by Danae Ayusso
Rossi snorted and rolled her eyes. “Now you’re just asking for a damn miracle, D'Avanzo.”
He smiled and carefully unhooked the latch to the necklace around his neck and fastened it around Rossi’s neck. “This was my grandmother’s and is meant to protect, and now it’ll protect my girls, both of them. I love you, Rossi. Always have and always will, even though you’re the biggest pain in the ass I’ve ever met. Let’s grab something to eat or some coffee or whatever pregnant broads eat or drink and you can call your dad.”
She reluctantly nodded, her fingers caressing the small cross now hanging around her neck.
Frankie reached for the cell phone and handed it to her. “Make the call,” he said then the video stopped.
Daniele looked over his shoulder and cringed when he saw the look on Micheli Calandriello’s face; it was hard as stone.
The prosecutor stood. “The prosecution would like to call a witness before we rest.”
With one look behind them for confirmation, the defense nodded their acceptance.
“The prosecution calls Lieutenant Catalina Rossi to the stand.”
Once again the courtroom was in an uproar and the judge banged his gavel repeatedly, trying to regain order.
The courtroom doors opened and in walked a ghost, and the crowded room went eerily silent.
Cat walked with her shoulders back, eyes forward, the click of her Italian leather boots against the hardwood floor echoed throughout the courtroom. She approached the bench and held her hand up and put the other on the Bible and swore to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Once seated, her blue eyes focused on the narrow blue eyes glaring at her from across the court room.
“For the record, please state your name.”
Cat’s eyes shifted to Colt and he nodded once, his way of silently reassuring her that it was okay. “My name is Lieutenant Catalina Rossi,” she paused then swallowed hard, “Calandriello.”
The courtroom was stunned.
The judge and prosecutors looked at her with wide eyes.
The jury’s mouths hung open.
The badge carrying members in the courtroom felt betrayed.
The underground finally understood why the annoying cop was untouchable.
Colt offered Cat a small, reassuring smile.
Daniele Calandriello softly growled under his breath; this did not work in his favor.
But the most surprising to anyone but Cat, was the reaction of Micheli Calandriello, her father; he smiled as he dabbed the corners of his eyes with a handkerchief.
“Frankie and I,” Cat started without being prompted, “exited a coffee shop over on the corner of Greenwich and West 10th Street where we talked more about our rather inconvenient, for one of us, and surprising situation. He was on cloud nine.” Cat huffed and shook her head, her eyes never leaving Daniele’s. “Frankie even named our daughter: Daniela Maria Calandriello-D'Avanzo. Maria after his mother and Daniela after my twin brother: Daniele. Frankie thought it’d be a good peace offering, a way to make a marriage without compromising the oath I took as an officer, and a means to protect our daughter so she wasn’t caught in the war raging between the Families. While in the shop, Frankie called his mother and told her that we’d be stopping by with some amazing news and that she had to promise not to beat him afterward. Then he made me call mio padre. Daniele answered and I asked to speak with padre because I needed to talk to him about something important. Daniele said ‘No’ then hung up.
“When we left the coffee shop thirty minutes later, the only thing we had figured out was a name for our daughter we just found out about and the color scheme for her room: Frankie hated pink but he changed his mind for his little princess. Personally, I wanted to do it in NYPD blue and white, but he invoked his one and only veto he had in our partnership. Anyway, a young teen stole an old woman’s purse in front of us and we pursued him. Frankie wasn’t happy that I was chasing down a perp while five months pregnant, but he also wasn’t delusional that I was going to ride a desk. He took a shortcut to cut him off, and I followed the babbo to an alley where Daniele told him to take a hike.”
Micheli Calandriello got to his feet, but his men pulled him back down.
