by Fiona Grace
Neither did Audrey. But that was why she wasn’t a cop. She was a vet. And she had a full day of catching more strays ahead of her.
*
Audrey yawned in the front passenger seat of Vito’s car. After a busy day at the shelter, she was ready to call it a night.
“What are you thinking?” Vito asked her as he pulled up to her hotel. “About Loretta Mauro, huh?”
She nodded.
“Yeah. I agree.”
She looked at him. “So you do think something about it is off? I mean, she was allergic. She never went to his office. She could barely walk. I mean, how could she—”
“Well, maybe she was just trying to throw us off the track, make everyone think that there was no way it could be her.”
“I guess. It’s just—I guess the police here really know what they’re doing. For a minute there, I wasn’t sure.”
He snickered. “They don’t really know what they’re doing. Trust me. But I guess this time, they just got lucky.”
“Yeah. Looks like it.” She reached for the door and yawned again. “Thanks, Vito. For all your help.”
He grinned. “No problem.”
“I don’t know what I’d do without you. Want to do some stray catching on the beach tomorrow, before we go to the shelter? Say, nine?”
“Yeah,” he said, almost too readily. “Sounds great. It’s a date.”
Audrey laughed. “Okay, well . . . if you want to call it that.”
His smile faded. “Hey, uh . . . you want me to come in for a little bit?”
She blinked. “What? No. I think I can find my way.” She laughed. What in the world is he thinking? Well, probably the same thing most eighteen-year-old boys are. It’s not really a mystery. “Have a good night.”
She slammed the door and went into the lobby, still laughing to herself over Vito. Seriously, the island of Lipari was small, but it had to have some women more his age to choose from. Was he that hard-up that he was fawning over her, a woman old enough to be his mom? Am I old enough to be his mom? Oh, god, I am! Perfect. That’s just the type of proposition I’d expect. Meanwhile, men my age run in the other direction as fast as they can.
She pulled out her phone when she pressed the button for the elevator and looked at her messages. One from Mason: No sign of the infected dog. Concetta doing fine. How are you?
Audrey typed in: Doing fine. I think I might be coming home soon.
Just as the elevator doors slid open, Councilman Gallo appeared in the lobby doors and waved at her. “Audrey!” he called.
She let the elevator go and went over to him. “Hello. How are you doing?”
“Fine, fine. I wanted to tell you how much I appreciated everything you’ve been doing in our humble home,” he said with a warm smile. “I apologize for all the messiness where Dr. Mauro was concerned. I hope it didn’t put you off too much.”
“Not at all, Councilman.”
“I was just speaking with the police and they have mentioned that they made an arrest in the case.” His brow knitted. “Loretta Mauro. The doctor’s estranged wife.”
“I have heard, yes.”
He shook his head, a troubled expression on his face. “Very odd, in my opinion. I knew Loretta, of course. For many years. In fact, we went to school together. I never thought she had it in her—well . . .” He seemed to break from his trance, and a smile appeared. “It’s all over. Thank goodness. It was a very tense time for you as well, no doubt?”
“Yes, I’m sure that must be a relief for everyone.”
“That means the police are not holding people here any longer, and you’re free to go back to your home,” he said reluctantly. “Have you thought any more about my offer?”
“Well, I’ve been really busy, so honestly, I haven’t—”
“I’d love to get an answer soon. You know we’d take very good care of you.”
She nodded. She had no doubt of that. She’d be a hero here. And she’d have the beach, and a chance to start over.
But she’d made a promise to the people of Mussomeli, and they needed her, too. Her father had always said to her that when she picked up a project, she needed to see it through. She was far from finished in the inland town, with her clinic and her little home.
“As lovely as it has been here, I do have to get back to Mussomeli. There is so much there I have to do.”
“Yes.” He pressed his lips together. “I was afraid you’d say that. And it’s so unfortunate. Sabina says you’ve been a miracle worker. The pets really respond to you. I heard about that ferret you rescued, yes?”
