belt and hung himself with it, or someone strung him up with it…or more accurately, smacked him on the head and strangled him, then tried to make it look like a suicide, and did a poor job of it, because the chandelier couldn’t hold his body weight. That’s what happened, and I’m sure of it. And it had to be at least two people who strung my brother from that chandelier. There’s no way one person could have done it.” He stood and went to the patio railing, gazing at the city below.
Valerio cleared his throat. “I think there needs to be more evidence. And until then, I don’t see what we can do. There is no name tag on that belt, there’s no way to find out whose it is, other than finding finger prints, which we’ll check. But it’s been handled by more than a few people by now.
“Secondly, we cannot bring in this Vlad character for questioning because he was sweating profusely as you spoke to him. We cannot arrest the bar owner for being rude to you guys.” He sighed heavily. “I do think that it is strange that this Matthew fellow left town immediately after your brother’s death, though. So, I think we need to find him. Paulo is working on it. He will look at the phone records, and find Rosenwald’s phone, and who knows what else he can uncover? He is a talented boy.”
Wolf yawned uncontrollably once again and nodded his head.
Lia stood up. “You need to get some sleep, David.”
“Yes, you need sleep. We will know more tomorrow.”
“We need to go over the police report,” Wolf said, sitting back down. “And I don’t know how the hell to read Italian, so I’m going to need your help.” An unstoppable yawn stretched his face.
Lia stood in front of Wolf and placed her hand gently on his. “You need sleep.”
Rossi set down his glass and stood. “David. Please. It doesn’t do you any good to not rest. We still have all day tomorrow.”
Wolf sat forward. “And if I need your help Saturday? What if I need more time?”
“Then you will have our help on Saturday as well,” Rossi answered immediately.
Wolf sat back in the seat hard. They were right. If they went over the police report now he probably wouldn’t remember it in the morning. Every cell in his body screamed for sleep. “Okay. Let’s go.”
“Sleep now,” she said, like talking to a small child. She turned the key and pulled out of the gate.
“What do you think? Do you really think my brother killed himself?”
“I think…I think we will find out. I think you need sleep. Go to sleep.”
He tilted the seat back and lost consciousness immediately.
Chapter 26
A light brushing on his cheek pulled him from a dreamless sleep.
“Yep?” He popped his eyes wide open.
“We are here.” Lia’s face filled his view. She was close, tilting her head sideways to the same angle as his, her hair dangling across her face.
Wolf lay still. Without thinking he reached up and brushed her hair behind her ear.
She narrowed her eyes slowly with a short lived smile that turned to a hard gaze. Her lips parted and she exhaled loudly. He could smell the sweetness of her breath.
He reached and pulled her head close, zero resistance, zero hesitation.
Lia’s warm moist mouth gently connected with his, her tongue diving with eager swirls that tasted of sweet saliva and red wine. Her breaths came in hard pants, vividly audible over the soft Italian music that played on the radio. Lia reached between them and yanked hard on the emergency brake with a loud crank, then groped at his crotch hungrily with the same hand as she moved closer.
He reached his right hand between her thighs and shifted himself closer.
Suddenly she ripped free and pushed his hand away. “No, sorry. Sorry, I…we cannot do this!” she said, straightening and putting her hands on the steering wheel. “Sorry.” She sat, looking down at the steering wheel.
Wolf looked at her with wide eyes. “Okay, uhhhh…okay. What’s the problem?”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I will pick you up first thing tomorrow, okay?” She looked at him with pleading eyes.
“Yeah, sure.” He shifted himself upright, then struggled with the seat reclining lever. “See you tomorrow at eight?”
“Okay then.” She turned with a smile.
“Bye.”
He got out and stood up, suddenly lightheaded, with absolutely no clue where he was. He looked forward and craned his head back looking at the strange building in front of him. He couldn’t remember ever seeing it before. Turning quickly, he reached to knock on the window to stop her, to tell her she’d dropped him off at the wrong place. Then he saw his brother’s apartment building across the street.
Chapter 27
“Piano Terzo” the elevator told him while his watch showed him 10:25 pm. Surprisingly, or
Stepping out on the balcony, he took a look below at the piazza. It was filled with chatter, billowing smoke, food smells and clusters of young people.
“Hi,” a voice startled him from above. Cristina was looking down, exhaling smoke from a cigarette.
“Hi,” he said. “Do you mind if I come up and have one of those?” He was not feeling like being alone all of a sudden.
“Sure, come on up.”
The cigarette was lighter and a little bit thicker in his fingers than he remembered. He brought it up to his mouth, catching a brief scent of Lia’s hair, and lit it with a well practiced move.
The second drag hit him with a harder buzz than he was expecting, a dizzy wave shifting his balance off, so he reached for the balcony railing and looked over the edge. Fighting through the lightheadedness, he enjoyed the first half of the first cigarette he’d had in years, then had a sudden overwhelming urge to put it out.
She leaned next to him and looked over the railing, “So did you find anything out today?”
“Maybe. We went to the pub my brother was at on Saturday night, the
“Yes, I’ve been there.” She shifted upright. “John used to go there a lot. I went once. I do not like the place.”
“Why?”
“The guys that work there. I know their type from home. A few of them have tattoos that are the symbol of gangs from where I come from.” She looked at Wolf then took a drag. “Bad gangs.”
“Yeah, I saw tattoos. What kind of gangs? What do they do?”
“They would beat up people at home that owned small shops and make them pay them. They would sell drugs. Sometimes they would kill people. I think even policemen were scared of them. I learned to stay away from those types of men. There were many disappearances of girls my age growing up. Not where I lived, but close by. In the city. They were made to be prostitutes and often shipped off to other countries.” She took a long drag. “I told John that he needed to be careful there, and to not mess with anyone. He laughed and said he wouldn’t, but I told him I was serious. That they weren’t the types of guys you wanted to mess with. At least not at home, in Romania.” She took another drag. “He liked the beer I guess.”
“Did you ever meet the Romanian guy from the observatory that Matthew works with? His name is Vlad.
