She pulled her face back a bit. “I resent that comment. He wasn’t there as you put it. He was out driving around and saw the fire in the distance. He said it got dark too fast and he ended up taking a wrong turn.” She stopped talking. Faced with the picture she’d seen moments before, it almost felt like she was defending him.
I don’t know what to think.
“That day, we took pictures of everybody leaving that store. We ran all their faces through our system and came up with hits on the crime family pics. Darwin’s face got no hits, so his picture was filed away. When all that happened in Rome, the case of the Hangar Peace Accord, as we call it, was reopened and we started going through everything. Darwin being at that particular adult store on the exact day that directions were handed out, within an hour of the other crime family members, became suspect after knowing he turned up at the hangar.”
“So what are you saying? Darwin, my husband, the man I’ve known for going on seven years now, the man I know better than his own father, is a mobster? Are you saying he’s one of their hit men? I mean, come on…”
Control. Control. Stay in control.
“Bear with us, please. Let us get through this and we’ll make conclusions together.”
She nodded, afraid to say anything.
“When you were landing in Toronto with Greg, we received credible evidence that Darwin was paid off by the Gambino family for the hit on Vincenzo Fuccini.”
“That’s preposterous,” she almost screamed. Control.
“This came to us from an inside source. Deep inside. It’s sound.”
“So you’re saying you believe this source? You gotta be kidding me. My husband is innocent in all this!” She was near hysterical now.
Alfred laid a hand on her arm. She jerked it away.
“Let them finish,” he said. “Hear them out. When they’re done, judge them then.”
Tie waited, adjusted his stupid tie and then said, “We do not believe the evidence after all. We feel it was compromised.”
“What? So why tell it to me the way you did?”
“We wanted you to see what we were seeing so you’d better understand what we did. You have to try to stay calm to be able to understand everything.”
“I am calm,” she snapped. “Now, tell me, what did you do?”
“We acted on the information like we normally would. We separated you two last night and told Darwin that we felt Greg was working for the Fuccinis. If your husband was, in fact, working for the Gambinos, he would have to make contact. Greg is one of the best agents we have. He has done this longer than any of us and he had Darwin’s confidence.
“What made you act on the evidence so fast? Yet, now, you don’t think it’s credible?” She mocked their use of the word. “Look, I’m sorry, but you have to understand my side of this. I just got married five days ago. I’m supposed to be on my honeymoon. We were almost killed, more than once, by mobsters and hit men and now the FBI thinks my husband is one of them. The FBI sets us up and then he almost dies in an accident, and no one knows where he is. How do you think I’m supposed to feel?”
“We understand. We really do. But listening to us and getting through this is the way we can get working on bringing your husband home. Okay?”
She nodded, lost for words.
“We thought it was credible given the evidence. If Darwin was sent to kill Vincenzo and then go after the Fuccini family, it isn’t odd that he would show up in Rome and start hunting them down. Again, if that was what he was hired to do, then he did a great job. Better than expected.”
“We went to Rome to get married,” she said, her voice low, her tone non-threatening. “It was in respect to my parents as they are Italian. We were going to honeymoon in Greece as Darwin’s father is Greek. It was planned as respectful.”
“Okay, but he shows up and takes out Big John. A hundred men have tried that and died. Then he walks a man into traffic and kills him. Greg tells him on the phone to stay calm, be cool. Don’t do anything until Greg gets there. We thought Darwin was calling Greg as a way to show that when he finished with the Fuccini family, he could get his life back and still play the role of easygoing, calm Canadian boy.
“Instead, Darwin heads to the Fuccini building on Via Roma, a known mafia haven, and succeeds in entering the building, getting to the top floor, after killing even more hired professionals, only to meet the Harvester of Sorrow unarmed.”
She shuddered at the mention of the name.
“You okay?” Alfred asked.
She nodded. “I saw firsthand what evil that man was. I am so happy he is dead.”
“We are too. The only men to compare him to were the Nazi butchers. So how did Darwin do all that, with barely a scratch, if he’s just a writer from Canada? We asked ourselves that question over and over.”
“I’m his wife. I was their prisoner. You do not want to piss Darwin off. Turn out the lights, show him a knife or ask about his stepmother and you will have asked to talk to Lucifer. Trust me.”
They looked at each other. Stache turned to her, a frown twisting his mustache almost sideways. “What was that? Lights, a knife?”
“Nothing. Just go on.”
Leg stopped bouncing his leg and said, “So, since Darwin didn’t fit the profile, we looked at his past and reopened the Hangar Peace Accord file and started looking at everything again. We saw his picture at the adult store and then got a tip that he worked for the Gambino family. See how it all came together.”
“But you don’t believe that anymore?” she asked.
They all shook their heads. “He never made contact that we could tell. Then we contacted a known family member of the Gambinos and they told us, on no uncertain terms, that they want to distance themselves from anyone like Darwin Kostas. He’s too public, too dangerous, they said.”
“My husband. How sweet,” she said.
“We found out the leak came from the Fuccini family. They were trying to get us to move him. We did and they attacked. That’s how the accident happened. There was another car that hit the back of that rig. In it were the two corpses of Fuccini family members. Greg was located in the dark an hour after the accident. He’d crawled away from the burning car and he was worried other attackers could come. He’s in ICU over at St. Michael’s hospital. He woke up long enough to tell us about the car that rammed them.”
“Oh man.” She felt tears coming again. The thought that the FBI sent her husband out into a trap after what happened in Rome, and now he’s missing, really upset her and pissed her off too.
“There’s one more thing we have to tell you about Darwin’s father. We thought his kidnapping was directly related. Maybe he knew about Darwin’s past or something and Darwin had to remove him. What a great time to do it when he’s still in Rome so he could never be blamed.”
“Okay, I get it. That it?”
“No. Please stay calm for this part. This is good news, but you may get angry.”
“Go ahead. Try me.”
“Your parents were never kidnapped. They’re fine and still being watched. That was information control. We wanted to watch his reaction to things happening that weren’t part of his orchestration. We needed to see who he would call. We also wanted to see if he would tell you or hide it from you. We’re sorry. Your parents are at home, healthy and alive.”
The fury Darwin always described to her when he saw a knife was what she felt rising as the FBI told her she’d been lied to about her parents. She wasn’t a pawn to be played with. Her parents weren’t bait. Her husband wasn’t a sheep. They had played them all without regard for their safety.
“Get out! All of you!”
“Mrs. Kostas, we need to discuss-”
“Get out!” she shouted and stood up, running from the living room.
Her headache was back in all its glory.
Chapter 14
