Boiling Over

by Thea McAlistair

  Kelly turned nearly as red as his hair as he sputtered something about how he was doing his job, but now had other things to do and “Thankyouverymuchforyourtime.” As he scrambled away, a smug smile spread across Judith’s face.

  “Sorry about that,” she said. “He’s gotten a big head since he joined the force.” She nodded at Sev. “And I’m afraid he doesn’t like foreigners much.”

  “I’ve lived here since I was nine,” Sev snapped. “I have citizenship and everything.”

  “That won’t matter much to Bobby. You only have to look the part.” She peeked at his back and lowered her voice. “I would avoid him as best you can.”

  Amazing how I’d found a cop even shadier than Harlow. Maybe I needed to carry rabbit’s feet and clovers to counteract this string of bad luck. “Thanks for the warning,” I said. “It’s decent of you.”

  “Mmm. It might be the only decent thing you’ll get out of anyone around here. I hear you’re from the city, so I’ll remind you small towns are different. Everyone knows everyone else’s business, and they aren’t particularly forgiving.”

  She stepped away without a goodbye and averted her eyes like somehow even looking at us was social poison. Maybe it was. Another glance at the search party showed a good number of them were whispering to one another and casting suspicious looks at us. Well, if they didn’t want anything to do with us, so much the better. I didn’t need annoying neighbors poking around.

  “So, can we go, officer?” I called.

  Kelly spun and glared. “Yes, but don’t go leaving town.”

  Sev and I started back toward the house, following the road. Once I was sure no one else could hear me, I let my rage loose. “I swear to God,” I roared, “if I have to deal with one more cop who has it out for me, I’ll—”

  Sev laid a hand on my arm. “You will talk to him calmly and honestly. There is nothing to implicate either of us, and getting angry is only going to get us into trouble. And we cannot afford more trouble.”

  “We can’t just sit and take it either.”

  He sighed but didn’t say anything else. His silence grated on me. Clearly, he wanted to make an argument, but what could he say? That it was better to allow ourselves to be bullied by some small-town sheriff with a crooked moral compass?

  Breathe. Donnie had always told me to breathe before I made any rash choices. Frustration had me spoiling for a fight and didn’t care if my anger aimed at the right person or not, and Sev was definitely not the right target. He was one of the few nice things I had. In fact, he was the best thing by far, and the last thing I wanted to do was hurt him. So, I clamped my mouth shut and followed him home in silence.

  To my fury and astonishment, when we got there, Daisy was sitting on the porch licking a paw. She didn’t even look dirty. Most likely she had run, seen how terrible it was out there, and doubled back immediately. A stream of curses bold enough to make a sailor proud escaped my lips. Daisy stopped grooming and stared.

  “Don’t move,” Sev whispered. He inched up the stairs making kissing noises and coaxing her in Italian. Daisy watched him, tail flipping. Then she stood and arched into a stretch. I braced, ready for her to fly down the stairs again. Instead, she rubbed her head against Sev’s outstretched hand.

  “Seriously?” I growled.

  “Hush.” Sev scratched her behind an ear. “Che bella gattina, che dolce. Vorrei entrare? Si? Bene.” In one motion, he scooped her up. She meowed in surprise but didn’t struggle as he carried her to the door.

  I’d never unlocked a door so fast in my life. We tumbled in, cat still clutched in Sev’s arms. I slammed the door shut and bolted it, only to remember a second later that cats couldn’t pull doorknobs. Sev released Daisy, and she skittered across the tile floor. Pearl, most likely having heard the commotion from the kitchen, ran in.

  “Daisy!” she exclaimed as the cat streaked past her. “Thank you,” she called over her shoulder as she turned to give chase.

  I sighed and slumped against the counter, dropping the cage onto the floor with a clatter. “Well at least that’s over with.”

  Sev didn’t answer. Instead, he stood frozen, staring at the hall. Confused, I followed his gaze. Bella stood in the doorway to the foyer, a look of amusement on her face. Oh Christ, no. Anyone but her.

  “How nice to see you boys,” she said. “And so soon.”