“Rescued? Milo? Oh, no. That poor little baby just had mild burns from electrocution. I think he will be f—”
“Yes, but it’s not just Milo. Everyone’s talking! Our pet population is already showing signs of improvement due to your efforts. I couldn’t be happier. You’ll always be welcome here in our humble little village.”
“Thank you. I’d love to come back again.”
“So, you will be leaving soon?”
She shook her head. “Not right away. I’m going to do some stray catching tomorrow and finish up a few more things at the shelter. But I’ll probably leave the day after, if that’s all right.”
“Oh yes! Any extra day we can have you in our presence is a good one!” he said, taking her by the shoulders and pulling her into a robust hug, then kissing her on each cheek. “It has been such a pleasure, Dottore Smart! I’ll make sure we have a check for your efforts, ready and waiting for you when you leave!”
“Thank you for all your hospitality,” she said as he turned and headed out the lobby doors.
She went back to the elevator and pressed the button, then glanced at her phone. She had a message from Mason: Can’t wait to see you, Boston.
She groaned inwardly. There he was, saying those sweet things to her and ensuring that all she’d probably do when she went to bed was think of him. Damn him.
But when the elevators opened, she found herself dwelling on something else, something that Councilman Gallo had said: I never thought she had it in her.
That makes two of us, Audrey thought.
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
“Good morning,” Audrey said sleepily as she met Vito outside the following day at precisely nine a.m. He had everything ready to go—the crates, extra food to lure the cats, and of course, plenty of latex gloves. The kid was certain prepared for this. “Wow. Look at you.”
He studied her. On the other hand, she couldn’t stop yawning, and felt dead on her feet. She needed coffee, big-time.
“You don’t look like you’re ready to do some stray-hunting, Doctor,” he said with a teasing lilt to his voice. “What happened? Bad night?”
“Something like that. But I’m fine. It was a great night. I just didn’t sleep well, for some reason.” She side-eyed him. “What about you?”
“I always sleep like a rock. Well, when I do go to sleep. I was up playing Call of Duty until three in the morning.”
Oh. So that answered that question. She’d been wondering if he’d thought more about Loretta Mauro’s arrest. Something about it—something Audrey couldn’t put her finger on—seemed so strange. She thought he’d agreed with her last night. But now, it seemed as if he hadn’t even given it a second thought. “Didn’t you think yesterday was weird?”
“What? Mauro being arrested for killing her husband?”
“Yeah. You said she was a recluse. And she was so frail.”
He shrugged. “Sure. But I also know she’s a few sandwiches short of a picnic. Never underestimate the crazy and their infinite capability to surprise. I mean, look at Nonna. On the surface, she looks pretty normal. No one would think she spent last night putting on Romeo and Juliet with the shelter cats in lead roles.”
Audrey’s eyes widened. “She did?”
He nodded. “She makes little costumes for them and everything.” He reached down and picked up some of the equipment. “So yeah, does Loretta Mauro look like
a cold-blooded killer? No. Could she have murdered her husband? Yeah. Possibly. So just let the police sort it out.”
“I guess you’re right.”
She picked up some of the food and a few crates and followed him down the street toward the beach, not wanting to talk any more about it. It was what had gotten her worked up last night. She’d been turning over Loretta Mauro’s arrest in her head, letting it tumble about her mind like clothes in a dryer. The more she did, the more wrong it felt. Yes, maybe Loretta Mauro had been milking her disability, and maybe she wasn’t as much of a recluse as she’d made herself out to be. But still . . . very little escaped this town’s notice. If a woman as striking and interesting as Loretta Mauro had appeared downtown, near Dr. Mauro’s office . . . people should have noticed.
But they hadn’t. Which meant that either she’d been really good at escaping detection, or . . . she wasn’t the killer.
Ugh. Why am I bothering thinking about it? Vito’s right! I should just leave it in the hands of the police.
