Blood & Roses (Vigilante Crime Series)

by Kristi Belcamino

  “I called you a few times.”

  Rose widened her eyes and ran to the couch. She tossed blankets and pillows around looking for her phone and then found it on the floor.

  Three missed calls.

  They were all from Gia.

  “All you,” she said.

  Gia nodded.

  Nothing from a kidnapper. Nothing from Timothy.

  “I spoke to the detective this morning,” Gia said. “They are trying to get permission to ping Timothy’s phone. To see if they can find out where he last used it.”

  The sentence seemed so final to Rose: ‘where he last used it.’ As if he would never use it again.

  “What now?” Rose asked. Her voice was filled with despair. She didn’t care.

  “We wait another day and see what happens.”

  “I don’t think I can,” Rose said.

  Wordlessly, Gia walked over and took Rose in her arms. Rose shook with sobs. Finally, she pulled back. Gia looked her in the eyes. “Go shower. I’ll make us some breakfast.”

  “I’m not hungry,” Rose said. Gia frowned but nodded.

  “Go get ready, and then we’ll head to the restaurant. I swung by there on my way here. Everyone is meeting at noon. They are going to keep searching and pass out flyers.”

  Rose nodded.

  When Rose walked into the restaurant, Timothy’s mother, Mrs. Rocco just held out her arms. Rose collapsed into them, burying her face in the older woman’s softness and trying not to cry.

  Until recently Gia hadn’t been a hugger. She’d been more the type to give you a pat on the back, but Rose wasn’t complaining. She knew Gia would kill for her in the blink of an eye. Gia loved Rose like she was her own daughter. But it was something else to fall into a motherly woman’s arms and feel like a little kid again being comforted. She used to have that with Nico.

  Now hugging Nico felt different. It felt as if she was the one comforting him.

  Thinking of her father reminded her that tonight was their weekly dinner. Every Tuesday, she went over and had dinner with Nico and Gia.

  Suddenly, she felt desperate to see her father. Even if it was a bad day and he didn’t remember her, she needed to hug him.

  Drawing back from Timothy’s mom, she gave the older woman a kiss on the cheek. Timothy was the youngest in his family. His older siblings lived in Italy. Paolo had said they were all arriving today to help with the searching.

  Rose looked at his mother for a long moment. She didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry” sounded odd. Actually, anything sounded strange. But the older woman gave her a small smile and said, “Timothy loves you.”

  Rose bit her lip and nodded, fighting back tears.

  “He means everything to me,” she said.

  “I know,” Timothy’s mother said and patted Rose on the arm.

  Then some of Timothy’s brothers arrived and Mrs. Rocco broke into a sad smile. “There are my boys. My other boys.”

  Rose stepped out of the way and managed to slip outside during the mini reunion but not before she saw the despair on their faces.

  Gia was already outside with a stack of flyers.

  “I still want to come to dinner tonight,” Rose said.

  “Of course.”

  Rose reached for a stack of the flyers.

  “Let’s head this way,” she said, pointing toward the apartment where they’d found the bloody plastic sheet.

  “Exactly what I was thinking,” Gia said. She lifted her jacket in the back. Rose got a glimpse of a gun’s grip sticking out of her waistband.

  Rose and Gia didn’t start passing out the flyers until they were a few doors down from the apartment building. The store owner who had told them he’d seen Timothy wasn’t there. A sign said he’d be back the next day. Rose wondered if he was in hiding because he was afraid after sharing what he’d seen.

  No one in any of the other businesses in the surrounding area had seen Timothy.

  Then they were standing in front of the apartment building.

  “Ready?” Gia asked and looked around.

  Rose nodded.

  Within seconds, Gia had picked the lock on the door while Rose stood in the doorway shielding her from prying eyes. They were on the fourth floor in less than a minute.

  But both immediately froze. The door was wide open, and a uniformed police officer was standing outside the apartment.

  He glanced over at them with an unconcerned look.

