Murder at the Mistletoe Ball

by J. D. Griffo

  “What publisher?” Sloan asked.

  “The one who rejected Vinny’s book,” Donna replied. “He said no one will believe that an old Italian lady with no real detective skills has the wits to solve a murder faster than the police.”

  “I’m sure your book is a fun read, Vinny, but could we please get back to my brother?” Jinx asked.

  “There’s a reflection of a car in the video, but the Newton police are having a hard time reading the license plate,” Vinny said. “Lisa, I gave them your cell phone number and instructed them to text you the moment they have any more information.”

  “Thank you, Vinny, I really appreciate that,” Lisa Marie said. “I better make sure I charged my phone. My mind’s been so scattered lately.”

  “Speaking of phones,” Alberta said. “I have an idea that might lure Sergio out of hiding.”

  “What is it, Ma?” Lisa Marie asked.

  Alberta’s proposal was the classic twist on the old if-you-can’t-beat-’em, join-’em philosophy. If Sergio and Natalie were primarily using their burner phones instead of their real cell phones to communicate, they should use burner phones as well. Instead of trying to connect with Sergio as members of his family, they would disguise themselves as people who had a better chance of ferreting him out into the open. Slowly, the lights in the church increased their intensity until they were back to their usual bright glimmer. Alberta wasn’t sure if it meant God approved of her plan, but at least Sloan and the rest of the group did.

  “That’s a clever idea, Berta,” Sloan said. “When did you come up with that?”

  “During Father Sal’s sermon,” Alberta said. “He reminded me of something, È meglio dare che ricevere, it’s better to give than to receive. If it works for gifts, it should work for cell phone calls.”

  “We give Sergio a call on his real cell phone instead of waiting to receive one from him,” Helen said.

  “As bait, we can use the information Joyce and I learned from Rudy,” Alberta said. “Which should make him more agreeable to respond.”

  “What part of our conversation with Rudy do you plan to use?” Joyce asked.

  “He said Natalie doesn’t like his new girlfriend, J. J.,” Alberta said. “What if we texted Sergio from a burner phone as J. J. and told him that she needs to get in touch with Natalie?”

  “If Natalie doesn’t like this J. J., wouldn’t she just blow off the call?” Freddy asked.

  “Not if we said it has to do with the business she’s involved in with Rudy,” Alberta said. “We need to make it sound as if J. J. is on the verge of jeopardizing Natalie’s job.”

  “Whatever that job might be,” Lisa Marie said.

  “I think it’s brilliant, Gram,” Jinx said. “The only thing to add is that J. J. wants to meet Natalie at a particular place. Maybe Tranquility Park?”

  “That’s a good idea, Jinx,” Joyce said. “It’s a public space, so they won’t feel like they’re being trapped in a corner.”

  “We can have undercover cops on all the entrances in case they try to run once they know it’s a setup,” Vinny said.

  “They’ll be unarmed, right?” Lisa Marie asked. “My son may not be thrilled to see us, but he isn’t a criminal.”

  “Yes, I’ll instruct my team not to carry,” Vinny said.

  “Mrs. Scaglione?” Tambra said. “Are you certain Sergio is going to show up at all? If the request is to meet with Natalie, he might stay put, wherever he is.”

  “My grandson is in love with this girl,” Alberta replied. “If Rudy wasn’t exaggerating and this J. J. could be dangerous, Sergio will never let Natalie meet up with her alone.”

  “She’s right,” Lisa Marie said. “My son takes after his father, he’s an old-fashioned gentleman.”

  “Sounds like a solid plan to me, Alfie,” Vinny said. “Let’s get the burner phones, make contact with Sergio, lure them to the park, and then reveal that we’re the ones who sent the text and not J. J.”

  “Then I’ll kill Natalie,” Lisa Marie declared.

  “Ma! You’re not going to kill anyone,” Jinx said.

  “After what she’s put us through, she’s lucky if that’s all I do to her,” Lisa Marie said.

  “You’re not going to kill anyone, but Sergio might want to kill us,” Helen said. “You know you run the risk of angering Sergio if you trick him.”

