by Kit DeCanti
“Just as well,” she thought as she went about getting dressed and ready for work, “this Lombardi thing is a big enough nightmare! I’m getting nowhere with it. Every time I think I am getting close to finding something out, BAM! another brick wall.”
Not only that, but Kat had a new elder abuse case given to her that required her full attention.
A middle-aged woman had moved her newly widowed mother in with her, and convinced her that she needed to be added to her mother’s bank accounts in order to help with her banking. Then she quickly transferred her mother’s money to her own personal account, without her mother’s knowledge. Then the daughter coerced her mother into adding her name to the mother’s house which had no mortgage. Once that was completed she went about trying to get the mother to agree to go into an assisted living community; so she could sell the house.
The elderly woman resisted and insisted on returning to her own home, and tried cutting off her relationship with the daughter. She called her son who lived in a near by town. He had assumed his sister was taking good care of their mother. The son and his wife were both working full time; but took over the care of the elderly woman. Driving to her home in the mornings before work, to help her prepare her day; and returning after work to cook dinner and help her settle in for the night. When the elderly woman began to relate disturbingly bizarre stories about noises at night, and people in the yard, the couple worried that perhaps she was imagining things. But when the mother’s beloved cat turned up dead in the back yard, they knew something was going on. They were trying to come up with a plan, when the mother called distraught saying that her daughter called her and was demanding to take her to see a doctor. She was crying as she told her son, “I don’t know what doctor she is taking me to. It’s not my doctor! She keeps changing my doctors. Why can‘t I go back to my own doctor? I don‘t know these people she takes me to!” Hearing the distress in her mother’s voice, her son assured her that he would come as soon as he could get away from work. He also gave his mother instructions to follow if his sister showed up before he arrived. He told her to keep all the doors locked and call 911 if she tried to come inside. The son also told his mother to get his business card off the fridge and put it in her pocket, and to call him if his sister took her anywhere.
The daughter arrived at the mother’s house a short time later. Using her own key she opened the dead bolt; and then using her weight broke the chain off the door, and forced her way in. She was pulling the frail, eighty four year old woman to her car by her arm through the hedge lined walkway when the police car pulled up. The daughter, who could be very convincing, as Kat found out when she interviewed her, half convinced the officer that her mother was suffering from dementia and that it was only a routine doctor visit that she was trying to take her mother to. Kat was happy that the officer listened to the distressed elderly woman and agreed to let her ride with him to the doctor’s office in his police car and to speak with the doctor before leaving. It turned out the doctor was a psychiatrist, and the daughter was trying to get conservatorship of her mother; so she could have her committed to an institution and sell the house.
The mother gave her son’s card to the psychiatrist and begged him to call her son; who rushed to his office! After talking to both the son and the daughter separately, along with observing the bruises on the elderly woman’s arm, the psychiatrist filed elder abuse charges against the daughter.
Although there was a lot of evidence against the daughter, she and her greedy husband were not giving up easily. They had big plans for the money from the sale of the house, and they didn’t intend to share it with her brother or anyone else!
This whole ordeal had taken its toll on the poor old woman- not just the bumps and bruises which required a trip to the emergency room and resulted in the inability to walk unassisted for a couple of weeks; but her heart was broken at the realization of what her daughter was trying to do to her.
The worse part was what Kat learned when she had gathered the woman’s medical records- which took awhile because the daughter had changed her mother’s doctors and insurance companies several times. When Kat finally was able to get the records, she saw that the mother had been on thyroid medication for decades; but they had recently been dropped from her list of meds. This could definitely be the cause of her sudden onset of dementia
This was so far the most disturbing case Kat had had to deal with. She was beginning to understand the wisdom in Kay’s advice. She certainly did need something to take her mind off this case when she left work.
Saturday morning found Kat and Angel leaving the house, heading to the boat launch to meet up with some friends, when their mom called from the upstairs window asking them to pick up a package that she had missed from the post office.
