Murder at the Mistletoe Ball

by J. D. Griffo

  “That’s not a lot to go on, Alfie,” Vinny said.

  “I know,” Alberta said. “Maybe we should’ve come out of hiding and confronted the woman.”

  “No, you did the right thing,” Vinny said. “This woman sounds like a loose cannon.”

  “She practically banged the door down,” Jinx said. “She ripped the medicine cabinet off its hinges.”

  “If she is involved in this murder and you two popped out from behind the shower curtain, she might have popped a few bullets into you,” Vinny said. “Trust me, the first murder is hard, all the ones that come after are as easy as Sunday dinner.”

  “I like that, Vin,” Alberta said. “You should put that in your book.”

  “It already is!” Vinny replied. “Alfie says it to Vance, the chief of police, on page seventy-four.”

  “With dialogue like that I can’t believe no one wants to publish your story,” Alberta said.

  “Believe it,” Vinny said. “I got four rejection letters to prove it.”

  “Il mondo è pieno di persone stupide,” Alberta said.

  “You’re right about that,” Vinny replied. “But at least your world has at least one smart guy in it.”

  “You?” Jinx asked.

  Vinny smiled and shook his head. “Not me, Bruno.”

  * * *

  When Vinny brought Alberta and Jinx into the meeting room where a person in lockup could speak with their attorney, Bruno was so deep in conversation with Lisa Marie and Tommy that he jumped when the door opened.

  “If we didn’t know any better, Bruno, we’d think you were a jittery lawyer,” Alberta said.

  “Mrs. Scaglione, so good to see you,” Bruno said. “Even under these terrible circumstances.”

  Bruno and Alberta hugged warmly. Despite the difference in their ages and backgrounds, over the years they had developed mutual respect and admiration. They trusted each other with their lives. Alberta trusted Bruno enough to put the fate of her grandson’s life in his hands.

  “Thank you for getting here so quickly,” Alberta said. “I know we made a mess of your plans.”

  “You did me a favor,” Bruno said. “I got to leave a family wedding early and avoid two more days of bonding with relatives I don’t particularly like very much.”

  “If it’s anything like our family weddings, you avoided a black eye, a fine, and a night in jail,” Lisa Marie said.

  “Ma!” Jinx shouted.

  “If I don’t make jokes about this situation, I’m going to have a heart attack and die at your feet,” Lisa Marie said. “Make your choice.”

  “Leese, I really do know what you’re going through, but may I share a piece of advice?” Vinny said.

  “I’ll take whatever I can get,” Lisa Marie replied.

  “Let Sergio lead the tone of the conversation,” Vinny said. “The boy is frightened out of his wits and he’s got a tough road ahead of him. He may not be in a joking mood right now.”

  Lisa Marie smiled. “My mother was right, you really are a straight shooter.”

  Vinny nodded solemnly and said, “An officer will be bringing Sergio in any minute.”

  Bruno waited until Vinny shut the door behind him to speak. “Vinny’s right, we need to do everything we can to instill hope in Sergio, but he can’t think we’re taking this lightly. This is serious business.”

  “We know that,” Tommy said. “We’re just as frightened as our son is.”

  “We all are, Daddy,” Jinx said.

  “I know, sweetheart,” Tommy said. “But we’re a family and we’re going to get through this together.”

  This time when the door opened Lisa Marie and Tommy were the ones who jumped up. They watched the officer uncuff their son and leave the room. Then they watched their son look at them like he did when he was little and had hurt himself in the backyard. He looked like a lost boy who needed his parents.

  Lisa Marie and Tommy rushed to Sergio and threw their arms around him. Sergio hung on to their arms for dear life and gave the sobs that he’d been holding on to all night the freedom to escape. After a minute Lisa Marie brushed away her son’s tears and held his hand tightly, while Jinx gave her brother a long hug. Jinx wanted to give in to her emotions and break down like her brother did, but she was the big sister, she needed to remain strong, and most of all, she needed to introduce Sergio to his counsel.

  “Grandma got you the best lawyer in town,” Jinx said. “Sergio Maldonado, meet Bruno bel Bruno.”

