“Overheard?”
“You overheard Vinnie’s friends, Ricco and Luigi. Ricco was the one standing near the courtyard gate. Luigi was out back, probably somewhere in the vicinity of where Dernice was working.”
“Oh…that.” Elvira waved dismissively. “It was probably nothing.”
Carlita switched tactics. “I thought you wanted to cut a deal. You tell me what you overheard, and in exchange, I’ll let you put some of your business cards at the restaurant’s hostess station.”
“I’ve given it some thought. It doesn’t seem like a fair exchange.”
“I agree. I’m being way too generous.” Carlita decided to beat Elvira at her own game. “I’ll let you put your business card stand by the station for one month.”
“What?” Elvira’s mouth dropped open. “That’s not fair. I was thinking of a more permanent arrangement and throwing in a finder’s fee.”
“Take it or leave it.”
“Fine.” Elvira sucked in a breath. “They mentioned Megan Burelli, how she was flirting with your son, Vinnie, when he was alone, not that I can blame her. Your son is a real hottie, but his wife? She’s got a temper.”
“Your commentary isn’t necessary. Let’s get back to what you overheard.”
“At first, there was a discussion about some blonde in the courtyard, talking to Vinnie. One of them insisted it was Brittney Garlucci and then all of a sudden, the one named Ricco was like, ‘No. That’s not Brittney. It’s some other chick, flirting with Vinnie. They discussed getting rid of her. I thought they were talking about escorting her out of the courtyard. Next thing I know, an ambulance pulls up, and the woman they were discussing gets carried out on a stretcher.”
“They said ‘get rid of her’”? A chill ran down Carlita’s spine. Had Ricco done something to the wedding guest to cause her to keel over?
“Yep.” Elvira nodded. “Those were his exact words. He said ‘Are you thinkin’ we should get rid of her?’”
The color drained from Carlita’s face. What if one of Vito’s “employees” somehow managed to slip something into Megan’s champagne glass…something potentially lethal?
The mob’s preferred method of murder was gunning people down; although she knew they also resorted to other means of eliminating a “problem.” Surely, they wouldn’t have taken out an innocent woman because she flirted with the boss’ son-in-law.
Besides, Brittney intervened and had taken care of the matter…or had she? Carlita wondered what Vito would do in a situation where his daughter’s happiness was at stake.
“…so I kinda wonder if maybe that wasn’t the case,” Elvira said.
“I’m sorry. I missed the last part of what you said.”
“No, I was just saying I didn’t hear anything else after the discussion about getting rid of her. If they’d actually, you know, done the deed.”
“Nana.” Violet ran down the alley and flung herself at Carlita. “We took Rambo around the block.”
Mercedes joined them. “We’re done walking Rambo.”
“That was quick.”
“Violet told me that her legs are tired,” Mercedes said. “Hello, Elvira.”
“Hello, Mercedes, Violet,” Elvira said. “You both looked classy for the wedding. You clean up nice.” She pointed to the dress Violet was still wearing.
“I love my dress.” Violet twirled in a circle. “I’m going to wear it until tomorrow.”
“No, we’re going to take it off later,” Carlita said. “We should head home. My legs hurt too.” She thanked Elvira for the information before telling her she could drop her business cards off on Sunday.
Carlita waited until they were in the apartment and Violet was watching television on the sofa to fill her daughter in.
“That’s terrible.” Mercedes shook her head. “You don’t think Vinnie and Brittney’s bodyguards did something to Megan, do you?”
“I hope not. I’m not sure how far Vito would go to make sure his daughter, the apple of his eye, is happy.”
Mercedes drummed her fingers on the dining room table. “If she did eat something lethal, how would we know it was ours? No one else got sick.”
“Unless it was a targeted contamination. I stuck some samples of Elvira’s appetizers in the fridge, way in the back. Don’t eat them.” A sudden thought popped into Carlita’s head. “Remember the headless cake topper? How there wasn’t a return address? You don’t think the two are linked, do you?”
“No, I mean it did seem odd to have someone drop off an anonymous, headless cake topper.”
Carlita sprang from the chair. “The more I think about it, the more I wonder. First, we have the headless cake topper, and then the other day, someone broke into the restaurant, but nothing came up missing, and now a possible poisoning. What if these aren’t random coincidences?”
“Uncle Eddie.” Carlita marched to the kitchen and snatched her cell phone off the counter. “Not only did he show up uninvited, but he also showed up around the same time all of these things started happening. I’m going to get to the bottom of this.”
She dialed her brother’s cell phone number. He didn’t answer, so she left a message, asking him to return the call. “He mentioned taking care of a small business matter. What if there was a hit on Vinnie and/or Brittney and his own uncle was the one in charge of taking them out?”
“Do you really think he would try to kill a family member?”
Carlita lifted a brow. “It depends on what ‘family’ you’re talking about.” She quickly dialed her son’s cell phone.
“Hey, Ma.”
“Are you downstairs in Tony’s old apartment?”
“Nah. We’re still shopping for munchies. Brit also found a designer baby boutique she wants to check out. What’s up?”
“I think the young woman, Megan Burelli, became ill after eating food at the reception,” Carlita blurted out.
“But no one else got sick.”
“I don’t have all of the pieces figured out. I’m beginning to wonder if someone wasn’t targeting a specific person or persons…Brittney or
