by Jeff Carson
“Give me a call when you have more information.” Lia walked to the front of his desk and leaned both hands on it.
Paulo lit up. “Of course I will, mi amore!” He added a quick sentence in Italian that caused Lia to roll her eyes.
“Shall we go?” she asked Wolf.
“Sure. I think we need to go back to the observatory.”
Lia bit her lip and looked at her watch. “It’s just after 5:00 p.m. What are the chances he’s still there?”
“Vlad seems to be a late worker. I’d say pretty good.”
Chapter 26
As they exited the main room to the stairway to hell, a voice called from across the room, “Lia, David!” Rossi put his phone to his ear, said a quick goodbye to someone, and waved them over. “What are you guys doing?”
They explained the situation to Rossi as quickly as possible. He stopped them numerous times, asking them to expand on points, and go over others again before egging them on for more details. Finally, he looked to Wolf with folded arms and a furrowed brow. “Okay, so what are you going to do at the observatory?”
Wolf was taken aback by the question. “Well, we’re going to get the real story from this son of a bitch, Vlad. He’s hiding something from us about Friday night.”
“What did you and Marino just talk about, Lia?”
“Uh, he was wondering about what was happening.” She glanced at Wolf, then the desk.
“And?” Rossi asked.
“He said ... he said that David’s brother would be released tomorrow, and he wanted him out of the picture.” She pointed at Wolf.
Wolf stood still, not reacting.
“David,” Rossi glanced at Marino’s closed door, “we have to be careful about your next moves. Your brother’s remains are released tomorrow. That means you can get the belt with the belongings, right?”
“Yeah, I guess,” Wolf said. “When will the body be released?”
“Marino said first thing in the morning,” Lia said. “Then he wants to talk to you after that, to try and persuade you to go home ... cooperatively.”
“I’ll go home cooperatively when I find out who killed my brother. And it’s looking like Vlad had a hand in this whole thing.”
“David, let me finish.” Rossi put his hand on Wolf’s shoulder and stepped closer. “Marino has pressure from higher-ranking officials to make this situation go away. They don’t like that a police force from another country is coming in and helping with a closed investigation. I know that is not what is happening,” he said quickly. “I’m just telling you what Marino must be thinking about right now behind that door.
“It is important that we do this right. Right now, you have the testimony from a worker at an observatory that he didn’t see your brother the night of his death. That’s it. He could be telling the truth—he could have been locked in his office the entire night, never seeing a single soul. However, if you had the belt, and we could show that it was Vlad’s somehow, then we actually have a piece of evidence. Or we need to find Matthew, which Paulo is working on right now, like you said. But at this moment, you are risking some sort of ugly international incident if you go over there right now.”
Wolf took a deep breath. “So what do you propose I do instead?”
“Eat,” Rossi said with zero hesitation.
“What?”
Rossi touched both of them on the arm. “You and Lia come to my house, this second, and have an excellent meal with my family. We will talk this out, on full stomachs!”
Wolf stared at Rossi’s motionless bug eyes and broke a smile. He looked to Lia, who seemed all on board with the idea, then nodded. “All right. That sounds good, I guess.”
“Oh-kay!” Rossi pulled his coat off his desk chair. “Now let’s get the hell out of here before Marino’s office door opens.” He marched between them, out of the room, and disappeared down the stairway.
Chapter 27
Two miles into the tunnel, Wolf’s back pressed into the seat, letting him know they were gaining altitude at a good rate. He leaned discreetly, keeping a white-knuckle grip on the Jesus-bar, to catch a glimpse of Lia’s dashboard gauges.
No more than five car lengths behind Rossi, she was doing one hundred sixty kilometers per hour, a straight one hundred miles per hour. He held his breath when the car rocked from side to side as they blew past another train of cars traveling the other way.
