by Lee Hollis
No sign of anyone.
Just a scrunched-up Burger King bag in the passenger’s seat and an empty soda and straw in the cupholder.
Hayley glanced down the street. It was deserted, except for Mrs. Levy, an elderly woman in a baby-blue housecoat bringing some empty wine bottles outside to her recycling bin. Nothing suspicious there. Mrs. Levy brought out at least two empty wine bottles every morning of the week. Hayley looked in the opposite direction and saw a teenage boy five houses down cleaning up after his Great Dane with a plastic doggie bag.
Otherwise, nobody else was around.
Hayley tried the door. It was locked. Suddenly the car alarm started blaring, startling her. The Great Dane began barking. Mrs. Levy wandered farther down her driveway to investigate the commotion. Hayley jumped back from the Lincoln, pretending it had not been her who had set off the alarm. She waved innocently at her neighbor in the blue housecoat and shouted over the alarm, “Good morning, Mrs. Levy!”
Mrs. Levy reluctantly waved back and then covered her ears to block out the deafening alarm.
Hayley quickly scurried back across the street, up the front steps of her house, and inside, where Connie anxiously awaited her.
“What’s going on? What’s happening?” Connie gasped.
“I accidentally set off the car alarm.”
Mercifully, the loud blaring finally stopped.
“Did you see him?” Connie asked breathlessly.
“No, I didn’t see anything inside the car except for some trash.”
“What kind of trash?”
“From Burger King.”
Connie shuddered. “I remember Big Hugo going on once about how Burger King was far superior to McDonald’s because of their flame-broiled burgers, even though he admitted the French fries at McDonald’s tasted better!”
“That doesn’t necessarily prove anything—”
Hayley was suddenly interrupted by Leroy on his hind legs, barking at something outside the dining room window.
Connie screamed. “It’s him! It’s him! He’s circling around the side of the house!”
“Connie, please, calm down. I saw a Great Dane down the street when I was outside. I’m sure that’s what Leroy’s barking at,” Hayley said confidently, but when she glanced out the window where Leroy was barking, the boy and his dog were long gone.
Suddenly her soothing reassurances to Connie were no longer convincing even herself.
Hayley marched over and locked the front door. She told Connie to stay seated on the couch, and then she walked to the kitchen to lock the back door out of an abundance of caution. When she reached for the knob, her heart leaped into her throat.
The door was ajar.
She tried not to panic.
Perhaps Mona forgot to close it all the way when she had left last night. But Mona had parked her pickup truck out on the street, not in the driveway. Hayley distinctively recalled Mona leaving out the front door. Hayley closed the door and turned the lock. There was no way Big Hugo could already be inside the house. He was apparently around six feet five inches tall, so he would not be hard to spot.
Hayley stepped back into the kitchen from the side porch and grabbed some dog food to fill Leroy’s bowl. “Come here, boy!”
Leroy excitedly bounded in from the dining room, no longer concerned with what he might have spotted lurking outside. But instead of stopping at his bowl to chow down on his breakfast, he hurtled right past it and came to a halt next to the coatrack on the side porch that was piled high with jackets and heavy winter coats belonging to Hayley, Bruce, and even her kids when they were younger that Hayley had been promising for years to donate to Goodwill.
Leroy urgently sniffed around the floor for a few seconds, and then emitted a low growl, his eyes fixed on the coatrack. Hayley took an uneasy step forward, her eyes dropping down to a pair of men’s shoes on the floor.
Not just any shoes.
These shoes were huge, size twelve at least.
They could not belong to Bruce. He was a ten and a half.
The only way those shoes could have made it inside her house was if someone was wearing them and that someone was right now hiding behind the coatrack.
She had to come up with a plan and quick.
She would just pretend that she didn’t notice the shoes and casually return to the living room, get Connie, and then calmly head out the front door, away from danger, to the street where she could call 911.
