The parley—if it even continues—is much closer to failing than it was before Clemenza's death.
There's one bright point to the day, though: Chef Laurent is in the kitchen when I return to do something about breakfast, and he's already getting together a sumptuous breakfast buffet.
"Chef!" I say, stunned. "How did you?—"
"Don Castellani, he called me himself," Chef grumbles. "One day I'm not to come. The next day I must come and stay, no leaving. He promised a large bonus, though. You, too?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Something like that," I say vaguely. "I'msoglad you're here."
Chef Laurent eyes the pizza boxes in my arms. "Yes," he says. "So too will the guests be glad." He bustles around and then pauses. "My good knife," he says. "Did it ever turn up? I'll have to charge a new one to expenses if not."
"Um," I say, and pause. "Probably best to get a new one."
Raffi finds me on the breakfast patio half an hour later, where he waves away my offer of coffee, which I've been serving to sleepy guests. It seems no one got a decent night's sleep. The thought of our activities makes me give a happy little shudder when I see Raffi, but he's still got his poker face on.
"Forget all this," he says in a low voice. "Time to question AJ. Come on."
My grip tightens on the coffeepot. "You want me to accompany you?"
"You'll wait nearby. I don't want you in the line of fire if this goes south, but Vecchi has to take a shift in the security room, and I don't want you alone anywhere in this place." His eyes are hard, jaw set. "Come on."
He's using the same voice on me that he uses on his guards, the same voice he used to use when we came to loggerheads over arrangements, and under normal circumstances it would make me bristle. But I set down the coffee pot and follow him into the manor.
We stop outside AJ's room, and Raffi pulls me into an alcove. "Stay here. Try not to listen, and don't come in unless I call for you." His hands rest on my shoulders, gaze searching. "Promise me, D."
"I promise," I say softly, relieved to see the same Raffi from yesterday, if not the same filthy-mouthed, talented lover from last night.
Raffi gives a short nod and lets me go. Then he's slipping through the doorway, and I'm left alone with my thoughts in the dim alcove. The walls seem to close in around me as I sink into their shadows, listening for any hint of danger.
Waiting. Wondering.
And hiding a truth of my own that I desperately want to share with Raffi, but dare not.
AJ's voice filters through the slightly-ajar door, edged with annoyance, and despite myself, I listen in. "What the hell do you want, DeLuca? Unless you're here to give me my gun, you can fuck off."
"No gun," Raffi says calmly. "Just wondering where you were the night of the murder."
"Fuck you. In my room. Your guards are stuck on everyone like flies on shit; why don't you ask them? Now get the hell out of here. I already told all this to Jack, since my pussy brother Leo didn't have the balls to come question me himself."
I know exactly why Leo Bernardi would have stayed away. We all do. Leo wants AJ dead, and I heard him warn Sandro before the parley that he couldn't guarantee keeping his cool. Questioning AJ about the murder of Clemenza might have set off his temper.
Julian Castellani wants AJ dead, too.
Very badly…
"So you got nothing else to say for yourself, Bernardi?" Raffi asks. "Or your men? You're all staying here until this shit is sorted out, you know that—right?"
AJ stays stubbornly silent. Raffi sighs, and I can picture his exasperated expression. "Well, thanks for nothing." A moment later he emerges, jerking his head for me to follow.
We walk in silence until we're well away from AJ's room. "You hear anything?" he asks at last.
"I couldn't help it," I confess.
"My men are telling me he didn't leave his room," Raffi says, "but that doesn't mean he didn't give an order to someone else. Still…" He shakes his head. "Word isnooneleft their rooms. Least not that my men saw, anyway."
"Raffi—" I grab his arm, make him stop and look at me. I lean in and keep my voice low. Raffi claims there are no cameras inside Redwood, but I have my doubts. "I'm starting to wonder about Julian's motives."
He stares at me a moment, then gives a brief, "Same."
