He shook his head and said, “Lord, have mercy on Miami and the mayhem ahead.”
CHAPTER 25
An urgent phone call caused Fitz to grab Bianca and bounce, with Bianca riding shotgun as Fitz bent corners like someone’s life depended on it. He listened to old school Scarface the entire ride and turned down the music when they entered into the city morgue’s parking lot.
“Why are we here?” she asked.
“I have to identify a body, that’s all.” The car fell silent. Like always, Bianca kept on her game face, but her heart began palpitating.
Fitz turned to her. “You can sit here in the car if you’d like, or sit in the waiting area if you want,” he suggested. “This shit might be kind of too gruesome for you.”
If he would’ve bet cash money on her, he knew what her answer was going to be. She said what he thought she would. “No, I will come with you. Even an iceman like yourself needs some kind of support,” she said as compassionately as she knew how.
“Why, thank you,” he said as he opened his door and quickly made his way around to hers.
They walked into the Dade County morgue, two of his security guys in tow. The building was air conditioned and extra cold. Their footsteps echoed on the marble floor.
“Hi,” the cavalier medical examiner who met with them said. He shook both of their hands. He didn’t look like someone who she thought would be working at the morgue. He looked to be fairly young, in his late twenties, with a dark, short crew cut. He wore a white lab coat and some black motorcycle boots.
“Wow. It was kind of funky gruesome,” the flighty examiner said then looked to Fitz.
Bianca could tell that the examiner recognized exactly who Fitz was, and she immediately started to talk. “Is it at all possible to just please get this over with? You know, it’s a hard time for everybody.” She redirected his attention. “I’m sure you could imagine.”
“I’m sure this is going to be hard on you,” he said to Bianca in a friendly way, as if he knew her, and she just played along.
She took a deep breath as she got into character. “Do you know what happened to him?”
“Well, from my observation, he just bled out.”
She sighed and dropped her head. “Lord, have mercy on his soul,” Bianca said, with much empathy.
“Yeah, no substantial blows or beating.” He looked to Bianca with sincerity as he continued to deliver the news. “Just the amputation of his hands, that’s all, and he just bled himself to death.”
She allowed tears to form in her eyes as the examiner searched her face. She knew that he was a little intimidated by Fitz, but Bianca’s performance was so airtight that it made the examiner more comfortable with Fitz.
When they got to the huge room with white walls and bright fluorescent lights, he stopped by the desk and handed Bianca some tissues before heading over to a long wall with several doors in it. For an awkward moment, he stood there as if he were preparing to make a presentation. He opened the door and pulled out the stretcher with the lifeless body on it.
The moment of truth came.
The examiner slowly pulled back the sheet, and Bianca saw that it was Rocco. “Oh my God. It’s him,” Bianca said. She could sense the man wanted some kind of emotions, and she didn’t cheat him of any as she fell into Fitz’s arms. “Oh, why? Lord Jesus! Why? Nooooo . . . not him!”
An emotionless Fitz put his arms around her to try to console her. “It’s going to be okay.”
“The really sad part about it is, he would’ve lived had he not been tied down. It looks like he was tightly tied to a chair and could not run or get loose. I’m so sorry. I’m sure it was painful to him, because his life had to flash in front of him,” said the examiner.
Her sobs grew louder and she uttered, “I’m just so glad I was able to get a babysitter for the kids.” She sniffed, and a waterworks of tears started to pour out as she buried her head deeper into Fitz’s chest.
“I’m sorry,” the examiner said as he pushed Rocco back into his new resting place. Then he was quiet for a few minutes, feeling bad about adding the last bit of information and drama. “Now, I know I told you on the phone that I wasn’t going to be able to get the property released until the other lady comes in, but I can get it for you if you like. It hasn’t been officially logged in, and I know you said that there were some very important papers in it. Would you like to take it?”
“No,” Fitz said, shooing it off.
“Yes, I will take it,” Bianca spoke over Fitz, wiping her tears away, sneakily pinching Fitz in the arm to play along. “I would very much appreciate that,” she managed to get out in between tears and sniffles.
“Yes, no problem.” He left and returned with a big MCM backpack with studs on in it, and handed it to Bianca.
“Thank you so much,” she said again, blowing her nose into the tissues then taking one of the straps and putting it on her shoulder. “Thank you so much for all your help.”
He dropped his head. “My deepest, sincere condolences to you.” He patted her on the back.
Fitz looked at the guy and said, “Thank you, too.” He put his arm around Bianca’s shoulder and escorted her out of the morgue and into the car.
Once inside the car, he said, “Damn, girl! I never knew you were an actress. I think I’m going to make some calls for you to get you some roles. My
