She stepped inside the apartment and found Violet on the sofa, watching television. Mercedes was sitting at her desk in the dining room.
“I brought breakfast.” Carlita waved the bag of donuts.
“We already munched on a couple of cookies,” Mercedes said. “We also ate a bowl of cereal.”
“I’m still hungry.” Violet slid off the sofa. “Chocolate donuts are my favorite.”
“I thought Nonna’s Italian cookies were your favorite,” Carlita teased. “I picked out a bunch of different kinds and a special one for you. It has chocolate frosting and sprinkles.”
“Yay!” Violet clapped her hands. “I love chocolate and sprinkles.”
“Me, too.” Carlita placed the donuts on the table and walked into the kitchen.
“The coffee is still warm,” Mercedes said.
“Thanks.” Carlita poured a cup. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going over the tenant applications. I wish I had as much luck finding prospective tenants as you were at finding restaurant workers.”
“I don’t know if I did that great of a job. Wait’ll you hear this.” Carlita helped Violet with her donut and carried it to the living room coffee table. “Make sure Rambo and Grayvie don’t eat your donut. They can’t have donuts.”
“I know.” Violet’s head bobbed up and down. “Only special treats when you tell me.”
“Good girl.” Carlita patted her head and returned to the dining room. She briefly told her daughter about the handbag, the purple camo backpack and the suspicious behavior of the couple on the trolley. “Reese has a plan to have a look inside the forgotten handbag.”
“There’s something else.” Carlita lowered her voice. “If the woman was poisoned, I’m seriously thinking it would have to have been an inside job.”
“Inside?” Mercedes shook her head. “How? By one of our kitchen crew?”
“Think about it. I don’t know them. They’re all new. Who’s to say that whoever has it in for Vito’s family didn’t send someone down here as a plant, to taint the appetizers and take Brittney out?”
“You think someone up north is that smart? Aren’t mobsters more likely to shoot now and shoot later? Don’t bother with trying to cover up?”
“Yeah, but maybe there’s another reason. I need to take a closer look at the employee applications. I gotta run next door to get them. They’re in the filing cabinet.”
“I’ll go with you,” Mercedes offered. “I think it’s best if we not go over there alone, especially with Tony and Shelby on their honeymoon and their upstairs apartment empty. You never know if someone will try to break in again.”
“True.” Carlita waited for Violet to finish her donut before shooing her into the bedroom to get dressed.
Mercedes threw on some clothes and the trio, along with Rambo, headed down the alley to the back entrance of the restaurant.
Carlita held the door and motioned them inside. The smell of fresh garlic and Italian spices lingered in the air.
“It smells delish in here.” Mercedes sniffed appreciatively.
“It stinks.” Violet wrinkled her nose. “Like yucky stuff.”
“You have to be a grown up to appreciate Italian smells.” Carlita made her way to the filing cabinet in the corner. She pulled out the stack of employee file folders and handed half to her daughter. “I have no idea what to look for.”
“Me neither.” Mercedes carried her stack to the counter and rifled through them. She skimmed through the names and addresses, focusing her attention on the previous employers and the locations.
Nothing stood out as a clue. It wasn’t until she began going over the fourth one, something caught Mercedes’ eye. “Hey, Ma. I think I might’ve found something.”
Chapter 14
Carlita dropped the folder she was holding. “What did you find?”
“Check out this employee’s previous work history.”
Carlita adjusted her reading glasses and studied the section. “Duane Sorensen. He just moved to Savannah.”
“But above that.”
“He worked in…”
“New York.” Mercedes finished her mother’s sentence. “What if he was the plant? Do you recall what he looked like?”
“Not off the top of my head. I would have to find out if he was scheduled to work during the wedding. We can figure that out real quick.” Carlita reached into the cabinet and pulled out her handwritten notes, including a list of employees who were working the wedding.
Her pulse ticked up a notch when she spotted his name. “Yes. As a matter of fact, he was working.”
“But you met all of the employees, right?”
“Right,” Carlita confirmed. “Dominic handled the hiring process, but I was the final say in the hires. It’s possible Dominic let him leave early if he didn’t need all of the employees sticking around after dinner.”
“True. It could be a clue if he did leave before the reception ended.”
Carlita set a wiggling Violet on the floor. “I’m going to call Officer Clousen and get to the bottom of this. Surely, by now he has a better idea of what happened to Megan Burelli.”
“Let’s take the employee folders and wedding planner back to the apartment,” Mercedes said. “We might want to look at the files again later.”
Carlita handed the file folders to her daughter and then followed Violet and Mercedes out the back door. They circled the block to give Rambo a chance to stretch his legs before returning to the apartment.
“I’ll call the officer right now.” Carlita dialed the number Clousen had given her and was surprised when he picked up.
“Officer Clousen speaking.”
“Officer Clousen, this is Carlita Garlucci. We met yesterday in my courtyard when Ms. Burelli collapsed and was taken to the local hospital.”
“Yes. Mrs. Garlucci. You were on my list to call today. I spoke with Ms. Burelli’s companion. She explained her friend’s initial symptoms, before collapsing. They match those of someone who ingested a substance causing life-threatening conditions.”
The officer went on to explain he was
