Leandro and Gino take a seat on one of the couches, and Massimo steers me to the smaller love seat next to it, leaving only two reclining chairs open for the men who walk in to use.Massimo shakes hands with each of them.“I’m Detective Brice,” the one with dark hair says, “and this is Detective Loch,” he says, before Massimo introduces all of us and takes the seat beside me as the two men settle into the chairs.
The one with dark hair and glasses pushes the frames farther up his nose as he appraises me.“Unusual to see a Cassone with a Roselli, no?”I’m not sure if the question was intended as a poke to get Massimo riled up but he should know to walk softly instead of pushing a Roselli.Massimo gives him a look.“Detective, the family feuds of the past have long been dissolved.Maybe your files aren’t as up to date as you’d like us to believe?”
His partner tries to hide the smirk, but the slight tilt of his lips gives him away.A little friendly competition between the two, or a little something to give his friend shit about later on when alone, it’s hard to tell.Leandro stands and takes a coffee cup from Elsie who has come to help, and hands one to me, then to Massimo, then one to Gino, and then turns to the officer with glasses.“Coffee?”
Brice half shrugs.“Sure, sugar, no cream, please.”Leandro looks toward the other officer who shakes his head at the offer.“None for me.”
Leandro turns to Elsie.“That will be all for now.”She gives him a nod and disappears as quickly as she can, clearly relieved she’s not needed for the conversation.I have no doubt they’ll be talking with her later though, because unfortunately for her, she’s part of my defense.She just doesn’t know it yet.
The dark-haired man’s eyes dart about the room, taking in as much from the Roselli estate as he can while on the premises and without any permit to speak of even though we all know he’s not here to socialize.Gino clears his throat, pulling detective Brice back from his internal musings over the room.“I take it you’re here for more than to take in the décor?”
The detective pushes his glasses further up his nose as he leans down to read out of the little black notebook in front of him.“Just a couple routine questions about the loss of your yacht.”
Massimo’s face stays stoic.He may not have the patience for this dance, but he knows how to play, not reacting, letting the detective circle around to what he’s really here to learn in his own way.Papa used to say you learn the man by letting them show you their methods while they think they’re the one watching you.I have learned my father’s lessons well and watch them both.
Massimo should have told me the polizia would be stopping by this morning.I would have been prepared.Perhaps he made the right call though.Maybe I would have just worried needlessly the entire night.We knew the questions would come eventually about his yacht and the events of that day, especially since the Amortes have just disappeared.I’d secretly hoped the men on Massimo’s payroll would bury the inquisition farther into the sea than the bodies buried under its waves.They have to have the same power as the Cassones, yet something is standing in the way.
Gino clears his throat again.Massimo’s brother, younger than Leandro by only a year, does not exude Leandro’s disposition and cool politeness that complements the rough Roselli exterior that Massimo wears.I’d put Gino in a back alley with his rugged looks any day.Gino glances at his watch, then at the detective.“Tell us why you’re here.We have plans today, and they don’t include you.”
Massimo is calm and patient, taking a drink of his coffee before placing it back onto the table in front of us.It’s interesting to watch Massimo’s mannerisms and his calm demeanor as he battles the storm that is no doubt inside all of us as we sit under the blatant observation of the detectives, no doubt here to uncover every dirty little deed that happened on that yacht before Massimo had it blown to smithereens.
The rustle of the paper is all that can be heard as the detective turns a page in the little spiral book.“Here, this is what I was looking for,” he says, pausing for dramatic effect but not fooling anyone at all.Brice pins me with a stare.Of course, he’ll try to rattle the female first and then see who comes to her defense.Fucking prick.Now I’m grateful to my father for making me spend hour after hour of interrogation training with his soldiers.Time to put it to good use.
The detective smiles at me, but it doesn’t reach his eyes.It’s a parlor trick they all learn to put us at ease before they go in for the kill.It takes patience on my part to let him watch me without saying a word.He’s not trying to rile me up though, it’s Massimo that he’s trying to goad.The man, polizia or not, should be careful with who he tries to prod, because Massimo didn’t earn his name as the deadliest king of the Jersey streets by being someone’s doormat.Something the Cassones and every other crime family for miles knows very well.
The detective clears his throat and gives me a pointed stare.“Why don’t you tell me, Mrs.Roselli, was it you or your husband who killed the Amortes?”
