Elizabeth Street - Laurie Fabiano [145]
Inzerillo remained seated and silent. The only sound was Giovanna’s labored breathing. Eventually, Inzerillo said, “That is quite a message, signora.”
“That’s only the half of it. You’ll all be braying at the moon in jail with the curse of the malocchio. Lupo thinks he can cast the evil eye? He’ll learn what a midwife can do!”
“Signora, because you are so upset, I am going to ignore the fact that you keep implicating Lupo and me in this crime. We have not touched your daughter. But because I am a man of honor, I will deliver your message and use my influence to see that your daughter is returned immediately.”
“I want word by tomorrow. If not, the letters will be sent and the curses cast.”
“How much longer do we have to keep her?” nagged the older Gallucci brother’s wife.
“There is nothing out here. We’re going crazy,” chimed in the younger woman.
“Shut up!” yelled the older of the two kidnappers.
“Shhh, someone’s at the door,” whispered his brother.
The older brother drew his gun and motioned their wives and children into the bedroom. The younger brother, gun also drawn, opened the door.
“Lupo! Pietro!” Putting his gun away, the younger brother said, “We didn’t know you were coming.”
The older brother lowered his gun but kept it in his hand, saying skeptically, “It’s dangerous for you to be here.”
“Dangerous? What’s dangerous is trusting you,” growled Lupo, barging through the door.
“Lupo, what are you talking about?” asked the younger brother in a panic.
When Lupo and Inzerillo seated themselves at the table, the brothers calmed down.
“What’s going on?” asked the older brother.
“That’s what we came here to find out,” answered Inzerillo. “It seems that the fruit seller’s wife knows more than she should.”
“We told Leo! After she grabbed me in the church, we told Leo to tell you everything she said, but Leo thought you’d be angry we were followed,” whined the younger brother.
“Grabbed you in the church…” repeated Inzerillo.
“And Lupo, she’s a witch! She gave me the rash that caused these scars. My brother too!”
Seeing Lupo’s disgusted expression, the older brother retrieved Giovanna’s notes. “Every time she sent money, she sent letters. We have them here,” he said, handing them to Lupo, who passed them to Inzerillo without looking at them.
While Inzerillo read the notes, Lupo interrogated the men, ending with, “So, what did you do for Edwin Reese?”
“We don’t know an Edwin Reese. The first time we saw his name was in the witch woman’s letter. We asked Leo, but he said she was crazy.”
“Shit for brains. Shit for brains,” muttered Lupo.
“So what do you want us to do, Lupo?” asked the younger brother. “If she knows so much, do we kill them both right away?”
“You’d have to kill the entire family. Others too.”
“Is that what you want?”
“No, you idiots, that’s not what I want. I just got out of jail. The feds are watching me. It took four hours to get here. I don’t need dead bodies and letters pointing to me.”
“Lupo, this has been going on a while,” reported Inzerillo, handing Lupo the notes from Giovanna.
Standing up to face the brothers, Lupo ordered, “The kid is going back. Don’t shave, and wait for instructions.”
Angelina, hearing the men call someone Lupo, decided that the wolf had come for her. She was too tired to be afraid, and instead, unconsciously, she scratched an L on her leg over and over till it bled. Seeing the blood-red L, she wished she knew how to spell because then, when they found her, they would know who had killed her.