A Villa in Sicily: Vino and Death

by Fiona Grace

  Audrey didn’t speak for a long time, but when she did, her voice was small. “Oh. That’s nice.”

  “Well, it all worked out anyway. The funds have been earmarked now and the fountain area will be revitalized.”

  “Oh. That’s nice,” she repeated.

  “After I got out of jail, I signed the order to make sure that happens.” He gave her a deep, meaningful look.

  She looked away. “Anyway, I wanted to let you know I grew up here. I care about this town and won’t let anyone see it destroyed. That’s why I’m being extra careful about the one-euro houses and making sure they go to people who will fix them up appropriately and breathe a life into the community that respects our traditions and culture. And why I was hard on Cascarelli to make sure that the renovations are done right. Perhaps I was too hard, but in my opinion, our city is worth it.”

  Yes, he was a politician, probably used to saying things to get a vote. But Audrey saw sincerity in his eyes. “That’s … wonderful.”

  “Good. Now that that’s settled …” He peered around his desk, shuffling papers around, looking for something. “Now … what did I do with …”

  She winced. Probably an order to get out and never show my face in this city again.

  “Ah. Here.” He held the paper in front of him, reading it over to make sure it was in order. “I understand you took a risk yesterday, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t do this.”

  Still bracing herself, she looked down.

  “We’re enormously grateful for what you did to track down Cascarelli’s killer,” he said.

  She looked up. That certainly wasn’t the butt-kicking she’d been expecting. In fact, that sounded like a… a compliment? “What?”

  He pushed the paper over to her. “So here you go.”

  She took the papers and stared at them. They were the new certificates of occupancy for her clinic, and her home. “You mean I can …”

  “Yes. We’d like you to reopen right away. In case you didn’t notice, the town needs a vet.” He smiled.

  “Well, that’s me!” she said, standing up. “I’ll get right on it. Everything’s almost ready to go. Thank you. I’m going to go there now and—”

  “First, I want to discuss something with you.”

  Audrey stared, her emotions whirling like a tornado inside her now. She’d gone from fear, to elation, to fear, to elation too many times … now, she was starting to feel exhausted. “Yes?”

  “A business proposition, if you will.”

  This sounded an awful lot like Eton’s lead-in. “You don’t want to make my place into a PetSense, do you?”

  He chuckled. “No. But I do want to discuss expanding. I hear the place is quite small and is already at capacity. The building next door is vacant. Do you think you could use the room?”

  “Absolutely!” She nodded so much, it was a surprise to her that her head didn’t fall off and roll across the room. “I definitely could. But that would require more funds, and more time to—”

  “Yes. Well, we’ll work out the details. I’ve also batted around the possibility of hiring an Animal Control Officer to help you out. But we can discuss all this later. You have things to do now. Just go,” he said, waving her off.

  She rushed out the door and almost forgot about Mason waiting for her. When she ran past him at the door, he had to jog to keep up with her. “Hey. What happened?”

  “Oh. Look.” She held the papers up so he could see them. “I have my new certificates of occupancy. That means that I can open the clinic right away. As soon as you finish with that last treatment. It’s almost done, right?”

  “Yep. I’m on it. Almost done.” He walked in step with her as she pushed open the door and hurried down the steps. “Where you going to now?”

  She gave him an incredulous look. Like he even needed to ask that? “Where do you think? The clinic! Being closed for the week, everything’s behind. The place is a mess. I have so much to do right now if I want to get it ready to open as soon as possible. Plus, I have to take care of all the animals.”

  “All right. I’ll go with you.” Usually, it was Audrey who had to rush to keep in step with Mason, but now he was the one lagging behind. “So … what did the mayor say?”

  “Would you believe, he said that he was never planning on turning Mussomeli into a giant strip mall. I must’ve misunderstood. Probably because of the language barrier. But all he wanted to do was rehabilitate the town square, which is starting to crumble a little,” she said, starting to pant because she was walking so fast down the street and talking even faster. “Anyway, he actually thanked me for finding Cascarelli’s killer. Can you believe that?”

