Jailhouse Glock

by Lizbeth Lipperman

  “For once, I’m glad I have to go to work,” Kate said. “Tell her I love her, will you?”

  Maddy nodded. “Okay, now let’s go visit Francis Montero and get this over with.”

  Using the car’s GPS they found the house easily enough. Although it wasn’t in the best neighborhood, Maddy felt safe, especially since the forty-five was tucked away in her purse. Montero lived in a small but well-kept house surrounded by a chain-link fence. After climbing the steps and ringing the doorbell three times, they were about to give up when the door flew open and they came face-to-face with a heavyset Hispanic woman.

  “We’re from the Census Bureau,” Maddy lied. “We need to talk to Francis Montero.” She hoped the woman wouldn’t ask for their credentials.

  “He’s not here,” she answered in broken English.

  “When do you expect him back?”

  “Never, if I’m lucky,” the woman said, defiantly. “He lives with his mother now.”

  Maddy studied her face, trying to figure out if the anger had anything to do with Chrissy’s pictures. But there was no way of knowing that, short of outright asking. She wasn’t ready to do that yet. “Do you have his mother’s address?”

  The woman turned and disappeared for a few minutes. When she returned she handed Maddy a sticky note with an address scribbled on it. Then without another word she shut the door in their faces.

  “That went well,” Kate said. “You think she knows about the pictures?”

  “I have no idea.” Maddy put the address into her GPS. “It’s on the other side of the city. If we go there now, we’ll get stuck in traffic on the way home.” She punched in her home address and started the engine. “I’ll come back tomorrow to have a chat with him and his mom. Besides, you have to be at work at four, and I have to go see Deena. I can’t let her go another night without knowing.”

  Neither sister had much to say on the ride home. Immersed in her own thoughts, Maddy was already searching her brain for a way to soften the blow when she told her sister about her jerk of a husband. The only good thing was that this wouldn’t come as a total shock to Deena since she’d already found evidence that the rat was cheating.

  By the time they arrived back at Maddy’s house and Kate had left for the hospital in her own car, Maddy had already formulated a plan. Deena got off work at five, and she’d called ahead and left a message telling her she’d be at her house at five-thirty with burgers.

  She had a little time before Jessie got home from school, and she decided to do some research on her computer about Agostinelli and Nicky Cavicchia, the mobster from New York. When she researched him on the Internet, she found a boatload of articles written about the impending trial, and quickly, she was immersed in reading them. She was particularly interested in a New York Times post that had gone into detail about the history of the Cavicchia family, as far back as the early nineteen hundreds.

  She was about to shut down the computer and wait for her daughter on the porch when she spotted a familiar face in one of the pictures with Nicky Cavicchia. She leaned in closer to the screen for a better look. It was a picture of a triumphant Cavicchia and his lawyer leaving the New York City courthouse after one of his many trials.

  But Nicky Cavicchia wasn’t the one who had caught her attention. Standing beside him, dressed in a dark blue suit, was his lawyer, a man who looked almost identical to someone who had recently come into Maddy’s life. When she spotted his name, she nearly threw up. The article went on to say that the lawyer had later been convicted of tax evasion and had gone to federal prison where he’d died less than a year later of lung cancer. His name was Mario Pirelli, and he’d left a wife and two young sons, Anthony and Giovanni.

  Holy crap! Her lawyer was the son of Nicky Cavicchia’s former counsel.

  After she recovered from the initial shock, she began to see things clearer. It all made sense now why he’d taken her on as a client for a fraction of his usual fees.

  The man was probably on the Cavicchia payroll and was being paid to make sure she went to jail for the murder of Joey Agostinelli. A murder Cavicchia himself had probably orchestrated.

  She picked up the phone to call Colt and tell him what she’d discovered when Jessie walked through the door. She remembered what she still had to do at Deena’s house. Tomorrow was soon enough to divulge her new information. Besides, she couldn’t prove any of her suspicions yet, but she fully intended to investigate further to find out why the son of the former consigliere for the head of a New York mob family had agreed to represent her.

