The Last Don - Mario Puzo [189]
Rose Marie, clad in a gray robe, her hair neatly braided, was watching a small TV. When she saw Cross she jumped up from the couch and flew into his arms. She was weeping. Cross kissed her cheek and gave her the chocolates and flowers.
“Oh, you came to see me,” she said. “I thought you hated me for what I did to your father.”
“You didn’t do anything to my father,” Cross said, and led her back to the couch. Then he turned off the TV. He kneeled beside the couch. “I was worried about you.”
She reached out and stroked his hair. “You were always so beautiful,” she said. “I hated that you were your father’s son. I was glad to see him dead. But I always knew terrible things would happen. I filled the air and the earth with poison for him. Now you think my father will let this pass?”
“The Don is a just man,” Cross said. “He will never blame you.”
“He has fooled you as he has tricked everyone else,” Rose Marie said. “Never trust him. He betrayed his own daughter, he betrayed his grandson and he betrayed his nephew Pippi. . . . And now he will betray you.”
Her voice had risen to a loud pitch and Cross was afraid she would go into one of her fits.
“Quiet down, Aunt Roe,” Cross said. “Just tell me what upset you so that you had to come back here.” He stared into her eyes and thought how pretty she must have been as a young girl, the innocence still in her eyes.
Rose Marie whispered, “Make them tell you about the Santadio War, then you will understand everything.” She looked past Cross and then covered her head with her hands. Cross turned. The door opened. Vincent and Petie were standing there silently. Rose Marie jumped off the couch and ran into the bedroom and slammed the door shut.
Vincent’s granite face showed pity and despair. “Jesus Christ,” he said. He went to the bedroom door and knocked, then said through it, “Roe, open the door. We’re your brothers. We won’t hurt you . . .”
Cross said, “What a coincidence to meet you here. I was visiting Rose Marie too.”
Vincent never had any time for bullshit. “We’re not here to visit. The Don wants to see you in Quogue.”
Cross appraised the situation. Obviously the receptionist had called somebody in Quogue. Obviously, it was a planned procedure. And just as obviously, the Don did not want him talking to Rose Marie. That Petie and Vincent had been sent meant that it was not a hit, they would not be so carelessly exposed.
This was confirmed when Vincent said, “Cross, I’ll go with you in your car. Petie can go in his.” A hit in the Clericuzio Family would never be one on one.
Cross said, “We can’t leave Rose Marie like this.”
“Sure we can,” Petie said. “The nurse will just shoot her up.”
Cross tried to make conversation while he drove. “Vincent, you guys sure got here fast.”
“Petie drove,” Vincent said. “He’s a fucking maniac.” He paused for a moment and then said in a worried voice, “Cross, you know the rules, how come you visit Rose Marie?”
“Hey,” Cross said, “Rose Marie was one of my favorite aunts while I was growing up.”
“The Don doesn’t like it,” Vincent said. “He’s very pissed off. He says it’s not like Cross. He knows.”
“I’ll straighten it out,” Cross said. “But I was really worried about your sister. How’s she doing?”
Vincent sighed. “This time it may be for keeps. You know she was sweet on your old man when she was a kid. Who could figure Pippi being killed would throw her so much?”
Cross caught the false note in Vincent’s voice. He knew something. But Cross only said, “My father was always fond of Rose Marie.”
“In the past years she wasn’t so fond of him,” Vincent said. “Especially when she got into one of her fits. You should hear the things she said about him then.”
Cross said casually, “You were in the Santadio War. How come you guys never talk about it to me?”
“Because we never talk about operations,” Vincent said. “My father taught us it served no purpose.