  “I do know that, but it’s a chance we have to take,” Alberta said. “Are we all ready to do this?”

  “Do what?” Tommy asked as he rejoined the group.

  “Get our son back,” Lisa Marie declared.

  * * *

  Alberta had no idea burner phones were so readily available that they could be bought at corner bodegas or department stores like Walmart and Target. She, like many of the others, thought they were illegal or hard to find and would have to be bought in some complicated way that involved a cash-only transaction with a shady character wearing a trench coat on a shadowy street. Clearly, she had been watching too many noir films on TMC starring Humphrey Bogart and a string of femme fatales played by unknown MGM contract players. In the end it only took one trip to the Tranquility General Store to purchase the phone, along with several rolls of the Reed’s Butterscotch hard candy Helen loved so much. The teenaged boy at the cash register was more surprised that someone purchased the candy than the phone.

  Now that phase one of their plan was completed, it was on to phase two, which would be conducted at a booth at the Tranquility Diner. Kwon greeted them at the door and led them to a booth next to one of the windows. The place was packed with both the after-church and late-Sunday-morning-riser crowds, Dean Martin’s mellow croon was circulating through the air commanding nature to let it snow, and from the kitchen could be heard the loud clanging of china plates, silverware, and metal trays as the waitresses and the two short-order cooks did their jobs. The joint was jumping in multiple directions and would distract anyone from thinking Alberta and company were doing anything more in their booth than having Sunday brunch.

  It was a tight squeeze, but they all managed to fit into the large booth. Alberta, Sloan, and Helen on one side, Lisa Marie, Tommy, and Jinx on the other and Freddy and Joyce sitting on chairs Kwon brought over that were placed at the side of the booth. Vinny and Tambra had gone back to the police station and waited for the signal to assemble a team at the park’s entrances and exits. They quickly ordered coffee and food for the table to thwart any suspicion that would be cast their way if they hogged up a table just to fiddle with a phone.

  They engaged in innocuous conversation about the Mistletoe Ball and the weather while Alberta surreptitiously removed the burner phone from its plastic packaging. She finished just as Kwon reappeared with a tray of cups and a pot of coffee. He was so busy he didn’t even notice.

  “I see that business is booming, Kwon,” Joyce said.

  “You can say that again,” he replied. “I’m the owner, one of the chefs, and now a part-time waitress. Not that I’m complaining, I’m living my dream.”

  Alberta raised her coffee cup in the air and the others joined in, “Salud!”

  Snow was beginning to fall outside and the blinking lights on the window made it appear as if they were watching flames dance in a fireplace. They were comfy, cozy, and ready to connect with Lisa Marie’s long-lost son. If only Alberta could find the words.

  She had punched in Sergio’s cell phone number, but when she went to type a message, she stalled. What should she say? Or rather, what would J. J. say?

  “What would a possibly dangerous woman in her twenties text a young man as a warning to her rival?” Alberta asked.

  Since the only woman in her twenties at the table was Jinx, she reached over to grab the phone from Alberta and started to compose a text.

  “What’re you saying to him, Jinxie?” Helen asked.

  Jinx held up the phone, and they all squinted and huddled together to read the text. Hey, it’s JJ, she with you?

  “That’s straig
ht and to the point,” Lisa Marie said.

  “J. J. sounds like a woman who doesn’t mince words,” Jinx said.

  “Neither does Sergio!” Alberta exclaimed. “He replied.”

  His one-word answer of Yes confirmed several things. He knew who J. J. was, he knew who J. J. was asking about, and you know who was very close by.

  “Jinx, tell him J. J. needs to see Natalie ASAP,” Lisa Marie said.

  “I got it, Ma,” Jinx replied as she typed another message.

  She hit the Send button and read the message out loud. “I need to see her now.”

  “Nice going, dude,” Freddy said. “She put the word now in all caps to make it sound urgent.”

  The phone pinged and the group let out a shriek. Their excitement waned a bit when they read Sergio’s succinct response. Why?