  “Yep.”

  “And you’ll never believe this, but the mayor said something about expanding into the next building. Hiring an Animal Control Officer. Isn’t that crazy?”

  “No. Not at all. After all the good you’ve done in this town, Boston, I’m surprised they don’t name the whole city after you.”

  She laughed. “Oh, maybe not the city. But I’d take a street! A little one, maybe on the outskirts of …”

  They’d rounded the corner and were heading down via Barcellona, toward the clinic. She stopped when she got within sight of the door. Sure enough, it was open a crack.

  Now, she couldn’t blame Luca. She’d been the last person out the door last night, after Eton Scarletto was arrested and everything with the police had been settled. Yes, she’d been exhausted, but had she been so exhausted that she’d left the door open? After what she’d been through … she pushed open the door, wincing, half-expecting to see another dead body sprawled out on the floor.

  Instead, there were a number of bodies there. None dead, thank goodness. All people she’d met before … Roberto, Dom, and even Horst. Roberto and Dom were working on waxing the floors and Horst was carrying a bucket of dirty water out to the front. They all shouted a hello to her at once, smiling big as she stepped inside, careful not to mess their work, a little shell-shocked at the whole scene.

  She looked back at Mason, who was grinning slyly. “What’s going …”

  “I knew you were going to need help to open, so I called around and got people here to help finish straightening things up.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “We even walked the dogs, too!” Roberto said. He sat back on his haunches and stroked a very pleased-looking Bruno, who seemed to be supervising the whole job. “Tell me this one is up for adoption?”

  “He is. He is one of the best. I can get you an application when we op—”

  “You can open tomorrow, if you want. Heck, now, if you really want to,” Mason said.

  “I can?” She clasped her hands together.

  “Why not? You said it yourself. You’re untouchable. The mayor loves you.”

  She smacked his arm, then tiptoed around the work and grabbed an adoption application from the stack of papers at reception. As she sat down to fill her part out, she looked up at Mason. “You knew the mayor was going to allow me to reopen,” she accused.

  “I didn’t,” he said with an innocent shrug. “I just figured you’d been pretty stressed and could use the break.”

  She smiled. “Thank you,” she said, staring at him. He looked back at her, and she felt all warm and gooey inside.

  It was what the romance books called “sharing a moment.” No, she wasn’t Brina, wasn’t experienced with men in the least, but at least she could tell that.

  CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

  Montagnanera.

  Audrey sat at the reception desk, gazing at the mountains she’d just Googled.

  Montagnanera. It meant Black Mountains, which was a perfect name for the place she’d seen in the postcard. Incredibly, it wasn’t far away, in the north of Italy, on the Mediterranean Sea. Though the postcard had been taken at sunset, the photos she looked at now were during the day, showing whimsical, brightly colored buildings in the warm sun, cobblestone streets, quaint cafes. She had to smile
at that.

  It was so similar to the things that had drawn her to Mussomeli.

  And it was close.

  As if her father had been calling to her all this time.

  It was after eight, and she could now call her first day back at the clinic an unmitigated success. Yes, it had been busy, but it felt so good to be back. Even the animals seemed happier to have her around more often. She loved this, and couldn’t wait to get back into her groove.

  Of course, now it was probably time to go home.

  Home. She’d moved her stuff out of Mason’s place last night. Thank goodness, she wouldn’t have to worry anymore about Polpetto and Nick playing Tom and Jerry, circling each other like opponents ready to battle to the death. Plus, her home was hers. She had Horst coming over to help her patch the hole in the floor that weekend.

  Things were definitely looking up.

  But for some reason, something she couldn’t quite put her finger on, she’d been really sad, sleeping in her bedroom, last night. It wasn’t just that she loved having Mason cook her dinner when she got done with work, or that it was nice to know he was nearby in case she had a particularly stubborn jar that needed opening, or that he knew how to get rid of black mold. Yes, it was all those things … but there was something more.

