Angelica’s rental was parked in the lot, too. On her way back to the apartment, Carlita decided to swing by her unit.
She gave the hall door a sharp rap. The door flew open. “Yes?”
“Hello, Angelica,” Carlita got right to the point. “When are you moving out?”
“Tomorrow. One of the set guys has a spare bedroom. He’s going to let me crash there.”
“Good.”
“I want my deposit back,” Angelica said.
“You attacked my daughter-in-law.”
“And she attacked me back.”
“In self-defense.”
“Which is what I was doing...defending myself.” Angelica leaned her hip on the doorway. “If I had known about you and your family, I never would’ve moved in here in the first place.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Angelica jabbed her finger at Carlita. “Your husband was Vinnie…Vincent Garlucci, mob man. It’s the talk of the town. People are talking about you behind your back.”
The blood drained from Carlita’s face and then came flooding back as her anger began to build. She’d worked hard to prove to locals and area business owners that she was an honest businesswoman. She’d also worked hard to leave the crime and family behind, but here it was…almost every day in her face and now an almost complete stranger was bringing it up. “The sooner you leave, the better,” she replied in a tight voice.
“There’s something else,” Angelica taunted. “You’re being watched.”
Chapter 4
“By who?”
An evil grin spread across Angelica’s face. “Why should I tell you?”
Carlita briefly closed her eyes and could almost envision Elvira standing in front of her. “I don’t care who’s watching me. I haven’t committed a crime, and neither has anyone in my family or any of my residents…unless it’s you.”
“Me?” Angelica’s mouth dropped open. “You’re lucky I agreed to move out.”
Carlita thought about the murderous look in Ricco’s eyes earlier as he started to go after Angelica. “You’re lucky you’re alive.”
“Is that a threat?” Angelica’s eyes grew wide.
“Move out tomorrow, and I’ll return your deposit.”
“Done. I’ll be out before noon. Have my money ready. I don’t want to hang around and wait for you to return what’s mine.”
Before Carlita could reply, the woman slammed the door in her face.
“Good riddance.” Carlita tromped up the steps, trying to decide whether Elvira had been a worse tenant or if her soon-to-be ex-tenant beat her. It was a close tie.
The rest of the evening passed quietly, for which Carlita was grateful. She’d had enough excitement to last her a long time. She settled in at her desk, going over the books, and checking emails.
She finished the tedious tasks, and her stomach started to grumble. Not wanting to cook, Carlita ran next door to grab some food for Mercedes, Autumn, Brittney and her. The special of the day was creamy chicken fettucine, and a simple Italian tossed salad for the side dish.
After picking up the food, she stopped by Autumn’s apartment to invite the girls for dinner. The friends began setting the dinner table while Carlita wandered to the bedroom to let Brittney know they were getting ready to eat. She found her curled up in a ball on the bed, fast asleep.
Carlita quietly closed the door and returned to the dining room. “Brittney is sleeping. She can eat leftovers later.”
During dinner, mother and daughter filled Autumn in on the events of the day, starting with Brittney’s arrival, the brawl between her and Angelica, and Angelica’s eviction.
“I heard something about a trolley incident across the street, too. What happened?” Autumn asked. She twirled a forkful of pasta as she listened to Mercedes describe how they witnessed a passenger tumble out of the emergency exit.
“The Savannah Six are terrorizing the town. The cops won’t do anything because of Rutger.”
“Rutger is the ringleader,” Autumn said. “His full name is Davis Rutger. He’s the nephew of a former governor.”
Carlita lifted a brow. “Really? I had no idea. What I do know is he’s trouble.”
“With a capital ‘T.’ Word around the Savannah Evening News is he moved here from Atlanta after an incident involving illegal weapons’ sales. There was some other kind of trouble he was involved in, but I can’t remember what it was.”
“It appears he brought his troublemaking past to Savannah,” Carlita said, “and it seems to be escalating. I hope Reese and the man Rutger shoved out the emergency exit both sue.”
“Good luck with that. I also heard his family is loaded. They’ll pay everyone off to let it go. My brother, Steve, met the Savannah Six. They were in his shop a few months back to have some work done before they started getting into trouble.”
“Which means they’re hanging around Walton Square,” Carlita frowned. “We’ll need to be on guard.” She remembered Angelica’s taunt, how the Savannah locals were talking about her and her family…and her cryptic comment about how they were being watched.
“Angelica claims rumors are going around Savannah about me and my family.” Carlita carefully studied Autumn’s face to gauge her reaction. “Have you heard them?”
“I...” Autumn lowered her gaze.
“You have.”
“Yeah. I mean, not like I believe them, and even if there is some truth to what people say, we all have a past.”
“What have they said?”
Autumn opened her mouth to reply and quickly closed it.
“That we’re mobsters…mafia from New York?”
“I’ve heard that,” Autumn admitted. “So what? I mean, we all have family…not ‘the family’ but family. Besides, if it is true, it’s kinda cool as long as you don’t have rival family members coming around, shooting up the place.”
“It hasn’t happened yet,” Carlita said.
“But Brittney upped the odds,” Mercedes mumbled under her breath.
Mercedes and her mother exchanged a quick glance and Carlita gave her daughter a small nod. “You can tell her.”
“Pops was
