Elizabeth Street - Laurie Fabiano [123]
“Please, God, forgive me, but I know you’ll understand,” Mary muttered.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1909
Giovanna cleared the dinner table and retreated to her bedroom. She dropped to her knees before the shrine she had created of candles flanked by statues of the blessed mother and Saint Rocco. Balanced on the top of the largest candle was a prayer card depicting Saint Anthony, patron saint of the lost. From the moment Giovanna knew Angelina had been kidnapped, not an hour went by that she didn’t beseech Saint Anthony for the safe return of her daughter.
A knock at the door interrupted her prayers. She heard Rocco tell her upstairs neighbor she was resting. Giovanna remembered that this was one of the women on the stoop.
“No, no, I’m awake,” declared Giovanna, coming out of the bedroom.
She brushed past Rocco and into the hall with her neighbor. “Excuse me, signora, we just ate and the kitchen is a mess,” apologized Giovanna, closing the door to the apartment.
“See, you’re a good, proud woman, not like that puttana, Limonata. That’s why I stopped by. I saw that boyfriend of hers, Leo!”
“Did you see Limonata?” Giovanna blurted.
The neighbor’s gossipy tone and expression changed at Giovanna’s outburst. “No, signora levatrice…”
“Oh, I am sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. It’s just that…we’re finding she took more than the beer pitcher.”
“Really! Well, he claims that he doesn’t know where she is. He acted like he didn’t even know her. He was going into an apartment, so I waited and asked someone if he was living there with a woman and a young girl. But they said he was a boarder in the building.”
“Where was this apartment?”
“Sixty-six Hester Street. But don’t bother, signora. She’s not there, and that Leo is a mean one. He scared me. The only reason I stayed to ask questions is our super offered a few dollars if we got him Limonata’s address.”
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1909
Giovanna waited on the east end of Hester at Mulberry Street and Rocco at the west end at Baxter. They arrived before sunrise, and with the dawn came rain.
After an hour, Rocco ran through the rain toward Giovanna, shielding his head with his coat. Reaching her, he grumbled, “We don’t even know if he has anything to do with this. I should just go and knock on his door. I’ll beat him if he doesn’t talk.”
Giovanna answered with little patience. “If he’s involved he may say nothing, and then we’ll never know where she is! If you follow him, he can lead you to her, Rocco. Just do what we planned!”
As Rocco walked back in frustration, Giovanna wiped her eyes. It was going to be extremely difficult to spot this Leo in the rain. Another hour passed. She could see Rocco pacing.
The first man to exit the building was stocky. It was the fourth man who’d left the building that matched the description. He was using a piece of cardboard as an umbrella, so Giovanna couldn’t see his eye, but he was tall, skinny, and dark. Rocco noticed him, too, and took pursuit. Giovanna swept into the building, shaking herself off in the vestibule.
At the apartment on the right, she listened at the door. It sounded like a family was eating breakfast. At the apartment on the left, she heard nothing but knocked, calling, “Limonata!” She did the same thing on the second floor, and an apartment door opened.
“Signora, can I help you?” asked a woman.
Flustered, Giovanna quickly composed herself. “Oh, yes, I’m a midwife.”
The woman glanced at her stomach, confused.
Giovanna forced a little laugh. “Sometimes even midwives have babies.”
The woman smiled.
“No, I seem to be getting forgetful with this pregnancy, and I’ve lost the address of a woman I was attending to on this block. I thought this was the house.”
“There’s no Limonata in this building, signora. It can’t be this house.”
“Oh, grazie. You know, I just saw a man exit that looked like the father. Tall, lidded eye?”
“No, that must have been Leo. He’s a boarder who lives on four.”
“Now I’m not only forgetful, I can’t see so well!”
“You’re wet. Do you need a cup of tea?” offered the