But before she had a chance to make a move, suddenly Leroy boldly rushed underneath the coatrack and began tugging on the intruder’s pant leg with his teeth. The next thing Hayley knew, the coatrack toppled over, knocking her to the ground, burying her in an avalanche of ski jackets and winter coats. She managed to burrow her way out from underneath the mound of the coats just in time to see a giant man, mean-looking face, buzz cut, barrel chest bursting out of a tight black T-shirt, towering over her. He had the largest hands she had ever seen on a man.
He pointed a threatening finger at her.
“Stay down!” he hissed.
Then he lumbered off past the ironing board toward the living room with Leroy chasing after him, nipping at his heels, which the giant casually ignored.
Hayley struggled out of the pile of coats. “Connie, run!”
She heard a piercing scream and a scuffle.
Hayley climbed to her feet in time to see Big Hugo dragging Connie by the arm toward the front door.
Suddenly Randy’s voice crackled through the Alexa device. “Who’s there? What’s going on?”
The voice from seemingly out of nowhere briefly stopped Big Hugo in his tracks. He looked around, puzzled, giving Connie the opportunity to reach up and scratch the side of his face with her long, sharp, ruby-red nails. Although Big Hugo seemed impervious to pain, barely reacting to the scratches that had barely even drawn blood, he was annoyed enough to shake Connie roughly by the arm and hiss a stern warning, “Stop it, Mrs. Mancini!”
Randy’s disembodied voice could be heard again. “Hayley, what’s happening? Are you all right?”
Big Hugo looked around. “Who the hell is that?”
Connie tried freeing herself again by biting down hard on Big Hugo’s hand. This time her efforts worked. He yelped, more surprised than hurt, and released his grip long enough for Connie to break free and run toward Hayley, who had come around from the kitchen through the dining room and to the living room to confront Connie’s would-be kidnapper.
Connie hid behind Hayley, who was obviously no match for the big brute, who stared at his hand a moment before balling it up in a fist and advancing toward the two women.
Hayley frantically glanced around for some kind of weapon, anything she could use to fight him off with, but the only thing she could get her hands on immediately was a Disney figurine of Princess Jasmine from Aladdin that she had bought for Gemma as a souvenir when she was twelve and they went on vacation to Disney World.
Hayley hurled the figurine at Big Hugo and it bounced off his right shoulder harmlessly, dropping to the floor and shattering into little pieces.
Big Hugo didn’t even blink.
“I’m not here to hurt nobody,” Hugo calmly explained. “I just came here for Connie.”
“Well, you’re going to have to go through me first,” Hayley spit out.
“Suit yourself,” Big Hugo said with a shrug.
Hayley wanted to kick herself for even thinking that line she had heard so many times watching movies might actually work.
Big Hugo took a menacing step toward them.
Connie stood behind Hayley, her hands fastened to Hayley’s waist, using her as a shield as they backed up into the bookshelf with nowhere else to go.
Suddenly Randy came hobbling down the stairs, his eyes widening in surprise at the oversized, Bond-style henchman in the living room. He hurled himself forward, leaping onto Hugo’s back. Hugo spun around, trying to get a look at what was suddenly latching onto him. Finally, he reached back wit
h a massive hand and grabbed Randy’s pajama top, yanking him off and sending him hurtling to the floor. Randy winced in pain, still in a weakened state.
Big Hugo whipped back around, shot an arm out and grabbed Connie by the wrist, pulling her toward him until he could get a good grip on her. He lifted her up off the ground and threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and headed for the door.
Leroy was barking wildly now, snapping at Hugo’s pant leg.
Hayley knew if she didn’t act fast, Big Hugo would escape with Connie, and there was no telling what he would do to her.
She couldn’t let that happen.
Hayley sprinted back to the kitchen, scooped her iron off the board, and charged down the hall where Big Hugo was trying to get out the front door with Connie pounding her fists on his back, her legs flailing helplessly in front of him.
Hayley reared back and clocked Big Hugo on the head with the iron, and like a majestic redwood downed by a lumberjack, Hugo fell forward with a loud crash as Connie flew off him and landed butt-first on Hayley’s hardwood floor.
