The Spia Family Presses On (24 page)

We left through the side door just as Uncle Benny straightened his gray tie, and lifted his shoulders in pure gangster fashion. A sure sign the room was getting too small for both he and Giuseppe to occupy at the same time.

We caught up to Jimmy in the parking lot next to my mom’s house. He was just about to take off in his black BMW Roadster. The man always had great taste in cars.

I grabbed his attention through the windshield, and he rolled down the window.

“Yeah?” he asked, looking all pissy. “What’s up?”

“What’s up with you?” I said, trying to sound concerned.

Lisa and I walked up to his window and for a moment I caught the sent of sweet berries. The same berry scent that I’d smelled on Dickey. I took a step closer to the open window and inhaled, but the scent was gone, overpowered by the stale scent of cigarettes. Jimmy was a pack-a-day smoker.

Light poured into the car from the fixture above the barn door. He seemed more agitated up close. His hands rested on the steering wheel while his thumbs tapped out the rhythm of some imaginary tune.

“Nothin’. Just in a hurry to get the hell outta here.”

“This will only take a few minutes.”

“If it’s about Dickey, you can forget it. I got nothin’ to say.”

His thumbs tapped harder.

“Actually, it’s about that new dude, Giuseppe,” Lisa said. “You know anything about him?”

Jimmy gave her the once over, as if he was trying to get a make on her. The way I saw it, he never quite got over her. I could see it all over his face, or maybe he was simply having some sort of sexual fantasy about her underwear. I couldn’t tell which.

“Not much. Just that he’s still hot. Still connected. Gotta be careful what a person says in front of somebody like that. He could cause us a lotta trouble. Hey,” he leaned out of the window to get closer to Lisa. “You want to come over to my place and sign some of your books? I’m your biggest fan, sweet cheeks.”

She ignored him. “What kind of trouble?”

“Your loss, sweetheart.” He moved back inside the car. “The kind that ain’t too good for seeing your next birthday. He’s not somebody you girls should be asking questions about. Just watch your own backyard and everything will be okay. You get what I’m saying?”

His face went all serious, complete with nostrils flaring and forehead wrinkling.

“Yeah, we get what you’re saying,” I said, “but we also know that sometime tomorrow the cops are going to start hunting for one missing Dickey Spia. Got any ideas what they might find?”

“No. Do you?”

I thought I’d take a chance. “Did you know his killer tried to set up my mom?”

The color drained from his face, and he stared out the front window for a moment. Then he turned back to me.

“No, and that’s low, way low, but this matter ain’t your concern. You got no business sticking your nose where it don’t belong. You too, Lisa. This won’t end good if you two keep digging around. Like the saying goes, forget about it. Now I gotta book on outta here. I got somebody waiting for me in the city.”

He turned the key in the ignition and his car roared to life.

“One more question,” Lisa said, leaning in closer. “Got any idea who might have hired Giuseppe to burn Dickey?”

He smiled. “A guy like that? A lotta people. Dickey’s got a long history of double-crossin’ people. And don’t forget the guy grew up in Calabria. Probably made some important enemies who want their own piece of him. Probably somebody in Italy put Giuseppe up to it, like he said, or maybe somebody here. I don’t know, but I can’t talk about this no more. You girls need to stay clear of this one or you’ll get more than just a little car chase that Lisa here can handle with her eyes closed. The person behind this thing is serious, so keep out of it.”

He looked directly at me for a moment then he jammed the gas pedal and backed up his car on the gravel, his wide tires scattering the new gravel my mom had just put down a few weeks ago. “Wait a minute,” I yelled.

He stopped.

“What now?”

I jogged up to his window, not wanting any lurking family members to hear me. “Any idea who might want the ring that was on Dickey’s finger
—
other than Giuseppe?”

“You mean the one you girls are hiding?”

Anger welled up inside me. “Where’d you get that idea?”