  Coincidence? She thought not, but it would have to wait. Right now she had an unpleasant job to do.

  After giving her daughter a coupon and a twenty-dollar bill, she instructed her to order pizza for her and Jake. She was more than a little disappointed that the night had turned out like this instead of the way she’d planned. Since this was Jake’s last night in Vineyard, she’d hoped the three of them could go someplace nice and eat. But telling her sister about Mike was a priority now. She’d have to say her goodbyes to Jake the next morning.

  When Deena opened the door, she took one look at Maddy before her brows drew together with worry. “Please tell me nothing’s happened to Mom.”

  Maddy shook her head. “I brought food. Do you want to eat first, then make us an Irish coffee while we talk?”

  “Oh boy, this must really be bad if you’re here by yourself and think I need a drink.” She shook her head. “As much as I love food, there’s no way I can eat right now until you tell me why you’re here. My imagination is going crazy.”

  Maddy set the bag on the table and walked over to Deena’s coffee pot. “Okay, we’ll do the food later, but we need the drink now.”

  When both of them had a steaming cup of coffee in front of them with a healthy dollop of Irish whiskey in each, Maddy reached across the kitchen table and grabbed Deena’s hand. “I would rather pull my fingernails out one by one than to have to tell you this, Deena.”

  “Oh dear God, Maddy, spit it out before I pull your fingernails out myself.”

  “Kate and I stopped at an out-of-the-way restaurant near downtown Dallas today,” she began, praying for a delicate way to say it. But there was no easy way. “We saw Mike having lunch with another woman.”

  Deena thought about that for a while, and then laughed. “He takes his clients out to lunch all the time.” She blew out a relieved breath. “For a while there you had me more than a little worried, Maddy.”

  Maddy couldn’t let her sister believe his lies anymore, but for some reason, she held back on showing her the photos she’d taken. They could use them if divorce proceedings got ugly, but now wasn’t the time. “This was no client relationship kind of lunch, Deena. I’m sorry. His hands were all over her, and she basically admitted they were having an affair.”

  Okay maybe she hadn’t exactly admitted it, but their body language had spoken volumes.

  “I know you mean well, Maddy, but before I go jumping off the deep end, I need to talk to Mike about this.”

  “I understand,” Maddy said. “I just thought you’d want to know what we saw today.”

  “And I appreciate your telling me, but I’ve been married to the man for a long time. I know he’s had affairs in the past, but yesterday when I said I was sick and tired of his womanizing ways, I was just angry.” She turned away so Maddy wouldn’t see the tears. “I have to give him the benefit of the doubt. He’s all I’ve got.”

  Before Maddy could respond, the doorbell rang. Deena jumped up and ran in that direction, and Maddy followed right behind her. When she opened the door, Maddy gasped in surprise at seeing Colt on the front steps. Her first thought was that somehow he’d found out what she’d been up to and was here to read her the riot act and probably fire her. But as soon as she saw the way he was looking at Deena, she began to worry that it was something more.

  “Colt, what are you doing here?” Deena asked. “If you’re looking for Lainey, she’s at home.”
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  The sadness in his eyes was evident when he shook his head. “I’m here on official business, Deena.”

  She covered her mouth with her hand but not before her breath hitched. “What’s the matter?”

  “I just got a call that a body was found in an empty field on the outskirts of town. I sent Flanagan and Rogers to investigate.” He paused and gathered his sister-in-law in his arms. “It’s Mike, Deena. He’s dead.”

  twenty-two

  “How did he die?” Deena asked after her sobs slowed to an occasional hiccup.

  “He was shot,” Colt said softly, still holding his sister-in-law in his arms. “We’ll know more after the autopsy. By then the crime scene guys will have had an opportunity to take a look at the evidence they processed at the scene.” He massaged the back of Deena’s head, probably exactly the same way he did to his own daughter when she was hurting. “I’m so sorry, Deena.”