“Sure, Mom! But if it’s chocolates ya gotta share!” Angel laughed.
Kat ran into the post office leaving Angel in the Jeep listening to music. She was stunned when upon returning she found Angel sitting sideways with her legs dangling out of the Jeep, talking with Guido Lombardi’s young floozy.
Kat stood back a bit trying to catch what they were saying. She heard Angel say, “Yeah, I was thinking about dropping in again this week.” But due to a thick accent Kat couldn’t make out what the woman was saying. Angel saw Kat and smiled. The woman turned around and paled. She murmured something to Angel and quickly walked away. She got into a small foreign model car. As she sped by them, Kat saw a rental sticker on the back window.
“Who was that?” Kat asked nonchalantly as she climbed into the Jeep.
“Oh just someone I know from group,” Angel replied, without the drama of a few nights earlier, “Francesca Lombardi. I really like her and her husband Guido.”
Kat dropped her keys. Fumbling to reach them she was glad to have the distraction to mask her surprise. “That was Mrs. Lombardi? …I heard someone mention her. I was under the impression that she was very old and ill.” Kat spoke with her neck turned while backing the Jeep out of the parking spot, hoping to cover any shakiness in her voice.
Angel laughed, “Old? Certainly not! Oh, maybe they thought she would be, because her husband is pretty old- about fifty.”
Kat laughed too, but a little nervously and then replied, “No they had met her and said she was in her eighties and had suffered a stroke or something.”
“Oh! They must have her confused with Francesca’s mother. Francesca is a nurse and takes care of her mother. She is very devoted to her. Her mother is very old and had a stroke not long ago.
“Her mother also suffers from depression due to her stroke, and is an inpatient at the retreat at the present. The Lombardis are so self sacrificing that they have even taken a cabin up at the retreat to be close to her.”
Kat couldn’t believe her ears. Not just the shocking information about the rouse that had been being played out right under social services’ noses; but also that in just a few moments Angel had given her more information than she had gotten from Jack during the two weeks she had been paying him! In fact Jack had gone to the retreat several times without bringing her any information at all. Well, he would be off her payroll as soon as she had a private moment to make a phone call! But first she had to make sure that Angel was not going to reveal this conversation. Kat pulled her Jeep over and putting it in park she turned to face Angel.
“Angel, I need to ask a favor of you. And I need a promise. This conversation that we just had could be very bad for me if certain people found out… There are privacy issues at stake…” Kat said, searching for the right words, “… and I should have stopped you before you revealed so much. I guess I was mistaken… I thought Guido Lombardi was married to an older woman…”
“Oh, yes… he was.” Angel interrupted, “But not anymore. He’s married to Francesca Carloni Lombardi now.”
“Angel, listen to me! This is very im-portant… do you know what happened to the first Mrs. Lombardi?
Startled Angel replied, “No… no I don
‘t Kat.”
“Do you know anything else about her? Anything at all, Angel?”
“No… just that she was Francesca’s aunt- well, actually her mother’s cousin. You know how Italians call everyone aunt and uncle… Kat is everything alright? What’s going on?”
“Nothing for you to worry about, Angel. Just please just don’t let anyone find out that we spoke about this. Do you think you can keep this to yourself without anyone suspecting that we spoke?”
“Oh, pul-leeze! I am in group coun-seling… You have no idea how much stuff I can’t talk about! I’ve become a pro at keeping my mouth shut.” Angela laughed.
But Kat remained serious. “That’s just it, Angel, someone in your group may try to find out if you said anything to me. I need for you not to say anything at all about what you told me about the Lombardis. Nothing- not even that they are staying on the com-pound. I really need you to not say anything… not to Francesca, Guido, Cindy, Jack… not even the Dr. Fleming… not to anyone. Can I count on you?” Angel looked surprised that Kat knew so many of the names from the retreat.
“Kat, I think there is more to this than you are telling me!” she demanded. Kat just looked away. So Angel added “Now whose keeping her mouth shut?”