  “Hi,” Sergio said, jutting out his hand to shake Bruno’s. “Did my grandma hire you because you really are good or because you’re Italian?”

  “A little bit of both, my love,” Alberta said.

  She wrapped her arms around Sergio and kissed his cheek a few times. If only they could stay in this room forever, hide from reality and live out their lives away from the fear of imprisonment. That wasn’t going to happen, but the next best thing was for Bruno to win this case, and Alberta thought it was time he got to work.

  “Bruno,” Alberta said, “the floor is all yours.”

  The room was sparse, and except for one rectangular wooden table and several armless chairs with the slimmest of cushions, there was nothing else in the room. Sergio sat across from Bruno, flanked on either side by Lisa Marie and Tommy, Jinx sat to Bruno’s right, and Alberta sat at the end of the table next to Jinx. Bruno’s open briefcase lay on the table to his left and he pulled out a file and a pad. He took a pen from the inside breast pocket of his sports jacket and smiled at Sergio.

  “Why don’t I set up the rules for you, Sergio, and tell you how this works,” Bruno said. “I’m your lawyer, which means anything you say to me is confidential and I can’t repeat it. The same is not true for anyone else in this room, which means if you want to share something with me that you don’t want to or shouldn’t share with anyone else, tell me and I’ll ask everyone to leave the room.”

  Sergio was startled and looked at his family. “I don’t have anything to hide from them.”

  “That’s good,” Bruno replied. “But remember, it is always an option.”

  Bruno opened the file and from what Jinx and Alberta could tell, it was the police report.

  “We know that Natalie was murdered last night, and we know that you were found holding the murder weapon close by,” Bruno said. “Why don’t you tell us what happened earlier in the day and how you wound up at the Ball under those circumstances?”

  Sergio let out a deep breath and folded his hands on the table. “You want me to tell you everything that happened?”

  “I want you to tell me the truth,” Bruno said.

  Alberta felt a twinge in her stomach as she remembered what her grandmother always said about the truth. La verità potrebbe rendere qualcuno libero, ma manda anche qualcuno in prigione. The truth might set someone free, but it sends someone else to jail. If her grandmother was right, it meant Sergio had a fifty-fifty chance to go free. Not the greatest of odds.

  Sergio explained that he started the day by having breakfast with his parents and his aunt Joyce. It was the day of the Mistletoe Ball and everyone except him had errands to run. While they were out, he tried to get in touch with Natalie, but she never responded. Which is why he kind of freaked out.

  “I can’t explain it, I honestly don’t know how she makes me get so crazy . . . used to, I mean, but I knew I couldn’t spend one more second in that house or in this town without her,” Sergio explained. “That’s when I wrote that note to my parents.”

  Bruno sifted through some files in his briefcase and pulled out a piece of paper. He placed it on the table and slid it toward Sergio. “This one where you tell your parents Natalie needs you?”

  “That’s the one,” Sergio confirmed.

  “It also proves Natalie’s letter to my mother was a lie,” Lisa Marie said.

  “Actually, it doesn’t,” Alberta corrected.

  “What do you mean, Ma? Natalie wrote a Dear John letter to Sergio and here she’
s telling him she needs him,” Lisa Marie said.

  “I was wrong,” Alberta admitted. “Sergio’s note only says Natalie needs him, not that she asked for his help. Isn’t that right, Sergio?”

  “It is, Gram,” Sergio replied. “Natalie didn’t contact me until later in the day.”

  “When did she do that?” Tommy asked.

  “Around five, she sent some texts to my cell phone,” Sergio said.

  “We’ll get to that, but we need to go back first,” Bruno said. “You’re at your aunt Joyce’s house, you’re restless, you can’t get Natalie out of your mind. What did you do next?”

  “I went for a walk,” Sergio replied. “I don’t know the town very well, so I didn’t have anyplace in mind. After a while I stumbled upon Tranquility Park and looked at all the stands and rides they set up, and then I wound up at the diner and had something to eat.”

  “Tranquility Diner?” Bruno asked.

