“No.”
Thryce finished jotting down some notes and then slipped the pen and pad of paper into his pocket. “I would like to take a look at your laptop and cell phone.”
“Why?”
The officer smiled indulgently. “It’s my job.”
“He has a warrant,” Carlita said.
Mercedes reluctantly removed her cell phone from her pocket and handed it to him. “I’ll go get my laptop.”
Carlita watched him tap the screen. He quietly studied it for several long moments and then handed the phone to one of his partners. “Make sure I didn’t miss anything.”
“Where do you want it?” Mercedes returned with her laptop.
“The coffee table will suffice.” Thryce settled on the couch while Mercedes set the device in front of him.
Carlita pulled Autumn and Mercedes to the side. “He doesn’t have anything on you. I’m sure he’s almost done.” She gazed over her daughter’s shoulder and noticed him staring intently at Mercedes’ computer screen.
“Hey, Jonkers.” He motioned to the female officer who was still holding Mercedes’ cell phone. “I want you to take a look at this.”
Chapter 17
The officers huddled together as they studied Mercedes’ computer screen and began talking in low voices.
“What did they find?” Carlita whispered.
Mercedes shrugged. “I dunno. Nothing. I was doin’ some research for my new story.”
The tips of Carlita’s ears started to burn. “A crime story?”
“I…” Mercedes cleared her throat as she strode across the room. “I’m a novelist. I write crime fiction. I research a lot of criminal stuff. Drownings, shootings, stabbings, car bombings, you name it.”
“She does,” Autumn chimed in. “She writes mafia and other crime fiction. You can look her up. Murder, Mayhem and the Mafia, a Mob Daughter’s Confessions.”
“Or Savannah’s Secret Society,” Mercedes added. “Seriously, look me up.”
“I’ll do it.” The third officer, the one that had so far been a silent observer, pulled his cell phone from his pocket.
The room grew quiet as the female officer and Thryce continued searching Mercedes’ laptop, while the third officer conducted a separate search. “She’s tellin’ the truth, Thryce. There’s even a picture on the back of her book. Check it out.” The cop handed his phone to the officer in charge, who glanced at the picture and then up at Mercedes. “Crime fiction and mafia stuff, huh?”
“I told her she should switch over to romance, but she won’t listen to me,” Carlita said.
Despite the evidence, Mercedes was legitimately researching criminal activity, they continued poring over her phone and laptop. Finally, Thryce and the female officer stood. “I think we’ve seen enough.”
“I would like you to search her person.” Thryce motioned to the female officer.
“Search me?” Mercedes gasped. “Like a body search?”
“Just a visual, for signs of injury.”
A lightbulb went on in Carlita’s head. Thryce had asked for a visual of Carlita and Vinnie, and now Mercedes because Roxy’s attacker had been injured. “The blood you found on the deck of the ship was not only Roxy’s blood, but someone else’s as well.”
“I can’t discuss the case with you.”
Carlita pressed on. “It makes sense. Someone let Roxy out of the bathroom. They argued. Roxy pulled her knife on the person, they fought and both were injured before she went over the side of the ship.”
“I never mentioned a knife,” Thryce pinned Carlita with a stare. “Who told you Roxy had a knife…her knife?”
“I…uh. Someone told me. I can’t remember who,” she fibbed. The last thing she needed to do was mention that Sam had shared the information about Roxy’s knife.
“So, Ms. Garlucci, if you know about the stabbing and you weren’t involved, you won’t mind Jonkers taking a quick look to make sure you haven’t sustained an injury consistent with a knife wound,” Thryce said.
“Not at all.” Mercedes squared her shoulders and motioned for the female officer to follow her to the bedroom in the back.
They returned moments later. “She’s clean, not even a hangnail.”
“Thank you for your time, Mrs. Garlucci, Mercedes and Autumn.” Thryce made his way to the door. He removed a card from his shirt pocket and handed it to Carlita. “If you think of anything new regarding Ms. Ciccone’s death, please give me a call.”