  As she sat there, lost in those thoughts and scrolling through the lovely photographs of the high black mountains, covered in snow, the phone in reception began to ring. It’d been ringing off the hook all day, with people wanting to book appointments. She answered. “Hello, Dr. Smart’s office.”

  “Hello. Is this Doctor Smart?”

  “Yes.”

  “Hi. This is Concetta Busillo. I’m a veterinary student. I’m not sure you remember me, but I spoke to you—”

  “Yes, actually, I do! Nice to hear from you. And it’s so great you’re calling! Were your ears ringing? Because I wanted to call you!”

  “Oh. You did?”

  “Yes!” That wasn’t buttering her up. Now that things were moving on, she was ready to hire an intern. The only problem was that the formula spill had completely smeared the ink on Concetta’s card, making it impossible to read her phone number. She’d tried to locate her by asking around, but had come up empty. Funny, in a small town, she’d thought it’d be easy to locate a veterinary student, but all of her searches had turned up nothing. “I reopened the clinic today, and I was swamped. I really could use an intern to help me out.”

  “You could?” There was excitement in the woman’s voice. It was kind of cute. “Well, that’s me! I’m happy to help! Do you need me to provide a resume or—”

  “No. I don’t need anything. Just you, to show up here tomorrow morning. Say, eight-thirty? I can show you around the place and get you acquainted before we open. Sound good?”

  “Oh, yes! I will be there. Grazie, Dottore Smart. I won’t let you down.”

  “I know. See you soon.”

  She hung up and took one long, last look at those mountains. Could she go to that place? Find him? What would he say to her if she suddenly showed up on his doorstep? Would he be happy? Or would he want nothing to do with her?

  She yawned. It was too late to think of such big questions. One thing at a time is all we can do.

  As she tried to close out the window, an ad popped up. It was the same photograph of those black mountains in the distance, with the headline: Discount flights to Montagnanera from Palermo! Only $99! Limited Time!

  She clicked on it. The tickets were open-ended. She could buy one now and take a flight anytime she wanted. Take a flight to explore the mountains, enjoy the mainland, maybe even … find her father?

  Her breathing shuddered as she pressed on the BUY NOW button. A minute later, she’d entered in her credit card information. Now, she was the proud owner of a round-trip fare to Montagnanera.

  Leaving … who knew when. But somehow, it settled her, making her feel closer to whatever destination she’d been on this journey for.

  And now, it was time to go home. Back to her home.

  Her cold, empty home, where she’d have to scrounge together some dinner.

  She flipped off her computer, turned out the lights, went outside, and smiled at Nick, who’d come in from his adventures and was now waiting for her, as usual. “Come on, boy. Let’s go home. You wouldn’t want to cook me dinner, would you?”

  No answer.

  She sighed as she locked the door up tight. “I didn’t think so. Maybe it’s time for some maccu di fave from Pepe. What do you think, bub?”

  Again, no answer, but her stomach seemed to growl in appreciation, which was all the encouragement she needed.

  She walked down the street, in the direction of the newly set sun, imagining her father fixing up a house at the base of those lovely black mountains. She imagined him smiling at her, handing her the hammer and asking for her help, like he used to.

  Just a pipe dream, she thought, shivering in the chilly air of the night. Plus, you have so much going on here. Your life is so full. You don’t need to worry about a father who abandoned you. Not now that you have …

  Even the thought of noshing on her lovely soup from Pepe didn’t seem to settle her. She approached Piazza Tre and something twisted inside her. It looked cold and dark, like no one lived there. Mason’s house had been so warm. So welcoming. Every light blazed in the place, and when she was there with him, it felt comfortable. It felt like home.

  A feeling suddenly shook her. You’re silly, Audrey. It wasn’t the place. It was the person.