  Rose started to walk forward, but Gia put her hand on her arm. “Wait.”

  Gia dialed a number and asked for the detective. When the uniformed officer heard the name, he turned his head. Gia smiled at him but didn’t’ move. After a long five minutes, Rose finally heard the detective on the other end of the line.

  “We’re at the apartment,” Gia told him. “There’s a uniformed officer here. Can you tell us what’s going on?”

  Rose couldn’t make out what was being said.

  “Ask about the phone,” Rose said.

  Gia nodded. After a few minutes, Gia hung up.

  “They are releasing the man this afternoon.”

  “What? How can they?”

  “His alibi panned out.”

  Rose felt her heart sink. He was the only one who could tell them where Timothy was, and he might really have been on a boat at sea the whole time? Impossible. She had seen him at the restaurant. He was lying. The police were corrupt. Everything was fucked up.

  “Why is the cop here?” she asked.

  “The detective said that the crime scene technicians are inside gathering evidence before the man is released.”

  “So they don’t believe his alibi?”

  “They have nothing to hold him on. That doesn’t mean they don’t consider him a suspect.”

  “Are they going to test the blood? To see if it’s a match with Timothy’s blood type or DNA or something?”

  Gia nodded slowly. “Yes, I think all those things.”

  “The phone?”

  “Nothing yet.”

  14

  Nico was sitting at the dining room table when Rose walked in.

  He looked up and smiled at her. For a second her heart leaped but then it went the way it often did. “Hi there, beautiful young lady. Can I help you?”

  Rose forced a smile.

  “You can. I’m actually your daughter, Rose, Daddy.”

  His brow furrowed. “Your hair is different.” He tilted his head examining her.

  She smiled as she walked closer. Maybe that’s why he hadn’t recognized her at first, she thought, knowing she was lying to herself.

  “Here,” she said ripping the elastic from her ponytail and letting her hair fall long and loose down her back. “Now do you remember?”

  He frowned. “No, I mean the color,” he said. “This morning it was blonde.”

  “Oh Papi,” Rose said with a smile, but her heart had sunk to her feet. “I wasn’t here this morning.”

  Now that she was beside him, his eyes roamed over her, and he nodded. “You’re right. That was someone else.”

  Rose didn’t know if she should cry or be happy about this observation.

  Just then, Gia walked in.

  “Oh, there you are, Rose,” Gia said and kissed Rose’s cheek even though they’d seen each other less than an hour earlier.

  “I’m hungry. How about you Papi?” Rose said.

  He turned to Gia. “She’s so sweet to call me Papi.”

  “That’s because she’s your daughter, Nico.”

  “Oh.” He frowned again. “Right.”

  Then he looked at Rose and said something that broke her heart in two yet again.

  “I’m sorry. I just get so confused lately.”

  Rose swallowed her pain and gave him a dazzling smile. “It’s okay,” she said and reached out to pat his hand. “I get confused sometimes too.”

  “You do?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she said and kept her smile wide.

  �
��Well, I’m hungry. Let’s eat,” Gia said.

  During dinner, Gia’s phone rang. “Dante!” she said into the phone excitedly. She stood and went into the other room to talk. Rose could hear the happiness in her voice. It was a stark contrast to how she’d been around Rose lately. And even around Nico.

  Rose had made Gia and Eva promise not to tell Dante and Wayne that Timothy was missing until later. She didn’t want to ruin their trip. Even if they left Paris and came back to Barcelona, there truly was nothing they could do except sit around and worry with the rest of them.

  Listening to Gia light up on the phone, however, gave Rose an idea.

  Later, over coffee, Gia tried to hide a yawn.

  Rose instantly stood and gave an exaggerated yawn and stretch.

  “I’m exhausted. I’m going home to bed.”

  Rose leaned down and kissed Nico’s cheek. He reached for her hand and patted it, smiling vaguely. It stung. But it was better than nothing.

  “I’ll be right back,” Gia said to Nico.