Carlita followed the trio into the hallway and escorted them down the stairs and out of the building. “Are you going to speak with my other two tenants, Charles Benson and Sam Ivey?”
Thryce consulted his pad. “I have their contact information. I have some other leads to follow up on first.”
The trio strode to the other side of the alley and stopped. Carlita dashed up the stairs and into her apartment. She ran to the window where Mercedes and Autumn joined her.
“Now what?” Mercedes asked.
“I dunno.” Carlita watched as the officers approached Elvira’s back door.
The door opened, and Dernice appeared. Thryce motioned toward Carlita’s place. She glanced in their direction before stepping back, and the officers made their way inside.
“I bet that will make Elvira’s day,” Carlita murmured.
“I give her less than an hour, and she’ll be banging on your door, wanting to know what you told them,” Mercedes predicted.
“It will have to wait until later,” Carlita lowered the blind. “I promised Pete I would help him clean up the restaurant courtyard.”
She stayed long enough to see Vinnie, Brittney and the baby out while Mercedes and Autumn returned to her apartment.
Carlita swung by the pawn shop and found Tony inventorying the weapons inside the gun case. “Hey, Ma.”
“Hey, Son. How’s it going?”
“Good. I’m just waitin’ for the part-timer to show up so I can go get Shelby and Violet, and we can head over to the zoo.” Tony jotted some notes on a clipboard and then closed the case. “Jersey Joe was in here first thing this morning snoopin’ around.”
“I’m not surprised.” Carlita briefly filled him in on everything that had transpired.
He let out a low whistle when she got to the part where Thryce red-flagged Mercedes’ internet searches. “I’m surprised they didn’t throw the cuffs on and haul her down to the precinct for an interrogation.”
“We were able to prove Mercedes was working on legitimate research. There’s one more thing.” Carlita shared her suspicions that the authorities had not only found Roxy’s blood, but someone else’s on the top deck as well.
“I hope someone figures out what happened soon. You don’t want Vito’s men sniffin’ around down here for too long,” Tony said. “There are days I still wonder why big bro got himself involved with a mafia chick.”
“Not only involved but married,” Carlita sighed heavily and once again, hoped someday down the road, her son didn’t cross Vito Castellini and end up on a street corner, his body full of bullets.
Tony’s employee showed up, and Carlita excused herself, but not before telling him that she hoped they had fun.
With the rest of the morning and afternoon free, Carlita trekked down the alley in the direction of Pete’s restaurant. Although there was a crispness to the morning air, making it feel more like the holidays, it was still a sharp contrast to the cold, dreary winters of New York.
She passed by Annie Dowton’s office and caught a glimpse of her friend in the window. She stopped long enough for a quick chat and to congratulate her on getting a contract on Pete’s place.
They discussed Carlita’s Christmas Eve dinner, and then the conversation shifted to Roxy’s death.
Annie’s eyes clouded. “It’s awful. Pete gave me a heads up, telling me the police had asked for a copy of the guest list, but I haven’t heard from the investigators yet.”
“I’m sure they’re working their way down
the long list of guests and employees.” A client arrived, and Carlita continued her journey to Pete’s restaurant, where she found him already hard at work in the courtyard. “You started without me.”
“It’s a mess,” Pete shook his head. “It’s in worse shape than I thought.” He showed her the rusty entrance gate. The door squeaked loudly as chunks of rust fell off. “I have a friend who can fix this, but it won’t be ready in time for the New Year’s Eve get-together I was hoping to host.”
“Get-together?”
“A party to celebrate the New Year with family and friends.”
“A New Year’s Eve party sounds fun.” Carlita clapped her hands. “What if I host it instead?”
“I wasn’t hinting,” Pete said.
“I didn’t think you were.” Carlita warmed to the idea. The Christmas gathering would be for close family and friends, something she had done on a number of occasions, but a New Year’s Eve party was something she’d never tackled, mainly because her husband had never been a huge fan of parties.
