Chapter 3 - THE MAN WHO ALWAYS BROUGHT PEPPERMINTS
Vincent Vale's hand stopped halfway inside his coat.
Across the room, two men moved toward him.
Alessandro raised one finger.
They froze.
“Slowly,” Alessandro said.
Vincent withdrew his hand.
Between his fingers was a silver cigarette case.
He placed it on the table.
“You've known me since we were boys.”
“I have.”
“Then you know I wouldn't hurt a child.”
Alessandro glanced at me.
“I know you were willing to let one watch her mother disappear.”
Vincent's expression changed.
Only for a moment.
But I saw it.
His face looked like Mama's when she found a bill she couldn't pay.
Tired.
Cornered.
Almost ashamed.
“That's not what happened,” Vincent said.
“Then explain.”
“Not in front of the girl.”
Alessandro considered him.
Then he turned to the man nearest the door.
“Marco, take Sophia into the adjoining sitting room. Leave the connecting door open.”
I tightened my grip on Alessandro's sleeve.
“No.”
He crouched.
“Sophia.”
“Mama said not to go with people I don't know.”
Something moved in his eyes.
Approval, maybe.
He looked at Marco.
“Bring Mrs. Russo from the kitchen.”
I knew Mrs. Russo.
She made the best meatballs in River City and always let me scrape frosting from the mixing bowl.
When she appeared, her apron was still tied around her waist.
“Oh, sweet Jesus,” she whispered when she saw me.
I ran into her arms.
She smelled like flour and tomatoes.
For one little moment, I wanted to stay there forever.
Then I remembered Mama.
“Mrs. Russo, someone took her.”
“I know, baby.”
“Are they going to bring her back?”
She looked over my head at Alessandro.
His expression told her something.
She hugged me tighter.
“We're going to do everything we can.”
I hated that answer.
Adults kept saying things like that when they were afraid.
Mrs. Russo guided me into the next room.
There was a blue sofa, a fireplace, and a bowl of wrapped candies on a side table.
She sat beside me.
The connecting door remained open.
I could hear everything.
“You're going to tell me who wears the lion ring,” Alessandro said.
Vincent sighed.
“His name is Gabriel Rizzo.”
“The same Gabriel who worked security at Saint Agnes Hospital?”
“Yes.”
Alessandro went silent.
Then he asked, “Why would Alina Bellini have anything to do with him?”
Vincent rubbed his forehead.
“Because she has been searching through old records.”
“What records?”
“Records from December fourteen.”
I saw Alessandro's shadow move across the carpet.
“Who told you that?”
“She did.”
Vincent's voice sounded almost hurt.
“She came to me six weeks ago. Asked about her father. About Lucia. About the warehouse.”
“And you didn't tell me?”
“She made me promise.”
“Why?”
“Because she believed someone close to you had killed Matteo.”
Silence.
Then Alessandro asked a different question.
“Did she accuse you?”
Vincent answered too quickly.
“No.”
I looked at Mrs. Russo.
Her fingers were working the edge of her apron.
She was listening, too.
Vincent continued.
“She was frightened. I tried to help her.”
“By telling Gabriel Rizzo where to find her?”
“No.”
Alessandro's chair scraped.
“Then why did Gabriel know about the swallow?”
Vincent did not answer.
That was when I remembered something.
I slipped down from the sofa.
“Mrs. Russo?”
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“The peppermint man came to our apartment.”
She stiffened.
“When?”
“Tuesday.”
“What did he do?”
“He brought Mama flowers.”
“What kind?”
“White ones.”
Mrs. Russo closed her eyes.
“Did he talk to your mother?”
“Yes.”
“About what?”
I frowned.
Grown-ups always thought children weren't listening when they spoke quietly.
But our apartment was small.
And the kitchen door never closed properly.
“He said she was making a mistake.”
Mrs. Russo took my hand.
“Come tell Alessandro.”
We walked back into the meeting room.
Vincent looked upset when he saw me.
I stood beside Alessandro.