  At the front door, Gia gave Rose a concerned look, her forehead wrinkled up. “How are you?”

  “I’m sick. I just know something awful happened to Timothy.”

  Crossing her arms, Gia looked down and shook her head. “We will find the fuckers who did this and make them pay.”

  Rose noted that Gia didn’t contradict her statement. Something awful had happened. They both knew it.

  “Gia?”

  “Yes, babe?”

  “Is there anything else we can do? To find Timothy? To help him?”

  Gia slowly shook her head.

  “I’ve been thinking a lot about that, honestly, Rose,” she said. “You know I would do anything for that boy. He’s like family…but with that said, I think all we can do right now is wait. I think we’ve done everything we can. Unless some new information comes to light, we really are helpless. It’s horrible to even say it out loud, I know, but I’m not going to lie to you.”

  Rose took a deep breath and then spoke. “That’s what I was thinking,” she said in a soft voice.

  “I’m sorry,” Gia said.

  Rose looked up. “You need to go to Paris. You need the time away. You’ve spent the last four years taking care of me and Nico. That’s all you do. All the time.”

  “That’s what I want to do, Rose,” she said.

  “I get that,” Rose said. “But you need to take care of yourself if you’re going to take care of anyone else. You taught me that, remember?”

  Gia nodded.

  “So promise me you’ll go?”

  “I don’t know,” Gia said.

  Then Rose played her winning card. “Paolo is going to stay at my place for the next few days. He’s being all macho like I need protection. I’m going to let him sleep on the couch.”

  Looking at Gia, Rose didn’t feel an ounce of guilt for lying. She held her breath as she waited for Gia to answer.

  Gia looked at her for a long moment and then nodded. “Okay.”

  Rose smiled.

  Gia wouldn’t let Rose walk home, and instead stuck her in a cab.

  Leaning in, Gia said, “Just indulge me and be extra careful while I’m gone. Just in case this had something to do with you.” She handed Rose a small bag. “And keep this with you at all times. Just to humor me, okay?”

  “I promise,” Rose said and meant it. By the heft of the bag, Rose knew it contained a gun—something she very much wanted to have with her if she found out who had taken Timothy.

  Rose stared out the window as the cab driver headed for the Gothic Quarter. The city was always so beautiful at night. She looked at it bleakly.

  Everything seemed watered down and bland in her life without Timothy. She wondered if she’d ever feel happy again. Even seeing her father hadn’t cheered her up at all.

  Though it was heartbreaking to see Nico’s decline, Rose always felt better after spending time with him. Not this time.

  Her phone rang. It was Gia.

  “The detective called. They let the man go. They couldn’t hold him. His alibi stuck. They’re still processing the apartment, so he won’t be going back there so don’t bother going to find him, Rose.”

  Crap, that woman could read her mind. Most of the time.

  “What about the kidnapping investigation?”

  “They said if he was being held for ransom, we would’ve heard by now.”

  Rose felt a lump of dread roiling in her stomach. It wasn’t surprising news, but it hurt to hear it out loud.

  “What do they think, then?” she asked and immediately wished she hadn’t.

  There was a long pause before Gia said, “They said based on the amount of blood they found, it’s unlikely that Timothy is alive.”

  Rose closed her eyes. No. No. No. She opened her eyes again. The cab was stopped at a red light. She watched an old man walking along the sidewalk, carrying an open bottle of alcohol. Across the street, she could see in the window of a flat. A woman was working at her computer.

  A few windows down she could see a couple embracing.

  There was no privacy in Barcelona.

  “Rose?” Gia’s voice brought her back and she remembered what she’d tried to forget: it’s unlikely that Timothy is alive.

  “But he could be?” Rose said as the car started moving again.

  “Of course.”

  “They won’t stop looking, right?” Rose said.

  “Of course not.”

  They both knew Gia was lying.

  Rose hung up.

  With the bag on her lap, she felt her heart harden.

  Gia had talked about making someone pay.