Pete leaned in and sneaked a kiss. “I appreciate the offer, but I think I’ll have it here. It will be dark, and no one will even notice my gate looks like a prop for one of the ghost tours.”
“Why didn’t we think to have a Halloween party? We could have offered tours of the tunnel. We wouldn’t even have had to decorate. There’s plenty of spooky stuff down there without touching a thing.”
“Hold that thought…until next year,” Pete teased. “Right now, I need to get this mess cleaned up.”
Carlita tackled the sweeping while Pete trimmed the bushes that hung over the courtyard wall.
While they worked, they discussed Christmas, her children’s visit and then Roxy’s death. Carlita told him about the investigator’s surprise visit and ended with the female cop’s body search.
“Perhaps Roxy got one in on her attacker before she went over the side of the ship.”
“That would appear to be the case. The cops left my place and headed over to Elvira’s.”
“Thryce is on it,” Pete said. “He’s certainly making his rounds.”
The cleanup went quicker than Carlita expected. After they finished, they stood back to admire their hard work. “It looks great.”
“Thanks to you.”
A wave of dizziness hit Carlita, and she started to sway. She grabbed hold of the gate.
“Are you okay?” Pete reached for her hand. “Your face is red.”
“I feel a little dizzy. Now that I think about it, I never ate breakfast.”
“You’re working on an empty stomach.” Pete took the broom from Carlita’s hand and propped it against the wall. “We shall remedy the situation immediately.”
After stopping by the restaurant’s restroom to wash up, Pete guided her to a cozy table for two near the fireplace.
“You don’t have to feed me,” Carlita slipped her reading glasses on and perused the menu.
“It’s the least I can do.”
Everything sounded delicious. “What do you recommend?”
“You can’t go wrong with the homemade chicken gumbo.”
“Chicken gumbo, it is.”
During lunch, they discussed the sale of Pete’s home and business in general. The meal ended, and Carlita reluctantly stood. It was getting late, and she still had some things to take care of at home before the family returned from their outing to the zoo.
“How are you doing on your restaurant’s inventory?” Pete placed his napkin on the table and followed suit.
“I need to work on it this afternoon.” The holidays were unchartered territory for Carlita. She didn’t want to stock too much food, but she didn’t want to run low, either. The most frustrating part was every time she tried to run the numbers, she came up with something different. To top it all off, she struggled with trying to factor in the holiday parties.
“It’s time for me to do the same.” Pete walked Carlita to the door. “Would you like me to give you a ride home?”
“No. It’s only a few short blocks. The fresh air will do me good.” Carlita bounced up on her tiptoes and gave Pete a quick kiss. “Thanks.”
“For what?”
“For being you. For making life fun again.”
“You’re welcome. I can’t wait to see what the next year brings for us.”
“Neither can I.” Carlita thought about the bet Elvira and Dernice had, about Pete and Carlita becoming engaged. Would it happen? Whether it happened or not, Carlita was content with the direction her life was taking, and a big part of that was because of Pete.
During the walk home, Carlita counted all of her blessings…her health, her family, her businesses. If someone had told her five years ago that she would be living in Savannah and a business owner to boot, she would have laughed right in their face. Now, she couldn’t imagine her life any other way.
She rounded the corner, reaching the pawn shop where several customers were inside. Carlita started to walk by and then switched directions. She made her way into the shop to check on the employees.
With an assurance they had everything under control, she returned to the apartment and found Rambo waiting by the door.
“Yes, it’s time for you to go out.” They exited the apartment, and she trailed behind as the pup trotted to his green space. He sniffed a tire, trampled a flowering plant and then joined her in the alley. “Later, we’ll take a real walk,” she promised.
They were halfway home when Elvira’s rear door flew open.
Carlita slowed. “Hello, Elvira.”
“I was just coming to look for you. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we’re in deep doo-doo.”
