“Yes.”
We didn’t bother sharing with Lorena that her boyfriend isn’t just about to die tonight, but he’s also a two-timing loser. The same man who entered the forced marriage with Angela is the same person she has been dating. That was ultimately the connection between Buffalo and Pittsburgh – a cheater who had Lorena wrapped around his finger. For the time being, the annoying woman and her desire for revenge might help us out.
Part of what consumed our day was confirming our lead with Flora, who assured us that Felice Gravina, Lorena’s boyfriend, is the same man who forcibly married Angela Taviani as part of some incomprehensible power play from the members of the Pittsburgh mob, who still appear to be working out the power gap from Carmine Corsini’s death.
Luigi allowed the marriages to persist, but he has no control over Felice’s cheating, especially since as far as I know, Angela hasn’t spoken to him. She hasn’t forgiven any of us for allowing her to get captured by the Pittsburgh mob despite Luigi’s provisions for her survival.
“We gotta break in there and grab Felice,” Michael says. “Luigi finally got her to pick up the phone. Angela claims she hasn’t heard from her husband, but we can’t tell if there were people listening in on the call and goading her to say that.”
“So it could be a trap.”
“Exactly.”
“Fun.”
“We’ll be out of there once we find outwhatthis weird fuck stands to gain by drugging you or Aricia.”
“She’s not the target here.”
“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Michael says with sudden severity that reminds me of how his life has changed over the past couple of years. He’s not just a father now, but he took on a new role within our family organization that exposes him to a new side of our life and a new moral code to weigh his choices against.
“We’ll find out.”
Luckily for us, Felice picked a pretty isolated place, so we don’t worry about anybody spotting us breaking into the lower level of the split-level ranch out in Erie. Once we open the door, Iknow something fucked happened in here. The stench hits me and I retch violently, stumbling backwards and pulling Michael with me in an effort to save my brother from the wave of death emanating out of the house.
A dead cat would have smelled bad enough to turn my stomach, but there’s something much bigger than a cat in there. We both throw up on the front lawn with no shame in it. The body responds against your will to the scent of rot, but with experience you can force your body to recover quickly. We cover our faces with bandanas, ignore our searing eyes and walk straight into the house…
It’s a fucking mess, but the mess isn’t as big of a problem as the body.Shit.Naturally, we’re the ones who stumble upon a mess like this. It doesn’t take us long to follow the stench and loud buzzing from the flies to then discover the body.
He’s facedown in bed, which could be a murder or a suicide, so there’s nothing definitive there. Michael and I independently scan the room for further details. This suddenly makes me worry about Aricia more than before. I can’t say this man was killed to buy his silence, but I can’t say for sure that he wasn’t. The entire situation is beyond disconcerting.
Blood soaks out of the mattress from the bloated corpse, and there’s no immediate signs of what might have caused his death – no gun. On the man’s desk, there’s a laptop. A pretty standard HP computer. Michael gestures towards it with his chin and we both walk over. Michael opens it up, but there’s a passcode.
“Lorena might know.”
Lorena didn’t know her boyfriend had a wife back in Pittsburgh, so I have my doubts she’ll know the password, but right now she’s the only chance we have at answers.
“Who’s gonna tell her?”
Michael gives me a look like it’s obvious. He expectsmeto tell her that her boyfriend probably died about three days ago judging by the level of decomposition happening here.
We remove all the evidence we can that we entered the house and leave with just the laptop and a wallet that Michael takes off the kitchen counter. There’s a Pennsylvania driver’s license in there which matches the identity of the man we thought we were tracking – Felice. No answers yet, just a laptop and a suspicion that whoever drugged me and Aricia would kill to keep this a secret.
We have Lorena stashed near Pittsburgh with Aunt Viviana – another reason this took so long. The little pipsqueak thinks we were really going to take her along with us. Aunt Viviana said she would make a good maid, which didn’t exactly get their relationship off to a strong start but… I’m hoping they have it worked out by the time we get back.
I won’t be available to hold Lorena’s hand through the loss of her boyfriend.
Michael and I drive the laptop back to our aunt’s place. She’s outside, smoking a cigarette while Lorena sits on the porch, handrolling a cigarette for our aunt. I don’t relish having to tell Lorena what happened to her boyfriend, but I can tell that Michael expects the burden to be mine…
“Did you find him?” Lorena asks.
Michael gives me an angry look as if my moment of hesitation represents some massive failure to handle the situation cautiously. Strangely, I think about Aricia as I try to find the right things to say, and thinking of her causes me to treat this little troublemaker with a little more gentleness than what comes naturally to me.
“Your boyfriend is dead.”
Michael makes a soft grunting noise as if I did something wrong. Lorena’s face contorts and her dark eyes grow even wider. Fuck. I can tell she’s about to cry, but I’m not in a good position to escape her tears…
“You’re serious?”