  “Yeah, that was the place,” Sergio confirmed.

  “Do you remember who waited on you?” Bruno asked.

  “An Asian guy,” Sergio said. “I didn’t catch his name, but I think he was the owner because he said he was closing up early to go to the Ball.”

  “That was Kwon Lee, the owner,” Bruno said. “Do you have any idea what time that was?”

  “I guess it was around noon, I’m not sure,” Sergio replied.

  “That’s okay, Kwon will have a record of it,” Bruno said.

  “Why is it important to know the time I stopped at the diner?” Sergio asked.

  “It establishes a timeline of your activities for the day,” Bruno said. “To put it bluntly, I need to establish that you didn’t spend the day plotting Natalie’s murder.”

  “Of course I didn’t do that!” Sergio yelled. “Because I didn’t kill Natalie!”

  “Easy, son,” Tommy said. “He needs to establish your whereabouts to give you an alibi.”

  “I shouldn’t need an alibi!” Sergio said. “I should just have to say I didn’t do it and everybody should believe me.”

  “Stop talking like an idiot!” Jinx snapped. “You’re not twelve, Sergio, you’re an adult and you’re going to be on trial for first degree murder. If you don’t want to spend the rest of your life in jail, cooperate.”

  Jinx’s blunt talk seemed to knock some sense into Sergio. When he continued telling Bruno how he spent the hours before the Mistletoe Ball, he filled in all the details. He stayed at the diner for as long as he could, but Kwon finally kicked all the customers out at three o’clock. He continued to walk aimlessly until he got a text from Natalie. She said she couldn’t stay in town any longer, but she also couldn’t live without Sergio, so the only viable solution was for them to leave town together.

  “I asked Nat about the FBI because I was worried that they’d get ticked if they couldn’t find her,” Sergio said. “She said she’d handle that, all she cared about was being with me.”

  “She didn’t care about the FBI because they’re not involved,” Alberta said.

  “That isn’t true,” Sergio protested. “She has information they need.”

  “She lied to you,” Lisa Marie said. “She’s been lying since day one.”

  Bruno reached across the table and placed a hand on Lisa Marie’s arm to get her to stop talking. It worked but didn’t prevent her from cursing Natalie under her breath.

  “They’re right, Sergio, there is no FBI investigation and they’ve never heard of Natalie Vespa,” Bruno said. “She concocted that story to hide whatever business she was involved in.”

  Sergio was stunned. “I can’t believe that.”

  “It’s true, honey,” Alberta said. “I have a question, though. How do you know the text came from Natalie? Did it come from her cell phone?”

  “No, it came from her burner phone,” Sergio replied.

  “Why would Natalie use her burner phone to send a text to your cell phone when she knew it could be traced?” Alberta asked. “She should’ve sent it to your burner phone, right?”

  “I guess that would make more sense to keep it totally untraceable,” Sergio said.

  “The only thing that makes sense is if someone else sent the texts,” Alberta said. “They wouldn’t know how to contact you on your burner phone, they’d have to use your cell phone.”

  “Do you have any idea who would have sent you those messages if it wasn’t Natalie?” Bruno asked. “One of her friends or business associates?”

  “She kept me in the dark about all that stuff,” Sergio said. “I don’t know anybody in her life.”

  “What about Rudy?” Jinx asked.

  Recognition flashed across Sergio’s face, but neither Jinx nor Alberta could determine if it was honest or manufactured. “Give me a break! Rudy wanted Natalie for himself, he wouldn’t send me a text impersonating her.”

  “I thought Rudy was dating J. J.,” Alberta said.

  “Who’s J. J.?” Sergio asked.

  “You’ve never heard of her?” Jinx asked, her voice dripping with doubt.

  “No,” Sergio replied. “As far as I know, Rudy wanted to get back with Natalie. That’s the real reason we left his apartment, the three of us couldn’t live under the same roof.”

  “Okay, so back to the day of the Ball,” Bruno said. “What did you do after you got the texts from Natalie?”

  “She told me to meet her at the Tranquility Manor at seven o’clock,” Sergio said.

  “That was when the Ball started, right?” Bruno asked.

