by Mary Leo
“I think it’s Bruna, Alessandra’s sister,” I told them.
“Okay,” Lisa said. “At least we have a suspect. Why do you think it’s Bruna? What possible reason could she have to try to kill Giuseppe and then to kill Angelina, and then hang her in a tree?”
“Well, I don’t actually know if she did all three of those things, but I do know that she broke into my apartment and tried to asphyxiate us with gas,” I said. “At least I think it was her.”
“How?” Jade asked as we made our way to my apartment using our flashlights on our phones to guide us on the path.
“Remember last night at the party, when I thought the hoodie on the back of the chair was mine? Well, it wasn’t mine, and the pockets had been stuffed with muffins, my muffins. I know this because I tasted the crumbs that were stuck to my fingers. And today, at the tree unveiling, Bruna was wearing that same hoodie.”
“Okay, but how do you know it’s the same one from last night?”
“Because it had the golden stripe on the hood.”
“Good, so it’s the muffin hoodie, but that still doesn’t mean she’s responsible for the other stuff,” Lisa said.
“And if she is, how are we going to prove it?”
“I don’t know that yet. Maybe another intervention, like we did with Uncle Fernando. That got him to talk.”
“Like, he only talked because he thought he killed you, and you confronted him with the facts,” Jade said, as she tripped on a fallen branch, and I caught her before she went down.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Yeah. I hate walking back from these meetings,” Jade said. “Why can’t the family just pave this path or at least keep it clear?”
“I think they like to think it’s more secret this way,” I said.
“Until one of us falls to our death,” Jade argued.
“Don’t even think that. We’ve already reached our quota.”
“Not quite yet. If you can get Bruna to try to kill you again, and you live to tell, we might be able to trap her,” Lisa said as we approached her parked car.
“You can’t be serious,” I said, staring at her under the lights that shone down on the small gravel parking area in front of my mom’s house.
“Okay, maybe that’s not a good idea, but it’s all I’ve got at the moment.”
“How about we sleep on it? Like, maybe we’ll have an idea in the morning,” Jade said.
“Good idea,” I told her then we all hugged and said our good-byes, promising to discuss this tomorrow. Right now all any of us wanted was sleep.
I decided to think about catching Bruna tomorrow, after my hair appointment. There was something about having someone fuss with my hair that calmed me, and boy, did I ever need calming.
Normally, Gianna wouldn’t have been able to fit me in with only a day’s notice, but she confessed to having had several cancellations due to the public hanging. And besides, the orchard would be closed until further notice or at least for most of the next day.
But who the heck would want to taste oil or walk around our orchard after what happened today? The whole thing made me ill.
Once Lisa and Jade drove off, I decided to stop in at my mom’s before I went up to my apartment to make sure she was all right. But when I heard happy accordion music coming from her kitchen, I knew she was fine. Instead, I headed for the familiar comfort of my apartment.
As I came closer, I could see Giuseppe sitting on the bottom step, waiting for me. The glow from the garage lights cast shadows across his face and body. He even looked good in shadow light.
I sighed just gazing at him.
As soon as he spotted me, he stood, a great big grin spreading across his face. “Ah, Mia, I wait, hoping you would come.”
“I live here. Nowhere else for me to go.” I really wasn’t in the mood to talk to him right now.
“But you have many places you can go. Still, you come home.”
He was right. I could have gone over to Leo’s and spent the night captivated in his bed, but for some inexplicable reason, I hadn’t.
“I have a lot on my mind, Giuseppe and I’m really tired. Maybe we can talk tomorrow.”
“I am here to protect you and help you solve Angelina’s murder. That is what your family has decided.”
“Well, we can’t do any murder solving tonight.”
“But I can protect you.”
Not that I didn’t like having him around . . . truth be told, I liked having him around a little too much. I had to set my sights on Leo now, not Giuseppe.
“I don’t want to sound unappreciative of your services, but so far I’ve saved your ass twice. I think I can take care of myself, but thanks for the offer.”
“Those were unfortunate circumstances. I am much more prepared now.”
“That may be true, but no one is going to come after me tonight. Everyone’s too tired for more killing. Let’s pick this up tomorrow. Besides, I think there’s a secret security force lurking in the shadows protecting me. So, thanks but no thanks.”
He shrugged, and that’s when I noticed the fresh blood saturating his shirt from his shoulder. “You’re bleeding!”
He felt his shoulder and winced. “It is nothing.”
“It’s not nothing. Come on upstairs and we’ll get it to stop. I think I still have some extra gauge to change your bandages.”
Against my better judgment, I led him up to my apartment turning on every light in the place once we entered. Even though he was bleeding, I didn’t want him thinking this could lead to anything other than bandage control.
“I’ll get the bandages, you lie down and take off your clothes . . . I mean shirt. Take off your shirt.”
Wait. Did I just tell the Italian stallion to take off his clothes? That proved that I couldn’t be alone with him. My subconscious had a mind of its own.
“To take off my clothes would be better.”
“For you, but most definitely not for me. Just take off your shirt, please. Leave everything else on. You can also take off your shoes. That might be more comfortable for you.”