They slowed to a breathable speed as a series of flashing signs indicated a sharp turn, which turned out to be the end of the tunnel. The view was stunning, looking down on Lecco from what was at least a thousand feet up the steep Alpine mountain. They continued onward and upward for another few minutes, switching back and forth along a tight-cornered road gouged into the side of a steep green slope lined with tall pine trees of a kind Wolf had never seen.
Wolf craned his head to see the distant valley floor through the trees. “This seems to be far from town, and a really nice area.”
“Yes, they moved here a few years ago, when Valerio’s father died. He and his family were left an inheritance, and they didn’t hesitate to move to this nicer area. You’ll see his house. It’s quite beautiful.”
Wolf couldn’t help but think for a moment about his own father’s death, and how it had caused quite the opposite effect on his own family.
Rossi finally slowed as they pulled up to a bush-lined property. They waited as gate lights flashed yellow, and an ornate weave of wrought iron slowly swung inwards.
A dog pranced with wagging tail in front of Rossi’s Alfa Romeo, and Wolf sucked in a breath as Rossi pulled in, pushing it aside with the bumper of his car.
Lia stopped and they stepped out onto the cobblestone driveway. The air was crisp and clean, smelled of pinesap, and was noticeably cooler than it had been on the distant valley floor. As they followed Rossi along the side of the house to the entrance, they had a fantastic view of the city below. Lecco sprawled like a model city on a gleaming Lake Como. It was so steep that Wolf imagined he could run, jump, and land smack in the middle of the lake below.
The yard of the house was perfectly manicured, and surprisingly flat for how steep the surrounding area looked. The stucco concrete house was one story in front, with a walkout lower level on to a stone patio, where two boys were playing soccer below.
“Ciao ragazzi!” Rossi bent over the railing, then yanked open the door to the side entrance.
“Ciao!”
“Ciao, Daddy!”
Inside, a male Italian singer was belting out high vibrato notes from an unseen speaker system. Smells of cooking Italian food saturated the moist air inside. A slightly disheveled-looking woman wiped her hands and kissed Valerio quickly, then gave a loud welcome to Lia as they kissed each other’s cheeks.
“Ciao, sono Maria.” She extended a hand to Wolf.
“Ciao,” he said. “I’m David.”
“Nize-a to meet you,” she said, laughing. “I am terrible Eenglish.” She pointed to herself with a red-faced smile.
“Not as bad as my Italian,” Wolf replied.
The first order of business for Wolf was to use a computer with internet access. His mother would be distraught at Wolf’s lack of contact. Wolf explained as much to Rossi, and Rossi immediately pulled him through the house to remedy the situation.
Rossi’s home office had dark-green ceramic tiles on the floor and color photos of vineyards adorning the bright-yellow stucco walls. Rossi turned on the tall floor lamp and ripped open the shades, revealing the incredible view below. The sky outside was now bright orange behind white-stoned peaks, and the city below speckled with lights. Rossi plopped down at the dark wood desk, fired up his computer, signed into Skype, and plugged in some headphones with a microphone.
Rossi opened the door to leave, letting in the loud music from the rest of the house. “Take your time. We’ll be having aperitivo.”
Wolf picked up the headset and took a seat. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”
…
“Hello?” His mother answered her cell phone after the first ring.
“Hi, Mom, it’s me.”
“Oh, thank God. Where have you been?”
“Sorry. I’ve been having phone trouble. I’m just taking care of everything. Getting John on a plane home.”
She paused. “So?”
“Well, I really haven’t got any news yet, Mom.” He debated whether to say anything until he had definitive proof, but then she sniffed, and it was clear her nose had been running. That she had been sobbing for who knew how many hours before he’d called. He said, “I don’t think he killed himself, Mom.”
She didn’t answer.
“Mom? You there?”
“Yes. I’m here.” Her sobbing echoed in the headphones.
“In fact, I’m sure of it.”
“Good. Good,” she whispered.
“Yeah.”
“Have you seen him?”
“Yes, I’ve seen him.”
A rustling sound filled the headset. “How did he look?”
“He looked …” Dead. “He looked fine, Mom. How are you holding up?”