“The peppermint man came to our house.”
Vincent's face tightened.
Alessandro looked at him.
“You neglected to mention that.”
Vincent shrugged.
“I checked on Alina.”
“She didn't want him there,” I said.
Everyone looked at me.
I swallowed.
“She said he couldn't buy her silence with flowers.”
Vincent lowered his head.
Alessandro's voice became quieter.
“What else?”
I remembered Mama standing beside the sink.
Her hands were wet.
She was holding a plate.
“She said, ‘My father wasn't the only one you buried.’”
Vincent looked up sharply.
“She misunderstood.”
“Then what did she mean?” Alessandro asked.
Vincent's mouth trembled.
For a moment, he looked nothing like the man who smiled over peppermints.
He looked like someone holding up a wall that was beginning to fall.
“I helped bury Lucia,” he whispered.
Alessandro took one step forward.
“Choose your next words carefully.”
“Not her body. The truth about her death.”
Mrs. Russo made a small sound.
Alessandro stared at Vincent.
“What truth?”
Vincent looked at the photograph.
“Lucia was supposed to meet Matteo at the warehouse that night.”
“I know.”
“No,” Vincent said. “You know she was found near the warehouse. You don't know why she went.”
Alessandro's face changed.
“Tell me.”
“She was carrying evidence.”
“Against whom?”
Vincent looked toward me.
Then toward Mrs. Russo.
“Against a man who had been stealing money from your father's businesses.”
Alessandro's jaw tightened.
“My father was dying.”
“Yes.”
“And you handled the accounts.”
“I handled some.”
“Who handled the rest?”
Vincent's silence answered.
But Alessandro wanted the words.
“Who, Vincent?”
“Your uncle.”
“Dominic Moretti?”
Vincent nodded.
My grandfather's photograph lay between them.
The room felt cold.
Alessandro turned toward Marco.
“Find Dominic. Bring him here.”
Marco hesitated.
“Don, your uncle hasn't left Saint Agnes rehabilitation center in months.”
“Then call the center.”
Marco took out his phone.
Vincent gave a bitter little laugh.
“Dominic can't save anyone now.”
Alessandro turned back.
“What does that mean?”
Before Vincent answered, Carlo returned carrying a tablet.
His face was grim.
“We found the car.”
My heart jumped.
“Where's Mama?”
Carlo looked at Alessandro.
“The vehicle entered the old municipal parking garage on Harrison Street. It came out eight minutes later.”
“Was Alina inside?”
“We couldn't see. Rear windows were covered.”
Alessandro reached for the tablet.
Carlo continued.
“The driver removed the license plates.”
“Find the traffic cameras.”
“We're working on it.”
Then he hesitated.
“There's something else.”
He turned the screen.
A still photograph showed the black car outside Bella Vista.
The man with the lion ring stood beside the rear door.
His face was turned away.
But I recognized Mama's green coat disappearing into the vehicle.
I started crying.
Not loudly.
I just couldn't stop.
Alessandro knelt beside me.
He did not tell me to be brave.
He gave me his clean handkerchief.
“I want her,” I whispered.
“I know.”
“She's all I have.”
His face seemed to break a little.
Then he said, “Not anymore.”
I looked up.
He did not explain.
Behind him, Carlo enlarged the photograph.
There was someone sitting in the passenger seat.
A woman.
Her face was partly hidden by the windshield.
But Mrs. Russo gasped.
Alessandro turned.
“What?”
Mrs. Russo pointed at the screen.
“Don Alessandro, look at her wrist.”
A narrow silver bracelet was visible beneath the woman's sleeve.
Three small charms.
A heart.
A key.
And a swallow.
Alessandro stepped toward the photograph.
His voice dropped to a whisper.
“That bracelet was buried with Lucia.”
Vincent closed his eyes.
Then Carlo enlarged the woman's face.
Alessandro stared at the screen.
May you like
And for the first time since I entered his meeting, his legs seemed unable to hold him.
Because the woman in the passenger seat looked exactly like his dead sister.
