominic was worse than most.”
I moved to sit with her and took her hand. “You don’t still want to run the Mafia, do you? It seems so dangerous.”
Tony sat on the other side of her and leaned forward so I could see him as he talked. “I was there. It was a childhood fantasy we played out whenever Dominic was unnecessarily mean or cruel to Sophie or anyone else. It eased the pressure. He even controlled the snacks she ate, the shoes and clothes she wore, and th
e way she wore her hair.”
She took my hand in hers. “It was the childhood I had. I wouldn’t want any kid to have to live like that. It would be a thousand times more treacherous for someone like you. I would venture to say I know as much about our family and the Lombardi as anyone else who might try to claim the position. I also have hundreds of notebooks that chronicle the visits, talks, persons, and plans of the De Marcos from the time I was eight years old until I left there off and on a couple of years ago. Once I let everyone know the information exists, no one will dare touch me.”
I turned more squarely toward her. It wasn’t my business. I needed to remember that. She had a life for over thirty years before she knew about me. I wanted to keep my voice clear, steady, and unconcerned. It didn’t work. “Do you still want to take over?”
Tony smiled, “It isn’t that easy. In America, there has never been a woman run a family. There are a few in the big families in the old country, but not on this side of the ocean.”
She put both of her hands on my knees. “I’m over it. I couldn’t kill someone or order it done. I couldn’t take money that was illegally obtained. What I’m going to do is write a tell-all book and get them all arrested.”
“Even Dominic?”
“Especially Dominic.”
We stopped our conversation to watch the nightly news. We were starved for information and the newspaper wouldn’t arrive until morning.
We didn’t have to wait long. The lead story captivated us …
What is being called the first all-out Mafia war since 1954, started Wednesday at the La Maida Italian Restaurant in Newark, New Jersey?
In a rare show of solidarity, Dominic De Marco and his daughter Sophia joined the Lombardi family to celebrate Samuel Lombardi’s sixtieth wedding anniversary. After the cake was served and as guests proposed toasts to the happy couple, Samuel collapsed. Until the findings of the autopsy are released, authorities say it was most likely a heart attack.
Johnny Lombardi, the Under Boss and next in line to be Don at Samuels death was found in a private bathroom with a gunshot wound to the back of his head. The FBI described to the shooting as execution style.
A rumor floated through both families that Johnny and Sophie De Marco were be married in less than a month.
Unnamed sources reported the union would have solidified the tenuous position Johnny held in his own family.
The next in line to head the family is Frank ’Knuckles’ Anton.
Ryan pressed the off button on the remote. With the sound of the TV silenced, the room was still. Sophie broke the spell. “Dominic made it a sure thing which family would run New Jersey. Frank Anton is ruthless, but not smart enough to be a Don.”
I took the last sip of water in my glass. “How does it work? How do you decide who takes what position?”
Ryan went into the kitchen for wine and water to refill our drinks. “I’ve always been fascinated by organized crime, he said. I run up against it whenever I try to expand my business to the East coast. The biggest pushback is from New Jersey.”
Sophie explained. “The head is the Don, Boss, or Godfather. He must be a blood relative. Second in command is the Underboss. It’s pretty much a given he’ll be the next Boss. He must also be a blood relative.”
Ryan put his hand up like we did in grade school. “Frank “Knuckles” Anton doesn’t sound like blood.”
“He is, he's Samuel’s nephew on his wife’s side. Her maiden name was Lombardi.”
“Your knowledge of the Mafia is truly amazing,” Amy was impressed.
Sophie stood and smiled. “I didn’t study it, Amy; I lived it nearly every day. If you all will excuse me, I’d like to go to my room. My head’s spinning. I need to think. Tony, would you like to join me?”
I stood and walked to her. “You’ll never know how happy I am to have you in my life. Had you not pursued it, I would have never known you existed. Thank you.”
She kissed me on the cheek and pushed me an arm’s length away. “Yes, I do know how happy you are. I feel the same way.” She looked around the room to Amy and Ryan. “And to have friends like the two of you and Tony by my side, I’m blessed.”
CHAPTER 22
R yan went into the other room to make a few business calls. Amy and I shared a glass of wine and talked. “I feel as if I always see you yet we never talk,” she said.
I raised my glass to her. “To you, and, me, and Nash Investigations. May we one day be able to do cases again.”
“Wouldn’t that be wonderful?” She set her glass down. “Kate, I need to talk to you about something.”
The look on her face alarmed me. “Oh my, you aren’t quitting are you?”