  Everyone started to offer suggestions on how to respond, knowing that the next text was crucial to the success of their plan. It had to be threatening, decisive, and, of course, it had to sound legitimate. It had to convince Natalie that her only choice would be to follow J. J.’s orders. Over the past few years Jinx had grown much more confident personally and professionally and she didn’t have to work very hard to find the right words to instill a little panic in Sergio’s paramour.

  She sent three texts in quick succession: She knows why. She screwed me. Tell her to meet me in an hour or else I talk.

  “Talk about what, lovey?” Alberta asked.

  “I have no idea, Gram, but it sounds like a threat.”

  The burner phone pinged again. “Sounds like the threat worked,” Sloan said.

  “He’s taking the bait!” Jinx screamed. “He wants to know where they should meet.” She typed out the location. Tranquility Park, under the entrance sign.

  Almost immediately, Sergio responded with a word that made them all cheer: OK.

  Kwon stood at their table with a tray filled with their food and thought their cheers were meant for him. “This town has given me such a warm reception. It’s like Christmas morning every day!”

  An hour later it felt more like a Christmas morning where they were staring at unopened packages but had not yet been given the go-ahead to open them up. Vinny was sitting on a bench near the main entrance with Tambra stationed at the exit, while undercover cops were positioned at the two side entrances on the right that ran along Tranquility Boulevard. On the left side of the park was a fence that ran the entire length and was covered by clusters of bushes and trees. None of the officers were armed, but they were equipped with earbuds that were actually two-way radios so they could be in constant contact.

  Alberta, Helen, Joyce, Lisa Marie, and Tommy were sitting in Joyce’s Mercedes in a parking lot across the street because they didn’t want to risk Sergio seeing them before he entered the park. Freddy and Sloan, neither of whom Sergio would recognize, were standing near the black metal archway that was the entrance to Tranquility Park and close to where Vinny was sitting. They were engaged in a faux conversation while Vinny was pretending to be engrossed in a paperback. The only wild card in the scenario was Jinx. Sergio would, of course, immediately recognize his sister, but Natalie thought she was meeting a young woman and Jinx was the only young woman in their group. The problem was, Jinx was supposed to be J. J. and they had no idea what J. J. looked like.

  The only solution was to slightly change Jinx’s appearance to make her appear like someone who was deliberately trying to look incognito in the hopes that it would fool Natalie and Sergio long enough for the others to gather around and prevent them from escaping. Jinx wore a pair of oversized sunglasses, one of Helen’s black overcoats, and pinned her hair up to bob length instead of letting it fall down her back as she usually did. She topped off the look with a baseball cap that sported the logo of Freddy’s Ski ’n Scuba Shoppe. When she used the mirror app on her phone to check herself out, she was pleased with what she saw. Her brother wouldn’t immediately know it was the girl he grew up with, which would give them a chance to pry him away from the girl he had grown very close to.

  Jinx entered the park, ignoring Freddy and Sloan to her right, and sat on the far end of the bench Vinny was occupying. The park was in the process of being turned into the Winter Wonderland in a few weeks, which meant the usual immense, flat landscape was filled with materials that would build stands and tents to transform the park into a holiday playground. Too anxious to remain seated, Jinx got up and immediately saw Sergio and a woman walking toward her from the opposite side of the park. She instinctively looked down at the ground to prevent Sergio from getting a clear view of her face until he got closer, but Natalie, acting her role as She Who Pulls the Strings, had other ideas.

  “J. J., is that you?” Natalie called out.

  Jinx hesitated for as long as she dared, hoping that Sergio and Natalie continued to walk closer to her during her silence, but the time had come for her to reveal herself. As convincing as she hoped her outfit might be, they saw right through it immediately.

  “Jinx!” Sergio cried. “You set me up!”

  Natalie didn’t wait to hear another word; she didn’t need an explanation, she knew exactly what was happening, and she wasn’t going to stand around for the scene to play out around her. She was writing her own ending to this particular story, and it didn’t involve meeting her boyfriend’s family.

