Gina waved her hand. “Nah. They’re packed away and you’ll never find them. It’ll only take me a second.”
“I left Tony’s apartment door unlocked,” Paulie said.
“I’ll be right back.” Gina hurried out of the apartment, leaving the door ajar.
Carlita waited until she heard the click of her heels on the stairs before turning to her youngest son. “How’s it goin’?”
Paulie shrugged. “It’s hard to tell with Gina. She’s cranky cuz of her havin’ to deal with the kids and the layover at the airport. I probably won’t know until tomorrow. At least she’s not insisting I take her back to the airport.”
“True.” Carlita picked up a slice of the rustic Italian flatbread and bit the end. The pungent aroma of fresh basil wafted up. “I think these would’ve been better if I woulda added a layer of pesto.”
“They’re perfect the way they are, Ma,” Tony said. “Did you want to talk to Gina about havin’ a small dinner party and invitin’ Shelby and Violet?”
“Of course. I think that would be nice.” She started to tell them what she planned to serve when a commotion out in the hallway interrupted the conversation.
“Well, I don’t know who you think you are, but you can take your New York attitude right on back there!”
Chapter 3
“Uh-oh,” Carlita said. “I think Gina and Elvira just met.” She sprang from the chair and darted out into the hallway where Gina and Elvira stood glaring at each other at the top of the stairs. “What’s going on?”
“This…” Elvira waved her hands wildly. “Buttinsky told me I can’t leave my easel down in the hallway.” She lowered her voice, “Because it’s in her way,” Elvira said, nearly nailing Gina’s nasally voice.
Carlita covered her mouth to hide the grin. She’d suspected Gina and Elvira would clash and it appeared she was correct. “I’m sorry if Elvira’s easel is in your way.” She turned to her tenant. “Perhaps we can put it in front of the storage closet instead.”
“Why?” Elvira clenched her fists. “Is it gonna kill her to take two more steps to walk around it?”
“Elvira,” Carlita soothed. “This is a non-issue. I’m sure Gina is concerned one of her children will trip over it or that they might knock it over and bust it.” The explanation sounded plausible to Carlita.
“Promise me this woman isn’t moving into the building and I’ll move it,” Elvira said.
“She’s not moving in,” Carlita said.
“Fine. I’ll move it.” Elvira stomped down the steps, picked up the easel and dropped it in front of the closet door before stomping back up. “I hope you’re happy.”
“Infinitely,” Gina smiled smugly, and when Elvira shot her a dirty look, Gina gave Elvira’s back the one-finger salute as she marched to her apartment door.
Elvira turned back once and scowled at them before stepping inside her apartment and slamming the door shut.
The pictures on the hall wall rattled.
Gina curled her lip. “What a piece of trash. Whatcha’ doin’ letting nasty people like her live here? I’m half tempted to move in just to tick her off.”
Carlita followed Gina into the apartment and quietly closed the door behind them. “That would set off some fireworks.”
“I see Gina met Elvira,” Tony said. “Better up our liability insurance before those two get into a knockdown drag out fight and someone gets hurt.”
Gina flicked her wrist and studied her fingernails. “All I can say is she better not mess with Gina Garlucci. She’s more than met her match. The woman got me so ticked off, I forgot about the bagels.”
“I’ll get them.” Paulie sprang from his chair. He exited the apartment, returning a short time later with three bags of bagels.
Gracie wandered to her father’s side. She began rubbing her eyes and pressed her head against his leg. “My tummy hurts.”
Paulie picked her up. “We should get the kids to bed,” he told his wife.
“Yeah. It’s been a long day.” Gina gathered the other two children while Paulie thanked Tony for letting them use his apartment for the next few days.
After they were gone, Tony helped his mother pull out the sleeper sofa.
“Thanks for bein’ such a good sport about letting Paulie and them use your apartment.”
“No problem, Ma. Don’t be gettin’ your hopes up too high that Gina’s gonna wanna move down here.”
“I’m trying not to.”
Mercedes carried an armful of pillows into the living room and tossed them on top of the bed.
“What happened to the guy down by the river?” Tony asked. “Was it the one you were supposed to meet?”
“Yeah. Someone shot him.” Mercedes told her brother the story, how she’d been talking to Jon Luis, a well-known local author, about an old murder investigation and how they’d planned to meet down by the river that evening. “Like I told Ma, it was kinda weird because he didn’t want to meet in a public place or during the day.”
“And he just happened to get clipped right before he met you,” Tony said. “Anybody else know about the meetin’?”
“Now that you mention it, the other authors in my group knew. We were all excited about it because we figured he had an inside scoop about an old, high profile unsolved murder case.”
“You need to tell the police,” Carlita said, “so they can check it out.”
“Yeah,” Tony agreed. “Seems suspicious to me that he died the same night of your meeting and others knew about it.”
“I’ll call Detective Wilson first thing in the morning.” Mercedes lifted both hands over her head and stretched her back. “Right now, I’m beat.”
Carlita wasn’t far behind her daughter and turned in a short time later. It had been a long day, or more precisely, a long evening. She lay there for a long time, wondering if Gina and