  “Yes, she said she had to meet with someone before she left to settle a score, and once she did that we’d leave,” Sergio explained. “I went to the Manor early. I think I got there around six thirty because I didn’t want anyone in the family to see me. I went around the back and I saw Natalie talking to someone.”

  “Can you describe this person?” Bruno asked.

  “Not really, they were wearing a red parka with the hood up and I only saw them from the back,” Sergio said. “I’m pretty sure it was a woman because they were around Natalie’s height and build, but Rudy’s kind of skinny and only an inch or so taller than Nat, so it could’ve been him too.”

  “What happened next?” Bruno asked.

  Sergio exhaled to gather his strength. When he started his story he spoke quickly, as if to get it over as quickly as possible.

  “I hid behind some bushes and saw them go into the Manor through the back door entrance, but when I tried to follow them inside, the door was locked, so I couldn’t get in,” Sergio began. “I waited outside and after a while a waiter came out to have a cigarette. I acted like I was late for my shift and he let me in. I took the stairs and made my way up to the kitchen. Everybody was so busy, no one noticed me. I heard a lot of noise and followed the sound that led me into the ballroom. What I didn’t realize was that they built that forest thing to camouflage the kitchen entrance, so with all the trees I thought I might be outside, but I knew that was impossible. I wound up in the ski chalet, which is where I found the knife. I picked it up and walked outside to find Natalie dead on the floor.”

  Sergio caught his breath and looked around at his family staring at him. “Do you think anyone’s going to believe my story?” he asked.

  Bruno tilted his head from side to side. “They might. There are a few things in the autopsy report that I think will help as well.”

  “Like what?” Lisa Marie asked.

  “There’s a good chance the murderer was left handed and Sergio isn’t,” Bruno said.

  “What about the latex residue found around Natalie’s mouth and the synthetic fibers?” Alberta asked.

  “I see Pedro filled you in as well,” Bruno said, smiling. “Sergio being in the kitchen gives him access to the gloves, and unless we can find where the synthetic fibers came from, they won’t be much help. We won’t get the full toxicology report for a while, so I don’t want to speculate, but there was one other thing that came up in the report that seems odd.”

  Al
berta touched the gold crucifix around her neck because she knew what Bruno was going to say. And she was afraid of how Sergio would respond.

  “It seems Natalie had a bruise on her left arm, an earlier injury and not caused during the assault,” Bruno said. “Do you have any idea how that bruise got there, Sergio?”

  Sergio’s cheeks started to turn a bright shade of red and he leaned over the desk to get closer to Bruno. “You think I would hit Natalie?”

  “It doesn’t matter what I think,” Bruno said. “I can’t afford to be blindsided in the courtroom.”

  Sergio didn’t wait to blindside Bruno in the courtroom, he did it right there during their meeting. Shocking everyone, Sergio hauled off and punched Bruno in the eye. The way the left side of Bruno’s face started to swell and discolor, it was obvious this altercation was not going to remain part of their attorney-client privilege.

  Lisa Marie had been wrong—Bruno’s early exit from his family wedding didn’t prevent him from getting a black eye. Alberta, however, had been right. She had been afraid and with good reason, because now everyone, including the DA, was going to know Sergio had a violent temper.

  CHAPTER 19

  Bah, scempiaggini!

  Would a tray of lasagna fit into a Christmas stocking?

  That was what Alberta pondered as she conjured up ways to smuggle a lasagna into prison so Sergio would have something to eat for Christmas. Maybe a ham would be easier to get through security. She’d have to think of a way to get her grandson something to eat other than the grub they would feed him in jail because after he physically attacked his attorney there was no way the DA was going to let him spend the holiday at home.

  Had she not witnessed the assault, she would’ve assumed Bruno did something to aggravate the situation—pushed too hard, maligned Natalie’s name to get Sergio to divulge information that could help his case. It would have been out of Bruno’s character, but even good lawyers were known to adopt less-than-ethical standards to get a not guilty verdict. But she had seen it with her own eyes. Bruno asked a valid question and Sergio answered with a rapid punch.