Cat shook her head. “Daniele wasn’t there to make a marriage. He was mad that I had pinched each of his meat eaters…” she turned to the jury. “Meat eater is a cop on the take. Each of the Five Families had them in the NYPD, and I volunteered to work Internal Affairs in order to pinch as many as possible. I couldn’t get them all, but I got enough that it pissed off each Family.” She turned back to Daniele. “Isn’t that right, Brother? You went behind the Boss’s back. You broke the Omertá by going after someone that was deemed off limits to every Family by word of our own padre. You constantly threw in my face that blood was thicker than water. And you were right. But the blood of my daughter is a thousand times thicker than the blood between us. You shot and killed my partner and best friend, Lieutenant D'Avanzo, the father of my child, the man who was more of a brother to me than my own. He never did anything wrong to anyone. He was one of the greatest people and cops I’ve ever met. And you purposely took him from me. You shot him in the head just to spite me, you said so yourself after your second shot ricocheted off of the dumpster and entered through the side of my vest. The bullet entered on my right side, tearing through my uterus, killing your niece in the process, before tearing through my lung. You called 9-1-1 in order to cover your ass if Padre ever found out that you were in that alley, and then you left.
“For over thirteen minutes I was clinically dead. The paramedics were able to get my heart going again en route to the E.R. I was in a coma for two months, two different private hitters were intercepted at the hospital because you couldn’t risk me waking up and snitching to padre. When I woke, I was done. I didn’t want to deal with you, the drama, the Family, the war for the underground. I was done. I just lost my best friend and my daughter, my brother since you were dead to me… I wasn’t even going to come back to NYC, ever. I was content on the run, always looking over my shoulder, never leaving any trace evidence behind, never setting down roots, never letting myself get attached.” She huffed. “Leave it to a sociopathic serial killer all the way in Montana to make me realize that family means nothing when dealing with agenda filled assholes that are threatened by you, and that’s why I’m here. You’re dead to me, Daniele. You took away the only things that mattered to me simply because you were pissed off and jealous that I was Padre’s favorite. You could never figure out why that was, could you?” she rhetorically asked and he glared at her. “You followed in his footsteps, and I went out of my way to do everything in my power to put him away, to see him rot in a cell somewhere, and yet I was still his favorite. You know why that is? Because I knew the difference between right and wrong, and I lived my life knowing that there is no compromising or gray areas when it comes to right and wrong. And that, my dearest brother, is why I am the favorite.”
Daniele snarled. “I will kill you,” he hissed.
The judge banged his gavel. “The jury is dismissed. The charges of criminal facilitation in the first degree, penal code 115.08, are dismissed. Bailiff, please detain the defendant. You may step down, Lieutenant,” he said with a smile.
Cat nodded and joined Colt and Salvati on the bench behind the prosecuting attorney.
The judge turned to the defendant. “Daniele Calandriello you are under arrest for two accounts of aggravated assault upon a police officer, one count of murder in the first degree for the death of Lieutenant Francesco D'Avanzo, one count of attempted first degree murder of Lieutenant Catalina Rossi, and one count of murder in the second degree in the death of Daniela Maria Calandriello-D'Avanzo. I recant your bail and will pass along the suggestion to the bail judge that you are a flight risk. I’ve waited over ten years to do this,” the judge told him with a smile. “Though it breaks my heart that three people, two being of your own blood, had to die for it to h
appen. Court is adjourned,” he said with the bang of his gavel.
The attorneys all turned to Micheli Calandriello, the Boss of the Calandriello Family. “You are dismissed,” he said and waved them away.
Each team of attorneys shook hands with the other out of respect, neither side taking it personally since it was just business, then excused themselves.
Daniele fought with the bailiffs. “She’s lying!” he argued.
Micheli glared at him. “Your sister is a lot of things, but a liar isn’t one of them!” he snapped at him. “You have disgraced the family,” he continued and Daniele’s eyes widened. “You are cut off. You will get no support from me or the family any longer. You are dead to me.”
“No!” he gasped.
Cat’s eyes widened. “Oh, that’s bad.”
“Serves him right,” Salvati said.
“What did I miss?” Colt reluctantly asked.
