by Box Set
“No. It can’t be six already.” She looked at her phone. 6:01. She groaned.
“You should probably catch up with Ellie. I’m sure her family is worried about you. I’m sure she’s worried about you.”
Six texts waited for her to open, and she’d missed eight calls. None from Ellie, though. “I’m not so sure about that.”
“I don’t know what you fought about, but whatever it was, it couldn’t be big enough to end a life-long friendship.”
“You might have a different opinion if you knew exactly what happened.”
“As much as I’d love to know all the gory details, I’ve got to go.” He stood up, leaving enough money on the table to cover everything.
“I’ll call you a cab. I owe you that much.” She pulled up the cab company’s number and ordered a cab for him. “Besides, I want more time with you.”
“I have Ellie’s number, but not yours, and I have a funny feeling that calling her won’t get me you.”
“You’ve got that right.” She took his phone and put her number in it. He immediately called her. She captured the number and put his name in her phone and snapped a quick picture of them to accompany it.
“Now we have a connection that can’t ever be severed.” He bounced his phone out in front of him.
“Except by deleting it.”
“Which you would never do to my sacred number.”
“Right again.”
The cab pulled up in front of the cafe. “Make up with Ellie and think about what you’re going to do about your mom. If you want to go tonight, I’m free after three.”
“Thanks, again.” Kate stood and hugged him. He made her feel safe, secure.
She gave the cabbie some money and waved as the cab drove away.
She sat on a bench on the boardwalk for a good twenty minutes before convincing herself she should look at the texts.
The first was from Colby. Where are you, Katie-kins?
Kate opened the next. This is Jace. New phone. I talked to my producer, and she thought it would be awesome to give you a walk-on part on the show tomorrow. We could play one of those duets together.
The next was again from Colby: We’re going to a taping tomorrow at ten. If you don’t show, I’m going to the police.
Jace: Ellie told me you still haven’t showed up. You better not be alone. And if you are with someone, then I’m super confused. You wouldn’t stay with me, but you will with some stranger?
Jace: Okay. It’s a free world, you can stay with whoever you want to, but I thought we had something. I can only assume that something happened to you. You seemed like the very organized type and all.
Colby: You’re still not here. I take it back. I’m calling the police now.
Kate sighed. Colby had sent that text twenty minutes ago. She texted him.
Don’t call the police. I’m fine. Needed space.
Colby replied, Sorry about last night.
This is one of the reasons she adored Colby. He didn’t couch his apologies with but this or that.
I get it.
And even if Ellie won’t admit it, she is distraught over your disappearance.
Did she say that?
There was a pause
No, but I can tell.
Kate rolled her eyes. I’ll come back when she’s ready to apologize.
Don’t be so stubborn. And she wasn’t totally at fault.
You did not just say that.
No, I texted it.
Before she could respond, she got another text from Jace.
Where are you? Get over here. You’re making me look bad.
Kate thought about Ellie. She’d freak if Kate was a guest on the show and she didn’t know. At the moment Kate didn’t care. She would go on the show just to make Ellie mad. She deserved it. She hadn’t even worried about her not showing up last night. She probably went to bed early and didn’t have a second thought about her not being there.
Address?
The hotel. We’re shooting live. Hurry.
On my way.
Kate stared at the person in the free standing mirror in the large changing room. How had the makeup artist created the person in front of her? Kate knew a lot of the things that happened on reality TV were scripted, but not as much as this. Her whole scene was scripted, and she was working like the devil to learn her lines. She also didn’t realize she’d make so much money for being on the show. She was being paid as much as her friends working fast food for probably an entire year. She looked at her phone. No texts from Ellie. Well, she wasn’t going to be the first to apologize. Kate blew out a puff of air that made her bangs fly up. It was Ellie’s fault that she didn’t know Kate was going to be on the show. If she would’ve cared one bit about what had happened to Kate yesterday and the day before, then she’d know, but she hadn’t. If Ellie was going to be a bad friend, so was Kate. Kate’s chin quivered as she thought about what a bad friend she was about to be to Ellie.
Kate played her part well despite raging nerves. She quickly discovered that while it was scripted, Jace hadn’t received the script or hadn’t bothered to learn it. In truth, Kate felt like the unscripted version was better, more natural. She even got the chance to reject a kiss from Jace. It gave her great satisfaction. It was like slapping him, without actually slapping him. was waiting for her in her dressing room when she arrived. “You’re a natural.”
“Thanks.” She wiped at her face with makeup remover.
“Of course it would have been more natural for you to kiss me.” He grinned a mischievous grin.
“You went off script.” She threw the towelette away and began putting makeup on how she liked to wear it.
“You know what we did was better.” He stood next to the makeup table.
She nodded.
“Except the kiss, that is.” He took the blush brush from her hand.
“I value kisses differently than you.” Memories of him kissing her senseless filled her mind. He was an amazing kisser.
He jerked back. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t kiss just anyone.” She reached into her make up bag for mascara.
He stepped back. “And I do?”
“I watch the show, remember?”