“Stands to reason. You two found the body, so you must have the ring. Take my advice. Get rid of it. That damn thing’ll just get one or both of you killed. Look, I may not be Lisa’s wet dream or your idea of a good time, but I don’t want to see either one of you burned. Just get the word out that you want to dump the ring and everything will go back to normal.”

“But we don’t have it.”

He stared at me for a moment, rolled his eyes, pursed his lips and said, “Then whatever happens ain’t my fault. I warned you.” And he took off.

“What was that?” Lisa asked, walking up behind me and sounding as upset as I felt.

“I’m thinking it was either a warning or a threat depending on how you want to take it.” I folded my arms across my chest, suddenly feeling a deep chill.

She spun me around to face her. “Wait a minute. Let’s not jump to conclusions. He may not be the warmest guy in the group, but I don’t think he was really threatening us.”

“What the hell else could he have meant?” I shouted, flailing my arms.

“I don’t know, but we need to calm down.”

I wasn’t in the mood to calm down. Being Italian gave me that right. We rarely calmed down under stress. It wasn’t in our DNA. “I’ll try, but before we do anything else, or think anything else, we should talk to Hetty. Clearly that woman knows something. I’ve never seen her so upset. And you know how Hetty likes to talk, especially if I tell her someone tried to set up my mom. That should be enough to put her over the edge. She’s like a mamma bear to my mom.”

“That gives Hetty motive, you know,” Lisa said.

“Motive for what?”

“Motive for Dickey’s murder. If she thought Dickey was going to try to take the orchard back, she may have made a preemptive strike to stop him.”

She was talking nonsense. “It’s not that I don’t think she isn’t capable of whacking Dickey, I just don’t buy that she would whack him and set up my mom.”

Lisa shrugged. “People try to save their own skin when they get pushed against the wall. I’ve researched this, believe me, you’d be amazed what some people will do when their world is threatened.”

I felt sure Lisa was totally wrong about this. “Not Hetty. She may be nutty, but she would never kill anyone. Not even Dickey.”

“Who else owns this place?”

“Aunt Babe, my mom, of course, Uncle Federico and me. I guess that gives all of us motive. But anyone on this rehab farm could have fallen off the Mafioso wagon and done it. Let’s not forget that we’ve had to kick several of these Wise Guys off the property for thug behavior.”

“Could one of them have done it?”

I shook my head. “Not likely. Two of them are dead. One disappeared and the other one is doing life in Soledad.”

“But the five who actually own this place have the strongest motive. Good thing you have an alibi. Me.”

She had a point. It looked really bad for all of us, even me. “Let’s talk to Hetty, and if we’re lucky Babe will be there too.”

“The girls didn’t look any too tired. I’d say there’s a good chance they’re still awake,” Lisa said.

“Then let’s hustle up. I’ve got a few questions that need answers before I can sleep tonight.”

“And speaking of sleep, what did you do with Dickey’s pinky?”

I’d almost forgotten about his pinky. I wondered what that said about me. “It’s still in the freezer, why?”

“And you have no problem sleeping with a severed body part in your fridge?”

I thought about that for a moment. “No. I guess I truly am my father’s daughter.”

“There’s a whole new side to you that I’m going to have to think about and reevaluate.”

“Don’t think too long. Until we find Dickey’s killer, who knows what’ll end up in my freezer?” I meant it to be a joke, but from the glum look on Lisa’s face, I guessed she wasn’t taking it that way.

“You’re into this whole mob world more than I thought.”

A quote from my past flew into my head. “When you lie with dogs you’re going to get fleas.”

“Where’d that come from?”

“My dad. He was good at smart little quips.”

“Wait, Mia. This is much more than I bargained for.”

She stopped walking. I turned to her. “It’s too late to back out now. The killer already knows you’re in the game.”

“I need a drink,” she said, and stopped walking.