Chapter 18
“I saw the police heading your way after they finished questioning Vinnie, Brittney, Mercedes and me this morning,” Carlita opened the apartment door and nudged Rambo inside.
“They were trying to snoop around in my business stuff.”
“They did the same to me. Unfortunately, they had a search warrant.”
Elvira lifted a brow. “Search warrant? What did they find?”
“Nothing.”
There was a faint rumbling under Carlita’s feet. “What was that?”
“What was what?”
“The rumbling.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
It happened again, and Carlita knew she wasn’t imagining it. “The ground just shook.”
“Maybe we’re having an earthquake. I need to get back inside.” At the third rumble, Elvira took a hasty step back.
“Elvira Cobb.” Carlita’s eyes narrowed. “What is going on?”
Several weeks back, after the unfortunate explosion near the front of Elvira’s building during her absence, the fire department had discovered a hidden trapdoor leading to her basement. Upon further investigation, Dernice and Carlita discovered it led to a series of tunnels that ran under the city.
Dernice had begun chipping away at one of the walls, a wall connecting Elvira’s basement with Carlita’s. Luckily, she realized what was happening and managed to stop her neighbor before she gained access.
Carlita wondered if Elvira would embark on a demolition project of her own once she returned home and found out about it.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Carlita dashed across the alley to her neighbor’s doorway, reaching it before Elvira had time to shut her out. “I want to see what’s going on in your basement.”
There was another rumble. This one was louder and powerful enough to rattle the pictures on Elvira’s wall.
“I can’t show you right now.” Elvira blocked the open trapdoor.
“You can, and you will.” Carlita shoved her aside and started down the ladder.
Elvira hurried after her. “It’s not safe to go down there.”
“We’ll see about that.” Carlita reached the bottom rung, struggling to see through the thick cloud of dust. She pulled her shirt over her nose as she
attempted to locate the source of the vibration.
Tat-a-tat-tat-tat. The ladder shook as she peered through the haze. A hulking, shadowy figure was hunched over a jackhammer in the corner.
Tat-a-tat-tat-tat. The noise and vibration jarred Carlita’s teeth. “Stop!” she shouted. “You’re going to level this place!”
“Huh?”
Through the haze, Carlita was barely able to make out Luigi. “What are you doing?”
“Oh, hey, Mrs. G.” Luigi leaned the jackhammer against the wall and removed his earmuffs. “You should be wearing something over your ears. It’s really loud down here.”
“And dangerous,” Carlita shot Elvira a look. “What are you doing?” she repeated.
“Elvira wants to bust through this wall.”
“Have you considered the fact that taking out a section of wall might not be safe?” Carlita jabbed her finger toward the wooden joists she was certain were well over a hundred years old. “You’re messing with the integrity of the structure.”
“I…no. I mean, there are still three walls holding the place up.”
“I think you should be consulting with a structural engineer, or at the very least someone who knows something about tearing out old walls. What exactly are you trying to accomplish?”
Elvira motioned for Carlita to follow her to where Luigi had been jackhammering. “Dernice told me about how you two came down here and did some snooping around, you ran into a minor issue and gave up.”
“Minor issue? More like…we were trespassing on private property, we set off an alarm and nearly broke our necks trying to get out of here.”
“Rookies,” Elvira waved dismissively. “So, when I got down here and started looking around, I realized my tunnel connects to at least one other.”
“But there’s no access to it,” Carlita said. “Dernice and I found that out.”
“Not yet. Follow me. I have something to show you.” Elvira stepped into the tunnel.
Carlita turned to Luigi. “If we don’t come back in ten minutes, come find us.”
The tunnel was still dark and dank but missing the thick cobwebs she and Dernice had run into during their previous exploration, which told Carlita that Elvira had been doing more than just having a look around.
Christmas Family Style in Savannah: A Garlucci Family Saga Novel (Made in Savannah Mystery Series Book 15) Page 13