  “I told Pearl not to open the door to anyone,” I mumbled, mostly to assure myself I had actually said it.

  “I’m not just anyone, am I?”

  She stepped into the kitchen, her shoes clacking. She was still in black, of course—her husband had been murdered about ten days ago—but somehow, she made even the sack of a mourning dress she wore look regal. The rosary made of simple ceramic beads wrapped across her hand glinted and glimmered like a bracelet made of pale sapphires. The Queen of Sin indeed.

  “Aren’t you going to offer me anything to drink?” she continued. “Really, Severo, I know you know better than to mistreat company. Vorrei un cafe.”

  Her words seemed to snap him out of his shock. “Abbiamo solamente te.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Fine, tea.”

  He dove for the kettle, muttering what sounded like apologies in Italian. I, on the other hand, wasn’t about to be intimidated.

  “What are you doing here?” I demanded.

  She raised her face to me, and her eyes met mine. They were coal black, unreadable. After a few seconds of silence, she turned away and took a seat at the table. Her silence made me twitchy. I assumed that was the point. I peeked back into the hall, expecting to see at least one bodyguard. No one.

  “Kind of rude to make your guard wait outside, don’t you think?” I said.

  She hesitated before she said, “I came alone.”

  Sev stopped fumbling with a rose-patterned tea set he’d apparently found somewhere in the cabinets. “What?”

  I might not have found her solitude odd except for his surprise. I had seen Bella without guards before, at the Ostia and at the warehouse gambling den. But those had been places she owned where she was surrounded by dozens of people. Just because I hadn’t noticed any guards didn’t mean she hadn’t had any nearby.

  “Then how’d you get here?” I asked.

  She gave me a perplexed look. “I drove here, same as you.”

  Oh. I had always made the assumption she had a chauffeur. She had enough money for one. Learning that she could be mobile on her own was like learning that cockroaches could technically fly: horrifying and yet not terribly unexpected.

  “Bella.” Sev took a step forward. “Ch’é il problema?”

  She twisted her wedding ring, the only piece of jewelry left of the treasure chest she had worn when I first met her. “Romero divulged our hiding place, and then I had to take you from Boston.” I nodded, understanding her fear and frustration. One of her personal bodyguards had told Logan where to find her, resulting in her husband’s death, and only a week later, she had been betrayed again. She continued, “And now you say Walter Trask is missing—”

  “He’s dead,” I said. “They found his body. Or actually, Sev found his body maybe an hour ago.”

  Bella’s eyes widened. Otherwise, she managed to maintain her composure. “Then I am glad I decided to come here and not go back to Westwick this morning.”

  “You’re glad to be somewhere where they murdered one of your men?”

  She shrugged. “It’s quieter here. And for all his faults, Severo has always been very good to me. He would not betray me. And I know I have nothing to fear from you.”

  The shriek of the kettle made me flinch, and I ducked away to shut it off, hoping she didn’t see the flush in my cheeks. She wasn’t wrong about me being useless and cowardly. I hadn’t even been able to defend myself from Emma when I had a loaded gun in my hand. I glanced at Sev. He had gone pale again, maybe even paler than when he found Trask. I looked away. If both he and Bella were frightened, things were very bad.

 
“So, your plan is to hide?” I said as I poured water into the teapot.

  “I am not hiding,” Bella snapped.

  “Well, you ran away, at least. Great way to show how powerful you are.”

  Bella’s eyes narrowed, and she turned to Sev and asked him something in Italian. I glared at him.

  “She asked if you are always this sarcastic,” he said.

  “I’m just saying, I don’t know how you coming here helps anything besides putting me and Sev in the line of fire again. Pearl too.”

  At Pearl’s name, Bella recoiled like I’d smacked her across the face. “I wouldn’t dare put her in danger!”

  “What do you think you’re doing by coming here when you’re afraid for your life?”

  “Not my life,” she replied. “Not yet, at least.”

  “Fine, business. Or whatever you call your little setup.”

  She shrugged, her eyes cast into her lap, fingers worrying the rosary beads.