Kat started the car up and drove to the marina. She was silent and deep in thought as she drove. As Angel got out she said, “Call mom if you need a ride home, I’ve got something I’ve got to take care of.”
And that something was at Mare Vista. Kat was now certain that something had happened to Mrs. Lombardi. She knew she had to report this new information; and as soon as she did, she would have to turn the case over to the county investigator. And before that happened, Kat needed to go back to that cellar.
She could not get those numbers out of her mind and she was sure there was an answer to all this in the cellar. Not just because the word ‘cellar was on the drawer, but also ‘the east wall’. The numbers were scratched into the rock fireplace hearth. Those rocks were identical to the rock wall of the cellar. What if there is something hidden behind a rock in the wall! Maybe the numbers were not dates as she had assumed. Maybe they were clues… instructions to count off eleven over and nineteen up! She had to find out. If Kat left now, she could get to the barn before dark, so she wouldn’t need headlights, and then wait in her Jeep until dark before sneaking to the house.
“Thankfully, there’s a full moon tonight so it won’t be totally dark, and I can sneak from the barn to the cellar without a flashlight,” then Kat scowled and hoped the cellar door was still unlatched from the inside. And she hoped that who ever was there before was not there now. At any rate Guido was at the retreat in hiding. “Hmmm… Guido’s new wife has a heavy Italian accent. The woman I heard arguing with the man at Mare Vista did not have an accent.” Kat was sure of that. “Who could she have been, then? Could she still be there?” Kat couldn’t worry about that now.
CHAPTER TWELVE
NUMBERS
As Kat pulled out of the marina, she used the voice activation on her Jeep to make a fast call to Jack; and got his voicemail as usual- which was just fine for her. She left a brief impersonal message stating flatly that she wouldn’t be needing his services as of this moment and to please send her the closing bill. Kat then called her mother to let her know she would not be home that night; and that Angel was on the boat with friends, and would call if she couldn’t get a ride home.
“What’s wrong dear? Did something happen to you?” Caroline Amoretti asked her eldest daughter.
“No, Mom, everything is fine. I just need some time away. I’ll call you and let you know if I’m spending the night- I’ll talk to you then. Love you!”
Now Kat could focus on her driving, and plan her steps once she got to Mare Vista. She took the same route as before but with far less enjoyment this trip.
Though there were even more wild flowers in bloom in Pope and Napa Valleys than her previous trip, Kat barely noticed. She only played the radio to listen to traffic not music. She was nervous- but determined to finally solve this mystery.
Kat made a gas stop in Vallejo before starting the long and hectic freeway trek. She ran inside and picked up some deli sandwiches and water and a few more snacks. Some for the road and some for when she was waiting for moonlight later tonight. She made sure she bought plenty of chocolate. She had read somewhere that chocolate was good after trauma such as accidents or earthquakes; because it gives a sense of well-being. And she knew she would need plenty of well-being and calmness at Mare Vista. The thought of hanging out up there in the dark made her shiver. If only she could have trusted Jack- she could have asked him to come with her. If only she hadn’t broken up with…
“Stop it, Kat! Don’t even go there. If you can’t do this, then turn around right now! But, no more whining!” Kat scolded herself loudly.
By the time Kat pulled off Highway 17 onto Summit Road she had built up the courage she was going to need; and had a clear game plan memorized. Her plan was to drive past the drive way and pull off the road out of sight. When the moon was up, but still low and bright, she should be able to drive up to the barn gate without her lights on. She’d park her Jeep where she parked the rental before;- being careful to lock it using the inside latch so no lights flashing or alarm beeping would alert anyone that might be on the property. But Kat was hoping against all odds that it would be empty, since she was certain that the Lombardis were still at the retreat. After climbing the same tree and jumping the fence she would run from shadow to shadow until she reached the cellar door, being careful not to make long shadows of her own and being ever so watchful that she was not being followed. She was hoping against hope that the cellar door would still be unlocked!
