With a plan in place, the women hurried to get into position. Mercedes disappeared around the corner, and Carlita got comfortable behind the dumpster.
She crouched low, keeping one eye on her cell phone, waiting for Reese’s text and the other on the back door of the restaurant. She eased into a low stretch when she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye.
It was Dominic, making a beeline for the back door. Carlita ducked down and peeked around the corner. She watched him unlock the back door and slip inside.
Finally, Reese’s text came through. “He’s here. I’m holding the trolley for a few. He said he’d be right back.”
“Thanks, Reese.”
Carlita forced herself to remain calm as she kept a close eye on the back door, waiting for Dominic to emerge.
He exited the building moments later. Tucked under his arm were several manila folders.
The restaurant manager glanced around, pausing briefly when his eyes fell on the dumpster. Carlita squeezed her eyes shut; certain he knew she was back there and watching him.
She didn’t let out the breath she was holding until he jogged around the corner and disappeared from sight.
Carlita stayed put until Mercedes appeared. “Did you see him?”
“Yep. He took the folders.”
“He got back on the trolley,” Mercedes said. “Reese waited for him.”
“Now all we have to do is wait for Reese to tell us where he was going.”
*****
Reese impatiently tapped the trolley steering wheel. “You better hurry up, dude. I can’t wait here all day.” It wasn’t necessarily against company policy to hold the trolley and wait for someone.
It also wasn’t necessarily an approved practice. She stared at the side of Ravello’s Ristorante and willed Dominic to emerge. Thankfully, he appeared a short time later, in a hurry and carrying file folders, just as Carlita suspected.
“Thanks for waiting, Reese. You’re a doll.” Dominic moved to the center of the bus.
“You’re welcome.” She pulled the trolley onto the street and drove to the next stop.
Two passengers exited while another got on. She greeted the woman by name and then waited until the new passenger found an empty seat before resuming her route.
At the next stop, another passenger got off. The only riders left on the trolley were a small group of tourists, Dominic and Reese.
Up next was the stop where Dominic typically exited the trolley. He hurried down the center aisle. In his haste, he knocked one of the file folders from his grasp.
The papers dumped onto the floor, and he scrambled to pick them up.
“Take your time,” Reese said. “I’m not in a hurry.”
“What a klutz.” Dominic shoved the papers back inside the folder and made his way to the front.
“We’ll see you later, Dominic.”
“See you later, Reese. Thanks again for waiting for me.” Dominic bounded down the steps and looked both ways before crossing the street.
Reese started to ease her foot off the brake when something told her to wait. She watched Carlita’s restaurant manager stroll down the sidewalk. He stopped in front of a local restaurant, smoothed his hair and then disappeared inside.
*****
Carlita and her daughter waited for several long, agonizing minutes. She glanced at her phone every few seconds, willing it to ring. “I think Reese forgot about us.”
“She didn’t forget,” Mercedes said. “We need to be patient.”
Finally, Carlita’s cell phone chimed. Her eyes widened as she read Reese’s text. “You’re never gonna believe where Dominic went.”
“To the police station,” Mercedes guessed.
“No. I wish. Reese said he appeared very nervous. He got off three stops up. She waited to see where he went. He went into Russo Brother’s Italian Eatery, and he was carrying our employee applications.”
“What does that mean?”
“I…don’t know. All this time, I figured Louie was behind the food poisoning. What if it wasn’t Louie?” Carlita asked. “What if it was a supposed friend…another restaurant owner in the neighborhood trying to sabotage my new restaurant?”
“Mike Russo? He seems like a nice man,” Mercedes said.
“Those are the ones you gotta watch out for. Dominic is there now.”
“It’s only a coupla blocks away,” Mercedes said. “I say we head over there and see if we can figure out what’s going on.”
“Are you saying we should confront him? What if he’s the one who poisoned Megan Burelli and murdered Monica Clay?”
“We’ll play it by ear.” Mercedes patted her pocket. “I’m packing heat, just in case. The sooner we get to the bottom of this, the better.”
It was a brisk dash to the other end of Walton Square. By the time they reached Russo’s restaurant, Carlita was out of breath. “We need to stay out of sight.”
She glanced down the sidewalk, to a narrow alley behind the building. “This must be where Reese dropped Dominic off.”
“We can watch from over there.” Mercedes motioned to a box truck, parked off to the side.
“I can’t believe this.” Carlita crept in next to her daughter. “Pete told me Russo was expanding his operations and adding catering. Who would stoop so low as to kill a competitor’s guest just to put them out of business?”
“We don’t know that for sure,” Mercedes warned. “It could be Dominic working on his own.”
“No. Something fishy is going on.” The restaurant’s screen door slowly opened. An employee emerged. The smell of cigarette smoke wafted in the air.
Carlita leaned against the box truck and closed her eyes, an image of Megan Burelli filling her mind. She should’ve known Louie’s MO wouldn’t be to sneak around trying to poison Vinnie and Brittney.
The “family’s” style was more like drive-by shooters. They