The man drove me crazy, and not in a good way, more in a bad-girl way, a very bad-girl way.
I pushed all sexual thoughts out of my head and instead focused on collecting everything I thought I would need, even though I had absolutely no idea how to re-bandage anything, let alone a gunshot wound, but I figured I could copy what had already been done. I shoved everything I thought I would need, including a bottle of extra virgin olive oil, into an empty basket I kept in the closet near the bathroom and brought it all into my main room.
I headed straight for my sofa, but he wasn’t there.
“I’m over here,” he said in a low voice. “When you say to lay down, I think you mean in bed, but if you want me to get up . . .” He tried to slide off the bed, but when he did, he staggered backwards.
“No. Don’t do that. The bed is fine.”
I helped him to lie back down again, but this time I came too close when my arm ended up under his shoulder. My lips were only inches from his and all I could do was imagine what it might feel like to press my lips against his. I wanted to taste him in the worst way. Experience his kisses more than I’ve ever wanted to kiss anyone in my life, even Leo.
I so needed to talk to my shrink. This was getting serious. The thought of his lips on mine, his tongue touching mine, sent a bolt of heat rushing through me. As I quickly forced myself under control, I slid my arm out and stood. He smirked and pushed himself up on the bedframe, leaning his strong, naked back against it.
Except for the bleeding gunshot wound, he looked way too good in the dim light.
Wait. What happened to all my lights? He’d turned off my overhead lighting, my kitchen light, the lamp on my table, the lamp next to my sofa, and all that was left was the dim light from my nightstand. Hardly enough light to avoid a sexual encounter with a tantalizing gangster.
“You want us to kiss. I can tell,” he teased, touching my f
ingers. I pulled my hand away.
“Don’t be ridiculous!” I said, not really denying what had happened.
“We should kiss if we are to be married.”
I stopped unloading the basket, and stared directly into those fabulous eyes of his. “We are not getting married. I’ve seen what happens to your fiancées and believe me, it’s not what I had in mind for an engagement.”
“I have told you, my engagement to Angelina was a necessary story.”
“What do you mean by a necessary story? How?”
I carefully cut off the old bandage, and realized I needed water to rinse the wound and the surrounding area. He was still oozing blood, but I didn’t see any infection.
“Angelina was trying to protect me, but I believe she made someone she was not suspecting very angry and that person killed her. I am sad and angry about what happened to Angelina. She did not deserve such a terrible death, and then to be hung in an olive tree . . . I wish that the killer’s brain would grow worms.”
I tried to let that vision go as I grabbed a large metal bowl from a cabinet in the kitchen, filled it with warm water from the sink, swiped a couple clean washcloths, and returned to the bed.
“You promised me that everything would be taken care of. If hanging Angelina from a tree branch is how you take care of things, you should be shot . . . oh wait, somebody already did that.”
His face soured. “You think I hung beautiful Angelina in the olive tree? Is that what you believe?”
Up until that moment, the possibility hadn’t really entered my head, but now that he mentioned it . . .
“Why not? You told me you had repositioned her. Little did I know you’d repositioned her to an ancient tree . . . one of my father’s and your Nonna’s ancient trees. How could you? This could ruin my family, the family you claim you want to join.”
I didn’t want to touch him. Truth be told, I was suddenly afraid of him. If what I’d just said was true, he could easily turn on me. I could end up hanging from the other ancient tree.
Bookends!
I took a couple steps back from the bed, and considered my options.
His demeanor softened. “Cara mia, I no hang Angelina from the tree. This would never be something I could do. Yes, I move her, but not to the trees. I believe some stronzo from the party last night did this terrible thing. It was not me. I can only say that she was moved close to the party, but believe me, it was not in the trees. I swear on my papa’s grave. I did not do this terrible thing.” He looked up to heaven and made the sign of the cross. “I thought I would be shipping her back to Italy today, but instead she is in a cold morgue. I now do not know if she will ever be allowed to return to her home. It is a shame, and someone will pay. This you can be sure of.”
He sounded sincere, and usually when one of these Wise Guys swore on a dead parent, they were telling the truth . . . most of the time. Still, I needed to hear his reaction to my suspicions.
“Who else knew her location”
“This I can not say, but I do not believe it was anyone who helped to move her. Where we put her, the room was broken into. It is unfortunate.”
“Very. Would it change your mind about her if I told you that I think Angelina shot you?”
He leaned back and chuckled softly. “That is impossible,” he said, but he didn’t sound very convincing. It sounded almost as if he was making it up for my benefit. I decided to press him on the subject.
“Then how do you explain the ruby I found on the ground a few feet away from where we found you? It’s from her necklace. The one she was wearing when I met her, the ruby necklace.”
I moved in closer and began to clean the wound. The bleeding had stopped on its own, probably from lying down.
“Do you have this ruby?”
“Yes, but I’m certainly not going to give it to you. I’m still looking into all of this. Something isn’t right.” I rinsed out the blood from the cloth turning the water a bright red. Then I gently wiped his shoulder again, making sure all the blood was now cleaned away. “You need to take it easy so this can heal. You need to rest.”