  Like lightning, Natalie turned and ran back from where she came from. When she saw Vinny run toward her from the right, she ran through the bushes on her left, momentarily disappeared from view, only to appear again as she climbed the fence. Just as Vinny rammed his large frame through the bushes in pursuit, Natalie leaped over the top railing and raced toward freedom. Vinny jumped onto the fence but struggled to get a good enough foothold to hoist himself over with the same ease and agility Natalie displayed. Knowing when to accept defeat, he called Tambra on his radio.

  “Natalie escaped over the fence,” Vinny said. “She’s on your right.”

  Tambra responded with only two words: “On it.”

  While Natalie was on the run, Sergio hadn’t had a chance to move.

  As quickly as Natalie fled, Jinx lunged forward and grabbed Sergio’s arm, joined seconds later by Freddy, who threw his arms around him in a bear hug. It was not the way Jinx had hoped to introduce her brother to her boyfriend, but she was glad that Freddy was three inches taller and several inches wider than Sergio. Natalie may have given them the slip, but her brother wasn’t going anywhere.

  “Let go of me!” Sergio screamed, wiggling in Freddy’s arms.

  “Shut up, Serge!” Jinx screamed back. “That’s my boyfriend and he does what I tell him to do!”

  “That’s right, dude,” Freddy said. “My orders are not to let you go until you explain what you’ve gotten yourself in to.”

  “It’s none of your business!” Sergio cried.

  “Well, it sure as hell is my business!”

  When Sergio saw his father standing in front of him, chest heaving, fists clenched, a mixture of fear and relief etched into his face, an inkling of what he had put his family through must have started to formulate in his mind because his body went limp in Freddy’s arms.

  “Sergio!” Lisa Marie screamed. “Thank God you’re all right.”

  Alberta watched her daughter do what any mother in her position would have done. She ran up to her son and hugged him tighter than Freddy had. Her sobs could be heard, provoking curious stares from bystanders, but Alberta knew Lisa Marie didn’t care. She had found her son and that was all that mattered.

  Lisa Marie released her grip and allowed Tommy to embrace their son. From the way his shoulders were rising up and down, Alberta could tell he was crying too. It broke her heart to see such love in a family and still know that Sergio would make a youthful, dumb decision to throw it all away. He was getting ready to follow that up with another dumb decision.

  When he saw Jinx move toward him, he backed away. “I can’t believe you did this to me!”

  “Yo
u didn’t leave us any choice!” Jinx yelled.

  “Don’t you see you’ve ruined everything!” Sergio cried.

  “Don’t yell at your sister!” Tommy yelled. “We’re trying to help you.”

  “I don’t need your help!” Sergio screamed. “All I need is Natalie!”

  “She’s gone!” Lisa Marie cried. “Your family is right here.”

  “I don’t want you, don’t you get it? I want Natalie!”

  Alberta kissed the gold crucifix that hung from her neck and made the sign of the cross. So much for thinking her plan was foolproof. Instead of reuniting her family like she had hoped, the plan she’d devised seemed to be doing just the opposite—it was tearing them apart all over again.

  CHAPTER 11

  Come figlia, come figlio.

  Even though the wayward son had come home in time for Christmas, there wasn’t much joy in the Ferraras’ world. They had found Sergio, safe and unharmed, and that should have been reason enough to haul out the holly, fill up the stockings, and have a grand celebration. There was only one problem: Sergio hadn’t wanted to be found.

  After the incident in Tranquility Park, it took quite a bit of begging and pleading to prevent Sergio from hopping the fence to go running after Natalie. He wouldn’t speak with Jinx or Lisa Marie and all he did when Alberta tried to talk to him was bad-mouth his family. It was only when Tommy had a private conversation with his son that Sergio agreed to come back to Alberta’s house.

  It was decided that only the immediate family would return to Alberta’s, to allow the family some privacy while they sorted out their differences. Alberta told everyone that she’d call them when the coast was clear. However, for the moment, the air was filled with strife and Sergio’s voice was filled with anger. As much as he loved his grandmother’s food, he didn’t want to be seated at her kitchen table, he wanted to be with Natalie, and he made that very clear.

  “You know I’m just going to find out where Natalie is and go back to her,” Sergio said, shoveling a forkful of Alberta’s lasagna into his mouth. “If she’ll have me after what you people did.”