UNMASKED: Sequel to Behind the Mask

by Heather Carnassale

Abby whispered to Melanie, “I believe all of this about his grandmother, but I’m getting the impression Remi is referring to herself in this equation.”

  Melanie whispered back, “You would be correct.”

  All of a sudden, Remi sadly proclaimed, “I miss him.”

  Then after drinking the last sip of wine in her glass, she expounded, “I really miss him!”

  Later, back at Liam’s apartment, clad in pink pajama bottoms and the Cornell t-shirt, a wine-induced woozy feeling Remi laid on his couch, with her mind swirling. Of course, she thought about Liam but then turned her attention to his mom. Still unable to get over just how cordial and generous she was, definitely not what he had described. Then again, she recalled a conversation she had had with Chris about Liam’s parents wanting nothing to do with him. It made her completely understand why Liam felt the way he did. But regardless, it was still a sad situation and explained his propensity towards the dark side. That made her think of Charles. A person she hadn’t thought much of as of late, which was just as well, having her mind plugged up with thoughts of that evil human being wouldn’t be good. She honestly wasn’t afraid of him anymore, but on the other hand, she didn’t necessarily want to cross paths with him either. Then there was creepy Mitchell Denton, the man who desperately wanted those pink diamonds and went to great lengths to obtain them. She pondered how someone as wonderful as Olivia could have married such an asshole. Thankfully, Olivia kicked his lying ass to the curb. “Ugh!” she cried aloud, abruptly standing up to stretch and hopefully regain her focus. Just then there was a knock at the door. “Remi,” sang Melanie. “Can I please come in?”

  She laughed as she opened the door. “What’s up?”

  “Oh nothing, I just had another fight with Justin.”

  “I figured as much,” quipped Remi.

  Melanie was about to sit on the couch when she spotted Remi’s attire. “Cornell?”

  “It’s just a shirt.”

  Melanie raised her eyebrow, as she was used to seeing Remi wearing her usual Temple University or Villanova tee’s, one from Cornell seemed unlike her. “Where did it come from?”

  “It was just lying around.”

  Melanie smirked. “Who are you kidding?”

  “Okay, it was in Liam’s dresser drawer.”

  She gave a thumbs-up. “Yay, you snooped, about damn time!”

  Remi just shook her head. “You’re condoning snooping, unbelievable.”

  “What else did you find in his drawers?” she asked, winking. “Or closet, please tell me you looked in his closet.”

  Remi nodded. “The only thing in his closet is a plethora of expensive suits and shoes.”

  “And?”

  “And the only thing in his drawers are a couple of t-shirts.”

  Melanie devilishly grinned as she hightailed it to the bedroom and immediately slid opened the closet doors. Remi chased after her. Melanie’s eyes enlarged at the sight of all the suits. “The man has excellent taste,” she remarked. “Some of these are imported Italian silk, which is sexy as hell.”

  “I thought you were over the whole Liam crush thing,” Remi snidely commented.

  “Oh I am,” she said giving a side-glance. “But there’s no denying just how unbelievably gorgeous he is.”

  Remi chuckled.

  “Am I wrong?” she asked.

  Remi refrained from answering and instead ushered Melanie out of the bedroom, suddenly feeling guilty that both of them were in there, prying into his things. Melanie’s phone beeped and as she read a text from Justin, Remi was tempted to reach out to Liam. Not sure if she was somewhat still inebriated or just feeling plain old emotional, the urge to talk to him was suddenly strong. As she witnessed Melanie type a message, Remi purposely set her phone on the kitchen counter before plopping down on the couch. It wasn’t long before Melanie trekked back next door and Remi was once again alone with her thoughts. However, she forced herself to push out all things relating to Liam, his mom, Charles, and Denton. Instead, she would just chill and not dwell on anything negative.