Except for Randy’s moans and Connie’s panicked gasps, there were no other sounds as Hayley gingerly took a step over to Big Hugo’s prone body and nudged it with her foot.
There was no doubt he was out cold.
Chapter 28
Big Hugo squinted as he slowly regained consciousness and tried opening his eyes. A harsh light was pointed at his face, blinding him. He tried to move but couldn’t, because he was strapped to a metal chair with a garden hose. He was unable to speak because something had been stuffed into his mouth and secured with duct tape. He was confused and disoriented.
“He’s awake, Connie, can I call the police now?” Hayley asked.
“Absolutely not!” Connie said, snapping off the flashlight she had been aiming at Big Hugo’s face. “That’s exactly what he wants. The police will just put him in cuffs, read him his rights, and place him in a nice jail cell, maybe even give him a ham sandwich while he waits for Rocco to send a fancy, high-priced lawyer up here to spring him. No, we’ll get a lot more out of him if we keep him right here with us for the time being.”
Big Hugo struggled to free himself to no avail.
“Don’t even bother trying, Hugo,” Connie said, grinning. “Rocco taught me how to tie someone up real good so they can’t move. It’s easier that way when he drops them in the East River.”
Big Hugo frantically glanced around, trying to figure out where he was.
Connie could practically read his mind. “We brought you down to Hayley’s basement.” She leaned down, inches from his face, and growled, “So no one can hear you scream.”
Hayley had heard enough. “Connie, I really think we’ve scared him enough. I’m going to call the police—”
“No!” Connie snapped, snatching the phone out of Hayley’s hand. “If the situation was reversed, he wouldn’t think twice about threatening us, or worse. He needs to know how it feels.”
After Hayley had conked Hugo on the head with the iron, Connie had insisted on dragging him down to the basement to revive him and question him. Connie had gleefully gathered the necessary items to tie him up, while Hayley hurried back upstairs to help Randy return to bed and put Leroy outside in the backyard pen where he could run around and not be in the way.
Then, when Hayley had come back down to the basement, she had found Hugo expertly trussed up in a chair while Connie sprayed him in the face with the water bottle Hayley used to iron clothes in order to wake him up.
Big Hugo tried talking through the duct tape, which proved impossible. Finally, Connie reached out and forcibly ripped off the duct tape. Big Hugo yelped in pain. Then, Connie removed a giant sponge from his mouth. “Hayley told me she’s been using this sponge to clean her dishes all week and gave me a clean one, but I thought, no, he don’t deserve a clean sponge, so I used this one.”
Hugo crinkled his nose and rolled his tongue around in his mouth with distaste.
“What happened? Every bone in my body aches,” he groaned.
“Oh, while we were dragging you down here, I accidentally let go and you tumbled down the stairs headfirst and hit the cement floor pretty hard. Oops. My bad.” Connie shrugged.
“Please, untie me. I’m in terrible pain,” Hugo begged.
“Don’t be such a baby, Hugo!” Connie snapped. “It totally goes against this whole macho swagger you’ve tried passing off your whole adult life, when we both know you’re just a simpering mama’s boy with too many muscles and an eggplant for a brain.”
Connie turned to Hayley and held out the phone. “How do I turn on the voice recorder?”
Hayley unlocked the phone, opened an app, and pressed a red button. “It’s recording.”
Connie turned back to Hugo and shoved the phone near his mouth. “Now, talk. I want to know everything.”
Hugo shook his head defiantly and remained tight-lipped.
Connie took a step back. “Fine.” She thrust the phone at Hayley, who took it back. “You hold this. Does your husband have a drill set around, you know, for household projects, putting up bookshelves, things like that?”
Hayley pointed to Bruce’s worktable. “Over there. Why?”
Connie sauntered over to the table and perused the tools. She held up a hammer. “Oh, this certainly could come in handy.” She set it back down. Then she picked up a power drill, plugged it in, and turned it on.
“What are you going to do with that?” Hayley asked.
Connie stared at the drill spinning around and around. “What does it look like? I’m going to get him to talk.”
“You’re going to torture him?” Hayley gasped.
