Darwin used his Visa to pay the cab driver. He got dropped off on the other side of Square One shopping mall. Walking cautiously, taking his time, going the roundabout way, would tell him if the place was being staked out.
He still had ten minutes until he was supposed to meet Rosina’s mother, Isabella. That didn’t leave him enough time to get a full disguise together, but he thought maybe a baseball hat would help.
The mall looked quite busy for a middle of the week noon hour crowd. On his way to the other side of the mall, he passed a store that sold hats, grabbed one and bought it.
He also bought a new sports jacket. Better to change his whole outer appearance to avoid immediate detection. A lot of people wanted him dead and he couldn’t trust the FBI now either.
The weapon he picked up at the army surplus store earlier fit in his jacket pocket, easy to grab.
He used the doors by The Bay department store to exit the mall as they were usually the less busy ones.
All the way across the parking lot, he saw no one watching him or acting like they weren’t supposed to be there.
He crossed the street and walked toward Chapters bookstore like a normal customer.
At the main doors, he slowed, and took one last look around. Clouds were rolling in, the sun hidden behind them. The air was warm, a slight breeze cooling his damp forehead. As far as he could tell, no one was observing him.
He entered through the double doors of the bookstore and headed for the Starbucks on the left side.
Isabella was already there, drinking from a tall or a grande shit cup.
Sure their coffee was okay, but what about a large, medium or small? What the fuck was a short?
“Mrs. Capote. Thank you for coming.”
“Darwin? What’s going on? I’ve missed Rosina. Where is she?”
“Everything is fine, Mrs. Capote. Your daughter is safe.”
“Where have you two been for the last week? Wait,” she paused and tapped his wrist. “Go get a coffee. I’ll wait.”
“No, thanks. I don’t drink at this place.”
“Oh, okay. So why are we here? What was this help you were asking for?”
She wasn’t acting normal. No way was this Mrs. Capote. She was putting on an act for sure.
FBI
He should’ve known. They were waiting for him to say his piece and then they would pounce. He needed her car. He needed wheels and he thought he could’ve driven her home, borrowed the car and then decided what to do next, but now, he wasn’t so sure.
Then he had an idea. A plan hit him.
Perfect.
“Rosina and I went to Rome to get married,” he said.
“Oh, my,” she said. “I knew you two would tie the knot one day.”
So unlike her. She was one of the most adamant against it.
“We had a little trouble in Rome.”
“What kind of trouble?” she asked, and then held up her tall coffee.
“People tried to hurt us, but we escaped and everything is okay now.”
“Well, that’s good. When do I get to see Rosina?”
They’re listening. I say trouble, and she doesn’t even blink. She’s good. She’s sending me a very clear message that she already knows everything I’m telling her. Tell her something she doesn’t know.
He looked around in a conspiratorially way and whispered, “I need your car. I have to drive somewhere. I can fix things.”
Mrs. Capote reached in her purse and produced her car keys. A white piece of paper was attached to the key ring. She slid them across the table and tapped it twice with her finger.
Darwin waited a breath and then looked down. Written in pencil, he read the words: FBI listening.
He looked up and nodded so subtly that only she could tell.
“Go, Darwin. The car is two rows up. Push the lock button, the horn will honk to help you find it,” she whispered. Then she grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “Save my daughter again. Get the bastards who have done this to you two. I heard what you did in Rome for Rosina. I’m proud to call you my son-in-law, even if the men running to this table right now don’t think so. You’re a real man, Darwin. Now, get out of here.”
Darwin squeezed her hand back and jumped up from his chair so fast he knocked it over. He ran for the Starbucks door, spilling empty chairs behind him to block his pursuers’ path.
He hit the door in full sprint and bolted for the second row of cars. He recognized the two-door BMW convertible right away.
One look over his shoulder, and he saw two men coming out of the Starbucks behind him.
He made the car, dropped into the front seat, cranked the engine with the stick already in first, and popped the clutch. Spinning out of the parking spot, his door slammed shut with the forward motion.
He saw the two men coming to a stop in the rear view mirror.
There was only one place to go. He had no leads on any mafia family members. He knew nothing about them, where they hunkered down, or where they did business.
But there was one place he knew where this had all started. One particular store where he tried to do the right thing and now he was paying for it.
The store where he had to shop, even though he hated going in there, for the mint tree lotion that Rosina had grown to love so much. He’d read about it online and looked everywhere for it, until one day someone said you don’t go to the Body Shop in the mall for that. You go to an adult store.
The same adult store in Mississauga where he bought his wife her lotion. The same adult store where a man had carelessly dropped a piece of paper that had the address to Buttonville’s old airport location and the time for that night’s meeting. The note had said group therapy for phobia sufferers.
When Darwin picked up the paper, he read the heading quickly to see if it was worthless, and then tapped the man on the shoulder to hand it back to him. The two words phobia sufferers had caught his eye.
He’d gotten a cold stare, handed the man the note, looked away and went to buy his wife her mint tree.
It was the same man he killed later that night when he’d ventured out there, in the dark, which he would never normally do, to see if he could join or sign up for the group therapy on phobias in his yearning to heal even more so Rosina didn’t have to live with his worst moments. He had wondered why it wasn’t being held in a doctor’s office or a counseling office. The fact that he had decided to go in the dark would be a step in the right direction and maybe he would have triggers to deal with that could be talked about during the session if he could stay.
It was all for his wife.
But that man, Vincenzo, had stumbled in front of his Ford and with the interior light on, Darwin hadn’t seen him until it was too late.
It all started at the adult store.
It would all end there too.
Chapter 15
Alfred came up and knocked on her door an hour later. She lay spread-eagle on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
“They’re gone,” he said through the door.
She didn’t answer him. She lay there, happy as hell that her parents were okay, but missing Darwin so much
