With Flora’s help, Gino gets Inessa seated upright in the chair and I wrap our binds around her to keep her strapped there. I’m tempted to torture her, but a swifter execution would mean a quicker return to Aricia.
I don’t doubt that eventually she will solve the mystery of my absence. She’s a defense attorney who picks up criminal activity like a scent hound. I want to be back in Aricia’s arms before she questions this too much or changes her mind about me. I need this woman to see that I will go to the ends of this earth to destroy her enemies.
Gino and Flora stare at Inessa’s disheveled body, seated with a lolling head as her body resists the binds keeping her seated. Again, I feel nothing towards this woman except a desire to finish what I came here for and eliminate her presence from Aricia’s life for good.
“Can I throw water on her face?” Flora asks. “I don’t like how her head hangs like that…”
“Sure. But I’ll do the talking when she wakes up. Got it?”
And as for who strikes the final blow…
That’s a task that will stay in this room between the three of us – and never leave.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Aricia
Iwake up to a loud pounding sound and assume it’s Peter at my door – knocking like an angry chimpanzee, I might add.Fuck. He’s back from Miami.I jump out of bed and throw on my Costco robe (it’s seriously so comfortable) and a pair of slippers as I walk downstairs. When I get to my front door, it’s already open because Rana has my access code and permission to come inside.
But… it’s…
“Rana, is everything okay? What time is it?”
“Yes, I’m fine,” she says with an unmistakable glint of caffeine-craziness on her face. Nobody survives law school without gaining deep recognition of how far down a caffeine addiction can drag you.
“It doesn’t matter what time it is. LOOK!”
Okay. I know applying to law schools can be stressful, but this is honestly venturing on a psychiatric break. I squint and try to get a good look at what Rana might be shoving in my face. I can’t see it at first but when my eyes adjust to the bright glowing light, I can make it out clearly.
MISSING PERSON:Inessa Dabrowski
My gut tells me that Peter did something wrong. But I don’t know for sure, right? I understand why Rana brought this news here.You always knew he could make your problems disappear, right?
“Come in,” I gesture to Rana, who has definitely proven that this is serious enough for me to invite her into my home before the sun comes up. It’s just a missing person’s report, nothing definitive and certainly not any type of assurance that I won’t have to worry about her lawsuit anymore.
“Where did you find this?”
The more I scrutinize the document Rana showed me, the more I realize this isn’t any sort of public or press announcement.
“It’s an internal document from the Miami-Dade police department and no, I can’t reveal my sources.”
We meet a lot of cops in our line of work and some of the cops from Buffalo end up moving down to Florida, a place that most upstate New Yorkers have a demonic obsession with because of the superior weather. I can’t put my finger on Rana’s source and that might be a good thing.
She continues her explanation, “It looks like someone called in on the non-emergency line saying they were sharing a hotel with an acquaintance they met online who never returned after a night of clubbing.”
“Isn’t that common?”
I can’t get excited at this news. A drunk woman disappearing after a night clubbing doesn’t mean anything. It certainly doesn’t mean that I can stop worrying about the lawsuits or the manyways Inessa might continue trying to make my life hell because her cash cow dropped dead on my front lawn.
“Aricia, isn’t Peter in Miami?”
The icy chill returns. I can’t tell if I’m trying to suppress my intuition or if the very thought that Peter might do something like this is what’s irrational here.
“It’s four thirty in the morning, Rana. I’m going to make us both a pot of coffee and we can discuss theories, see if your source turns up anything.”
Peter’s last text message to me flashes into my head. If he were involved in something like this, it might explain his silence. But Peter is so… normal. I know technically he has mob affiliations, but hasn’t the mob been completely neutered compared to what it was during the John Gotti era? They might make shady business deals and pull off a little racketeering or tax evasion but… nothing like this.
It wouldn’t have been so simple to get rid of Gino Taviani’s murder charge if there had been a lot to uncover beneath the surface of that family. I force myself into a state of quiet reassurance while I prepare tea for myself and Rana, who makes herself comfortable at my kitchen island as she texts away furiously.