  While Remi might have had luck in blocking out her plaguing thoughts, Liam wasn’t as fortunate. Because for the last few days, his mind kept replaying the recent past, and no matter what he did, he had a hard time focusing on the present. With a mostly unfurnished house, he decided to sleep outside on a lounge chair that the former owner had left. The nighttime temp was hovering around 65 degrees, so all he needed was a thin blanket that he kept in his truck. As he got comfortable, he began planning out the next couple days, which included trips to various stores to buy furniture and bedding. His goal, to get as much done as he could within a small time frame, then head north. Though he was doing a good job concentrating on the task at hand, his thoughts once again betrayed him, by sending him right back to the Bank of Philadelphia. But this time, it wasn’t the meetings before or the actions afterward, it was right at the point when he and Tom retrieved the diamonds. They each had one of the two keys required to open the safety deposit box, and Liam thought about how as they unlocked the box, he was oblivious to Remi being in the vault with them. He was so focused on the diamonds that to him, she didn’t exist. Of course, she soon became very real when right before they were about to exit, Tom asked what they should do with her. Those dark blue eyes, he thought. It was as if those eyes could see directly into his soul. Liam remembered telling Tom just to leave her. Never realizing that it was at that exact moment, he began protecting Remi. Even with his own empty threats against her, looking back, he had to laugh at the irony. Other than knowing she was one of the tellers, she was a stranger to him and knew little about her but yet he was still compelled to risk it all for her. “You identified with your hostage, that’s a big no-no.” Remi’s own words certainly rang true, in more ways than one.

  He gazed up at the full moon then started smiling. “No regrets, no emotions, no involvement…blah blah blah,” he uttered. Those words sounded so false now. While inside the vault, Remi asked who he was trying to convince, after his cold declaration that hostages were just part of the job. She didn’t believe him, and at the time, he thought she was dead wrong, but now knew she was right. It took someone like her to make him face reality. And face it, he did. The longer he laid there, the more he realized that not only did he want to go back to Philly, but he needed to go back.

  The next morning, Remi headed to Bala Cynwyd to have breakfast with her parents. She hadn’t even made it through the front door before Peanut was jumping up on her, licking her face. “Hey, boy,” she said, rubbing his ears. “I’ve missed you too,” she cooed, hugging him. When she finally got into the kitchen, she noticed that her mom had cooked up a feast. “Wow, you outdid yourself,” she said kissing her cheek then hugging her dad, who was sitting at the table. “How are you, sweetie?” he asked.

  “Busy, but good,” she replied.

  “Tell us all about it,” he said, biting into a piece of freshly cooked bacon. Remi poured a cup of coffee then sat down. “Well, Olivia’s benefit is Friday, so the days leading up to it will be hectic,” she said. “And then you know there’s Abby’s wedding.”

  Beth nodded as she joined them at the table.

  “We had our final fitting last night, and our bridesmaid’s dresses are gorgeous.”

  Her parents were pleased to see Remi in such a jovial mood. Of course, neither would guess that deep down she was beyond conflicted. That’s because Remi had gotten quite good at hiding any distress from them. She didn’t want them to worry any more than necessary, so she tried to remain upbeat. “The job still going well?” her dad asked. Remi nodded. Peanut was lying by her foot, so every once in a while she slipped him a little nibble of bacon. “Have you heard from your friend, Liam?” her mother innocently questioned. Remi’s tone was suddenly cold, a surefire tip-off of her true mood. “Briefly the other night, via text.”

  Beth and Tony just looked at each other, both curious, but with her, they had learned to tread carefully. “Is he enjoying
his trip?” asked her father. Remi shrugged as she shoved a large bite of pancake into her mouth, which was a clue that she didn’t want to talk about Liam nor his travels. Tony mercifully shifted the conversation, only to end up inadvertently bringing Liam back into the fold along with inquiring if she had heard anything from the investigators. “No, why?” she asked with trepidation. “Just wondering, with their impromptu interrogation at the diner a few weeks ago, they sure seemed hell bent on talking to him.”