When Kat got to the cellar door she was relieved to find it so. She took a long deep breath, trying to steady herself, as she gazed around hoping that she was still undetected. Another deep breath helped to build up her courage and strength to lift the door. She strained as she pulled the heavy old wood and iron door open as slow as she could. As much as she tried to be quiet, the rusty old iron hinges creaked loudly.
Leaving the door open, Kat crept slowly down the curved stone stairway, and was thankful that there were no more creaking to worry about. As she turned the corner she was also relieved that the moon was shining brightly through the tall ground level window shedding enough light to move around making a flashlight unnecessary and removing the risk of light shining from the cellar. Stealthily, she crossed the floor to the east wall, making her way around boxes and crates. A shiver ran up her spine as the thought of rats crossed her mind. Fighting to stay calm and focused, she stared at the wall counting the carved stones eleven from the corner, and then up- stopping at nineteen.
Kat pushed a crate over to climb on but just as she lifted her knee to climb on it, she heard a loud creak and then the deafening sound of the cellar door slamming shut ricocheted off the stone walls of the cellar. There was another noise and Kat realized that it had been latched from the outside and then she saw feet running past the tall window towards the back door of the house. For as much time as it took for Kat to realize that the back door faced the inside door to the cellar someone was already coming down the stone steps. Kat looked towards the dark corner and tunnel trap door with dread, but she became aware of a presence already there. A gasp caught in her throat and she froze. She was trapped! Kat’s heart was pounding and fear rose up trying to push out the scream that was trying to escape through her tightly clinched lips. She tried to hide behind the stack of boxes she had been standing next to. Suddenly she felt a strong arm reach around her pulling her down to the floor. A hand covered her mouth and a familiar voice whispered a warning for her to be still and silent.
There was a rushing sound and the grip loosened from Kat’s mouth and the noises and shadows of a struggle pursued. Kat gasped and froze not knowing what to do. Then there was a loud groan and thud as one of the shadows dropped to the floor and didn’t move. A shadow leaned o
ver the one on the floor and Kat could hear metal on metal and a clicking noise. A tall familiar form came close to her and she ran into Ron’s arms.
“Ron! Where did you… How did you…” Kat’s relief was so strong she couldn’t control the tears and wailing that broke forth. Ron just held her tightly as if he would never let her go. And he wouldn’t… never again.
Then they heard a struggle on the floor above and a woman screaming, “Stop! Let me go! Let me go!” It was the same voice she had heard arguing with a man the first time she was trapped in this cellar.
Kat tensed, and Ron reassured her, “Don’t worry, Jack’s got her. You‘re safe Kat, I‘ve got you.” Ron bent down and pressed his lips on hers and the floor seemed to melt away as Kat was lifted up by their love.
Suddenly a light came on and Jack called down the stairs, “Ron, you guys okay?” “We’re great!” Ron called back grinning into Kat’s eyes, and then he lowered his voice and repeated, “Just great.” The man on the floor started groaning and struggling with the handcuffs that Ron had put on him after the struggle. Before he could come to, Ron took Kat’s chin in his large hand and said, “I love you Kat. I’m sorry for all that’s happened between us. Please forgive me. Say you still love me. I have so much to explain. Let me have a chance to explain. I‘ll explain it all to you- but right now just know I‘ve only ever loved you!” The tears started again and this time they were from a different type of relief.
Kat’s eyes said enough for Ron for the moment.
What happened next amazed Kat. Ron walked over to the wall and counted the stones from the corner and then he reached up and pulled out a loose stone- the nineteenth from the floor, and pulled out an old iron box. Putting it down onto of a stack of boxes, Ron opened it and found an envelope, which held a letter addressed to Guido Lombardi along with two notarized documents. The man on the floor groaned again and they looked at him. He was sitting up and this time his groan was not from pain. It was because of what Ron was holding. Two wills.