She exited the pawnshop. The door to the efficiency was ajar, and she could hear Luigi and Ricco laughing. Carlita slowly climbed the stairs and returned to the apartment, the heavy scent of pure Italian goodness lingered in the air.
It was the kind of smell that made her miss home…not New York, but her real home in Sambuco, and the old days when her only worry was making sure she was home in time to help her mother fix dinner.
A melancholy sadness filled Carlita. So many of her loved ones were gone now. Her parents, her beloved Vinnie. Carlita wandered into her room and sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the picture frame on the nightstand, the one of her solemn-faced husband.
“We got a mess on our hands, Vin.” Carlita picked it up and ran a light hand over the glass. “You’re gonna miss out on a new grandbaby. Can you believe it? Our Vinnie - married, settled down and soon to be a father. I never thought I would see the day. Someone is targeting Vinnie and Vito. Tony’s tryin’ to help me keep the businesses runnin’ smooth. You oughta see it down here.”
Carlita grew silent, and she stared at her husband. She could almost hear his gravelly voice. Aw, Lenore, you’re one smart cookie. You got this. I’m countin’ on ya.
A sob caught in her throat and a tear escaped, trickling down her cheek. She hastily swiped at it, sternly reminding herself she was head of the family now.
Her son trusted her to help protect his wife and unborn child…Carlita’s grandchild. She couldn’t fall apart now. There were too many people counting on her.
Carlita carefully set Vinnie’s picture on the nightstand. She straightened her back and slowly stood. The Garlucci family was going to make it through the next several days…several weeks, no matter what.
Now if only she could figure out how to keep the police away from her home.
Chapter 10
Carlita spent part of the evening working at the restaurant, seating diners and delivering food to the tables. After she finished, she returned to the apartment where Brittney, Luigi and Ricco were enjoying Brittney’s specialty and the angel hair pasta.
Much to Carlita’s surprise, Mercedes was there, too.
“Hey, Ma. You’re just in time. We have room for one more.” Mercedes darted to the balcony and returned carrying a patio chair for her mother.
“Thank you, Mercedes. It’s a good thing you made a big pot of pasta to go with the cabbage, Brittney.”
While the women ate, Vito’s men regaled them with stories of takedowns and setups. Mercedes hung on to their every word, and Carlita could see the wheels spinning in her daughter’s head, suspecting she was making mental notes for her mafia-style books.
After they ate, Luigi and Ricco headed downstairs to their apartment but not before Carlita reminded them they needed to keep a low profile.
She was carrying a stack of dirty plates to the sink while Mercedes loaded the dishwasher when the outer doorbell chimed. “Luigi and Ricco must’ve locked themselves out. I’ll go let them back in.” Carlita ran downstairs, not bothering to check the peephole before flipping the deadbolt and opening the door. It wasn’t the bodyguards standing on the other side but Detective Zachary Jackson, another local detective.
“Good evening, Mrs. Garlucci.”
“Detective Jackson.” Carlita joined him on the step, quickly pulling the door closed behind her.
“I’m sorry to show up unannounced. I’m working with Detective Polivich in investigating Davis Rutger’s death. I was hoping I could take a look at your surveillance cameras from last night and early this morning.”
“Of course. We have two sets of cameras…one for the pawnshop and the other for my new restaurant, Ravello’s.”
Jackson followed Carlita into the apartment. “What about this building…your private residence?”
“Since this place is sandwiched in between the two businesses, my son, Tony, figured additional cameras would be overkill. I do have a motion camera with a phone app for notifications, but it doesn’t record.” Carlita talked loudly, praying if Vito’s men were anywhere near the apartment door, they would hear the voices and stay out of sight.
“I’ll need to grab the keys to the pawnshop and restaurant.” Carlita ran up the stairs as fast as she could, hurried inside and grabbed her keys from the hook near the door.
Mercedes was still in the kitchen when Carlita burst into the apartment. “Is everything all right?”
“Fine,” Carlita said breathlessly. “I’ll be right back.”
She ran out again and down the stairs. The detective, still waiting at the bottom, gave her an odd look. “You didn’t have to hurry.”
“I like to run up and down the stairs. I treat it as my mini workout,” she gasped. “It’s great for the cardiovascular.” Carlita unlocked the back door to the pawnshop, flipped the light on and motioned the detective to follow her inside.
With a quick check of the hall to make sure the coast was still clear, Carlita closed the door behind them and flipped the deadbolt. “The monitoring system is here, on the desktop computer.”
She fired up the computer, accessed the files and double-clicked the screen. Carlita pulled up the previous day’s recordings, starting with the early evening hours.
They watched as an occasional passerby flitted past the cameras. There was a lag in the tape, and Carlita wondered if Tony had deleted a recording of Luigi and Ricco. The detective didn’t appear to notice the gap, or if he did, he didn’t comment.
They finished going through the recordings from the previous evening. The footage ended early that morning. Much to Carlita’s relief, nothing appeared to hit the detective’s radar. She clicked away from the final recording and turned to him. “Do you