He grinned. “Now is not the time for rest. When we find Angelina’s killer, then I can rest. Tell me more about this ruby you found.”
“It was missing from her necklace.”
“How do you know this for certain?”
“Because when she and Mariateresa were here, I noticed that a stone was missing from her ruby necklace, but I don’t think she knew or she wouldn’t have worn the necklace. The missing stone left an empty space on the side. It could be easily missed if you weren’t looking for it. No woman would knowingly wear a flawed necklace like that. She didn’t know the stone was missing.”
“And did the stone that you found come from this necklace?”
“The ruby necklace wasn’t in her room. The killer must have taken it.”
“So, how could you be sure this ruby was from her necklace? Maybe someone else, they dropped it.”
The thought had passed through my mind, but what were the odds?
“It has to be from her necklace. Where else could it have come from? Besides, whoever hung her from that tree must have stolen the necklace from her room before or after she was dead, and then put it around her neck when they hung her in the tree. She wasn’t wearing it when we found her in her room.” Then a possible connection occurred to me. “Do you know where she got that necklace or if she wore it a lot?”
He hesitated for a moment, then took my hand in his to stop me from cleaning his wound. I sat down on the bed next to him and stared into those beautiful eyes of his.
“Mia, you should know the truth about Angelina. She came here, to this orchard, with your papa. Once I decided to stay in this country and to leave the business, there were people in Italia who did not want this to happen. Your papa, he heard that I am a target. Angelina, she was your papa’s bodyguard, but she wanted to protect me, to help me. She did not shoot me, because we meet on that road that day: your papa, Angelina and me. I give your papa his ring, and he told me of the danger. He agreed to allow her to play like my fiancée, so she could protect me. She said she thought the person who would try to kill me was a woman, the same woman who had tried to kill me in Italia. She did not say who this woman was, because there were three women she suspected. That is when someone shot me, when she told me this information. Angelina, she right away took your papa away just in case whoever tried to kill me, would shoot your papa next. Our meeting ended, and then you found me. She was tricked, caught off-guard and killed with the Freon. I did not want her to do any of this, but she would not allow me to talk her out of it. She said she owed this loyalty to me, but I did not want her to do this. And now she is dead.”
He suddenly looked truly sorry about Angelina’s death. Either he was the best actor in the Italian mob or he was expressing genuine emotions over Angelina’s demise.
It was a lot of information for me to take in at once.
“Is my father still here?”
“I can not tell you the truth in case you must answer more questions for the polizia.”
“Fine, but I have my suspicions,” I told him, certain that my father was still around.
“Angelina had a pretty strong loyalty. What did you do for her? Save her life? Kill someone?”
As soon as I asked the question I knew I didn’t want to know the answer.
“Her husband was a dirty merda, and deserved to die for how he treated her. Let’s just say I convinced him to stop. That was awhile ago. Then when she heard about someone wanting to kill me, she begged your papa to be the one to help shield me, and so they come.”
“Could her husband have killed her?”
“Her husband is”--he shrugged and shook his head--“no longer a threat. When she heard he was gone for good, she spent some of the Euros he had hidden in their house on that necklace. She called it her collana di libertà, her freedom necklace.”
I was beginning to like Angelina, and
I felt sorry she’d been murdered.
“So, whoever killed Angelina knew the significance of her ruby necklace. That’s why it wasn’t in her room. They took it, but then for some reason, decided to put it back on her when they hung her. This proves that not only was this hanging done by a woman, but that necklace also had some significance to Angelina’s killer, but what?”
“I do not know the answer to this question.”
“What about her husband’s parents? Or siblings. How did they react to his . . . disappearance?”
“Carmen, Angelina’s husband, did not have any siblings in Italia, and his mother, she lives in Spain. Carmen liked the woman, you know? A little too much.”
“He cheated on Angelina?”
“Many times, but this was not the problem. He was not a good man and he could not control his temper. There were many times when Angelina was in the hospital from his temper, you know?”
“So, this Carmen guy not only cheated on her, but he beat her.”
“He was not civilized. He was an animal.”
My stomach was beginning to churn and my anger bubbled up in my throat. I had no idea why any woman would be attracted to that type of a man, but they were, and Angelina was one of them . . . and now she was dead.
“I understand, but I don’t think I want to know anymore details about her husband.”
“Good, because I do not want to tell you anymore about him.”
I pressed a bit too hard with my washcloth and he squirmed under my touch. I tried to be careful, but I could tell his wound was still sore, and the whole Angelina story was getting to me. “I think you should put your arm in a sling. I have one if you want it.”
“I have one. Ray gave it to me, but I can not work with only one arm. It is too difficult. Not that I can do much with this shoulder, but at least I can pick up light things and not be, how you say . . . hampered?”
“Yes. That’s the word. Okay. So what’s your theory about who killed Angelina?”
“Whoever shot me, is also Angelina’s killer. Now I am sure of this.”
I had to know his reasoning. “Why?”
“I think that person might have been after Angelina all along, and I just got in the way. The bullet, it was meant for Angelina. Now I am sure.”