  A fact Remi did her best to forget. “Hopefully, they don’t harass you anymore but if they do, just contact me, and I’ll let Jack know,” he said. She nodded then began flipping through the newspaper in search of the Sunday crossword puzzle, a blatant attempt at avoiding this part of the conversation. There was a lot about that investigation that worried her, but if she put too much thought into it, it would swallow her whole, especially with all the other crap that seemed to fill her head these days. Tony got the hint loud and clear, but he reiterated that if she needed the legal services of Jack not to hesitate to call. She thanked him then started working on the puzzle.

  Weston arrived at the police station, extremely perturbed that he had just exited the eleven o’clock mass with his family when DeGrazerio insisted that he meet him. “Don’t you ever take a day off!” he barked at the agent. DeGrazerio apologized but stated he felt it was the right time they had another chat with the Bank of Philadelphia’s security guard, Steve. The agent explained that when they initially interviewed him, Steve was still somewhat incoherent from the severity of the burns and drugs used to keep him comfortable. “Maybe Steve will remember something else or give us more insight into what happened during the heist.”

  Weston couldn’t disagree with that logic but suggested that doing it on a Sunday was wrong and that it could wait until the next day. DeGrazerio agreed but wanted to show Weston something he found on one of the surveillance videos, during a jewelry heist two years earlier. “In a few of the jewelry store robberies, there was always a crew of three to five masked men, but with one glaring consistency,” the agent said. “Two of the men appeared to be the same in every video, same characteristics, same mannerisms. Just by their actions and interactions with the others”

  He paused and brought up a particular portion of a video, and Weston moved in close to take a good look. “I’m convinced the taller of those two men is Matthews,” the agent declared as he suddenly turned up the speaker volume. “But without seeing their faces, the second man is by far more perplexing.”

  He then hit play on the video and said, “But he may have just given us a clue.”

  Weston suddenly heard the second man utter, “Make sure you grab those diamond pendants.”

  DeGrazerio played it over and over. “You hear what I hear?” he asked the detective.

  “Yeah, a British accent and it’s raspy.”

  DeGrazerio immediately picked up the phone and began dialing a fellow agent whose expertise was distinguishing locations of accents and dialects. He figured if they can pinpoint where exactly the second man was from, that would somewhat narrow an extremely widespread search. “We should probably contact Interpol and see if any of their heists have anything in common with ours.”

  Weston knew full well this already complicated case was about to become even more so.

  CHAPTER 6

  When Monday morning had arrived, Olivia’s staff had congregated in her office, for a meeting about the upcoming fundraiser. “The next few days will be crunch time,” she said, handing out itineraries to the workers. Remi instantly read over hers, which was both surprising and pleasing to see how involved she will be at the benefit. Olivia’s sureness in her abilities boosted Remi’s self-confidence. Knowing that she didn’t get the job based on her skills or merit, only made Remi want to prove herself more. Being one of five assistants, the other four all had the right qualifications and then some. Two were currently studying finance at Temple University, while the other two were studying public relations at Drexel. Remi enjoyed the job and learned something new every day, though often felt guilty for getting such a fantastic salary when she knew Liam had the diamonds but neglected to do anything about it, until the incident with Tom. That hidden detail often weighed on her conscience. There had been at least two times where she had been tempted to come clean, but of course, any confession would put Liam at risk. And throwing him under the bus was never an option nor would it ever be. Regardless, if she’s hurt that he left, nothing can ever change the fact that he saved her life—more than once.

  When the meeting concluded, Remi and two of her co-workers began going over seating arrangements. She noticed that Penny’s name wasn’t on there, so she asked to see the RSVP list from the assistant in charge of it. “Ms. Matthews responded that she couldn’t make it,” the young woman informed. Though still happy that Penny made a very generous donation, Remi was disappointed, as she was looking forward to seeing her again. Even with the first meeting being nerve-wracking as hell, once she talked to her, Remi found Penny intriguing. Of course, being Liam’s mother just made Remi want to know more about him and his childhood. She silently chuckled because that man managed to invade her thoughts at the drop of a hat. She stared at the guest list and began to berate herself. “I need to focus on the benefit and nothing else!”

