“And that means no friends, either,” Trisha said.
Brandy swung her eyes from me to her mom. “So wait until morning to call. Who knows, I might feel better by then.”
Epilogue
Fina’s Afterword
I was morose, removed, in pain. I got like that after a case was finished.
I’d had time to visit the stone carver on Elizabeth Street, the one who’d sent me his brochure. With his help, I bought the perfect monument for Mom’s grave, paid for with the money I’d earned from Brandy Liam’s rescue.
It took me a while to find Mom’s resting spot, not that I hadn’t been to the cemetery many times before, but lately, life had gotten in the way. Face it, the place gave me the spooks, tucked in a remote corner of the grounds. And one plaque began to look like another. There were no cut flowers, no flags, no ornamental candles, no guideposts.
So I came upon it all at once, like a revelation. I stared at the light dappling the freshly carved angel overlooking the family plots. Mom’s and Gran’s had been settling in for a few years in the old section of Brooklyn’s Holy Cross Cemetery, where my ancestor Serafina Florio had purchased ten plots at the turn of the last century. Eight were now full—six sprouting lichen and two recently filled. Two were still empty, perhaps for me and Denny.
Whatever, it was time for me to pay tribute. Hence, the statue. Not your ordinary weeping angel, but a joyous woman clothed in flowing robes, pirouetting, wings catching sunlight, one leg in the air, forever precariously placed. I’m surprised she passed the cemetery committee’s narrow gaze.
I thought of how Brandy’s kidnapping had baptized life, especially for Brandy and her mother. Henry Gruber was locked up, remorseless but represented by a good defense attorney—Trisha Liam saw to that. And Freddy was in a private school for children with special needs in Upstate New York. Again, Trisha Liam’s doing.
I breathed in the dampness and knelt in front of Mom. We were just starting a conversation when I heard a voice. I swear I did. It was coming from someplace close by. I spun around, peering into green stillness. “Never, ever give up,” the leaves seemed to whisper. I looked around. No one was in sight. The stone angel continued with her dance, but there was something new about her face.
My phone began to buzz. I rose to retrieve it, brushing grass from my knees.
Characters & Places
Characters
Fina Fitzgibbons, protagonist
Carmela Fitzgibbons, Fina’s mother (deceased)
Fina’s father, unnamed and estranged
Fina’s gran, unnamed (deceased)
Denny McDuffy, Fina’s boyfriend, NYPD patrolman
Jane Templeton, NYPD detective
Willoughby, Jane’s partner, NYPD detective
Cookie, Fina’s lifelong friend, sidekick
Mr. Baggins, Fina’s cat
Minnie, Lucy’s office manager
Lorraine McDuffy, Denny’s mother
Robert McDuffy, Denny’s father
Zizi Carmalucci, Denny’s old flame
Tig Able, FBI agent, Fina’s former colleague at Brown’s Detective Agency
Brandy Liam, 13, abducted
Trisha Liam, her mother
Mitch Liam, aka C. Mitchell Liam, Brandy’s father (deceased)
Granny Liam, aka Madeleine Liam. Brandy’s grandmother
Angel, her maid
Aunt Caroline, Brandy’s aunt
Phillipa Olinski, Trisha Liam’s housekeeper
Freddy, her son
Gladys Delucca, her landlady
Forsythia, Gladys Delucca’s sister
Henry Gruber, man on the train
Susan Gruber, Henry’s wife (estranged)
Stuart, their son (deceased)
Ben Small, Henry’s friend
Molly Blanchot, Susan Gruber’s friend
Mr. & Mrs. Hallowell, neighbors of Henry & Susan Gruber
Joe Catania, small-time thug in witness protection
Heather Chang, Brandy Liam’s best friend
Heather’s mother
Brandy’s Friends, Julia, Frankie, Sylvia and others, mentioned by Brandy in her diary
Al, a medical examiner
Places
Lucy’s, Fina’s cleaning establishment on Henry Street in Brooklyn Heights (fictitious)
Liam, Trueblood & Wolsey, Trisha Liam’s boutique law firm on Wall Street (fictitious)
Smith, Jarvis & O’Leary, Lorraine’s former employer on Court Street (fictitious)
Brite, a messenger service on Court Street in downtown Brooklyn (fictitious)
Brown’s Detective Agency, Fina’s former employer (fictitious)
Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn neighborhood where Fina & Denny live
Dumbo, Brooklyn neighborhood fronting the East River
Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn neighborhood where Brandy lives
The Promenade, an overlook in Brooklyn Heights
Teresa’s, a coffee shop in Brooklyn Heights
Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn neighborhood where Denny’s parents live
Packer Collegiate, Brandy’s school in Brooklyn Heights
Brooklyn Hospital Center, where Fina takes Denny to have glass taken out of his left arm
84th Precinct, Denny’s, Jane’s, Willoughby’s assigned precinct
Vinegar Hill House, a restaurant in Vinegar Hill
Holy Cross, cemetery in Flatbush where Fina’s mother is buried
Timeline
June 2013Story begins
Events Before Story Begins
June 2, 1990Susan & Henry Gruber are married
May 26, 1991Fina Fitzgibbons is born
June 15, 1991Cookie is born
July 1992Stuart Gruber is born
Aug 1998Stuart Gruber dies
Feb 1999Henry Gruber meets Ben Small on Hamilton Station Platform
May 2000Brandy is born
Sept 11, 2001Fina and Cookie were 10 years old
June 2001Gruber vs. Hamilton Hospital
June 2002Freddy is born
Aug 2003Blackout. Phillipa meets Henry Gruber in Bensonhurst
Sept 2003Fina’s father leaves (Fina is 12 years old)
Sept 2008Fina’s mother is murdered (Fina is 17 years old)
Sept 2009Fina’s grandmother dies (Fina is 18 years old)
May 2011Mitch Liam dies
Sept 2011Fina & Denny meet
May 2013Brandy is 13. Freddy is 11. Stuart would be 21. Fina & Cookie are 22.
Missing Brandy (A Fina Fitzgibbons Brooklyn Mystery Book 2) Page 30