She ran her finger across the rim of her glass. “No, it’s Jake. He’s seeing someone in Springfield.”
I put my hand on hers. “I’m so sorry. Tell me about it.”
Tears streamed down her cheeks. She wiped them with the back of her hand. “He says he’s lonely. He’s only here a few days every month. I take off as much as I can when he’s here, but sometimes we’re in the middle of a case. I can’t go to Springfield at the drop of a hat because he wants to go to dinner with some of the other players and their wives.
“He loves Digger here, but there, it’s difficult. There are three of them in the house. They don’t watch him when they go in and out. Sometimes they don’t close the door at all. I’m a nervous wreck the entire time I’m there. Do I sound like it’s all about the dog? It isn’t, you know.”
“I know it isn’t about Digger, and Jake can take care of himself. The dog can’t. If you want to try to fix this, we’ll take Digger over here when you go to visit. Chili would love it.”
“That’s my other problem. Please don’t tell Ryan what I’m about to share with you.”
I put Chili on the floor, took Amy’s glass and got us some more wine.
She picked up Digger and came to the counter. We sat across from one another. “Ok, I hope this doesn’t sound horrible. Jake and I haven’t progressed in seven years. Our relationship is the same as it was. He’s thirty-seven. At that age, the chances of him going to the major league are slim to none.
“He might get traded among the Triple-A Clubs. Most of the players get jobs and give it up at thirty-two. Jake has no interest in anything but baseball. We can be in the middle of a conversation and something about baseball will come on the TV or radio and he completely forgets I’m there.”
She stopped, petted Digger, who walked across the counter to me and reached down to get Chili who jumped to try to get her to pick her up. “Do you want to fix this with Jake?”
“That’s what I’m getting too. Lately, I have been spending a lot of time with Nathan. He’s interested in everything. He gardens, cleans his own house, cooks, and can talk on any subject. I love it.”
“You love it or him?” I asked.
“That’s the difference between Jake and me. I wouldn’t let anything happen between Nathan and me so long as he’s in the picture. I don’t even know if he’s interested.”
As if on cue, Ryan came around the corner. “He is.”
The conversation came to an abrupt end. Amy’s face was beet red. Ryan smiled. “I’m sorry I horned in. One of the calls I had to make was to Nathan. There’s a family wedding next Saturday night and he wants to invite you. He’s scared to death of it. He doesn’t want to drive a wedge between you and Jake.”
Amy put one hand on each cheek. “What a mess. What I wanted to tell you was that I think I’m going to stop seeing Jake. It has nothing to do with Nathan, the distance, the dog, the lack of commonality, and of course no matter what I say, the other woman, in my opinion, is unforgivable.”
Ryan walked over to Amy and kissed her on the top of the head. “Did Nathan tell you about his high school girlfriend?”
Amy shook her head no.
“They dated all the way through high school but went their separate ways for college. Nathan saved money the entire time. He did
n’t date anyone else. He was in love. He bought her a ring he was going to give her after graduation.
“She had never hinted her feelings for him were different or that she had met someone else. When she came home they took up where they left off. To shorten this story; before he had the chance to ask her to marry him, she told him she was going to Cleveland to meet her new boyfriend’s parents before they became engaged.
“Nathan hasn’t dated much since then. He’s a super guy. He’s your age, but not date savvy. If you decide to date him, go slow. Don’t break his heart.”
He took Chili from me. “I’ll leave you two to talk. My girlfriend and I are going for a walk. Want me to take Digger along?”
“Sure, he would like that.”
I turned my attention to Amy. “What will you do?”
“After all these years; he would do something like that makes me wonder what else he has done. I don’t want to get out of one relationship and jump into another. Nathan and I are good friends. I hope he asks me to the wedding. I’d like to stay on the friendship path with him for a long while.”
I walked around the counter and hugged her. I loved her. She had been my friend and partner for years. I wanted to see her happy.
We sat and finished our wine in a comfortable silence only true friends understand. When Ryan came back with the dogs, she went home.
I got ready for bed and waited for Ryan. He had more calls to make.
His first words, when he came in the room were. “Why did Amy go home?”
“When life doesn’t go your way, home is your safe place. I hate what happened. She would’ve been fine to break up with Jake, but for him to move on without letting her know was rotten.”
He walked over and hugged me. “You won’t do that to me will you?”
“Ryan, I don’t have the time or energy to have an affair.”
I picked Chili up and put her next to me on the bed. He Ryan laid down, turned on his side toward me, put his elbow on the bed, and rested his chin on his hand. “Did they treat you badly in New Jersey?”
