by Trevor Scott
Francesco stopped to gaze out over the lake, swirling a glass of single malt Scotch before taking a sip. “I see why you like coming here,” he said.
This was the most he had said to her in days. Since he flew up from Boston, he had spent most of his time in his office conducting business or watching sports.
“Why don’t you take a seat,” she said.
He turned to her and said, “There’s already a chill in the air.”
She wasn’t sure if he meant her disposition, but she would let that go. “I wish you could have met Max and Robin. They’re wonderful people.”
“I tried,” he said. “But I wasn’t about to die making the effort.”
“Tell me you didn’t have anything to do with the attack at the Winthrop Inn.”
“That’s absurd,” he said. Then he drank more Scotch.
“While we’re on the subject, why don’t you tell me if you had anything to do with the death of my brother Bruno and his wife.”
He hesitated and shifted his eyes while shaking his head. “Is this how it’s gonna be? You accuse me of crimes I have nothing to do with, and I’m expected to simply take it.”
“So, the death of Bruno and Hedy in Nevada were crimes?” she asked.
“You’re taking me out of context,” Francesco said. “I have no idea what happened to them. What do you think I do?”
She was sipping her wine when her husband said this, and she almost spit it up. “You think I’m an idiot? I’m sure you have some legitimate businesses, but don’t try to put sprinkles on a bowl of crap and call it chocolate ice cream.”
“What do you want from me?”
“I want certain assurances,” she said.
“Such as?”
“I want to know that you won’t hold Max and Robin responsible for something that happened before they were born,” Anna demanded.
Francesco swirled his Scotch and then sucked down the last of the amber liquid. “Do you really think I’m capable of that?”
She nodded her head but said nothing.
Her husband continued, “You think I would do that to my own niece and nephew?”
“Tell me you had nothing to do with the death of my brother.” This had been the question she wanted to ask him ever since the DNA test had revealed the existence of Max and Robin, and they had told her of the story of the death of their parents.
“The first I heard of your brother and sister-in-law even having children was the day that Christina called and told you,” he said. “Then you called me almost immediately with the news.”
“Tell me you weren’t still stroking a hard-on for Hedy and Bruno,” she said. “The family wanted them dead.”
“Hedy betrayed the entire family,” he reasoned. “A lot of people weren’t happy with that.”
“Her testimony put people in jail, including your brother.”
“You lost two brothers,” he said. “We were more than even.”
“So, you did have something to do with the death of my twin brothers.”
“I’m not saying that. I’m saying that circumstances made things even.”
He was such a lying sack of shit, she thought. But she also knew that she could go around and around like this all night and Francesco would never admit to what he and his associates had done.
“You better hope that Max doesn’t find out you had anything to do with the death of his parents,” she said.
Francesco laughed. “You think I’m afraid of some punk ex-military guy?”
“He killed six heavily armed former Iranian special forces soldiers, without a single scratch to himself. Then he went upstairs and took a nap.”
“Sounds like someone we could use,” Francesco said.
“Don’t you dare!”
“I was kidding. You need to lighten up, Anna.”
“Screw you.”
“You don’t do that anymore, remember?”
She wanted to throw her glass of wine at him, but she remembered what happened the last time she had done that. She envisioned his head exploding and simply shook her head in disgust.
Francesco wandered back into the lake house.
She took a sip of wine and thought about the day when she would no longer have to put up with her husband. She believed in fate, and eventually those in positions like Francesco held would get what was coming to them. It was just a matter of time. Finally, a smile crossed her face.