The mere thought of a drink
—
a shot of tequila preferably, with a wedge of lime and a lick of salt
—
made me want to give up this insane quest and take off for the nearest bar. But instead I continued on the path.

Lisa followed close behind.

“What I wouldn’t give,” I said when she caught up to me.

“Maybe when we’re to Maui, a big fat Mai Thai in one of those bucket glasses with a pink paper umbrella stuck in a slice of cold pineapple hanging off the side,” she suggested, but I knew she was merely playing my put-it-off-until-later game. So far, the game was working. My resolve was still in check, but there was no telling how long that would last.

It only took us a few minutes to walk to the bungalow where my two aunts lived.

“Is it always this dark around here?” Lisa whispered as she climbed the porch stairs behind me.

“No. Usually their porch light is like a beacon. This can’t be good.” Aunt Babe didn’t like the dark and their house reflected her fears. Every room usually glowed with light, even when they were sleeping.

But not tonight.

When I stepped up on the porch, I could see their front door was slightly open. “Okay, this is making me scared.”

I slowly pushed the door open.

“Upon entering a situation that could potentially be dangerous, always be aware of your immediate surroundings and never let your guard down for an instant,” Lisa said, obviously quoting herself while stiffening her body and walking with her arms in some kind of martial arts readiness position.

I tried to take on the same stance, but somehow I just wasn’t feeling it.

The living room was dark except for the light coming from their thirty-gallon fish tank gurgling on a shelf to our left. Across the room, a sliver of light glowed from under the kitchen door. My aunts liked to do some of their special orders and try out new recipes in their own industrial strength kitchen where they could bake in their jammies.

“I don’t like this,” I complained to Lisa.

“That makes two of us. Maybe we’re being too stupid to live. The killer could be in there. Or maybe he’s already been here and gone. Finding one dead body is enough excitement, I don’t need to find another one.”

“Don’t even think that. I love these ladies.”

“Then we need to get some help.”

“Don’t you have a black belt or something?”

“Yeah, a lovely Prada silk number. It’s hanging in my closet. No. I don’t have a black belt. I took beginner classes last summer for research.”

“Well, pretend you have one ‘cause I’m going in.”

“Hello!” I yelled. “Anybody home? Aunt Babe, Aunt Hetty, are you here?”

A loud pop then a crash blasted through the house. It came from the kitchen. Immediately, my mind latched onto the gunshot explanation, and my heart raced like a bunny rabbit’s.

Then, a loud bang.

“If this kind of stuff keeps up, we’re going to have to start packing a weapon,” Lisa said. “I’ve got a nice little Glock at home that would give me a lot more courage.”

Without thinking, I took off for the kitchen moving on pure adrenalin. No way could I let anything bad happen to my aunts.

I was fearless.

Or extremely dumb, depending on the outcome.

“Wait for me,” Lisa yelled as she raced up behind me.

As soon as I swung open the door, something gooey hit me right smack in my face and clung on. It smelled and tasted a lot like Amaretto.

I licked my lips.

Definitely Amaretto.

Startled, I attempted to open my eyes, but they were gooed shut. As I began to wipe off my face, I heard Lisa yell, “Incoming.”

Another glob of something hit me on the left side of my head, and I felt it slowly ooze down my cheek. This one had chunks. I took a taste. Cannoli filling, the perfect blend of chocolate chunks, powdered sugar, a touch of vanilla extract and rich ricotta cheese.

Yummy, but somehow it might taste better if it was served on a plate, stuffed inside a crispy cannoli wrapper rather than dripping down my face.

I cleared off the excess goo around my eyes and opened them.

The large, normally spotless kitchen was littered with flour, cake batter, and an assortment of cookies, smashed cakes and berry pies. It looked as if a pastry bomb went off. Aunt Babe and Aunt Hetty were hunkered down on either side of their huge wooden island flinging Italian baked goods at each other. Clearly, whatever this was about had escalated out of control , and it was up to me to stop it from going any further.