  Sev regarded her for a moment before glancing at me. He had an expression a kid might have when asking a parent if he could keep a stray cat he found. Before I could protest, he turned back to Bella with a gentle smile. “Of course, we would love to host you while you have a small break. We have the house for the summer, after all.”

  “Grazie.” She lowered her head by way of acknowledgment. “Now,” she gestured at the teapot in my hands. “Offer your guest a drink.”

  Chapter Five

  Somehow, I survived about ten minutes of that bizarre tea party in my dazed state before I had to go out to smoke. I went to the front porch, intent on putting as much distance between Bella and myself as possible. I was still reminded of her though. Beside our borrowed ten-year-old Oldsmobile was a shiny new Model B Ford. Huh. I’d almost expected a gilded carriage from her.

  “Alex?”

  I turned to see Sev slipping out the door, his own cigarettes in hand. I exhaled, and the smoke hung as a cloud in the humid air. “Are you insane?” I hissed. “Inviting Bella Bellissima to stay with us?”

  “She’s alone and scared—”

  “All the more reason she shouldn’t be here! I don’t want to be part of anything she’s afraid of.”

  He sighed and leaned on the railing. “We owe her.”

  “No, we don’t. She can’t even keep us safe for more than a week. And don’t start telling me about family honor or something because she’s the reason you were stuck in that life. Like prison, you said yesterday.”

  “I know what I said.” He huffed smoke out through his nose. “It’s more complicated than that.”

  I opened my mouth to retort and found nothing. For half a second, he looked angry, but the expression melted away as he reached over and ran his hand down my arm. “I’m sorry, caro. It’s too hard to explain now. Maybe later.”

  I nodded, even though I wanted to know right then. “Okay, later.” I leaned in to kiss him and got a mouthful of smoke with the sour aftertaste of stale vomit. I struggled not to grimace.

  A car coming up the hill caught my eye—and not just any car—a police car. It was a boxy, black-and-white thing with a yellow star painted on the side. I watched it carefully, and soon my suspicions were confirmed when it pulled up in front of the house. Kelly popped out of the driver’s door, and a second cop slipped out of the other. The new officer didn’t look like much, wider than average with dueling bald spots, one in the front and one in the back. I grunted and tossed my cigarette onto the ground as they approached.

  “You said we could go,” I said.

  “And I said I might have questions for you,” Kelly answered as he mounted the stairs.

  “No, you said not to leave town.” I spread my arms. “And here we remain.”

  Sev kicked the back of my heel as a warning. “How can we help, officer?”

  Kelly moved toward the door. “Maybe we should take this inside, so we don’t give the neighbors something to gossip about.”

  Sev’s shoulders tensed up, and he glanced at me. I tilted my head slightly and hoped he understood that as a definite no. Refusing might look suspicious, but once we were out of the public eye, they could do anything they wanted, from planting evidence to outright killing us. The second officer, in particular, seemed to be a bit trigger-happy; his hand hadn’t left his sidearm since getting out of the car.

  “I’m afraid my daughter is resting inside,” Sev said. “The heat has been too much, and I’d rather we not disturb her. We’re happy to answer any of your questions out here. We have nothing to hide.”

  Sweat pooled in the space behind my shoulders as Kelly cracked his jaw. He scanned over both of us before turning his attention to the cars in the drive. “Funny, two cars for a family of three and nowhere in particular to go. At least, that’s what I hear.”

  “My cousin has stopped by for a visit.”

  “Well, I want to talk to him too. Get him out here.”

  Sev smiled, but nervousness pulled on the edges of it. He turned toward the door. “Of course, one moment—”

  “And don’t leave my sight.”

  Sev’s hand froze on the knob, and he nodded once before easing the door open. I kept a close eye on the officer’s fingers drumming on his holster. “Bella,” Sev called, careful to keep his face and hands in sight, “we have some unexpected guests.”

  For a terrifying moment, there was no response. Then came the slow click-click-click of heels on hardwood until Bella appeared, head held high. She took a deliberate step over the threshold and closed the door behind her. Her face showed no sign of fear.

  “Sheriff Kelly,” she said with a smoothness I envied, “how lovely to see you again.”