“I’m doing all right. I think I’m going to go up to Rocky Points tomorrow.”
“Good, Mom. Go see Jack.”
“Of course. I hear Sarah is back,” she said.
Wolf sighed. “Yeah, she is back. Look, I have to go now. I’m sorry for the short call. I’m at another person’s house, on their computer. I’ll try and get back in touch tomorrow. Keep your phone on.”
She sniffed. “Okay. Catch the bastard that did this, David.”
“That’s the plan,” Wolf said.
They said their goodbyes and hung up.
Next Wolf called Jack and didn’t get an answer, so he left a message. He was a little disappointed, but thankful his son wasn’t answering his “emergency cell phone” when he was supposed to be in class.
He dialed another number.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s Wolf.”
“Hey,” Rachette said. “I was wondering what this random phone number was. I hoped it was you. How’s it going over there? You find anything out?”
“Well, maybe. It’s taking some time. There’s definitely something going on that doesn’t look right.”
“Jesus, really? What’s happening?”
“A lot. Too much to explain,” Wolf said.
“Yeah, I under—” Rachette’s voice cut out.
Wolf turned up the volume a little on the keyboard. “You there?”
“I’m here. Can you hear me?”
“Yeah. Listen, anything new going on?” Wolf asked.
“Yes. A lot.” Rachette’s voice was excited now.
“What do you mean?”
“Do you know a girl named Lisa Hardwick?” Rachette asked.
“No. Why? Should I?”
“Apparently not. No one really knows her at HQ. She’s a sixteen-year-old junior at Rocky Points High, new in town this year. Her family moved in at the beginning of the summer.”
Wolf nodded. “Okay, yeah. I think I’ve heard of the Hardwicks. The father works at the golf course.”
“Exactly,” Rachette said. “He’s the new head pro at Pine Meadows. Moved up from somewhere in Denver.”
“Okay.”
“Lisa came in and talked to us yesterday,” Rachette continued. “She claims to have spent a lot of time recently with Jerry Wheatman.”
Wolf frowned and swiveled in the chair to look outside. The orange glow behind the Italian Alps was dying.
“That’s interesting,” said Wolf.
“Yeah. And it gets more interesting.” Rachette spoke fast. “She said she thinks Julie killed Wheatman. She says she’s sure of it.”
Wolf turned back to the computer screen. “And why does she say that?”
“She says Julie was furious about her and Jerry spending time together. She says Jerry talked about breaking up with Julie.”
“To be with this new girl, Lisa?”
“Yeah.”
Wolf stayed silent.
“So?” Rachette asked.
“So what?”
Rachette blew into the receiver. “So we have motive for Julie Mulroy killing Jerry Wheatman, that’s what. And something else.”
Wolf stayed silent.
“Lisa told us Chris Wakefield is madly in love with Julie Mulroy, that it’s common knowledge around school that he always has been.”
“Okay,” Wolf said. “So you think Wakefield was in on the whole thing. How?”
Rachette sighed. “Well, it fits now why we found both of their footprints coming down the mountain. We have motive for these two to commit murder. Julie does it for revenge against Jerry, and Chris helps so he can please Julie and be with her after all is said and done.”
Wolf thought a moment. “And what does Burton think?” he asked, already knowing the answer.
“He doesn’t seem too impressed by the whole thing. But I think they did it. They killed Jerry Wheatman. Had to.”
“Well, if anyone could come in off the street accusing someone of murder, and law enforcement acted on those accusations without proof, we’d live in a pretty messed-up country.” Wolf was suddenly famished.
Silence filled Wolf’s headphones. He could sense Rachette’s disappointment from halfway around the globe.
“But that’s not to say I don’t appreciate the heads-up,” Wolf added. “I think something’s not right about Julie and Wakefield’s story, the way they tell it now, that’s for sure. But the bottom line is, we need clear proof of any wrongdoing, or our hands are tied.”
Rachette sighed. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”
“So get some proof.”