But were the police really acting on solid information? Where had that lead even come from? They weren’t professional case-crackers. And that vial of pentobarbital, so conveniently placed in Loretta Mauro’s unlocked car, in an unlocked garage?
She hated to admit it, but it had all the markings of a plant. How easy would it be for the real killer to put that vial in there, and sway the police Loretta’s way.
“You don’t think—” She was so busy thinking that she barely noticed that Vito was holding a breakfast pastry and coffee out to her. “Oh. Thanks.” She took it. “You’re—”
“A lifesaver. I know.” He took a sip of his own coffee and said, “I don’t think what?”
“I was just thinking about that vial.”
He raised an eyebrow. “What about it?”
“I was thinking it was really convenient that the police found it there.”
“Well. They had a lead.”
“Right. But from where?”
They reached the corner. The sun was just rising over the rocky jetties on either side of the small beach, and the water itself was mirror-calm. The sky was a pretty shade of pink, and full of seagulls, their forlorn calls mixing with the comforting sound of the waves, swishing lightly on the shore. It was a beautiful day, quiet and calm, before the first ferry of the morning and the tourists arrived.
Audrey spotted Vittoria Vittelo canvassing the shore, her head down. Audrey waved, but the woman was too absorbed in whatever she was doing. She stopped, crouched, picked something up, and stuck it in her canvas bag.
“Speaking of crazy,” Vito said under his breath, heading to the beach. “She and my Nonna are two peas in a pod. Come on. I think I saw a couple of strays heading under the pier.”
“All right.”
She followed him toward the pier, trudging through the dark sand. When they reached the shade of it, surely enough, she noticed a few sets of glinting cat eyes peering back at her.
“Okay,” she instructed Vito, as Nick arrived on the scene, ready to help. She smiled. “Always right on time, aren’t you, Nick? I’m going to ease in slowly. You two go over to each side of me so that you can intercept them in case they try to make a run for it. Got it?”
Vito clapped his hands. “Ready. Let’s do this.”
They got into position on the beach and slowly advanced forward, toward the pier. Audrey did so with a little more care, still feeling the sting on her cheek from her last attempt. When she got to the end of the boarded walkway, she ducked her head underneath and extended one of the cat treats she kept in her pocket.
Almost too easily, the young male cat came forward and took the bait. She scooped him up and gave a triumphant squeal of excitement. Vito grabbed one of the cardboard crates and assembled it so she could drop the cat inside, and put the lid atop. “Voila!” Audrey said.
Vito held up a hand for her to high-five. “Let’s go get another.”
The next one seemed encouraged by its brother’s actions, because he was just as easy to catch, using almost the exact same method. But this time, when Audrey scooped him into her arms and turned, it wasn’t Vito waiting for her with a crate.
It was Vittoria.
“Oh, hi,” she said, noticing Vito down the beach, trying to assemble the crate.
“Capturing kitties, eh?” Vittoria said with a shake of the head.
Audrey sighed. “Yes. I know what you said about them liking their freedom. But we will free them, after we neuter them. They’ll be very humanely treated.”
“They didn’t do anything. Just like Loretta. And they captured her, too.”
Audrey stopped wrestling with the wriggling kitten. “What do you mean?”
“You know they have the wrong person. Don’t you?”
Audrey shook her head, but even as she did, she couldn’t deny it. It was true. All last night, something had not sat right with her. Whenever the police had caught the culprit, everything seemed to fall into place. But right now? Something did seem off. She’d said it from the beginning. “Then who did it, do you think?”
Vittoria shrugged. “But don’t let that old lady stay in jail, when she do nothing wrong. That’s criminal.”
“How do you know?”
“I know Loretta. Know her all my life. She no like her husband, fought him all the time, but she’s not a murderer. She don’t hurt a fly. I tell the police that. They shoo me away.”