  “When do you think we can have the funeral, Colt?” Deena’s face still registered the shock she was feeling as she caught her breath. “I have no idea what to do next.”

  Maddy moved in and took her from her brother-in-law. “Don’t worry about that, honey. That’s what families are for.”

  “I know you think he deserved this, Maddy, but—”

  “Shh.” Maddy pulled her sister closer. “No one deserves to die like that. And for the record, I always tried to see the good in Mike.”

  Deena nodded, sniffing back more tears. She looked up at Colt. “Why would someone kill him?”

  “We don’t know, but we’re going to find out. I promise you.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a clear plastic evidence bag with Mike’s phone inside. Maneuvering the keypad through the plastic, he pulled up the latest entries and showed them to Deena, pointing to one in particular. “You recognize this number?”

  “No. Should I?”

  He shrugged. “I was hoping you might. Seems Mike called it several times today. According to the coroner’s best estimate, once right before the time of his murder.”

  Deena made eye contact with Maddy. “Let me see it again.” After taking another look, she glanced up at Colt and blew out a breath. “This may be the number of the woman Mike was seeing on the side.”

  It was no secret to anyone in the family that Mike Hernandez had cheated on Deena many times over the years. To Colt’s credit, he acted like his brother-in-law’s indiscretions were not old news. “What makes you think that, Deena?”

  Once again Deena stole a look Maddy’s way. After Maddy nodded, she said, “Maddy and Kate saw him with another woman today at a restaurant near downtown Dallas.”

  Colt twisted toward Maddy. “What were you two doing downtown today?”

  “I had an appointment with my lawyer, and Kate had the afternoon off and graciously offered to keep me company. We had lunch at the Gypsy Café on McKinney Avenue and Mike was there with a sexy …” She stopped abruptly before continuing, “With a redhead.”

  “Did he see you?”

  “Oh yeah. We marched over to his table and confronted him. He said she was a client, but we all knew it was more intimate than that.”

  Colt pulled out a notebook. “Had you ever seen this woman before?” When Maddy shook her head, he continued, “And this was what time today?”

  “About one. We didn’t stay very long because we had another stop—” She caught her breath. She had been so close to blurting out that they hadn’t stayed long so that they could run by Francis Montero’s house before heading back to Vineyard. She hoped Colt hadn’t picked up on the near slip.

  No such luck.

  “Another stop?”

  She shifted her weight to the other foot, hoping he couldn’t read her mind the way he always seemed to do. He was more like a brother to her than an in-law, and he could usually tell when she was lying. “Kate wanted to go to one of the outlet stores on Harry Hines Boulevard to look for leather purses. Since she had to be back at the hospital by four, we were in somewhat of a hurry.”

  Colt’s stare was so intense, it nearly caused her to crumble under the scrutiny. There was no way she wanted him to find out the real reason she and Kate had gone into Dallas that afternoon. Not if she wanted to keep her job.

  Apparently her explanation appeased him, and he turned back to Deena. “Do you happen to have a list of Mike’s clients here?”

  “No, but I’m sure his secretary can get that for you.” Deena sat down at the table. “You think this woman had something to do with his death?”

  “I don’t know, but I’d like to talk to her to see if there might be a jealous husband in the picture. It sounds like she may have been one of the last people to see him alive.”

  Just then the door opened and Lainey rushed through. As soon as she spied Deena sitting at the kitchen table, she ran to her. Immediately, she enveloped her in her arms, causing more tears from both of them.

  While his wife comforted Deena, Colt closed his notebook and faced Maddy. “I’m going to let you women take care of your sister, but if either you or she remembers anything at all that might help us identify this other woman, give me a call. In the meantime, if it’s okay with you, Deena, I’ll send Flanagan over to go through Mike’s personal belongings to see if he can find anything that might help us identify her or anyone else who might have had a problem with him.”

  When she nodded, he walked over and kissed the top of her head. “Like I said, we’ll find whoever did this to Mike. I promise.” After a quick peck on his wife’s cheek, he made his way to the door.