  If Rose had her way, that would be the understatement of the century.

  It was up to her now.

  And in an instant, any lingering dream of a normal life left her.

  She thought of the tattoo on her back and knew she would get another in the near future. She would save it for when she had avenged Timothy.

  It would go on her back, above the blood & roses tattoo. This one would be up by her shoulders.

  It was from an ancient art book she’d found in the Barcelona street market.

  She and Timothy had perused it for hours one night over a bottle of wine.

  Thinking back now, she couldn’t believe how blind she’d been.

  They’d sat on the rug with their backs against the couch. They were side by side with their legs touching, and she’d held the large book on her lap. Several candles dripping wax had been moved to the edge of the nearby coffee table to give them light. There was soft music playing in the background—a sexy song by Massive Attack. They smoked and drank red wine and slowly turned the pages of the book, discussing each picture.

  Timothy’s head was bowed close to hers.

  Thinking back, she could recall how he smelled—of clean shampoo and red wine and something that sent a wave of desire through her now. How could she still smell him? She could recall his scent instantaneously. It was both the best and worst thing ever. She gave an audible gasp of despair, and the cab driver met her eyes in the rearview mirror.

  She looked away.

  Yes, she would avenge Timothy, and then she would get a tattoo to mark that moment when she left the life of an art student behind and became an assassin.

  Art student?

  That girl was gone.

  Instead her back would be covered with the image from the art book: a voluptuous young woman with flowing hair and massive, velvety wings holding a sword dripping blood.

  The angel of death.

  15

  Rose stood on her balcony as the sun set. It lit up the ornate spires of the Gothic Cathedral, turning the gray an eerie red. She lifted her binoculars and trained them on the statue of St. Helen perched high on top of a spindly spire and then lowered them to the gargoyles.

  As she did, she became lost in a memory.

  She’d been living in Barcelona about a year and had forged an unbreakable friendship
with Timothy, the gangly but cute boy who plopped down on the sand beside her when she first arrived, saying he’d been waiting a year to see her again.

  Their friendship was magnetic, and they had so much to talk about that they would say goodbye at dinner time and then talk on the phone all night long until they slept for a few hours only to meet in person again the next day.

  “He’s the best friend I’ve ever had,” Rose said.

  “I think it’s high time we meet him,” Nico said.

  When Timothy walked into their apartment and met Gia and Eva, he was in disbelief.

  Eva, wearing a loose black silk blouse and black leather leggings with tall black boots, looked like an Amazonian pirate.

  Gia, a head shorter than Eva, wore a sexy black backless maxi sundress and bare feet.

  They looked like mother and daughter even though they were aunt and niece.

  Later, stunned at meeting the two Italian women dressed all in black. Timothy would say, “They are a little like rock stars or movie stars or queens.”

  After the awkward introductions, Rose hurried Timothy through their Gothic Quarter apartment to her bedroom where they could hide out until dinner.

  The apartment had been transformed into a magical dining hall.

  The family’s large dining room table was flanked on both sides by floor to ceiling bookshelves. A third wall was covered in mirrors and sconces filled with dripping wax candles. The fourth side opened up to the rest of the apartment which offered distant views of the Gothic Cathedral glowing in the background.

  Nico and Gia had chosen the apartment for the views. There were balconies on each side. One overlooked the narrow street filled with specialty shops selling cheese, wine, bread, and coffee. The opposite balcony presented a spectacular view of the famed cathedral—the Catedral de la Santa Creu i Santa Eulàlia—although its famous gargoyles could only be seen with binoculars.

  Rose kept a pair in her bedroom so she could see the gargoyles whenever she wanted.

  As soon as Timothy came into her room, he spotted the binoculars on the nightstand and picked them up, aiming them at the cathedral.

  While the entire city featured a disproportionate number of gargoyles and witches and dragons built as rooftop drains, these gargoyles spoke to her because they guarded St. Eulalia’s tomb inside the cathedral.