At least someone was thinking the same way Audrey was, even if it was the town crazy lady. “Well, I’m sorry. I don’t know what I can do, Vittoria. I’m not a police officer. I’m not supposed to get involved.”
“Bah. The police know nothing. They arrest the wrong lady. They know she couldn’t have done it and they don’t care. They don’t let me tell them nothing. They as pig-headed as Dr. Mauro was!”
She meandered away, muttering under her breath, as Vito approached with the new cardboard crate. Audrey set the cat inside as Vito watched the old lady leave. “Told you she was batty. What was she saying to you?”
“She was telling me that she didn’t think Loretta Mauro murdered her husband,” she murmured, watching the old lady lean down to pet another stray cat.
Vito fastened the lid on the top of the crate and looked up at her. “And let me guess. Based on what you were saying before . . . you don’t think Loretta Mauro did it either?”
“Well . . . what do you think?”
He tilted his head. “I thought it was weird to begin with, to be honest. But they already arrested her. I’m sure they’ll question her, and if they have reason to believe she didn’t do it, they’ll let her go. Right?”
“I don’t know. Maybe not,” she said. “They don’t exactly seem like they handle this kind of thing all the time.”
“They don’t,” Vito agreed. “But what can you do?”
Audrey gnawed on her lip, then backed away toward the street, as the idea came to her. Of course—she needed to know where that lead came from. And to do that, there was only one place she had to go. “I don’t know. But hey. Do you think you can take care of getting these cats to the shelter?”
Vito frowned. “Yeah, but . . . Wait. What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to go to the police station and have a talk with Officer Lorenzo,” she said, breaking into a run. Suddenly, though, she stopped and turned. “Uh, Vito? Could you tell me exactly where the police station is?”
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
In a small village on the sea like that of Lipari, it wasn’t difficult to find the police station. Audrey stumbled upon it right where Vito said it would be, on the other side of the main drag, past the harbor restaurant. As expected, it wasn’t much of a station, just a crumbling, narrow stone house, with a sign outside that said Polizia. Audrey might have passed by it altogether if it weren’t for the single police cruiser parked outside.
She stepped inside, thinking it would be bustling like any normal police station, but she was wrong. There was a
single unoccupied desk in the room, and no human life in sight. “Hello?” she called, and her voice echoed through the empty room.
The brawny male officer stepped in from a back room, giving her a surly look. He was holding a mug of coffee and a pastry. “Oh, it’s you,” he said, taking a bite of it. “What do you want?”
“Good morning to you, too,” she said with a smile. “I just wanted to—”
“Officer Lorenzo said you might be poking around in here. And if you did, I was to turn you away.” He set his breakfast on the desk and sat down, then made a flicking motion toward the door. “So . . . go. The tourists are going to be arriving soon. They always bring trouble.”
“Is Officer Lorenzo here?”
He let out a groan. “Did you not hear me?”
“I did. But I’d like to talk to her. I have an issue I’d like to raise.”
“She doesn’t want to talk to you. And besides, she’s not here. She doesn’t come on until the afternoon.”
“Oh, is she—”
“Lipari has three police officers. We alternate shifts. I’m the one in charge now. And I’m telling you to get out, unless you want to wind up in handcuffs. Because that can be arranged.”
She fought the urge to back away. “I’m sure it can. I know you arrested Loretta Mauro for the murder of her husband.”
A smile spread over his face. “Yep. Excellent bit of police work, that was.”
“Was it? You don’t think she actually did it, do you?”
His brow knitted. “What do you mean? Of course she did. We found the smoking gun right there in her car. She’s guilty.”
“Right. What made you three decide to get that warrant to search her car again? Was it just dumb luck?”
He scoffed. “Of course not. It was a tip.”
“A tip? From who?”
“It was an anonymous tip.”
Audrey rolled her eyes. Just as she’d expected. “You took the call?”
He nodded.
“So you don’t have any idea who gave you that tip?”
“No,” he said, as if it were an absurd question. “Of course not.”