  She paused in the street at the realization, and Nick paused too, looking at her curiously. Mason had been there for her through everything. He made her dinners. He held her hand. He put up with all her crazy antics. She’d been ping-ponging back and forth between G and Mason, but if she had to be really honest with herself, there was no contest.

  It had been Mason, all along.

  Now, she was more certain than ever. In fact, she wanted to scream it from the rooftops. I love Mason Legare … and I think he loves me, too.

  Thinking back, it seemed so obvious. There was love in everything he’d done for her. No, I KNOW it.

  With that thought firmly in her head, she rushed off, so fast that even Nick had trouble keeping up with her. She dashed past her house at the corner of the piazza, down another drive, to via Milano, and didn’t stop until she arrived at Mason’s front door. As usual, the place was awash in light.

  And it felt so right to be standing there, in front of his place, and to finally pour out all the emotions she’d been keeping inside. She took all three steps in one leap and, heart thudding a beat for every one of the possibilities, knocked on the door.

  NOW AVAILABLE!

  A VILLA IN SICILY: CAPERS AND A CALAMITY

  (A Cats and Dogs Cozy Mystery—Book 4)

  "Very entertaining. Highly recommended for the permanent library of any reader who appreciates a well-written mystery with twists and an intelligent plot. You will not be disappointed. Excellent way to spend a cold weekend!"

  --Books and Movie Reviews (regarding Murder in the Manor)

  A VILLA IN SICILY: CAPERS AND A CALAMITY is book #4 in a charming new cozy mystery series by bestselling author Fiona Grace, author of Murder in the Manor, a #1 Bestseller with over 100 five-star reviews (and a free download)!

  Audrey Smart, 34, has made a major life change, walking away from her life as a vet (and from a string of failed romances) and moving to Sicily to buy a $1 home—and embark on a mandatory renovation she knows nothing about. She finds herself busy running the town’s new shelter, while also renovating her own problematic home—and dating again.

  Audrey’s reputation is spreading, and she is asked to travel to other parts of Sicily to help other towns with their animal problems. When she journeys a short ferry ride away to the beautiful Aeolian Islands, Audrey thinks she has found paradise—until a rival vet makes her life hell—and an unexpected murder pins her as the main suspect.

  Can Audrey
clear her name, salvage her reputation, and find the true killer?

  A laugh-out-loud cozy packed with mystery, intrigue, renovation, animals, food, wine—and of course, love—A VILLA IN SICILY will capture your heart and keep you glued to the very last page.

  “The book had heart and the entire story worked together seamlessly that didn't sacrifice either intrigue or personality. I loved the characters - so many great characters! I can't wait to read whatever Fiona Grace writes next!”

  --Amazon reviewer (regarding Murder in the Manor)

  “Wow, this book takes off & never stops! I couldn't put it down! Highly recommended for those who love a great mystery with twists, turns, romance, and a long lost family member! I am reading the next book right now!”

  --Amazon reviewer (regarding Murder in the Manor)

  “This book is rather fast paced. It has the right blend of characters, place, and emotions. It was hard to put down and I hope to read the next book in the series.”

  --Amazon reviewer (regarding Murder in the Manor)

  Books #5 and #6 in the series—ORANGE GROVES AND VENGEANCE and CANNOLI AND A CASUALTY—are now also available!

  A VILLA IN SICILY: CAPERS AND A CALAMITY

  (A Cats and Dogs Cozy Mystery—Book 4)

  Fiona Grace

  Fiona Grace is author of the LACEY DOYLE COZY MYSTERY series, comprising nine books (and counting); of the TUSCAN VINEYARD COZY MYSTERY series, comprising six books (and counting); of the DUBIOUS WITCH COZY MYSTERY series, comprising three books (and counting); of the BEACHFRONT BAKERY COZY MYSTERY series, comprising six books (and counting); and of the CATS AND DOGS COZY MYSTERY series, comprising six books.