  Steve’s wife, Judy opened the front door and welcomed Detective Weston and Special Agent DeGrazerio into their home. “Can I get you some coffee or water?” she asked while directing them into the living room. Weston replied, “No thanks, Ma’am, we don’t plan on taking up too much of your time.”

  Using a cane for support, Steve slowly entered the room. With his body still wrapped in protective bandages, he smiled slightly. “Good morning, gentlemen,” he said, jovially. “Good to see you again,” commented Weston who gingerly shook the still very fragile man’s hand. “You look a lot better than the last time we saw you.”

  “I feel better too,” he said, carefully sitting down with Judy’s assistance.

  Before DeGrazerio explained why they were there, Judy excused herself from the room. “We wanted to go over your original statement and see if you had any more recollection or had anything to add to it,” said the agent. Steve thought for a moment but was pretty sure he didn’t have anything new to contribute. Both knew it had been a long shot, but figured it was worth a try. “You said in your statement that you remembered Miss Catalano being led to the vault by two of the gunmen.”

  Steve nodded.

  “Do you remember if one of the two men was rather tall in stature?” the agent asked.

  “I don’t, sorry.”

  Weston closed his notepad, but DeGrazerio wasn’t giving up just yet. “Do you recall hearing any of the men speak?”

  Steve took a second to ponder. “Vaguely,” he then replied. “I mean, I recall them all speaking a little bit but nothing of significance.”

  “How about a raspy, British accent?”

  Steve subconsciously scratched one of the bandages that graced his left arm then said, “Raspy yes, British no.”

  “Could you be more specific?” urged Weston.

  “The man who appeared to be running the show definitely had a raspy voice, but his accent was American,” he said, but before the investigators could comment he added, “But you know, looking back on it, that accent almost seemed forced.”

  Weston questioned, “Forced?”

  “It didn’t really make sense at the time, but now that I’m concentrating on it, the tone and inflection were somewhat exaggerated. It came off as fake.”

  The stunned investigators couldn’t believe what they had just heard. Steve apologized for not being able to remember anything else, but the agent explained what he provided was extremely helpful and how much they appreciated it. Weston told him to take care of himself. Steve smiled and was about to stand up to show the men out, but the detective wouldn’t have it and told the man they’d let themselves out. Once they were gone, something felt strange to S
teve. He wasn’t sure if it was the conversation with the investigators or what, but he suddenly felt the need to contact Remi. It was noontime, and Remi was walking down the street to grab lunch at a nearby restaurant when her phone beeped. “Hi Steve, how are you?” she asked, happy to hear his voice.

  “I’m good and yourself?”

  “I’m fine,” she replied. There was a brief moment of silence, which she immediately could tell this wasn’t just a random call. “Is everything okay?” she asked.

  “That detective and FBI agent were just here,” he said. She naively asked, “Were they checking to see how you were doing?”

  “Kind of, I guess,” he replied. “But it was more about wanting to know if I recalled anything new and if I remembered one of the gunmen’s voices.”

  Remi sat down on a bench and questioned, “Why would they ask that?”

  “I don’t know; I guess they are just trying to solve this case and gather up as many details as they can.”

  Hearing that didn’t surprise her yet anytime those investigators were sniffing around was cause for alarm.

  “They asked if I remembered hearing a raspy British accent,” he explained. “Which I recalled the raspy part, but the accent sounded American, or shall I say, fake American accent.”

  As Remi listened to Steve talk, her heart pounded faster and faster. All she could do was shudder, as there was little doubt that had been Charles showing off his weak Rosetta Stone impression. Bastard, she thought. But then it hit her, the police and feds either figured out who Charles was or they were close to solving it. “Have you remembered anything else since last time we talked?” he asked innocently, certainly not in an invasive way. She hated lying to him but unfortunately lying had become quite easy for her as of late. “No, and I’ve been so busy with work that I haven’t given the heist much thought.”

  She felt nothing but shame the moment those words left her mouth, as they felt deceitful. There was a tiny part of her that knew she could trust him, but with all that Steve had been through, dragging him into her web of lies would be horribly unfair.