  Kelly, on the other hand, gaped. Then the shock gave way to smugness. “Mrs. Ferri. Didn’t think I’d see you back here.”

  “You, uh, know each other?” I asked.

  “She was here when Leo Manco went missing, weren’t you?” Kelly answered.

  Bella had no reaction.

  “I thought Leo Manco was dead?” I said.

  Bella snorted. “He is. Sheriff Kelly seems to think he can pass off his incompetence as trickery on my part.” She bristled. “Did you ever apologize to Mrs. Manco for taking nearly a week to even go looking for her husband’s body?”

  Sev placed a restraining hand on her arm and muttered something in Italian.

  Kelly glowered and took a step forward, so he was right against them. “Speak English.”

  Bella turned to him, still impossibly cool. “I did not realize there was a law here that said I must. Did you start fiddling with them since I have been here last?”

  He prodded her in the chest. “Listen here, bitch—”

  Her hand flew out so fast I almost didn’t see it, but there was no missing the crack of it against Kelly’s cheek. He flinched and fell back a step with a yelp.

  The other officer, already poised, drew his gun. My heart jumped into my throat and tried to choke me as all my strength fled. I was unable to move, barely able to breathe, as the memory of Emma’s gun in my face flickered into my mind. Somewhere past the ringing in my ears, I heard a woman scream. It wasn’t Bella though. She stared straight at the cop, as if daring him to find the courage to shoot her. The officer, still with his gun drawn, turned his head. He hastily lowered his weapon. Kelly grabbed Bella and twisted her around, a set of handcuffs sliding off his belt.

  “Bella Ferri, I’m arresting you for assaulting an officer,” he announced. “Other charges pending.”

  Sev bared his teeth as his hand slid into his pocket.

  “Sev, don’t,” I gasped.

  His head snapped to me, and for a half a moment, he wavered. He took an empty hand out of his pocket and rushed to my side. I barely felt his touch on my back. “It’s fine, everyone’s fine,” he whispered.

  Kelly dragged Bella past me, and I could have sworn I saw her roll her eyes at me. Pathetic, she’d called me once, and she was right. I could only imagine how worthless she thought me now. Or I might have
if I hadn’t been so preoccupied with keeping my breath steady.

  The officer with the gun slid it back into its holster and hurried down the stairs after them. His departure helped somewhat, and I was able to stretch my focus away from what was directly in front of me. Aside from Bella being shoved into the back of the cop car, I noticed Fran where the yard met the road, poised on her bike, her mouth open and her eyes wide. She must have been the person who screamed. As soon as the car pulled away, she dropped her bike and raced up the stairs.

  “What was all that about?” she exclaimed. “Are you all right, Mr. Carrow? Did you faint? How—”

  Sev nudged her away from me. “Let’s let him have some air, yes? Come on, Alex, go inside and relax. I’ll be back as soon as I can talk some sense into Sheriff Kelly.”

  “Oh, I can stay with him,” Fran squealed. “I’ll take very good care of him, I promise.”

  Her words snapped me out of my frazzled state or at least gave me something new to be panicked about. I shrugged Sev off. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m coming with you.”

  “If you think you’re up for it?”

  “Yes. Let’s go. Actually, wait. Fran.”

  Her eyes lit up. “Yes?”

  “What’s your babysitting rate?”

  “Oh, uh, five cents an hour.”

  “Great.” I jammed a nickel into her palm. “I’ll give you the balance when I get back. Stay here and watch Pearl. And do not let the cat get out!”

  I thought I might calm some in the time it took for us to hustle down to the police station, but I didn’t. Rather, I was too exhausted to feel much of anything. I ended up collapsed on a bench inside the door of the station while Sev tried to argue with Kelly. I couldn’t quite hear what was being said since they were behind a closed door. What I caught sounded increasingly desperate on his part. About a quarter of an hour into his attempt, he stormed out, and he went for a payphone on the wall. Well, at least he knew when to call for backup.

  The conversation was carried on in Italian and was much shorter than expected. He slammed the receiver down. “Vacation!” he shouted. “Her lawyer is on vacation in Europe and won’t be back until July!”