MASS MURDER (53 page)

She turned in surprise, a dish between her hands
.
“Oh, Mr. Salvatori, I didn’t hear you come in.”

“What’s wrong?  How is Angie?”

The stern little woman set the bowl on the counter and grabbed a towel to wipe her hands
.
“As good as can be expected,” she mumbled.

“What do you mean, as good as can be expected?”

She paused, using the towel to distract her attention
.
Then she sighed and sat at the table whil
e Giorgio’s heart raced.

“The doctor stopped by
.
He spoke to Mrs. Salvatori.”  She stopped again, avoiding his gaze
.
When a tear appeared in the corner of her e
ye, Giorgio ran for the stairs.

He burst through the bedroom door only to find the bed empty
.
Angie sat at her dressing table in a long blue robe, staring at her image in the glass before her
.
He went to stand behind her.

“Angie, what is it?”

She looked up, her eyes floating in pools of tears
.
“No more, Joe
.
No more.”  Her voice was so soft he could barely hear her.

“What do you mean, Angie?  No more what?”

She began shaking her head slowly and then dropped her head and wept, her narrow shoulders convulsing in spasms
.
The flowers fell to the floor in a heap of petals and stems
,
and
Giorgio
swept forward and lifted her out of the chair, carrying her to the bed where he laid her gently down
.
She continued to sob, her hands covering her face
.
Distraught, he stretched out on the bed next to her, encouraging her t
o curl into his arms
.
He stayed with her, holding her, rocking her, until her sobs subsid
ed and she finally fell asleep.

Later, h
e slipped downstairs to
get the children to bed
.
Mrs. Greenspan had left a note to call if she was needed
.
A plate of food sat in the refrigerator wrapped in cellophane, but he had no appetite now
.
Instead, he settled down in his big chair in the den and stared at the television’s blank screen
.
Grosvner moved in to sit by his side
.
The two of them remained like that for more than an hour
.

Angie would have no more children
.
That was a fact
.
Only forty-eight hours ago she had announced they would have a third child, trapping him into a lifetime of limitations
.
Now, he felt trapped in a field of despair
.
God had taken the choice away, leaving a hole where his chest used to be
.
How odd life was
.
Now, more than anything else, he wanted that child
.
He wanted to go through the late night feedings
.
The thought of tiny feet and baby powder made his heart ache now
that
there wouldn’t be any
.
They wouldn’t go shopping for a new baby crib or stroller, nor would Angie’s eyes light up at the thought of buying a whole new set of baby clothes
.
When the tears threatened to explode, he quickly rubbed his eyes and jumped up to grab Mallery Olsen’s box in the hall,
feeling the need to stay busy.

He placed the box at his feet and spent the next hour sifting through old college papers, photos and yearbooks – only really seeing half of what he handled
.
He scanned articles she’d written for the school newspaper, book reports
,
and notes from boyfriends
.
There had been several men in her life
. I
t seemed she was desirable in ways only a twenty-year old male can adequately express
.
None of the letters were current
,
and Giorgio found himself wondering if the old friend she had referred to lay hidden in any of the paperwork before him
.
He decided he would give them over to McCready in the morning.

When the clock in the entryway struck ten, Giorgio heard a soft rustle behind him
.
Tony stood in the doorway in his pajamas, one pants leg tucked up above his socks
.
His hair was tousled
,
and he carried the raggedy teddy bear he hadn’t played with since he was a toddler. Giorgio gestured and the boy came forward and
crawled into his father’s lap.

“Is mom going to be okay?”

Giorgio held him tightly
.
“Yes, she’ll be okay
.
We’ll all be okay.”  He could smell the bubblegum toothpaste Tony insisted upon using and a little bit of the artist’s clay that was stuck undernea
th his fingernails from school.

“Is it a bad thing?”

“What?”

“That she can’t have any more kids
.
She isn’t going to die is she?”

His voice quivered
,
and Giorgio noticed he clutched the teddy bear as if he mig
ht squeeze the life out of it.

“No, she isn’t going to die, Buddy.”  He wrapped his arms around his son’s shoulders. “She’ll be fine
.
She had an accident
.
That’s all
.
And now she won’t be a
ble to have
any more
children.”

He said it simply, but knew
it wasn’t such a simple thing.

“But mama loves us, doesn’t she?  She doesn’t need another baby, does she?”

Giorgio nearly cried out in pain
.
How complicated life was
.
Angie had just wanted another baby
.
In the process, she’d been verbally abused by her husband, lost the baby, lost the chance to have another one
,
and somehow made her own childre
n feel unwanted in the process.

“Mama loves you both very much,” he said, feeling his own voice catch
.
“We both do
.
I can’t explain why your mama wanted another baby
.
She just wanted to hold another baby in her arms.”  He stopped to control his own emotions
.
When he continued, he lowered his voice
.
“Your mama will be very sad for awhile
.
It will take some time for her to heal
.
But then, she’ll be fine
.
She’ll love you like craz
y, just like she always does.”

He tousled Tony’s hair and attempted a smile
.
Tony smiled weakly in return.

“You’ll have to help mom around the house, though, clean your room, you know, things like that
.
Can you do that?”

Tony’s eyes lit up at being given something concrete to do
.
“Sure I can
.
I’ll tell Marie too. We can help.”

“Good boy
.
Let’s just take it one day at a time
.
Let’s give your mom some time
.
Okay?”

“Okay.”

Giorgio hugged him and he slipped onto the floor
.
“Okay, I’ve got some work to do
.
You take off to bed.”

“Okay, Dad.”  Tony glanced into the box before leaving
.
“What’s all that?  Are those our old pictures?”

“No, just stuff from work
.
Get to bed.”

But Tony reached for a picture stuck inside one of the box flaps
.
“Look, dad
.
Just like Grosvner!”

He handed the picture to his dad and leaned over to pat the dog before leaving the room
.
Giorgio stared at the photo for the first time feeling a chill extend the length of his spine
.
A much younger version of Mallery Olsen sat on a lawn in front of what appeared to be an apartment building
.
Sprawled in front of her was a Basset Hound
.
A familiar looking
blonde
-
haired young man sat on the grass next to her, his head thrown back in laughter
.
A second man stood in the foreground, his back to the camera, his
light brown
hair obscuring
the top corner of the picture.

Giorgio concentrated on the
blonde
next to Olsen, trying to figure out why he looked familiar
.
He had a narrow jaw line, a straight nose
,
and looked to be about five-foot ten
.
His face was in profile, making it difficult to identify more than that
.
The second man stood close to the camera and off to one side, facing Olsen
.
Only his right forearm and hand were visible
.
In his hand was a cigarette
.
Across the back of his hand was the tattoo of an eagle
.
Something about the photo tugged at Giorgio’s memories, but the harder he tried to release the connection, the more stubborn it became.

It was nearly eleven o’clock when Giorgio finished going through the box
.
He kept the picture with the Basset Hound on top, thinking he’d talk to McCready about it the next day
.
He went upstairs to check on Angie, but she slept peacefully
.
Her mere presence filled the room with the same mellow warmth he felt when he swallowed a good brandy
.
It was good to have her home.