“He’s as good as dead,” Salvati explained. “Even if they put him in solitary confinement, he’s as good as dead. Without the protection of Calandriello, of the Boss, he’s screwed.”
“Sis!” Daniele pleaded. “Don’t let him do this, please. He’ll listen to you. You’re his favorite.”
Cat stood and headed over to Micheli’s side. Tenderly she reached over and patted Daniele’s cheek. “Brother, you were dead to me the moment you took away the only two things that mattered in my world. Killing me I could understand—I hear I’m a real ball breaking bitch—but you had no right to take Frankie and my daughter away from me. You wanted to hit the mattresses, and we did, but you lost. Goodbye, Brother.”
Micheli nodded. “You heard your sister, Daniele. You are dead to me.”
Daniele screamed as if he was a madman, startling the bailiffs struggling to hold him back. The reality of the situation was clear and his demise was eminent. Without the protection of the Boss, and with the knowledge that he broke the Omertá and the direct orders of the Boss, he would never see Rikers Island. He’d made way too many enemies in his life, crossed too many lines, only his last name and the protection of his father kept him alive, but now that was no more. Before the courtroom was even cleared, the word had already hit the street that Daniele Calandriello was nothing more than a rat, an empty suit, a problem that any organization had permission to take out.
But it wouldn’t be a Mafioso who’d get the honor.
Daniele slammed his fist into the face of the bailiff on his right and with his left hand pulled the stunned man’s sidearm and raised it.
“NO!” Cat cried out as a large hand wrapped around her arm and pulled her back, tackling her to the ground as a gunshot rang out.
Colt protectively pinned Cat to the floor as gunshots echoed around the courtroom and chaos ensued.
They both looked to the side in time to see Micheli Calandriello slump over on the wooden bench, two shots center massed in his chest.
“No!” Cat screamed, struggling to get out from under Colt. Her hand desperately reaching for her father’s outreached hand. “Daddy!” she stammered, her fingers barely brushing against his.
“Clear!” Salvati said from next to them, smoke still rising from the barrel of his gun. “FBI!” he called out, holding his badge up with his other hand so the officers rushing into the courtroom didn’t mistakenly shoot him next. “Clear the weapon.”
The officers kicked the gun in Daniele’s hand away then checked for a pulse. “Emergency response to Courtroom twelve. Two down, one without a pulse,” the officer said into the walkie-talkie on his shoulder.
“Rossi?” Salvati asked. “Montana, is she hurt?”
Colt rolled off of her and Cat crawled over to Micheli and took his hand in hers. “Padre?” she whispered.
He smiled, his light blue eyes sparkling with moisture.
“Please don’t leave me, Daddy,” she whispered against his hand. “I’ve just come to terms with the fact that I love you and don’t blame you for everything shitty that’s happened in my life. You can’t leave me now.”
“I’d never,” he whispered before his hold on her hand lessened and his eyes closed, the small smile on his face remaining as Colt pulled her away so the EMTs could tend to him.
“Daddy?” Cat stammered when his chest stopped rising with air and her vision blurred with tears.
Each labored breath that broke past her chapped lips came out in a frozen puff. The sweat lathering her body caused the bitter morning air to freeze her from the inside out, but she couldn’t stop.
The heavy footfalls behind her pushed Cat forward, trying to outdistance him, to keep from being caught.
Through a creek she splashed, and inwardly she smiled when he muttered a curse under his breath as the frigid water soaked his shoes. Weaving in and out of trees and ducking under low branches, she started to outdistance him.
Up ahead, the heart of the town came into view and she veered from the woods towards Main Street and ran even faster; her heart pounding, lungs burning for air, long hair clinging to her sweaty skin. She weaved in and out of the slow moving traffic, getting a few honks in return.
As she rounded the corner of the jail, the Police Station came into view and she smiled.
“Almost there,” she panted under her breath.