“Okay, so I’m liberal with my kisses on the show, but that doesn’t make our kisses any less meaningful.” He moved his hands back and forth between them. “I thought you understood that the show wasn’t me.”
“It does when you kiss my best friend.” She worked hard getting the mascara on her lashes without letting her complete hurt show.
“Hey, she kissed me.” He moved next to her again.
“She pecked you, and you devoured her.” She stood up, fury filling her for being such an idiot and falling for his charm.
“Well, I had to leave her with a real kiss, right? If she was going to tell people we kissed, I wanted her to give me a glowing review.”
“A glowing review? Please. You weren’t being filmed. You need to learn to separate real life from what isn’t.”
“Whoa! Are you throwing what I told you in my face now? I confided in you the other night. Not cool.” True hurt played across his face. “I thought we connected, that you really liked me, but you’re just like your best friend’s family and everyone else who wants to use me.”
She reached out to him, but he retreated, shaking his head. “Don’t touch me. I hope you enjoyed your fifteen minutes of fame at my expense.”
“I’m not like them.”
“You proved that wrong today.” He turned and hurried out.
She growled and chased after him, but he was nowhere to be found.
“I mess everything up,” she murmured, returning to her changing room. She put the expensive clothes back on the rack and looked at herself in the mirror. Her motives for being on the show were anything but altruistic. She owed Jace a huge apology. She called him. No answer. She left a voice message saying she was in the wrong and wanted to make it up to him
. She also left him a text message. Call me. I’m sorry.
She took the bag of makeup and the check for being on the show and headed outside. Ellie was standing with a crowd of people waiting for the cast to appear. Kate guessed it was like getting backstage passes to a rock concert. Kate spied the rest of the family mingling about. They’d seen her perform. They wouldn’t have to wait for the show to air. She had no time to give excuses for her behavior. She was sure Ellie was out of her mind with jealousy. Kate wouldn’t face her now. She couldn’t. Kate found a worker and asked for a back way out.
She hurried up to the room and changed before writing a note to the family. She would take her cue from Colby. Short, sweet and to the point.
* * *
I’m sorry for not texting you the second I met Jace. I didn’t mean to keep it from you. It wasn’t my intention to hurt anyone. Please forgive me. I’m safe. Staying away to give you time and space to forgive me.
-Kate
P.S. I love you all more than you know.
19
Kate headed for an Internet cafe to do some research on her mom. She liked to have the full screen when searching for things instead of her phone. There was nothing. Nada. No matter what she tried, she got nothing. She needed Ellie’s help. She had about half an hour more time on the net so she decided to look up the Marconis. She wanted to look up that link to a story about them and the mob. She wanted some proof of who she thought they were. When she’d first scrolled through the results, she’d skimmed over a lot of them because they seemed not to apply, but after what she’d seen in the alley behind the bagel shop, it had new meaning. Mixed in with the Nobel Prize Marconi articles, were articles about the Marconi crime family.
She skimmed through the articles, reading about how the FBI had botched a crackdown on the family. She jotted down information in her journal. The family claimed innocence, of course, but the evidence, had it been collected properly, showed their hand in all types of corruption and wrongful deaths. The newest article indicated the family’s move to white collar crime within the stock exchange. This however, was not backed up with the proof they needed.
Her heart sank when she found the Bellini family mentioned in two of the articles. The connection was not undeniable, but it was apparent. She printed out those articles and taped them into her journal. She would have to ask Duran about them. She dug into more articles about crime families and happened upon a series of videos about the mafia. She paid for the first one and watched it. She took a ton of notes. She immediately paid for the next and watched it. The documentaries were mesmerizing. By the end of the sixth half hour program, her mind swam. She had the distinct impression that if her birth parents hadn’t given her up, she would be neck deep in the family business.
She thought of Duran and what he’d told her about Vincenzo saving him. The reality was that he had been recruited. He started at the bottom as a gopher. He did all the grunt work, most likely collecting sports bets, bribes, and the like. He then moved into being what they called an earner, someone who found various non-law-abiding ways to make the family money. Only because he wasn’t good at it, was he put on a different path. A path that would make him into an earner with white collar crime and the stock market. He’d been with the Bellinis for eight years. He had to know what was going on. He had to.
She wanted to believe that her mother hadn’t given her up to keep her out of danger, but instead to save her from a life of crime. But after watching those shows, she figured that was a pipe dream. She paid particular attention to the reasons the mafia turned on their own, and it didn’t take much. There were three major things that would get you killed by your own family if you were part of the mafia: sleeping with the mob boss’s wife or daughter, being an informant, or disobeying the boss. If her dad had slept with Marconi’s wife, he’d be dead. If he’d disobeyed the boss, he’d be dead. Only one thing stood out as a possibility. Her mom must’ve been an informant. Was her mom killed for snitching? She couldn’t make herself believe that. Her mind wandered. Perhaps her mom was working for someone. Yes. This made more sense to her for some reason. Maybe she was like the informants on the shows she’d watched. Maybe her mom was working for the FBI and had embedded herself in there to take the family down. Maybe the family found out. Maybe she was dead. But if she was an agent, she could be alive. She latched on to the possibility. She wanted it to be true. She wanted her birth parents to be good people trying to either make things right or to escape the life.