  Maddy stopped him before he got there. “I need to talk to you.” When he looked confused, she lowered her voice. No sense alarming her sisters, especially now that Deena already had so much on her mind. “I found something on the Internet that was pretty disturbing.”

  “About Mike’s murder?”

  She shook her head. “About my case. I was surfing the Net reading all I could on Agostinelli, and I found an article in the New York Times about Nicky Cavicchia.”

  Colt widened eyes showed his interest. “We found his wife’s necklace, you know.”

  “Jake told me. But back to my research, you’re never going to believe who the lead counsel for Cavicchia was before going off to prison himself for tax evasion.”

  Now she really had his attention. He grabbed her elbow, guiding her away from the door and farther from Lainey and Deena. “I have no idea, but why is this important?”

  “Because up until eight years ago, the consigliere of the Cavicchia family was none other than Mario Pirelli, the father of the man defending me for Agostinelli’s murder.”

  She didn’t have to wait long for his reaction. His narrowed eyes and the scowl hinted that he was thinking the same thing she was. “You’re sure?”

  “Positive. Apparently Mario died not long after he’d gone to prison, and his obituary listed Anthony Pirelli as one of his sons.”

  A slight grin tipped the corners of Colt’s mouth. “Great catch, Maddy. Now that’s the kind of detective work you can do for yourself without getting into trouble.” He walked to the door and stepped out before turning back. “I think it’s about time I had another talk with your lawyer.”

  She smiled to herself, glad she hadn’t had to fess up that she wasn’t being the good girl he hoped she was. It was crucial that he believed that. She had one more angle to check out before she could just sit back and wait for a jury of her peers to tell her she didn’t kill Agostinelli.

  Tomorrow, first thing after Jake left the house, she’d head into Dallas again to try to talk to Francis Montero. He’d probably deny having any contact with Chrissy, but she’d grown very good at reading people. She’d just watch Montero’s face when she showed him the picture.

  Surprise reactions always spoke volumes.

  _____

  The next morning as Maddy and Deena sat around the kitchen table drinking their coffee, they made plans to meet with a mortuary director. Hopefully, the M.E. would be finished with the aut
opsy on Mike’s body by then, and they could go forward with the funeral arrangements.

  Maddy had insisted that Deena spend the night with her, and they’d stayed up late reminiscing about Mike. She’d let Deena talk it out, mostly about all the good memories she’d had with him. Maddy couldn’t help wondering why people never remembered the bad things that happened in a relationship when someone died. To hear Deena talk, Mike had been a saint. But she hadn’t stopped her sister or said anything negative, believing this was what Deena needed right now to get through the next few days.

  Jake had come back to the house just before dinner, and when he’d heard about Mike, he’d insisted on cooking his mother’s spaghetti and meatballs recipe again. Several of Deena’s neighbors had found out that she was at Maddy’s house and had stopped by with dessert and condolences. With all the company and distractions, Deena had loosened up and even laughed out loud a couple of times. But Maddy knew today’s events would be hard on her.

  Jake wandered into the kitchen just as Maddy stood to pour a second cup for herself and Deena. After parking his luggage in a corner, he squeezed Deena’s shoulder on his way to the coffeepot.

  “How are you doing today?”

  She shrugged. “Truthfully, I’m better, but I’m not looking forward to the trip to the funeral home to pick out a coffin.” She took a sip of the steaming liquid. “I was finally able to reach Mike’s sister late last night, and she’s going to inform the rest of his family.”

  “What about his parents?” Jake took a seat beside her.

  “They’re gone. Mike was a change of life baby, and they died before he graduated from high school. His two older sisters basically raised him. Through the years, though, he drifted away from them over one incident or another. I was afraid they might not come to his funeral.”

  “And are they?”

  She nodded. “At least his oldest sister said she was. I’m not sure about the other one.”

  “When did you say you’re meeting with the funeral director?” Maddy asked, topping off both Deena’s and Jake’s cup with the last of the pot.