Using the last of her energy, she sprinted towards the front of the building as fast as she could and as her feet hit the sidewalk, the entrance just within reach, she was slammed into from the side, knocking both of them into the side of a Sherriff’s Department Jeep.
“Goddamn it,” Cat grumbled, landing two quick kidney shots before her hand was restrained.
“Ow, we agreed no random acts of violence,” Colt complained.
“We also agreed no cheating,” she shot back, looking up at him.
He smirked. “We also agreed to no firearms,” he countered.
Cat huffed and pulled away the gun she was pressing against the side of his chest away. “You still cheated,” she said as he pulled her to her feet.
“You can spank me later,” he whispered with a mischievous smile.
The front door to the station opened and Mickey walked out with a coffee cup in hand. “At least she didn’t shoot you this time, Sheriff,” he said with a smile.
Colt rolled his eyes. “Don’t give her ideas.”
Cat punched him in the shoulder before he pulled her into him. “Don’t think I won’t give you a spanking later for cheating,” she warned with a smirk then pressed her lips against his. When he pulled back she sighed. “Ten minutes to shower and change before our shift starts, huh?”
Colt sighed. “Sadly, yes. Admit it, you’re bored out of your mind with small town life.”
She shrugged and headed into the station with Colt on her heels. “It isn’t bad. I think Eureka will have an all-time low crime rate by this time next year. And to think, I was always complaining about writing parking tickets when I was a beat cop and now I’m a damn detective, again, yet am still writing traffic tickets,” she grumbled as she headed towards the back to shower.
Colt looked at Mickey. “She bitches a lot.”
Mickey chuckled. “With reason to. You did, technically, cheat.”
He smirked. “She doesn’t need to know that, now does she, Detective?”
Mickey pretended to button his lips.
Once they were showered and dressed, they sat on the steps of the station and drank their coffee and watched the fog lift as the sun rose higher in the sky. It was hard to believe that only eight weeks ago Sheriff James Lake was shot and killed, putting an end to Pope’s reign of terror. The body count was much higher than any of them expected. Pope kept trophies of each kill in his house: abstinence rings, cross necklaces, the engagement ring Mickey had given Raven the night before she disappeared, the Lakes’ wedding bands, Colt’s parents wedding bands, the Reverends cross, the gun that killed the Mayor and his family and a piece of jewelry from each of them. The collection was impressive but stomach turning. Never did anyone think that any of
the deaths were related. Cat had a sneaking suspicion, but Pope was a genius and covered his tracks. His only mistake was allowing his boredom to drive, in essence: he only had to leave good enough alone, and he most likely would have gotten away with it.
The security footage from the cabin was all the proof needed, a confession straight from the man’s mouth, confirming his actions and body count. The video was taken into evidence by the FBI for study, but Cat had a copy and allowed Emma to watch it in order to find closure, to Colt’s dismay.
The D.A. in NYC decided not to overturn any of the convictions that Rossi and D'Avanzo had a hand in. Those that had ties to one of the Five Families were left to the convicted’s discretion if they wanted a retrial or not. In most cases, the associating Family respected what would have been Micheli Calandriello’s final wishes so they didn’t push the conviction or offer support. As hard as it was for them to admit, Lieutenant Rossi didn’t do anything wrong; she did her job. Never did Rossi go after a specific Family, she went after each of them equally, so never could someone say that she was doing Micheli’s will from inside the NYPD. If anything, Rossi went after the Calandriello Family more than the others. She never tampered with evidence, never intimidated a witness, never paid anyone off, didn’t tamper with the jury…she was completely legit.
They couldn’t fault her for being a good cop, and most respected her for it because she was the right side of the law version of her father.
Under Daniele’s orders, the Calandriello Family was starting to get out of control, but it wasn’t the entire family, it was Daniele’s associates which were expendable and were iced once they were no longer of use to him. And once Daniele lost the Family’s favor, and Micheli Calandriello was put to rest, that put sole blood control of the Calandriello family to the next heir: Catalina.