Her drive to find her mom sky rocketed now. If her mom was in the FBI, then Carmela was most definitely not her name. She grabbed the journal and on the page dedicated to Carmela, she wrote, How do you find someone who used a fake name? Father? Could it have been a fluke and Vinny was her father? Could his little swimmers have been valid one time? Boyfriend? True boyfriend in real life? How did she get pregnant? Her birth mom could actually be a successful person contributing to society and not a hoodlum. While all the evidence before her led her to believe her mother was no angel, she clung to the idea and hoped for it.
Her phone vibrated. A text from Ellie: I’m sorry. I was jealous. Kate felt more relief than satisfaction. She knew she still couldn’t count on Ellie to be fully present for Kate’s quest, but she’d at least have some help. And she wanted desperately to have her best friend back. She no longer cared whose fault it was.
She texted back, I’m sorry. I knew how important it was to you and I didn’t pull through for you. Please forgive me.
Instead of waiting for a reply, Kate called Ellie. “Kate?” Ellie asked.
“Ellie, oh my gosh, I have so much to tell you—”
“Have you seen the news?”
“What news?”
“Jace. His body washed up on the shore half an hour ago. They’re saying it was suicide.”
Kate didn’t respond, she couldn’t. A heavy weight sank in her gut. She couldn’t seem to get any air and when it finally did come, she gasped, sucking in more air than she needed, and she coughed and sputtered. Jace’s hurt face filled the screen of her mind, their conversation replaying in her mind. She should have searched harder for him. He must’ve left her and gone straight to carry out the act. “Kate?”
“No. This isn’t happening.”
“Please come back.”
“I am.”
Ellie was waiting for Kate in the lobby. She wore big sunglasses and a hat like someone going incognito. She waved Kate to the side and put a big floppy hat and sunglasses on her. “Don’t say a word,” she whispered into Kate’s ear. “We’re going straight up.” Ellie signaled the elevator operator, and he called the elevator car. He nodded at Ellie. “Walk slowly and carefully. Don’t bring attention to yourself.”
Kate said nothing, but followed her instructions. As they reached the elevator, the doors opened. They stepped in. Ellie pushed the close door button and the elevator operator stepped in front of the open doors. A casual, but effective movement. The two girls stared out at the frenzied crowd of media when someone yelled. “It’s her. She’s in the elevator.” Lights, cameras, and bodies pushed forward as the scene disappeared with the closing of the doors. Kate didn’t say a word until they were safely in the suite.
“Is the paparazzi after you?” Kate asked.
“No.” She took her glasses and ridiculously large hat off, setting them on the table. “They’re after you.”
“Me? Why me?”
“You were the last person to have contact with Jace. They want a statement. Don’t worry, Sally’s on it. She’s on her way. On a plane, I mean. We need to stay inside until she arrives.” Ellie must have noticed the concerned look on Kate’s face, so she amended her statement. “It’ll be fun. We’ll order room service, and we have the staff at our beck and call.” The remaining three in Ellie’s family stood just inside the kitchen staring at her.
“Any way we could talk in the living room?” Kate asked the whole Lambert family.
Only minutes later, the whole fami
ly was seated in the room, looking expectantly at Kate. She spent the next hour filling them in on what had happened the last two days. She started with Jace. It couldn’t wait. She cried as she talked. Ellie had her arm around Kate, and everyone got up and hugged her. “Kate, you were not responsible. Put that out of your mind.” Ellie’s dad was always so practical in his advice.
“That’s right, sweetie.” Mrs. Lambert said. “You had a lovely time with him and gave him a lovely time. Focus on that.”
Kate sniffed and recognized that she needed to tell them about the Marconis and Bellinis and their connection with the mafia as well as her conclusions about her mom and dad. When she was done, the room erupted in conversation.
“So you think your mom is an undercover agent?” Mrs. Lambert said.
Kate nodded. “I’m hoping anyway, the alternative is not a good one.”
“And Vinny might be your dad after all?” Ellie said.
Kate shrugged. “I have no idea. Maybe.”
“If this has to do with the mafia, Kate,” Ellie’s dad said, “then maybe you should let sleeping dogs lie.”
“I can’t. I have to know.”
“But you could be putting a lot of people in danger by pursuing this.” Colby gave her a concerned look.
“If you were me, would you give up?”
Colby looked her dead on. “I’m not you.”
“Please, help me. This is my only chance to find my birth parents. My last chance. Let’s face it. When I get back home next week, my parents won’t let me out of their sight, and they most definitely won’t let me come back here.”
Mr. Lambert tipped his head to the side, obviously considering what she’d said. “I’ll tell you what, I’ll see what I can find out from the FBI—if I can get anyone to talk to me. This whole thing seems a bit of a stretch, but I’ll do my best.”