“That’s what he’d do to us,” Connie reasoned. “Before I married Rocco, I went to dental hygienist school, so I know how to use a drill on someone’s teeth.” She turned off the drill and picked up the hammer again. “But maybe I’ll start with this on your kneecaps.”
Big Hugo’s eyes popped open, full of fear. “Connie—no, please! You know if I say anything, I’m signing my own death warrant. Rocco will have the boys take me out to the woods and put a bullet through my head!”
“Rocco’s not here, I am,” Connie spat out. “And I can be a lot meaner and far more destructive than he could ever dream of being. Just ask his first wife, who tried to squeeze us for more alimony!”
Hayley was about to call 911 whether Connie wanted her to or not—this was getting way out of hand—when Hugo finally caved.
“Okay, okay, Rocco found some emails between you and Luca. He knew you weren’t at your mother’s in Florida, so he sent me up here to—”
“Murder us both!” Connie cried.
“No! He just told me to bring you back to Brooklyn, even if I had to drag you kicking and screaming. He wants you home with him. He misses you, he’s willing to forgive you, put the whole mess with Luca behind him, if you just promise to behave yourself and stay faithful. He loves you, Connie. He doesn’t want to lose you.”
Connie glared at Hugo skeptically. “Why should I believe you?”
“I swear on my grandmother Luisa’s life! And you know how much I worshipped my grandmother Luisa, the saint she was! I would never disrespect her memory by lying to you!”
Connie cast an eye in Hayley’s direction for her opinion.
“I believe him,” Hayley said quietly.
Connie turned back to Hugo and considered his story. But then, she slapped Hugo hard across the face. “Why did you have to kill Luca? He didn’t want me anymore anyway, even after I invested money into his restaurant! I was about to come home on my own, and then you had to show up here and murder him in cold blood while he was lying helplessly in a hospital bed! I will never forgive you or Rocco for that! Ever!”
“No, Connie, it wasn’t me! I was never at the hospital! I never touched Luca! I swear!”
“You match the description of two eyewitnesses!” Connie yelled, raising the hammer menacingly.
“Then it
was somebody who looked like me! Rocco was willing to forgive Luca’s debt, if you agreed to come back. He never ordered me to take him out, that’s the God’s honest truth!”
Hayley was convinced Connie was going to start pounding Hugo in the head with the hammer, so she quietly snuck up behind her and wisely wrenched it out of her hand. “I don’t think we will be needing this anymore.”
“You don’t want me to torture him? I mean, come on, the man broke into your house, he terrorized us, not to mention your ailing brother and your little dog. That deserves at least a few whacks, don’t you think? He’ll be bruised but still alive, take my word.”
“No, Connie, I’m good, but thank you,” Hayley said, casually hiding the hammer behind her back so Connie couldn’t make a quick grab for it.
Connie sighed. “Fine. Whatever.”
Hayley made a mental note to never, ever get on Connie Toscano-Mancini’s bad side.
Connie then whipped back around and moved toward Hugo, who shuddered at her slow, menacing approach. “I will make you a deal, Hugo. If you go back to New York and tell Rocco you couldn’t find me, that I had already fled Bar Harbor by the time you got here, then I will consider coming back on my own accord. Rocco needs to stew a little more for this botched kidnapping attempt. I do not want him thinking that I am just some possession he can steal back on a whim. But I will admit, I find it kind of romantic that he would go to such lengths to reclaim me. I’ve always had a soft spot for strong men who know what they want. So this little episode stays between us. You don’t say a word to anyone, do you hear me?”
Hugo nodded his head vigorously. “Yes, deal.”
“Hayley, untie him,” Connie said flatly.
As Hayley scurried over and began unknotting the garden hose, Connie added, “After you’re loose, you have ten minutes to hightail it out of Bar Harbor, or the deal’s off.”
“Yes, Connie, whatever you say.”
Hayley smiled to herself. If they ever did a reboot of The Sopranos, they would be wise to flip the gender of Tony and base the show on Connie Toscano-Mancini.
Hayley would be the first to binge-watch it.