“How do you think I should do that?” Rachette asked.
“Carefully.”
Rachette sighed again.
“I have to go,” Wolf said. “Thanks for the update. I’m going to give Burton a quick call. Maybe he can shed some light on some next steps.”
“There’s another thing,” Rachette said hesitantly.
“Yeah? And what’s that?” Wolf didn’t like Rachette’s tone.
“It’s Connell. He’s been telling people you jumped him the other day.”
Wolf clenched his fists. He should have filed an official report. He should have said something to someone. Hell, he should have been quicker, gotten to his gun and shot him dead before any of this happened.
“Wolf?” Rachette asked.
“Yeah. All right. Thanks. I’ll talk to you later.”
“You want me to patch you through to Burton?”
“Uh, yeah. Good idea. You know how to do that?”
“What? You think I’m an idiot?” Rachette asked, and before Wolf could answer, a ringing filled Wolf’s ears.
“Sluice County Sheriff’s Department.”
Wolf didn’t recognize the voice behind the garbled connection. Apparently Rachette didn’t know how to patch him through.
“I was trying to reach Sheriff Burton,” Wolf said. “Can you please patch me through?”
There was a long drawn-out pause. “Who’s calling?” Who’s callink. The reception cleared, and Wolf realized it was Connell, sounding like he had a nose plugged with gauze.
Wolf gritted his teeth. “Patch me through to Burton.”
“This is Burton. Well, at least you’ve reached his office.” Connell used the tone of a jovial secretary. “Can I help you with something?”
“What the hell you doing in his office?” Wolf asked.
“Just covering for him for a bit. We’re a bit short handed with deputies skipping town and whatnot.”
Wolf paused. “You telling people I jumped you, Connell?”
“I’m just telling people what happened, Sergeant Wolf,” he said. “Doesn’t look too good what you did to me, then skipping town right before the appointment. Not too good for you, at least.”
Wolf’s face went hot.
Connell chuckled. “Damn g
ood timing for brother John to kick the bucket over in Italia,” he said. “Aaaaaaanyways, have fun over there. I hope you enjoy your vacation.”
With a sploosh sound, the Skype session ended. Wolf stared at the screen and ripped off the headset.
…
The dinner turned out to be a much-needed distraction. Pasta, crispy bread, meat sauce, and savory red wine. It was some of the best food he’d tasted in his life. Valerio and Maria Rossi’s two boys seemed like good kids, despite Wolf not understanding a word they said.
He was happy to sit and watch, not feeling in the mood to have to speak after the Skype call, and found it fascinating to observe the spoken Italian language and animated gestures. They would all laugh, and Lia would stop to translate, and then he would smile, well after the magic of the moment was gone. Nonetheless, he appreciated the effort from her and he enjoyed the company.
“Lia used to try to be one of the boys,” Rossi explained. “Growing up, we would be playing soccer as you Americans call it, or calcio as we call it, and she would insist to play all the time.”
Lia was concentrating on her meal with a quickly ripening face.
“She, of course, was better than everyone,” he said. “Except me!”
Lia kept her gaze on her food.
“No, she really was. All the boys were so confused by her. Here is this beautiful young girl who wanted desperately to kick their butts at every chance she could get.”
Lia jutted her head forward. “I didn’t want to kick anyone’s butts. I just wanted to be treated like anyone else with good skills.”
“It is the same today. She is one of the best soldiers we have in the carabinieri.” He held his hands up. “And the boys are confused by her once again.”
“They are not confused. They are all …” She looked back at her meal and resumed eating. Tension fell on the table, and everyone ate in silence until Rossi spoke.
“They are confused.” Rossi used a quiet tone. “They don’t know what to do with such a talented, beautiful, strong, and vicious young woman. You have already been recognized for your talents. We have a saying in Italy,” Rossi looked to Wolf, “‘Il tempo viene per chi sa aspettare’—which means ‘All things come to those who wait.’ Isn’t that right, David?”