7
Massimo
The minute those words come out of the prick’s mouth, I’d like to rip his head from his neck, but being known for my cool composure comes in handy now.The only things keeping this man alive are Sophia and my family.I can take care of them better here than from behind bars, and that’s the only fucking reason.I won’t give the fucker the satisfaction of rising to his obvious bait.“I assume since we’re past the questioning aspect of your visit and straight into wild accusations I should call our attorney?”
Detective Brice’s face turns red.It’s clear he saw me losing my temper and coming to defend Sophia’s honor and maybe even taking a vicious swing at him so he and his partner could make valid claims.Better than these two assholes have tried to take the Roselli boys down in the day.Not fucking likely, the lousy pricks.
His partner steps in, and now we’ve got the classic bad cop and then good cop.I’m tired of it already but forced to play this fucking game until I learn exactly who’s pulling the strings at the local PD and pushing to get us questioned.Not one bit of evidence, or anything of the like, should be able to put Sophia or us at the scene, but they were asking her directly.Which leads my mind down a whole another path of alternative reasons they’re here.
The detective shifts under my direct scrutiny, clearing his throat before speaking.“We just need to ask some questions, that’s all.”
Leandro’s eyebrows raise in challenge.“Let’s call a spade a spade detective.Questions are fine, but Brice has already stepped over the line and everyone in the room knows it.If you want to fire accusations at us, you’re going to deal with our attorney.End of story, capisce?”
Brice flips his notebook, as though any scribbling in that page could get him out of this mess, and of course it can’t because he doesn’t have a damn bit of evidence or we’d be downtown in the hot room instead of sitting here having coffee while they try to get us to tell them any bit of information they can.
I glance down at the reply text from our attorney.“Gentlemen, given the nature of the questions, our attorney is asking that you leave.If you have any further questions, you can ask them downtown, in his presence.”
Brice’s face turns deep red as his not-so-subtle partner glares at him with a moment of undisguised frustration.They both know that shit’s going to roll downhill now, because they both know that while the Amortes may have some pull, we have more.Now they can worry about their jobs.Lousy fuckers.“Good day men.You can see yourselves out.”
They leave the room with haste, not bothering with an apology that wouldn’t be heartfelt at all.The minute the door closes, Gino walks out of the great room, speaks in a hushed voice with Elsie, and then closes the door as he comes back through.“We have a plan?”
I nod.“We have men with their ears to the ground.We should hear something soon.Clearly the Amortes have someone pushing for an investigation into the death of their family members and knowing they sent them to kill us, the logical conclusion would be that we had something to do with it.They clearly can’t tell the police that or give them any real information that would put their boys at the scene.”
I meet my younger brother’s eyes knowing he’s not going to agree, a warning.“The plan is to stop worrying about things that do not need our concern.The bigger question is finding out who they have on the inside, in what position, and what they know about us.That’s what we need to focus on, that and nothing else.I need every capo in our family to get the word out to our soldiers, and we need it fucking now.”I don’t tell Gino about the traitors and our inside men because spreading word on the street makes it appear to our enemies as though we don’t have anyone on the inside which is exactly what I want them to think.At least for now.
There’s no point in hashing it all out here, especially in front of Sophia who will just feel bad about her family’s part in this when I’m beginning to think that her father didn’t have one thing to do with it at all, with the exception of letting his future son-in-law have more control than he should and turning a blind eye on the business before his name was off it for good.I just need the proof to actually confirm it, concrete stuff, not the circumstantial stuff I’ve been getting up until now.
If all the intel our men are gathering is correct, Sophia’s father was right.He didn’t have a clue that Barcelo Gallini was going to give the Cassone soldiers the order to hit our trucks, but yet her father is the one that paid.Not with his life, but with the knowledge that his baby girl was taken away as a result of his ill-placed trust.Still, the dumbfuck could have said or done something to help convince me that he was innocent.Unless he suspected it was his son-in-law and kept his mouth shut for that reason.That’s what I fucking want to know.How involved was he really?
All of us were duped by those fuckers.The Gallinis played their hands well, but now they’re not going to have any hands to play.Not after the Rosellis put them in their place, but first, we’re going to have solid proof, not just the say so of soldiers who may or may not have been compromised and would have done anything to get into the good graces of a family on top and who would spare their lives.It’s far too soon to worry my kitten with the details of our war.Far better that she does not worry about her sister, who right now she thinks is safe and protected.And she is, but by my men, not her lousy fucking fiancé.
